Kurt:

By the spelling of the surname, I strongly suspect that William J. Bensch was one of the many members of the vibrant German community in and around Charleston. Some of the companies of the 3rd S.C. Cavalry were raised form Charleston. While there was a strong German presence in other parts of the State, Orangeburg, Newberry, and Lexington Districts in particular, it was ion Charleston that the German influence was strongest. These Germans were primarily from Northern Germany, and tended to be staunch Lutherans. There is a cemetery -- Bethany- in Charleston, which was almost entirely given over to the interrment of persons of German ancestry. One of the most famous units from the German community was Bachman's German Artillery, which was composed almost entirely of men of German ancestry.