Posted on 08/21/2010 7:17:45 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
Talking to yourself again, sweetie?
Including that 37% of the population that was their own personal property.
Don't forget that we're talking South Carolina here. The ratio was more like 60% slave
He was just a rabblerouser.
Since I don’t worship the man as an Earthly idol, I don’t see him as anything other than what he was....
Ha ha ha. I need to proof more carefully.
I told you, 1850. Are you now claiming that the state boundaries of North and South Carolina changed? When?
Just because they called it "a village" doesn't mean it was small or as you call it, a "wide stop in the road".
Well, yeah, it does. "Small" is pretty much the definition of "village."
A "struggle", dealing with combat, you know, with guns and swords and stuff like that.
You're the one who first talked about your struggle with your southern martyr complex. Is that being fought with guns and swords and things like that?
Man, you have trouble with the definitions of words you're introducing. First it was "planter class," then it was "village" and now it's "struggle." I know that Noah Webster was a Yankee, but think about getting a dictionary.
Yea bubba, did you count during the hours of 8:00 to 5:00 ‘cuz that’s when most people are at work and there would be less population...
No, you had it right. A Yankee pharmacist had invented a salve that you’d rub on slaves that would keep them from running away. Lincoln ran on a platform of passing a law to force southerners to use it, putting an end to the fugitive slave issue once and for all, but southerners felt that it was another way to transfer wealth to the north and refused, pointing out that the Constitution had no provision for forcing people to rub salves, lotions or poultices on their property.
A Little History of Chesterfield County:
Chesterfield County was formed by the County Court Act of 1785, when Cheraw District was divided in Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlboro counties. Textbooks will tell you that Chesterfield County was named after Lord Chesterfield, Philip Dormer Stanhope, a close friend of George III; however, local tradition states that the Craig family, who originally inhabited the county seat, was influential in naming the county after the county from which they came, Chesterfield County, Virginia. Population grew slowly with Welch, French Huegenots, Scotch-Irish, Germans, and English moving in mostly from other of the colonized areas.
On November 19, 1860, Chesterfield County held the first secession meeting held in South Carolina. The ensuing war took its toll upon the state and the county. It is commonly known “that Sherman expected to exact vengeance from the original secessionists, who, he said, bore a major share of the blame for the war” (Sherman’s March by Burke Davis, page 141). This he did, and on March 02, 1865, entered Chesterfield County with a vengeance. In Chesterfield, the county seat, the courthouse, jail, academy, and other buildings, were burned to the ground. In Cheraw, the business portion, except for one house, was also burned down. Cotton, crops, food, and livestock were either stolen or destroyed. In a letter during reconstruction, “Thomas Powe of Cheraw to Governor Orr, Powe brought that ‘every house in Chesterfield District, with the exception of two cabins, was visited by Sherman’s soldiers and the bare mention of this fact speaks volumes’ “ (Chesterfield County: The Reconstruction Years by Frank White, Jr.).
This has rendered genealogical research difficult, but not impossible. It is our intention that this page provide whatever service necessary to aid you in your search for your Chesterfield County ancestry. I would highly recommend visiting the GenWeb pages of the surrounding counties, because the majority of Chesterfield County families moved into the area after living in Anson County, North Carolina; Lancaster, Kershaw, and Marlboro Counties, South Carolina.
James C. Pigg / 326 Chancelot Lane / Fort Mill, SC 29708
This page was last updated 2/02/08
All material provided is copyrighted to the public domain for non-commercial, non-profit use only. No commercial use is legal without permission of the/all author(s).
One of the most difficult periods of Chesterfield County history has been those years following the War Between the States. The following paper written by Frank E. White, Jr. is the most well researched work that I have seen compiled on any period of Chesterfield County’s history. We thank him for his generosity in allowing us to post it here and know you will enjoy it as much as we have.
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY,
SOUTH CAROLINA:
THE RECONSTRUCTION YEARS
1865 – 1876
Frank E. White, Jr.
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
December 1972
Chesterfield County, South Carolina, with an area of 793 square miles was created officially in 1785 by an act of the General Assembly. Currently sharing boundaries with Darlington, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, and Marlboro Counties and with North Carolina, Chesterfield lies in the heart of the Sand Hills region. The 1970 United States Census listed Chesterfield County as having a population of 33,667.
As were many other South Carolinians in 1865, those living in Chesterfield County also were “exhausted by war and stunned by the overthrow of their economic and social system.”[1] The Confederate soldiers returning home after the April surrender found little but desolation and destruction, much of which was caused by General William T. Sherman and his men when they “visited” the county in March of that year. Sherman was responsible for much property’s having been reduced to ashes. The courthouse and jail at Chesterfield, as well as the academy and other public buildings, were burned, and with the burning of the courthouse, all public records, with the exception of one book pulled from the fire, were lost. “The business portion of Cheraw, the chief town in the Chesterfield District, was burned except one house.”[2] Cotton was burned, crops and other foodstuffs destroyed, and livestock either were stolen or killed. The soldiers and stragglers plundered through the county stealing anything they thought to be of value. Even today, though it has been more than a hundred years since General Sherman and his army were in Chesterfield, children still hear tales of “when the Yankees came through.”
Before considering Reconstruction and its effects, it is best to look at Chesterfield County during the antebellum period in order to make just comparisons. Unlike many South Carolina counties, Chesterfield’s population was more white than black as illustrated by the following population table:[3]
Date White Black Total
1790 2,077 (estimate) 921 2,998
1820 4,412 2,333 6,645
1840 5,537 3,037 8,574
1860 7,354 4,480 11,834
1880 9,948 6,847 16,345
1990 12,256 8,145 20,401
Before 1800, according to Alexander Gregg’s History of the Old Cheraws, boats operated on the Pee Dee River connected Cheraw with Georgetown and Charleston. Later, steamboats made the trip to Georgetown and back in two days.[4] A newspaper, The Pee Dee Gazette, began in 1817, and in the early 1820’s, another weekly, The Cheraw Intelligencer and Southern Register, began publication. Cheraw had a town library by the early 1820’s that contained books emphasizing science and literature.[5] Many citizens of Cheraw enjoyed the luxury of silver made by local silversmiths. Franklin Turner had a silver shop on Cheraw’s Front Street where he made much of the silver used by families of the section. He also imported jewelry, advertising that his shop contained “an elegant assortment of jewellery and silver work.”[6] J. Campbell was another silversmith who worked in Cheraw around 1835.[7] Cotton was antebellum Chesterfield’s most important crop. From July 1, 1822 until June 1, 1823, 992 bales weighing approximately 400 pounds each were sent from Cheraw.[8]
In 1833, The Merchants Bank of South Carolina at Cheraw was incorporated after earlier efforts in 1824 at establishing a bank had failed. The Merchants Bank issued paper money widely used throughout the surrounding territory. One of the last banks to redeem Confederate bills for specie, the Merchants Bank “continued its operations under the management of the best businessmen of the community up to the time of the Confederate War, and was most successful.”[9] At the close of the Civil War, the capital stock of this bank was a half million dollars.[10]
In 1850, there were seventeen public schools in Chesterfield County attended by some 355 pupils. These schools received $600 yearly from public funds and $3,940 from other sources. Three private academies were in operation, teaching 36 students and surviving on a total of $1,500 per year. Of the total white population of 6,678, there were 1,181 illiterates.[11] Ten years later, in 1860, the county had lost two schools and pupil attendance was down to 305.
From the table that follows, one can get a view of religious life in Chesterfield County in the years 1850 and 1860 by comparing the number of churches and their respective property values:
Denomination No. in 1850 No. in 1860 Prop. Value 1850 Prop. Value 1860
Baptist 8 4 $6,570 $10,000
Episcopal 1 1 $5,000 $7,500
Methodist 14 18 $4,575 $9,000
Presbyterian 1 1 $4,400 $8,500
Roman Catholic 1 1 $2,000 $2,500
TOTALS 25 25 $22,545 $37,500
It can be easily seen that the one Episcopal Church, Cheraw’s St. David’s, was by far the wealthiest in 1850. (Named for the patron saint of Wales, St. David’s was the last Anglican parish established by King George III during the Colonial era.) The Methodists, it appears generally were the poorest. The Presbyterian congregation of 1860 also was a wealthy one.[12]
Chesterfield County had one weekly paper in 1860, The Cheraw Gazette that had a circulation of about 800. Perhaps one of the county’s easiest jobs at that time was that of county sheriff. Either he was extremely good or extremely inefficient since there were no criminal convictions for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1860. Records show that there was no one in the county prison on June 1st of that year.
Wages for the 1860 worker were average, considering other counties in the same part of the state. A farm hand earned $15 per month with board. A day laborer received $.75 per day with board, $1.00 without board, while a carpenter earned $2.00. Lowest on the pay scale was the female domestic who earned only $3.00 per week. Board for laboring men could be had for $2.00 per week.[13]
“Upon collapse of the Government of the Confederate States, following the dispersion of the armies of Lee and Johnson, there was but the semblance of civil authority in South Carolina.”[14] Governor A. G. Magrath began efforts to try to restore the government as it had been during the Confederacy, but General Q. A. Gillmore, the Federal commander at Hilton Head, refused to allow this. Eager to assert his authority over the state, Gillmore sent troops to Columbia to arrest Magrath, and after imprisoning him at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia, Gillmore gained control over the state’s affairs.
In a proclamation dated May 25, 1865, President Andrew Johnson indicated that he intended to carry out the concept of “Presidential Reconstruction,” which had its origins under President Lincoln. This plan basically would give the seceding states their Constitutional rights and privileges after the appointment of a provisional governor, after one-tenth of certain specified voters took an amnesty oath, and after there was recognition of freedom for the black population. There also was the stipulation that the President had the power to “dictate such terms as in his opinion seemed necessary to secure the Union from further peril.”[15] This proclamation, commonly known as the “Amnesty Proclamation,” was to grant pardon to all ex-Confederates, with certain exceptions, after they had subscribed to an oath of allegiance to the United States. There were fourteen classes of people not included in this blanket pardon, most notable of which were those “officers of said Pretended Confederate Government”[16] who had held the rank of colonel or above in the army or lieutenant in the navy or those with taxable property worth more than $20,000. Those exceptions, however, were subject to individual pardon.
In another proclamation dated June 13, 1965, President Johnson appointed Benjamin F. Perry provisional governor of South Carolina. Perry had been appointed partly because he had been a “fiery opponent”[17] of secession and partly because “he had never been sufficiently radical to lose respect of the Secessionists.”[18] He willingly accepted the presidential appointment, and in a proclamation made July 20, 1865, instructed all civil officers who had been serving at the time of the collapse of the Confederate government to resume their functions, provided they had taken the amnesty oath and declared invalid all state laws enacted before secession. Also, on the President’s instruction, he called for the election of delegates to attend a constitutional convention to be held in the state capital on September 13th.
The election for Chesterfield County’s delegates was held on September 4, 1865. Elected were John A. Inglis and Henry McIver. Inglis and McIver, along with eleven other delegates, had been members of the secession convention of 1860, and it was “Inglis who introduced the secession resolution.”[19] Meeting at Columbia’s First Baptist Church, the convention drew up a new constitution and passed “such ordinances as were necessary to put the State government in motion till the meeting of the Legislature” the following month.[20]
The new constitution prohibited slavery but did not give suffrage to blacks. It abolished the parish system, a defeat for the low country, and provided for the direct election of the governor and of presidential electors. A provision was made for courts to hear cases where “colored persons”[21] were involved. The state was divided into four congressional districts with Chesterfield’s being in the first along with Lancaster, Marlboro, Marion, Horry, Georgetown, Williamsburg, Clarendon, Sumter, and Kershaw. Before adjourning, the convention delegates signed a petition suggesting James L. Orr for governor. Had Wade Hampton been willing to accept, he would have been given the nomination.[22]
In accordance with the ordinances of the Constitutional Convention of 1865, the election of the governor, lieutenant governor, and legislators was to be held on October 18, 1865. On that date Orr slid in as governor with 9,928 votes to Wade Hampton’s 9,125.[23] Alexander McQueen was elected senator from Chesterfield County, and S. W. Evans and M. J. Hough were sent to the House of Representatives. Each of these men was from old families who had enjoyed prominence before the War. McQueen, born in 1819, was the son of Dr. Alexander and Mary Ellerbe McQueen. He was educated at Mt. Zion Academy in Winnsboro and was a graduate of the South Carolina College, class of 1841.[24] He previously had served in the House of Representatives from 1854 to 1848. (He later served again from 1878 to 1882.) In December, other officials were appointed. E. Willis was appointed magistrate for Cheraw; Nivin S. Smith, magistrate for Cole Hill; and Rolin Kite, magistrate for Chesterfield. The Commissioners to Approve Public Securities were: W. A. Malloy, W. E. Craig, James C. Chapman, W. W. Blakeney, and Duncan Malloy. Appointed as Commissioners of Roads were: Gillespie Godfrey, A. J. Johnson, F. L. Allsbrook, Solomon Joplin, W. J. Gaddy, D. C. Phillips, E.B.C. Cash, Lauchlin McPherson, Charles A. Malloy, John C. Chapman, John Campbell, and George W. Brewer.[25]
“The outstanding legislation of 1865 was the ‘Black Code’,” an attempt to “extend something of prewar control of the Negro.”[26] For the first time in South Carolina’s history, the Code prohibited marriage between whites and blacks. Negroes were given personal and property rights; however, no Negro could legally own any weapon except a hunting gun. There was a provision whereby a Negro could contract to work continuously for a “master.” After contracting, the “servant” was forbidden to leave the employer’s property unless given permission. Also, the employer had the right to punish those working for him who were under eighteen years of age. The Code went further to define working conditions and other rights of the servants and masters. General Sickles outlawed the Black Code on January 1, 1866.
“To look after the problems of the Negroes, the Freedmen’s Bureau was created.”[27] The St. David’s Academy building, which had been built in Cheraw in the late 1700’s, was turned over to the Bureau. The building had been sold to the Baptists in 1820 for use as a lecture room. As late as the 1890’s, it was still being used as a school for black children.[28]
Probably the best known of those connected with the Freedmen’s Bureau in Chesterfield County was Henry L. Shrewsbury. Born in Charleston in the late 1840’s, the “mulatto offspring of the free Negro population” was well educated, having attended school in the North.[29] Shrewsbury was single and lived with T. L. Weston, another Negro who became county auditor and later, county treasurer. Tax assessments for 1870 show Shrewsbury had personal property valued at $500.[30]
During the first few years of the Reconstruction period, Chesterfield County’s standard of living was at its lowest ebb. One source described it as the poorest district in the state.[31] Many found food scarce, and, according to reports, many often were hungry. Various programs were begun to provide food for those who had little. J. C. Evans was in charge of distributing food to the needy. In August 1866, he reported that 315 people were given “provisions received from Baltimore.”[32] In a letter from Thomas Powe to Governor Orr, Powe brought out that “every house (in Chesterfield District) with the exception of two cabins were visited by Sherman’s soldiers & the bare mention of this fact speaks volumes.” He continued that “By a recent census the fact is established that 650 women are helpless and dependent.” He ended his letter by commenting on the political scene and noting that “some zealous radical emissaries have been active and persevering … to make interest for their party. We are forced to reconstruct under the military bill and I think we had best accept it with as good a peace as we can command.”[33]
In the election of November 1866, the Radical Republicans won control of the United States House of Representatives, and when Congress assembled in December, the “supreme issue was Negro suffrage.”[34] The Radicals captured the will of the moderates and passed a much more stringent Reconstruction bill that President Johnson promptly vetoed. Congress, however, overrode the veto, and on March 2, 1867, “liquidated the state government organized in 1865, sent the army to occupy the south under temporary military rule, directed new enrollment of voters, called for new state constitutional conventions, and provided for readmission of the Southern states and their congressional delegations if certain conditions should then prevail.”[35] These conditions (not stated in the legislation but nevertheless conveyed south) seemed to include Negro suffrage in the South, Radical Republication victories at the polling place and ratification of the fourteenth amendment.[36] This amendment defined citizenship, gave blacks the franchise and excluded from office holding all supporters of the Confederacy who had previously held public office. Since nearly every Southerner had supported the Confederacy, the fourteenth amendment “appeared a veritable conspiracy to make good government impossible.”[37]
When the question of ratifying the amendment had been brought before the South Carolina General Assembly, legislators, as in every other Southern state except Tennessee, voted to reject it. The Radicals in Washington were infuriated and began an all out campaign of anger “determined to construct governments in the South which would ratify the Fourteenth Amendment and more.”[38]
Following the Congressional Reconstruction Plan, President Johnson appointed Major-General Daniel E. Sickles commander of the Second Military District. He held this post until August 31, 1867, when it was given to Major-General E.R.S. Canby. On July 19, 1867, while Sickles was still in command, Congress passed acts disenfranchising everyone, even though previously pardoned, who at any time had held any office no matter how petty or had aided the Confederacy in any way. According to Wallace, “This excluded almost all of the classes accustomed to public service.”
The July act with one of August first called for a registration of the state’s voters by boards of registration to be established in each district. The boards were to be made up of three members, either white or black, who first had to take the “Test Oath.” A clause in the oath prohibited from voting anyone who had ever had a state office and “afterwards engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the United States.” Earlier, The Cheraw Advertiser had proclaimed “eclectically that not a man could be found in that District who would be willing to take the Oath.”[39] That statement was far from the truth, for when the registration was completed around the middle of October, 1,071 whites and 317 blacks had been registered.[40] The members of the Board of Registration for Chesterfield County were Brent Johnson, William Fullerton, H. G. Gray, John M. Smith, Henry L. Shrewsbury, John W. Swinney, Benjamin Crowley, and Malcolm McColeman.[41]
The summer and fall of 1867 still found many hungry and destitute families. Early in the summer, John C. Evans complained to Governor Orr that corn from Maryland had not arrived and the people were “most needy.”[42] In August, he reported the distribution of a thousand bushels of corn “to prevent starvation.”[43] At the suggestion of the governor, Evans had appointed “respectable and trustworthy” citizens in each town to decide who “were proper subjects under your instructions.”[44] There also were instances of stealing that summer that may have been brought on by the depressed situation.[45] The magistrate reported that one could have found “more than one Negro who, wearing showing rings and watches stolen from Freedmen lives entirely from stealing and robbing.”[46] Although the general picture seems to have been rather dismal, there was some progress, however, as Capt. C. C. White’s steamship, The Planter, began to make trips from Cheraw to Charleston. Also, the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad was running again, going from Cheraw to Florence and back every day.[47] The trip from Cheraw to Florence, which is around forty miles, took nearly three hours.
After the voting registration was completed, voters went to the polls on November 19 to choose delegates for a new constitutional convention. In an election the likes of which had never been known in Chesterfield County, Robert J. Donaldson, a white carpetbagger, and Henry L. Shrewsbury, a black, were elected Chesterfield’s delegates.[48] At the convention that met in Charleston from January 14 until March 18, 1868, Donaldson served on the Bill of Rights Committee.[49] The convention “adopted a good constitution typical of the period, for the reason that the small group of superior members drew from contemporary Northern models.”[50] Among the changes it brought were: each county was allotted one senator[51] with the number of House members to be based entirely on population; more offices were made elective; divorce was allowed; imprisonment for debt was abolished; married women were given full control over their own property, and there was to be no difference made in whether the property was acquired before or after their marriage; and, often thought of as the most significant, was the creation of the public school system for all children. The office of the state superintendent of education was established.
Once the constitution was framed, the people of South Carolina were faced with the problem of electing leaders to run the new government. For the whites, the situation seemed so hopeless that statewide “fewer than half of those registered voted in the election for State officers,”[52] thus submitting to a three-to-one Republican victory. Robert J. Donaldson was elected senator from Chesterfield County, and D. I. J. Johnson and H. L. Shrewsbury, both blacks, were elected to the House of Representatives. This was the first time Chesterfield County had ever had anyone other than a Democrat or a white person to hold an elected office.
Donaldson, who had served as delegate to the constitutional convention, was born in County Armagh, Ireland, around 1836. He married Eliza Townley of Liverpool, England, and they migrated to the United States, first settling in Concord, New Hampshire, and then coming to Chesterfield County. He listed his occupation as a planter and Methodist minister.[53]
Like Donaldson, D. I. J. Johnson also was a minister. He was born in South Carolina in 1825. His wife was from Virginia, but their daughter, who was eleven in 1870, was born in South Carolina, according to the census of that year.[54]
With Robert K. Scott, an Ohio native who had come south as an army officer, having assumed the governorship from Orr, the first radical legislature met in Columbia on July 6, 1868. Three days later, the General Assembly ratified the fourteenth amendment, and on the 24th, General Canby relinquished his authority to the civil government. After that date, “Federal soldiers … in South Carolina acted merely when requested by the civil government to uphold its authority.”[55]
The state’s money was scarce during this often-called “Era of Good Stealings,” and those new county officials in many instances had a difficult time collecting their meager salaries. K. T. Morgan, a magistrate at Cheraw, wrote to Governor Scott on the advice of Johnson and Shrewsbury that the state owed him twenty dollars, which had been due January 1, 1868. Writing that he was “a poor and affected old man,” he hoped that the governor “might perhaps … pay in Bills receivable at 70 cents on the Dollar. Which I will take if I can get nothing else, it will do to pay my tax.”[56]
The whites of Chesterfield County began to grow fearful of the new rights and freedoms afforded the blacks. These fears were heightened further in the spring of 1868 when a freedman, Ephriam Moore, was accused of raping Harriott Stanley, a white woman. Alfred Lowry, a highly respected former Confederate soldier, informed Governor Scott that Moore had been living in the woods near Cheraw for the past five years, robbing whenever he had the chance. Since Moore had relatives scattered throughout the area, the sheriff could not catch him, much to the upset of the white women.[57] Governor Scott responded by issuing a reward for $150 for Moore’s arrest. Lowry again wrote the governor some nine months later asking that the reward be raised since Moore still had not been apprehended and had become “a terror to the neighborhood.”[58]
The schools of Chesterfield County began to make progress in 1868-69. The Report of the State Superintendent of Education for 1869 showed four public schools in operation. Taught by four male teachers, three whites and one black, these schools were attended by 139 pupils, 59 whites and 80 blacks. Of this 139, 55 were girls and 84 were boys. Counting both public and private schools, the county had eleven. Most of these were small log buildings in bad condition usually owned by a farmer and attended by children from the surrounding area. At Cheraw, a school for blacks was operated with support from whites from New England and Southern freedmen.[59]
There still was much physical “reconstructing” to be done in Chesterfield County in 1869. The county supply bill, presented before the House of Representatives on March 19, 1868, made note that the courthouse was still “in ruins”; the jail had been partially rebuilt, but was “still unfit for use”; and the sheriff, clerk of court, and probate judge had “no safe or suitable office wherein to keep their books, papers, and records.”[60] In almost every part of the county, the highways were in an “impassable state,” and bridges were “broken down, in some places entirely gone.” Signed by commissioners G. W. Duvall, John Evans, and W. E. Craig, the supply bill estimated that the county would need $13,400 to operate from November 1, 1868 to November 1, 1869. The largest request was for $2,100 to go toward the “repairing of bridges, roads, etc.”
“One of the interesting undertakings” of the General Assembly in 1869 was the creation of the Land Commission.[61] Its motive was to buy large tracts of land or unused plantations and then resell them in smaller lots of not less than twenty-five acres to black settlers who would then pay the state on the “installment plan.” “The importance of land to the former slaves cannot be exaggerated since land was the principal form of wealth in the South and owning property was the only effective means by which the freedmen could achieve lasting economic equality.”[62] With the coming of the Land Commission, “thus was inaugurated a scheme which throughout its workings constituted one of the great frauds that helped to fix the character of Republican Rule in South Carolina.”[63]
The senator from Chesterfield County, Robert J. Donaldson, became actively involved in the Land Commission, serving as an agent and as a sub-land commissioner. He saw the “experiment” as an “instrument for the protection of the up-country Negroes.”[64] Realizing that freedmen did not make up a majority of the population in many of the up-country counties, he urged that vast tracts be purchased so that “colonies” of large numbers of black Republicans could be established. It also was his belief that these colonies would not only back Union sympathizers, but also Negroes from North Carolina in so great a number as to be a threat to the Democrats. Senator Donaldson planned for such a colony on land in Chesterfield County known as the Wadsworth property, which was owned by Henry J. Fox.[65] The senator convinced State Land Commissioner C. P. Leslie of his idea, and upon the recommendation of Donaldson, the state purchased five tracts from Fox for $36,488. The tracts contained 4,556 acres and were deeded by H. J. and Clarinda S. Fox to C. P. Leslie on March 1, 1870[66] with the deed’s having been recorded on September 7, 1870. Since Donaldson had been a partner of Fox, he naturally enjoyed a share of the profits. Earlier, Donaldson had been instrumental in the purchase of 2,462 acres from D. and S. Wadsworth for $8,000. This land was deeded by the Wadsworths to Leslie on December 2, 1869, but was not recorded until February 4, 1871.[67] As shrewd as Donaldson was, he admitted that his opponents were “Cunning and farseeing”[68] but little did he know that one day those very opponents would be able to use his shady dealings to benefit their own cause.
The year 1870 was an election year, and much of the county’s energies were spent in activities connected with the election. Early in April, the Chesterfield Democrat, a weekly newspaper read by about five hundred people[69] nominated Henry Shrewsbury for Congress. In an article quoted verbatim by other papers around the state, the Democrat stated, “We take the responsibility, without the least hesitation, of nominating Henry L. Shrewsbury for representative in Congress from the First District.” The article continued, “He is now a member of the Legislature from Chesterfield, and his record is as good as any other member of that body. His qualifications are: honesty of character, propriety of conduct, and fidelity to the interests of his race … It is said of him that he resisted indignantly all of the corrupting influences at Columbia, and we know that he has exerted himself zealously and courageously to guard his people from imposition, and vindicated their claims to decency and respectability. He is intelligent and understands the true interests of all classes of our people [who are] endangered by the arts and schemes of unprincipled adventurers, against whom he has taken a decided stand.”[70]
The whites generally were united in the feeling that Governor Scott and his party should be driven out of power, only “there was much difference of opinion among [them] as to the best mode” of doing such.[71] A group of newspaper editors met in Columbia on March 16, 1870, to discuss the situation and to try to reach workable conclusions. These editors decided that their best bet was to call a statewide convention of both blacks and whites to nominate a state ticket “which, while assuring equal and exact justice to all, [would] afford some degree of security, prosperity, and good government.”[72]
Responding to the call, delegates from every county, except eight, met in Columbia on June 15th. E. F. Malloy was Chesterfield’s delegate. The convention labeled itself the Union Reform Party of South Carolina, and after much discussion, passed a resolution to nominate candidates for governor and lieutenant governor. Judge R. B. Carpenter, a Charlestonian, was nominated for governor, and Matthew C. Butler, a Confederate general from Edgefield County, was nominated lieutenant governor. A full Union Reform ticket also was nominated for each county. In hopes of getting the black vote, often a black was included as a candidate for some lesser office such as county commissioner. Chesterfield’s Henry McIver served on the Reformer’s state executive committee, of which J. B. Kershaw of Kershaw County was chairman.
Likewise, the Republican Party held a state convention in Columbia on July 26th, nominating Scott for Governor and Alonzo J. Ransier, a black, for lieutenant governor. Both parties then “proceeded to an energetic canvass.”[73]
In Chesterfield County, the Union Reformers gradually began to gain in strength and support to such a degree that when the Reformers held their stump meeting at the courthouse on September 7, 1870, “the people were out in full force.”[74] Judge Carpenter and General J. D. Kennedy made speeches before the “largest gathering that … assembled in the town since before the close of the War.”[75] While on the stump, Carpenter exposed the Donaldson-Fox land swindle. Calling Donaldson “a model scalawag,” the gubernatorial candidate pointed out that Donaldson was “senator, revenue collector, commissioner of elections … and the ruling spirit of the ring.” He continued in the same vein, bringing out that Donaldson had made a large fortune from the bribes he had received while serving in the Senate, thus enabling him financially “to bribe the people to vote for him.” Getting back to the land issue, Carpenter disclosed to his avid listeners that the land, which Dr. Fox and Senator Donaldson had sold to the Land Commission for more than $36,000 had cost them only $10,000.[76]
The company left Chesterfield after the speech making and made their way to Cheraw where they met with Col. J. W. Harrington, a planter from Marlboro County, and then spent the night at Dr. Cornelius Kollock’s house.[77] There was no speech planned for Cheraw, but a crowd gathered expecting to hear something. Realizing this to be an opportunity to further the Union Reformers’ ideals, Judge Carpenter made an impromptu speech to the crowd of around four hundred of both races. After being “received with applause,” he explained to the blacks the Reform Party’s platform and “shewed (sic) up the character of the men who [had] misled them in the past.”[78] About Shrewsbury and Johnson, the black members of the House of Representatives, Carpenter praised their work and declared that “they had the honesty and manhood to preserve their dignity in the mass of corruption that surrounded them.” According to an observer, the crowd cheered at those words. Then Col. Harrington in a “brief, but pointed” speech that “had a chilling effect upon the audience,” exposed even more about Donaldson’s unscrupulous activities. The colonel revealed that in Marlboro County, Senator Donaldson bought some 800 acres from a Mr. Gooch for $7,750, yet demanded a receipt for $10,000. That then became the amount the state had to pay Donaldson. The land proved to be very poor for farming, valued at less than $3.00 per acre, yet the blacks had to pay the state more than $12.00 per acre.[79] After making these assertions, Col. Harrington called for an adjournment.
Without a doubt, Donaldson realized that the Union Reformers were picking up a significant following. He knew that the heaviest concentration of blacks was near the Pee Dee River, and in a move, that he thought might bring the Republicans more votes, he consolidated two voting precincts, establishing the single one in the densest Negro settlement. The new precinct was more than thirty miles from the white settlements, making it almost impossible for the whites to exercise their voting rights.[80]
Despite Donaldson’s efforts at gerrymandering, the Union Reform Party carried the county in the 1870 election. In the Senate race, Donaldson received 947 votes to the Reformer Gideon Walker Duvall’s 1,067. (The total number of registered voters was 1,222 whites and 819 blacks.) Duvall was a native of Prince George County, Maryland, who had come to South Carolina about 1835. His first wife was Caroline Powe Ellerbe, widow of Thomas Ellerbe. After her death, he married her sister, Sarah Rebecca Powe. His previous public service had included membership on the Soldiers’ Board of Relief from 1861 to 1864 and a term as Commissioner of Roads.
In the governor’s race, the county gave its support to Carpenter. He totaled 1,092 votes to the Republican incumbent Scott’s 945. For lieutenant governor, General Butler’s votes tallied 1,094 to Ransier’s 947.
Four candidates ran for two seats in the House of Representatives. There were two Reformers, M. J. Hough and B. C. Evans, and two black Republicans, William Littlefield and J. P. Singleton. Hough and Evans received 1,067 and 1,069 votes respectively. Singleton won the votes of 928 voters while Littlefield was at the bottom of the ticket with 912 votes. In other races, Dr. S. E. Lane lost out as school commissioner to Dr. T. E. Lucas, 1,070 votes to 943. Dr. Lucas’ relative, W. J. Hanna, was elected coroner, having no opposition. Another relative of Lucas and Hanna, W. E. Craig, along with John Evans and S. G. Godfrey, were elected county commissioners. The three losers in the commissioners’ race were B. C. Cassidy, W. H. Scott and Alexander Brown. K. Craig was elected probate judge 895 votes to Hugh Craig’s 199.[81]
The Republicans did not take this chain of events lightly. In retaliation, when the General Assembly convened on November 22, 1870, they contested the election. Duvall’s seat in the senate was contested and the matter sent to the Committee on Elections on November 28.[82] The house members’ seats were contested on November 30, and likewise, the problem was sent to the Committee on Elections.[83] After much consideration by both the Senate and the Committee, Duvall was allowed to keep his seat.[84] Unfortunately for the Reformers, Hough and Evans were unseated on February 3, 1871, by a resolution passed by a vote of 53 to 25. In their places, the blacks, Littlefield and Singleton, were seated.[85] Possibly out of spite, on Littlefield’s first day in the legislature, he announced that he intended to introduce “on some subsequent day, a Bill to change the County seat of Chesterfield County, from Chesterfield C.H. to Cheraw.”[86] He must have realized the folly of such an idea, for the Senate Journal contains no further mention of such a bill.
It was during the campaign of 1870 that the Ku Klux Klan became active in South Carolina.[87] The Klan had its origins in Tennessee in 1866, according to Wallace, and “is said to have existed in South Carolina from 1868.”[88] In Chesterfield County, the whites had already been forming “armed bands of men” as early as 1867. After the October election, the “conduct of the negro (sic) militia became everywhere worse,” and at first the Klan made their raids “chiefly to quiet the negroes (sic) by letting them know that the whites had some sort of organization and were otherwise ready to defend their persons and their homes.”[89] As time progressed, matters grew worse.
In January 1871, at the Union County Court House, Matt Stevens, “an inoffensive white man who had lost an arm in the Confederate service,” was shot to death by some of Governor Scott’s Negro militiamen.[90] The whites were alarmed and naturally took steps to prevent such a repetition. On January 4, 1871, the Klan members, in full disguise, went to the Union County Jail and seized five of the soldiers charged with the murder of Stevens. Two were killed. On Friday, February 10, 1871, plans were made to move the eight remaining prisoners to Columbia the following Monday. Thinking “this was a scheme to shield the prisoners from the just consequences of their crime,” the Klan visited Union again on Sunday night, February 12th. This time, numbering more than 1,000, they shot the prisoners to death, “retreating as quietly as they had come … their movements marked by a precision which was well-nigh military.”[91]
There was trouble in other counties, and the governor was urged by Chesterfield County’s Col. E. B. C. Cash to “Go at once in person to Laurens, Union and other counties where there is violation of Law and Order. Carry Generals Chesnut, Kershaw, and Butler with you. Your presence will do more to restore order than all the troops this poor state can muster.”[92]
Cash was calling Governor Scott’s attention to Klan activities in other counties while in his own county the Klan was beginning to become a problem. The Chesterfield Klan was active in the spring of 1871, killing a man and his wife and daughter. B. F. Whittemore, a carpetbagger senator from Darlington County, described the incident to Governor Scott as follows:
On Sunday night, the 16th [of April] a party of men disguised, went to the house of Robert Melton, a peaceable farmer, a native of the State, who has been identified with the republican (sic) party and called him out under some pretense and then fired upon him; his wife and one of his daughters came to the door at the same time. Mrs. Melton was killed at once – the daughter mortally wounded and Mr. Melton shot through the bowels so … that he cannot recover. After perpetrating their barbarous outrage the murderers quietly rode away.
Things in the neighborhood of this bloody scene are in a alarming state; but a short time since Dr. [S.E.] Lane, an English gentlemen who has recently come to that part of the county, was visited and threatened by the Ku Klux; and it is presumed, had he been at home on this bloody Sunday night he too would have been a victim of their inhuman hate and lust.
I enclose letters from Dr. Lane and Dr. [Henry] Fox who were on their way to Old Store [present-day Pageland] from Cheraw, and when hearing of the murders, they dispatched a special messenger to me with them. I trust a body of troops may be sent to Chesterfield for the protection of the people.[93]
When the news of the “outrage” reached Governor Scott, he had his private secretary dispatch a message to P. F. Spofford, Sheriff of Chesterfield County. The message informed Spofford that if the situation were not “rectified,” the governor would be forced to “organize a sufficient military or constabulatory force for the county … as will suffice for the efficient defense and protection of the lives and property of citizens and the maintenance and enforcement of the law.”[94]
Simkins and Woody describe the typical Klansman as a “low type,” classifying them as “uncultured whites.”[95] They also quoted Governor Orr, who viewed the hooded riders as “reckless young men, without a great deal of standing in their community.[96] The Ku Klux Klan of Chesterfield County, according to a lady writing to a northern newspaper, did not fit this pattern at all. She described the Klan as not being “composed of border ruffians, but its members are from what might be called ‘respectable families,’ and the different bands are always headed … by a gentlemen; many of the members are ex-Confederate soldiers and officers, and the organization and discipline is perfect.” She did “not think their strength and power are at all understood in the North.” In fact, she continued, they were “the supreme law.”[97]
Crime and trouble brewed all during the summer. John Kershaw, editor of the Camden Journal, had his own theory of the cause of the trouble. After reporting a murder that had taken place in Chesterfield, in a sermon-like tone, he wrote, “Crime has assumed fearful proportions of late, and in most instances can be traced to the influence and use of that most disastrous enemy of the human family, strong drink.”[98]
All during 1871, President U.S. Grant kept his eye on South Carolina. As early as March 23, in a message to Congress, he told of conditions “in some of the States … rendering life and property insecure and the carrying of mail and the collecting of revenues dangerous.”[99] Later, as a group from South Carolina went to Washington to complain of the Ku Klux Klan and its activities, the result of which was a congressional investigation. Major Lewis Merrill, an officer in the Army, was sent to York County to study the state of affairs. Satisfied that a “condition of lawlessness and terror existed” in the counties of Newberry, York, Chester, Fairfield, Spartanburg, Laurens, Union, and Chesterfield, Grant demanded on October 12, 1871 that the “insurgents” cease and desist. Five days later, on October 17, deciding that the “rebellion” had to be overthrown, the president suspended the writ of habeas corpus in those counties.
No sooner had Grant made his proclamation than the federal authorities began a series of mass arrests of alleged Klan members. A Kershaw County newspaper likened the events to the French Revolution, dubbing the period as an “absolute reign of terror,” since “many persons [were] leaving their homes in order to avoid arrest.”[100] A bit of advice, as usual, was given, and people were reminded that “it cannot last always, and hence the more quiet we remain the sooner the heavy hand will be withdrawn.”[101] The Klansmen in Chesterfield County were successful in evading being caught, for no arrests were ever made.[102]
The public school system grew during the 1870’s. In 1872, Chesterfield County was divided into eight school districts supported by an apportionment of $2,672.50 and a poll tax of $1,464.00. There were fifty-three schools attended by 1,671 students, as opposed to seventeen schools and 355 students in 1850. Thirty-five teachers taught the alphabet, spelling, reading, writing, mental arithmetic, geography, English grammar, and United States history. The teachers were paid an average monthly salary of $30.50. [103]
Another general election was held in 1872. The voters of Chesterfield County supported F. J. Moses, Jr. for governor over Reuben Tomlinson by a vote of 620 to 271. R. H. Gleaves received 621 votes for lieutenant governor to J. N. Hayne’s 239. In the state treasurer’s race, F. L. Cardozo took 622 votes and E. F. Gary won 184. In the House of Representatives race, of the incumbents Littlefield and Singleton, only the latter chose to run, and he was at the bottom of the ticket with 587 votes to John Jefferson’s 614, W. W. Spencer’s 900, and A. M. Lowry’s 891. After the defeat of Singleton, Chesterfield did not have another Negro to hold state office. P. F. Spofford was re-elected sheriff with no opposition. A member of the “old guard,” W.L.T. Prince, as elected school commissioner, defeating Dr. S. E. Lane, a friend of the Republicans, 912 votes to 606. In a landslide victory, Thomas F. Malloy was elected clerk of court with 1,530 votes to John E. Evans’ two votes. Hugh Craig, who lost the election of 1870, ran again for probate judge against the former coroner, W. J. Hanna, and was defeated again 871 to 653. Those running for the county board of commissioners along with their total number of votes were: H. C. Rakestraw, 622; D. Douglas, 1522; Alfred Burch, 616; Edward Clark, 911; Stephen Jackson, 856; and, J. F. White, 33. H. D. Tiller was elected coroner with 910 votes to G. W. Brewer’s 617.[104]
In 1872, more was said about the Land Commission’s dealing in Chesterfield County. An investigation was instigated, and J. E. Green investigated the land in Chesterfield. His report to the secretary of state showed that the land was “one vast sand-bed from one end to the other, and if sold for $1.00 per acre no set of people under Heaven could raise enough to pay for it.”[105] Green also requested the attorney general to examine the “doubtful titles.”
After this, R. J. Donaldson was virtually finished in Chesterfield County. He operated a general store in Columbia from 1873 to 1875. Later, he moved to Georgetown County where he purchased 10,000 acres of Hobcaw Barony and began to plant rice. He died November 21, 1894, at Georgetown and was buried in a private cemetery in Hobcaw Barony.[106]
In December 1873, W. L. T. Prince resigned as school commissioner. Donaldson, who was a trial justice after losing his Senate seat, had resigned his office in February of that year and had asked Governor Moses to appoint Prince his successor since Prince met with the “approval of a majority of the Republicans in the Cheraw Township.”[107] T. L. Watson, chairman of the Republican Party in Chesterfield County, requested the appointment of I. S. Singleton to fill Prince’s unexpired term. Donaldson also sent a recommendation for Singleton to the governor. Moses appointed Singleton, but did not appoint Prince, instead giving a Mr. Capers the position as trial justice. Singleton was black, and there is evidence that Capers was also. These appointments certainly did not suit the white Democrats in the least.
When Governor Moses wrote E. B. C. Cash the following January asking for advice on any “matter of particular interest to the people of Chesterfield County,” Cash straightforwardly wrote that Singleton and Capers were “wholly unfit for the difficult positions” and felt “perfectly satisfied that [Moses] was deceived by false representations.”[108] According to Cash, Singleton was a “negro (sic) of some smartness,” but was “constantly under the influence of liquor.” His character was “so bad that the best class of negro refuse to vote for him.” Likewise, Capers was “without education.” Cash believed that if it were Moses’ desire to appoint only persons “belonging to the Radical party” he would have “no difficulty in finding some very good men in the county.” “Since the county [was] overwhelmingly Democratic,” Cash urged Moses to “appoint some suitable persons without regard to their political creed.” The lengthy letter ended with Cash’s telling Moses that he felt the governor was under the impression that those who did not vote for him were his enemies, and that his only safety was in appointing members of his own party. That, according to Cash, was not true at all.
The election of 1874 was a victory for the Conservatives in Chesterfield County. S. W. Evans and J. W. Harrington attended the Conservative Convention in Columbia on October 8. The Conservatives nominated William A. Evans, postmaster at Hornsboro, for state senator and David Townley Redfearn and J. C. Coit as members of the House of Representatives. The Radicals called themselves the Independent Party and tried desperately to secure votes by placing the names of respected Democrats on their ticket. This was done without the knowledge of the Democrats, and when it was discovered, notices such as the one below were printed and circulated throughout the county:[109]
TO THE PUBLIC
The undersigned would state that his nomination for School Commissioner by the Republican Convention was made without his solicitation or consent, and that he declines to be a candidate for said office.
J. FLETCHER GRANT
The Conservatives capitalized on the Independents’ scheme, and in a handbill, “To the Conservative Voters of Chesterfield County,” they declared that the Radicals had “overreached themselves in their great anxiety to accomplish their infamous designs, and their dirty work. Their ticket with all that was decent and honest … struck off, signally [failed] to accomplish its intended purposes.”[110] And in a tone of praise, the handbill ended by asserting that there was “too much sense, too much intelligence in our country to be caught in a trap set in a manner so silly and stupid.” The list of accusations against the Independents was signed by G. W. Duvall, John S. Miller, W. W. Spencer, S. Jackson, and E. M. Wells.
When the votes were counted, the Conservatives won in the legislative races, but the Independents carried the county in the executive races. D. H. Chamberlain was elected governor.[111]
The closing years of Reconstruction went rather smoothly for Chesterfield County. There were but few letters written to Governor Chamberlain, and those dealt mainly with minor things such as a request to be a notary public or the receiving of a pardon notice by Sheriff Spofford.
The year 1876, however, was an entirely different matter. The Democrats were tired of Reconstruction and Republican rule and were determined to do something about it. A statewide Democratic convention met in Columbia of May 4, 1876, to consider nominations. Chesterfield sent W. A. Evans, D. S. Miller, J.L.M. Irby, and Alexander McQueen as delegates. McQueen was elected vice-president of the convention.[112] After meeting only two days, the convention was adjourned in hopes that “there might be further enrollment of the white voters in the Democratic clubs and further opportunity for discussing among the white people, the policy to be pursued by the party in South Carolina.”[113]
On August 15, 1876, the Democratic voters met again at the state capital “to announce a platform of principles, nominate state officers and electors … and to consider other such business as may be brought before it.”[114] W. W. Spencer, J. S. Miller, and Colonel J. W. Harrington represented Chesterfield County. It was at this meeting that General Wade Hampton was nominated as the Democratic candidate for governor, a wise move “which settled all differences among the white people of South Carolina.”[115]
On the 26th, at Cheraw, “the Democrats held the greatest meeting … ever seen there to that time. All business was halted and everybody who could walk or ride went out to cheer for Hampton.”[116] Chesterfield County was behind Hampton all the way.
On September 12th, Governor Chamberlain finished his preliminary campaign for reelection by making a speech at Cheraw. Hampton’s cavalry was on hand to follow orders, but it had been instructed “to put on the soft and pleasant pedal and give no pretext for the Governor to pose before the country as a martyr.”[117] Chamberlain and J. H. Rainey spoke before a crowd of flawlessly decorous listeners. In fact, it was reported that “no Sunday School picnic could have been nicer than this affair, managed by a thousand or so men equally ready to behave like sweet little girls or to ‘storm all hell for Hampton,” according to orders received.”[118] After the Republican speeches, J. S. Richardson and Col. Henry McIver answered for the Democrats, “with perfect courtesy.”[119]
Three days later, Hampton himself visited the county, stopping first at Cheraw where he was a guest of Col. J. W. Harrington. The Chesterfield people “insisted that he was good as elected and that to call him otherwise than ‘Governor’ was evidence of faint heart and perverse mind.”[120] There was a meeting held on the town green across from the town hall at which Alexander McQueen presided. Speaking in addition to Hampton, were General J. B. Kershaw, Colonel E. W. Moise, and Leroy F. Youmans. That night, a well-attended parade and speaking was held especially for blacks and was addressed by the same speakers, with Colonel J. S. Richardson closing.
The next day Hampton was escorted to Chesterfield by a regiment of mounted men marching to the music of a band. “At the courthouse a Tilden and Hampton flag was hoisted on a pole seventy-two feet high, and the town was found all in a flutter with flags, banners, transparencies and people pouring in on every road.”[121] The same speakers who had spoken at Cheraw did so again at the courthouse. The crowd was estimated at around three thousand, and included in the count were some from North Carolina who put the flag of Zebulon Vance, Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina, alongside the Hampton flags.
As had been expected, when the election results were tallied, Hampton carried the county. J. C. Coit and David Townley Redfearn were returned to their seats in the House of Representatives, and after a short time of “dual government,” the county began a period of readjustment under Hampton.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Primary Sources
A. Manuscripts
Governor B. F. Perry, Letters Received, June 30, 1865 – November 29, 1865.
Governor J. L. Orr, Letters Received, December 1, 1865 –1868.
Governor R. K. Scott, Letters Received, 1868 – 1872.
Governor F. J. Moses, Letters Received, December 3, 1872 – 1874.
Governor D. H. Chamberlain, Letters Received, 1874-1876.
B. Newspapers
Bennettsville Journal, 1866 – 1868.
Camden Journal, 1867 – 1876.
The Cheraw Intelligencer and Southern Register, 1823.
The Yorkville Enquirer, 1870 – 1873.
II. Secondary Sources
A. Books
Blesser, Carol K. Rothrock, The Promised Land, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1969.
Reynolds, Emily B. and Joan Reynolds Faunt, Biographical Directory of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, Columbia: South Carolina Archives Department, 1964.
Reynolds, John S., Reconstruction in South Carolina, Columbia: The State Company, 1905.
Simkins, Francis Butler and Robert H. Woody, South Carolina During Reconstruction, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932.
Wallace, David D., South Carolina, A Short History, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1951.
Williams, Alfred B., Hampton and His Red Shirts, Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company, 1935.
Williamson, Joel, After Slavery, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965.
B. Others
Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, 1865 - 1876.
Journal of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, 1865 - 1876.
Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, 1865 – 1876.
C. Interviews and Correspondence
Correspondence with Dr. Lawrence Chesterfield Bryant, Professor of Education, South Carolina State College, Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Personal interviews with Mrs. E. F. Farmer, Chesterfield, South Carolina.
Personal interviews with William L. Perry, M.D., Chesterfield, South Carolina.
________________________________________
[1] David D. Wallace, South Carolina, A Short History. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1951. p. 556.
[2] John Porter Hollis, Early Reconstruction in South Carolina. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1905. p. 24.
[3] Wallace, pp. 709-711.
[4] Phillip F. Wild, South Carolina Politics 1816-1833. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1949. pp. 6-7.
[5] Ibid.
[6] The Cheraw Intelligencer and Southern Register. December 26, 1823.
[7] E. Milby Burton, South Carolina Silversmiths. Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1942. pp. 211-12. Both silversmiths are covered in this book.
[8] The Cheraw Intelligencer and Southern Register. June 5, 1823.
[9] W. A. Clark, History of Banking Institutions Organized in South Carolina Prior to 1860. Columbia: The State Company, 1922. p. 210.
[10] Ibid.
[11] United States Census, Social Statistics, 1850 and 1860.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] John S. Reynolds, Reconstruction in South Carolina. Columbia: The State Company, 1905. p. 3.
[15] Ibid. p. 7.
[16] Ibid. p. 10. The entire Amnesty Proclamation may be found on pp. 9-11.
[17] Francis Butler Simpkins and Robert F. Woody, South Carolina During Reconstruction. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1932, p. 35.
[18] Ibid.
[19] John Porter Hollis, p. 36.
[20] John S. Reynolds, p. 17.
[21] Persons “of color” were defined legally as those having one-eighth Negro blood.
[22] Simkins and Woody, p. 43.
[23] John S. Reynolds, p. 20.
[24] Emily B. Reynolds and Joan Reynolds Faunt, Biographical Directory of the Senate of the State of South Carolina. Columbia, S.C.: South Carolina Archives Department, 1964. p. 271.
[25] Reports and Resolutions of the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina, General Sessions of 1866. Herein cited as Reports and Resolutions.
[26] David D. Wallace, p. 556.
[27] Simkins and Woods, p. 29.
[28] South Carolina Resources and Population, Institutions and Industries. Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell, 1883. p. 473.
[29] Joel Williamson, After Slavery. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1965. p. 336.
[30] Dr. Lawrence Chesterfield Bryant. Dr. Bryant, Professor of Education at South Carolina State College, has done extensive work on Negroes serving in the legislature. This information came from the manuscript for an upcoming book.
[31] Thomas E. Powe to Governor James L. Orr, Cheraw, S.C., April 27, 1866. All letters to the governors of the period are filed by date in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
[32] J.C. Evans to Governor James L. Orr, Cheraw, S.C., August 23, 1866.
[33] Powe, op. cit.
[34] David D. Wallace, p. 570.
[35] The former Confederate states were divided into five military districts. South Carolina and North Carolina made up the Second Military District.
[36] Lewis P. Jones, South Carolina – A Synoptic History for Laymen. Columbia: The Sandlapper Press, Inc., 1971, p. 183.
[37] David D. Wallace, p. 568.
[38] Ibid.
[39] C.W.Dudley to Governor J.L. Orr, Bennettsville, S.C., May 1, 1867
[40] John S. Reynolds, p. 73.
[41] The Camden Journal, July 25, 1867.
[42] John C. Evans to Governor J.L. Orr, Cheraw, S.C., June 4, 1867.
[43] Ibid. August 1, 1867.
[44] Ibid.
[45] Magistrate J.W. Harrington to Governor J.L. Orr, Cheraw, S.C., June 7, 1867.
[46] Ibid.
[47] The Bennettsville Journal, October 25, 1867.
[48] Proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of South Carolina. Charleston: Denny & Perry, 1868.
[49] Ibid.
[50] David D. Wallace, p. 573.
[51] Because of its large population, Charleston was allowed to have two senators.
[52] David D. Wallace, p. 574.
[53] Reynolds and Faunt, p. 206.
[54] Dr. Lawrence Chesterfield Bryant
[55] David D. Wallace, p. 575.
[56] K.T. Morgan to Governor Robert K. Scott, Cheraw, S.C., October 12, 1868.
[57] Alfred Lowry to Governor Robert K. Scott, Cheraw, S.C., March 3, 1868.
[58] Ibid., December 7, 1868.
[59] Reports and Resolutions, 1869.
[60] Ibid.
[61] Lewis P. Jones, p. 184.
[62] Carol K. Rothrock Bleser, The Promised Land. Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, 1969. p. xiii.
[63] John S. Reynolds, p. 120
[64] Carol K. Rothrock Bleser, p. 40.
[65] Ibid.
[66] “Report of the Land Commission,” Reports and Resolutions, 1871-72.
[67] The author can find no explanation for the delay in recording the deed.
[68] R.J. Donaldson to Governor Robert K. Scott, Oro, S.C., October 21, 1869.
[69] The Ninth United States Census, 1870, Social Statistics.
[70] The Charleston Daily Courier, April 5, 1870, quoting the Chesterfield Democrat.
[71] John S. Reynolds, p. 139.
[72] Ibid.
[73] Ibid. p. 146.
[74] “Report from Correspondent following the Reform Campaign,” The Charleston Daily Courier, September 9, 1870.
[75] Ibid. All further quotes and descriptions of Carpenter’s speeches both in Cheraw and Chesterfield are from this same source.
[76] Also, Carol K. Rothrock Bleser, p. 71.
[77] Dr. Kollock was one of the county’s most distinguished and respected citizens, having studied medicine in the United States and Paris. A biography of Dr. Kollock can be found on Page 304 of Edward Gray, Jr.’s Cyclopedia of Eminent and Representative Men (Madison: Bryant & Fuller, 1892).
[78] The Charleston Daily Courier, op. cit.
[79] Carol K. Rothrock Bleser, p. 71.
[80] The Charleston Daily Courier, September 9, 1870.
[81] All election data are from “Abstract of Election Returns for 1870,” Reports and Resolutions, 1870.
[82] Journal of the Senate of the State of South Carolina, November 28, 1870. Herein cited Senate Journal.
[83] Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of South Carolina, November 28, 1879. Herein cited House Journal.
[84] Senate Journal, December 20, 1870.
[85] House Journal, February 3, 1871.
[86] Ibid. February 6, 1871.
[87] David D. Wallace, p. 580
[88] Ibid.
[89] John S. Reynolds, p. 183.
[90] Ibid.
[91] Ibid.
[92] E.B.C. Cash to Governor Robert K. Scott, Cash’s Depot, S.C., and January 13, 1871.
[93] B.F. Whittemore to Governor Robert K. Scott, Darlington, S.C., April 19, 1871.
[94] New York Times, April 28, 1871, (page 8, column 3.)
[95] Simkins and Woody, p 460.
[96] Ibid.
[97] New York Times, July 3, 1871. Although the writer gives neither her name nor county since she was “not anxious to receive a visit from [her] Ku Klux neighbors,” the author believes she was reporting from Chesterfield County since she reports of the murder of a man, his wife, and daughter, probably the Meltons, having recently taken place in the county from which she was writing.
[98] Camden Journal, September 11, 1871.
[99] See John S. Reynolds, p. 463.
[100] Camden Journal, October 19, 1871. Also, The Yorkville Enquirer.
[101] Ibid.
[102] John S. Reynolds, p. 200.
[103] “Fourth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Education,” Reports and Resolutions, 1872.
[104] “Abstract of Elections Returns for 1872,” Reports and Resolutions, 1872-73.
[105] J.E. Green to F.L. Cardozo, Columbia, S.C., September 14, 1872. Cited in Reports and Resolutions, 1871-72. See also, J.S. Pike, The Prostrate State, p. 155.
[106] Reynolds and Faunt, p. 206.
[107] R. J. Donaldson to Governor F.J. Moses, Columbia, S.C., February 1873
[108] E.B.C. Cash to Governor F.J. Moses, Cash’s Depot, S.C., January 11, 1874.
[109] The notices may be found in documents in the Auditor’s Office, Chesterfield County Courthouse.
[110] The author owns one of the original handbills. Another may be found with the McBride Plantation Ledger, Auditor’s Office, Chesterfield County Courthouse.
[111] John S. Reynolds, p. 283.
[112] Ibid. p. 340.
[113] Ibid. p. 344.
[114] Ibid. p. 347.
[115] Ibid. p. 355.
[116] Alfred B. Williams, Hampton and His Red Shirts. Charleston: Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company, 1935. p. 109.
[117] Ibid.
[118] Ibid.
[119] Ibid.
[120] Ibid.
[121] Ibid.
Excellent copy/paste skills. Bravo!
Colonel Stephen Jackson (1808-1887)
Stephen Jackson was born February 12, 1808 in Chesterfield District, South Carolina, the son of Henry A. Jackson and Mary Blakeney. He was the grandson of Colonel Stephen Jackson who acquired the nickname “Killing Stephen Jackson” during the Revolutionary War in regards to his exploits during that period. His maternal great grandfather was Captain John Blakeney, a Captain of Militia during the Revolutionary War.
He married Roxanna Timmons (June 28, 1814 through June 7, 1902, daughter of Isaac Timmon and Sarah Davis). They were the parents of seven children: Maximillan Frank Jackson, who married Susannah Burch; Henry Andrew Jackson; Henrietta Francis Jackson , who married William M. Burch; Louisa Jane Blakeney Jackson, who married Isaac S. Huntley; Susanna Jackson, who married Wesley J. Redfearn; Mary C. Jackson, who married Pickett Laney; and William Stephen Jackson.
Stephen Jackson was one of the most influential men of his era in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Very wealthy, he often signed security bonds for neighbors and was appointed guardian ad litum for many of the areas minor children and legal cases. He was a leader in the Chesterfield County Secession Movement in 1860, and was the speaker who called for a vote on leaving the Union November 19, 1860. He was a delegate from Chesterfield County to the South Carolina Secession meeting in Columbia, South Carolina, and was signer for the Ordinance of Secession.
Tradition states that General Sherman placed a reward for his arrest on him when the Union Army was present in the County in 1865. After the war, Jackson was a member of the State Legislator for ten years, was Sheriff of the County for eight years, and Chairman of the County Commission for ten years. He died November 16, 1887, and was buried in the family cemetery near the North Carolina line. Unfortunately, in recent years, that cemetery was destroyed being plowed under by a local farmer. Those buried there are now remembered by the placement of a granite marker at nearby Elizabeth Baptist Church in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. (found at: Chesterfield County, SC Genealogical Services http://www.pigggenealogy.com/colonel_stephen_jackson.htm)
I didn’t say that I actually read any of that flotsam & jetsam, just that it was mighty darned impressive of ya.
And thanks for being so concerned about my life, and you’re right - talking to LCL’rs on the intarweb is pretty much a total waste of time.
I also noticed, reading the piece, that the population figures between 1840 and 1880 show a pretty consistent rate of growth. What was it that you said the census figures would show?
Finally, I noticed that the article gives a great deal of detail about the activities of the Klan in the area. Far more, in fact, than it dedicates to Sherman's March, from which, you'd have us believe, the area never recovered, lo, this century and a half later.
Next time why not just post the link?
Nothing quite like tradition masquerading as evidence is there?
Yap Yap yapyapyapyap grrufff bark YAP !!
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