USA > South Carolina > Williamsburg County > History of Williamsburg; something about the people of Williamsburg County, South Carolina, from the first settlement by Europeans about 1705 until 1923. > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
"We have examined the bonds of the various officers required by law to give bonds and we find them entirely insufficient. The roads and bridges in the County are in a bad condition and in some instances almost impass- able. Some of them have not been worked in two years. The poor farm we have not been able to visit owing to a press of other engagements and to its distance from the village of Kingstree. As it is an institution of very
444
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
recent origin, we have not been able to ascertain anything definite as to the number of inmates or the manner in which it is conducted, but we look upon it as an insti- tution of very doubtful propriety, as we fear it is cal- culated to do more harm to the County than good.
"In conclusion, we regret that there are and have been for some time past evidences of lawlessness in the County in which persons unknown to the Grand Jury have taken the law into their own hands for the redress of their ag- grievances, which has produced in the County a feeling of insecurity and unrest, which is calculated to prove injurious to society. To correct these demonstrations or to guard against them, we are informed that many persons do congregate on each night at various cross roads and bridges with arms in their hands. It is calcu- lated on each side to make matters worse than they now are, instead of correcting any supposed grievances. We believe in a time of peace that all violations of law should be submitted to the proper tribunal for the redress which the offended law does provide, and we therefore condemn all such demonstrations as inexpedient and dangerous to the very existence of society and peace of the country, all of which is respectfully submitted."
"On motion of Solicitor S. T. Atkinson, it was ordered that copies be served on all concerned and that the solici- tor take as early steps as possible to institute such pro- ceedings as may be necessary to bring to trial and punish- ment the several county officers and all persons that may be implicated in the official misconduct and corruption reported by the Grand Jury. Finally, it was ordered that a certified copy of the presentments be made by the clerk and be sent to His Excellency, the Governor of the State."
In 1867, the Williamsburg County Jail was burned. Within it were twenty-seven negro prisoners who perished in the flames. Sometime during the night, the one white prisoner incarcerated at the time set fire to the floor of
445
RECONSTRUCTION
the building, burning a hole therein, through which he alone escaped. Before the cries of the negro prisoners were heard, it was too late to save them. Their destruc- tion was the most pathetic circumstance in the history of the County.
For seven years, under this Republican rule, Williams- burg County had no jail. Its offenders against the law were sometimes crowded into one of the offices of the Court House and there locked up, allowed to roam the streets at will or in charge of highly paid negro guards, or imprisoned in neighboring county jails. The cost of transporting the average prisoner to and from a jail in Charleston or Georgetown during this period was sixty dollars.
After the county jail had finally been completed at the usual Republican cost, the Grand Jury of 1875 re- ported that "There has been a great negligence upon the part of those charged with the custody of criminals and offenders against public peace and welfare." It finds that "in other respects the officers of law charged with the safe custody of criminals have been guilty of negligence or malfeasance and especial references are made to the escape of one Bill Shaw, convicted of a grave offence and sentenced to the penitentiary; also to the escape of one Charles Cooper, charged with murder, who was taken from the jail by the jailer and other persons in charge of the jail, without sufficient authority or warrant of the law, and carried to the Salters Depot on the North Eastern Railroad and there allowed to escape. Another prisoner, Tom James, confined in the jail on a charge of larceny, was suffered to go outside of the prison walls without a guard and thus effected his escape. These va- rious instances of escape mark a course on the part of the officers of the law that seems to the Grand Jury to be criminally negligent and the public welfare demands, and the good order of government requires, that a strong
446
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
investigation into the conduct of these public servants be made."
Spring term, 1875, the Grand Jury reported that al- though the County Commissioners have power to grant license to retail spiritous liquors in not less quantities than one quart, it is generally the habit of the county merchants all over the County to sell liquor by the drink.
November term, 1875, it said: "Our people find it dif- ficult with the exercise of the greatest economy to make by agricultural pursuits a subsistence, and they earnestly look to and reasonably expect those who have the power to make the laws to exercise their best efforts to secure a good and economical government." This came after the statement, "This large sum proved insufficient to meet the obligations of the County incurred during the past fiscal year."
Presentment of Grand Jury, November term, 1876: "Since the last session of this honorable court, a com- mittee of the Grand Jury, assisted by three citizens, has given fourteen days to inquiry into the county offices. Our attention has been confined to the office of the County Commissioners, School Commissioner, and the Treasurer. Our investigation reaches back but three years and covers but in part the transactions of those years. In the County Commissioners' office, we found 'confusion worse con- founded' so that to refer to everything to which exception might be taken would be an endless undertaking. We therefore cite a few cases from the many as examples for the consideration of the court."
This committee of three was composed of T. M. Gil- land, G. S. Cooper, and John E. Scott. The labors of this Jury and this committee saved the County many thou- sands of dollars and brought punishment to several gross malefactors.
There came out of Potter's Raiders to Williamsburg a Pennsylvania negro named Stephen A. Swails. It was
447
RECONSTRUCTION
not then known that he had been one of this band, but often suspected. Had it been known, the first one of at least a hundred men in Williamsburg who saw him would have shot him like a snake. Swails was an educated negro and had much natural ability. Almost from the hour of his arrival in Williamsburg until he was driven away by the outraged whites of the County, he had an un- canny influence over the negroes. He was elected the first senator from Williamsburg after the War and held this high office until South Carolina was redeemed from Republican rule. In 1872, Swails was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate and for nearly two years would have succeeded to the governorship of the State had anything happened to disqualify the carpet bagger in that chair.
There were no white people in Williamsburg who had been born here who were Republicans in this reconstruc- tion period. There were a few men who had served in the Confederate Army from other parts of South Carolina who settled here after the War and who became Republi- cans. These men filled the lucrative offices in the County during the reconstruction period. As a general rule, during this time, negroes were elected to the Legislature. A half decently honest man could not make any money out of the legislative offices.
As a general rule, Republican office holders gave re- spectful consideration to all of the natural ruling element in the County. They were, however, placed in office by the negro vote and were never forgiven by many men who lived during the reconstruction period. The county offi- cers of Williamsburg during the Republican rule were generally tolerable except from a financial standpoint and some of them were honest men. All of them, however, accepted what the Legislature allowed. The legislators of South Carolina from 1870 until 1876 seem to have done their utmost to confiscate all the property of the State
448
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
and to have placed all confiscated property within the reach of the politicians and office holders of their time.
The members of the Legislatures of South Carolina between 1870 and 1876 seem to have been able to buy any- thing which their fancies dictated and charge same to the account of the State. In 1871, the State of South Carolina paid for members of the Legislature under the item "sundries, wines, liquors, cigars, groceries, and dry goods, $281,514.50." These "black and tan" legislators bought, on credit of the State, Heidseck, Verzenay, Moet and Chandon champagne; Mozelle, Chateau la Rose, Chat- eau la Fitte, Madeira, and Malaga wines; Otard-du-Puy Brandy, French Cognac, Cabinet Rye, Best Kentucky Bourbon, and Holland Gin. They smoked Brevas, Por- tugas, and Conchas, the best imported cigars, at the ex- pense of the State. They fed themselves on Westphalia hams, Edam, Switzer, and English cheese, fresh Norfolk oysters, French chocolate, imported mushrooms, preserved ginger, gauva jelly, and brandied peaches on the account of the State of South Carolina. They bought Gothic chairs, marble top bureaus, finest plush velvet tete a tetes, English tapestry, Brussels carpets, Irish linens, Marseilles quilts, imported extra long silk stockings, whalebone, gold and diamond rings, and paid for them out of taxes col- lected by levies on the land in the State of South Caro- lina.
Printing the State laws from 1871 to 1873 cost South Carolina $1,160,565.00; newspapers for members of the Legislature during this period cost the State $19,749.00; stationery for the Legislature during the two years from 1871 to 1873 cost $108,865.39.
These unrestrained Legislatures were creating an im- possible condition in South Carolina when a tax payers' convention was called in Columbia on February 17, 1874. Delegates attended from every County in this State. This convention called attention to the existing conditions
449
RECONSTRUCTION
under Republican rule to all the world, and honest public opinion from outside the State gave much aid to the long suffering "natural ruling element" in South Carolina. The members of this taxpayers' convention from Williams- burg were James McCutchen, S. W. Maurice, N. M. Gra- ham, W. D. Knox, and T. M. Gilland.
Not only was the "bottom rail on top" during this re- construction period and everybody in the County angry nearly all the time on account of political conditions, but economic conditions were most serious. A majority of the large land owners in the County actually had diffi- culty in securing a sufficient amount of currency to pay their taxes. Taxes on land during this period were con- fiscatory. Samuel Ruffin Mouzon says that the taxes on a certain plantation which he owned were $14.00 under the military government after the War and on the same land were $400.00 a year during reconstruction under negro legislation.
About the only thing produced in Williamsburg for market was cotton. Little of this was grown during this period for the reason that the whites either did not know how to produce it or would not do manual labor, nor did the negroes sober up from their political debauch suffi- ciently to work. The negroes who cultivated cotton, as a general rule, rented land from their former masters and worked as little as they could, producing but nominal crops. The prices they obtained for cotton were consider- able. Just after the War, it brought $1.00 per pound.
What cotton was produced in Williamsburg during this reconstruction period caused more trouble in the County than everything else combined, within which is included, of course, the political disturbances. These negroes rented land, promising to pay the landlords out of the cotton grown on the land. As a general rule, these negroes were so careless in their working that their cotton crops amounted to little more than they had agreed to pay as
450
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
rent. Seed cotton then sold at high prices. The average negro then had a very uncertain conception of honesty. He had spent nearly all of his life as a slave and had been accustomed to regard himself as "Massa's negro" and whatever Massa had as belonging to him. Nero, of Indian- town, answered satisfactorily the austere Session of Elders when he was charged with theft by using this idea.
There were in the County a number of white merchants who could not resist the temptation presented when negroes offered to sell them seed cotton, even though they knew that these negroes had not paid their landlords. Nearly all merchants at this time sold whiskey, and it was a very easy matter to shoulder a small sack of seed cotton at night and barter it to one of these merchants for a quart of whiskey. Some of these unscrupulous merchants even sent wagons about the country at night for the purpose of buying this seed cotton from the ne- groes, knowing full well that the negroes had stolen it.
This illicit sale of seed cotton resulted in most serious consequences all over the County. The civil authorities had little or no control over the condition. Negro juries would seldom convict either the reprobate merchant who had bought or the less guilty negro who had sold. Fre- quently plantation cotton gins were burned. The land- lords exhausted all their legal remedies in trying to cure this situation without any appreciable results, except the burning of their cotton gins. It was then that the land- lords used some measures that were not sanctioned by law. Many of these thieving merchants were given severe beat- ings and were otherwise shown that they were undesir- able citizens. The great amount of trouble which the illicit sale of seed cotton has given in South Carolina explains the number and severity of the laws prohibiting its sale.
During this reconstruction period in South Carolina, when the negroes and their white leaders controlled and
451
RECONSTRUCTION
dictated the policy of all the agencies and functions of government, the "natural ruling element" could not have endured conditions had no Ku Klux Klan existed. This Invisible Empire which existed in the "Black Border" during the reconstruction was the most daring and suc- cessfully consummated scheme ever actualized. Clans were organized all over this section. While sometimes physical force was utilized by them, their great weapons were superstition and secrecy. That man who first reali- zed that a few good actors, hooded and gowned in the costume of "haunts," could control and absolutely and religiously determine the conduct of thousands of negroes deserves an imposing monument in Dixie. A few of these clansmen visiting negro congregations at night, and per- forming sleight of hand tricks and mystical rites, generally proved all that was necessary to make all the negroes of such communities conscientiously observe whatever law and procedure they understood these clansmen to require. While it may be true that this Ku Klux Klan used severe measures in some cases, it is highly probable that even more than ninety-nine per centum of its efficiency came out of the superstitious awe with which it was regarded by all of the negroes and a majority of the worthless, ignorant whites. There is nothing more beautiful in American history than the service the Ku Klux Klan rendered in the Black Border during the reconstruction period. This organization more than anything else made women safe.
When all things are considered, it will be realized that negroes behaved remarkably well during this reconstruc- tion period. They had just been freed by executive power, knew nothing of the rights and responsibilities of Ameri- can citizenship, nor had any of their ancestors reached the point they themselves held just before emancipation. There have been cases in history where men have been enslaved for a time and, when suddenly emancipated, be-
452
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
came worthy citizens. In these cases the races had reached a high degree of civilization before enslavement. The African negro had reached his highest development on the day of emancipation. By law African slaves in the South had been prohibited from learning how to read and write. A system of patrols had kept them on their respective plantations, reducing assembling and communicating among them to an inconsiderable minimum. When eman- cipated, they did not understand, they were "blasted with excess of sight," "drunk with sight of power." They had a vague, indefinable idea that they had been liberated by the Yankees, and probably a majority of them believed that their emancipation was a consummation desirable.
Immediately after emancipation there came among them that contemptible element that follows in the wake of armies to gather what it can from the helpless, dying, and the dead. These pale faced ghouls came and affiliated with the negroes, ate at their tables, slept with them, thus appealing through that strongest desire of all in- ferior races for social equality with a higher race. These indescribable things called white men gained a certain degree of influence among them. Further, these contempt- ibles, or by whatsoever name known, promised these ne- groes that the United States government would support them and would finally give them the lands of their former masters. They assured the negroes that they had but to possess the land, and that the Republican party would assist them in possessing it. These scallawags knew that Lincoln was dead and that there was no strong arm in the land to stay the fury of fanatical abolitionists. Per- haps some of their promises to the negroes had an iota of sincerity. These carpet baggers realized that there were more negroes in the State of South Carolina than there were whites, and they were satisfied that the national Congress, so long as dominated by fanatics, would make South Carolina a happy hunting ground for ghouls.
453
RECONSTRUCTION
Negroes labored during this reconstruction period as little as possible. They were taught to obtain from the whites everything they could. Their unmoral condition was largely responsible for their errors both of ommission and commission. This tendency on the part of the negroes as nearly as possible to take all and give none had a serious influence on the landlords of the County. Land- lords realized that their negro tenants endeavored by every means known to escape their commercial obligations. This knowledge and this continued practice on the part of negroes made many theretofore honest landowners swerve from the paths of righteousness in that some of them took all within their power from their negro ten- ants. The negroes at this time had a saying, "Naught's a naught, and five's a figger, all for the white man and none for the nigger." In a vast majority of cases, after the white men had computed the cost of feeding the negro all the year and added his rent, the proceeds of the negro's crop would not pay this amount. Sometimes, however, there was surplus which the negro should have received but which he did not get. The feeling that some few white landlords have in this year 1923 that they may make an inventory of what their negro tenants produce and take practically all is one of the most contemptible things the reconstruction period left in Williamsburg. There exists but a trace of this feeling, but the trace remains.
In 1876, the white people of the State of South Carolina realized that negro Republican rule in the State could no longer be tolerated and Scotch-Irish emergency action began. Many fanatical abolitionists had gone into the unknown between 1866 and 1876, and there was in the governor's chair in Columbia a former citizen of the State of Massachusetts, one of a high degree of intelligence and with some idea of righteousness. There have been times when it is said that even the Holy One "winked at things," and one can scarcely doubt now that Governor D. H.
:
1
454
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
Chamberlain really rejoiced at what South Carolina brought forth in that second '76. It must not be under- stood that Governor Chamberlain assisted the Democrats in South Carolina in forever redeeming the State from the rule of his party. It is true, however, that he might have done many more things than he did to have ham- pered and hindered that second Revolution in the State. He evidently looked on the desperate leaders of the white people with great admiration.
On December 23, 1875, the white citizenship of South Carolina began to write the last chapter in the history of negro domination in the State. Colonel Thomas Y. Simons, of Charleston, a member of the National Demo- cratic Executive Committee, summoned each member of the Democratic State Central Committee to a meeting in Columbia on January 6, 1876. This committee charged one man in every county in South Carolina with the organization of the party in every precint, ward, and town- ship in his respective county. These county organizers were charged with conducting the Hampton Redemption campaign of 1876. Captain Samuel W. Maurice was this man in Williamsburg. It was at this time that the Demo- cratic clubs were organized in every community in South Carolina, which Democratic clubs have dominated the political policy of the State until this time.
The Democratic State Convention met in Columbia on May 4, 1876, although the white people were in the mi- nority, to nominate and elect a "straightout" Democratic ticket. Prior to this time, some of the best men in the State had believed it expedient to compromise with the Republicans and thus secure the election of the best man from that party for governor. From Williamsburg, the members of this May convention were T. M. Gilland, James McCutchen, W. H. Nettles, and Thomas R. Greer.
A second convention was called for August 15, 1876, for the purpose of announcing a platform of
455
RECONSTRUCTION
principles, nominating candidates for state offices for the Democratic party, and for considering such other business as might come before it. From Williamsburg in this convention were W. H. Kennedy, S. T. Cooper, and J. A. May. It was this convention that nominated General Wade Hampton for governor and adopted the Democratic platform on which the white people of South Carolina stood and regained control of the State.
Williamsburg County was one of the Black Border counties of the State, so called for the reason that the blacks far exceeded the whites in number. While nearly every white native in every county in South Carolina did his absolute utmost during the campaign and elec- tion in 1876, the white people in these Black Border counties, of which Williamsburg was one, must be re- graded as "first among equals" in their heroic endeavor and abundant accomplishment.
There was in Williamsburg in 1876 only one white native born Republican, and he shall be nameless here for- evermore. Usually when a long contemplated action is consummated on a broad field, some men on account of their peculiar fitness and valor are outstanding in their services. Every native white man in Williamsburg, save one, in 1876 gave himself absolutely to the redemption of the State from negro domination, and whatever in- equalities there may have been in effectiveness were due to differences in the power of individuals. Red Shirt organi- zations were formed in every part of the County. Cap- tains of these bodies of men are even now, forty-seven years thereafter, justly proud of their titles. John A. Kelly, Esq., Captain of the Kingstree Red Shirt Company, and General Hampton's special officer for combat in the County, reveres his Red Shirt title beyond all others that he merits. The ancient cannon now on the Court House square in Kingstree was sent here for his use on the elec- tion day in November, 1876. Captain G. P. Nelson loaded
456
HISTORY OF WILLIAMSBURG
this cannon on that day with a keg of nails and kept it pointed down Main Street, where thousands of negroes were congregated. It is said that Captain Nelson held his hand on the fuse of that cannon all day long and prayed most fervently from sunrise until sunset that some negro would "start something" that would give him an oppor- tunity to drive those nails home.
Late in the afternoon on that election day, Major S. D. M. Byrd, of Scranton, then commanding the Red Shirt Company in his section of the County, considered how very calmly and quietly the election had been conducted in his precinct and feared that something might be going wrong in Kingstree, so he and his hundred red-shirted men began a forced march to Kingstree, arriving at the Court House just about the time the polls closed. Major Byrd was then in the fullness and splendor of manhood, six feet six inches tall, straight as an Indian, and powerful as a Roman gladiator. When he arrived at Kingstree, everything was very quiet. He was charged for action, so he hurried to the polls on the second floor in the Court House and, gathering one of the negro judges of election by the collar, carried him suspended at arm's length to the door, and kicked him clear the steps to the ground. This incident created no diplomatic disturbances. It simply gave zest to the day.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.