Camden Roots

By Ted Rockwell Tosh

Cedars Cemetery in Camden, South Carolina, dates back to plantation days. The earliest marked gravestone is dated 1839, a descendent of Bonds Conway, and over 1,500 gravestones mark the area. However, hundreds more are unmarked. The location survey, which took six months, resulted in connecting local families whose histories had been lost in time. The revelations of those buried at Cedars have made publishing of Camden Roots a necessary addition to the history of South Carolina by acknowledging the contributions of African Americans to the history of Camden, Kershaw County, and the state of South Carolina.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662432750

Book preview

Chapter One

People of Color

Here is an American story of Irish immigrants who settled in Camden, South Carolina. They married, raised families, and added to the fabric of the town and the county. To this day, the Price House stands as an example of the resilient effort made by these women, their husbands, and children. Not to be forgotten.

Part One

Sarah Beckham, white, came to the United States from Ireland with two daughters:

Charlotte Johnson, born 1833

Jane Johnson, born 1832

Depending on what year they migrated (had to be after 1833, as both children were born in Ireland), there could be several reasons to leave Ireland. To leave Ireland, an island, they would first have to go to Scotland, if they lived in the north or Wales if they lived in the south of Ireland. Then on to England, ship to America, then Charleston?

In 1821, King George IV visited Ireland and instructed his government to pass Catholic relief bills to remove restrictions on those of the Catholic faith. Within six years, the Irish people, mobilized by the Catholic Association led by Daniel O’Connell, made the Catholic question no. 1 on the minds of British Parliament. Protestants, a.k.a. Orangemen, controlled Parliament and agreed to a Catholic relief bill that provided the state pay to Catholic clergy and raised the electoral franchise in Ireland to disqualify forty-shilling voters. By March 1827, over a hundred thousand attended meetings in Dublin, and throughout the country, over five million attended. The Catholic Association boasted of ten thousand members and £2,000 a week in collections.

Throughout the island, ultra-protestants were gathering. All other types are uninteresting now, we hear and speak nothing but politics. The very cabin children that run out in their rags to stare at the passing travelers cry, High for O’Connell. At the Catholic chapel, in front of the platform, the commonest people from the streets were collected in great numbers, and if the speaker in his speech was at a loss for words, he would hear a proper word suggested by five to six voices of this beggarly audience. Ireland appeared on the brink of another revolution. By 1832, Chartists, Anti-Corn Law Leagues, and English trade unions grew out of this.

Most marriages in Ireland before 1850 were mostly teens, and if they wanted to be educated, they had to learn English. English religion killed Gaelic language; it was no longer written. The Industrial Revolution in England was basically ignored where the Shamrock curtain, woven by Nationalists and the clergy of Ireland, held them back.

The Irish starved during the potato famine of the 1840s despite the fact they were an island surrounded by the greatest fishing grounds in the North Atlantic. Other vegetable roots such as turnip were unknown, and the forests that could have been used for the making of boats had virtually been cleared in the seventeenth century for fuel. Since then, peat, a partly decayed and moisture-absorbing plant found in ancient bogs and swamps, was used as fuel. Peat briquettes were used in the home for heat. Over 160,233 dwellings were built before 1860, and a hundred years later remained, 35 percent rented.

Primary schools were not established until 1831, and children were required to attend from ages six to fifteen years old. It wasn’t until 1850 that the first Irish college was opened, and John Henry Newman established a Catholic university in 1854.

Certainly, there were many good reasons to leave Ireland. From 1845 to 1849, over two million people died or emigrated from Ireland, 25 percent of the population.

Part Two

The possibility of Sarah Beckham and her children leaving Ireland depended on finances. Indentured service was customary at that time. Country girls would go into service as domestic help or work on farms or with livestock. The passage would be in steps, no one-way ticket to America. Passage began a long tiresome and expensive journey, but many found their way, mostly settling with family that had previously made the trip, and they settled throughout America.

In the 1850 Kershaw County census, they are not listed. However, a William Johnson, and his wife, Jane, both forty-five years old and born in Ireland, lived in Camden with their children, William (eighteen) and John (sixteen). There are three reasons why this family was probably instrumental in Sarah and her daughters coming to Camden.

Their children are the same age. Charlotte, in 1850, would be eighteen and Jane sixteen.

William Johnson’s wife, Jane, has the same name as Sarah’s daughter Jane, something families did to honor relatives.

They are the only Johnsons listed in Kershaw County in the 1850 census and from Ireland. In the July 1850 slave schedule, William Johnson lists two slaves, a female (fifty-five) and a male (eight years old) who could be John Johnson, listed as a person of color in 1865 Kershaw County tax listing, being between the ages twenty-one to sixty.

William Johnson, born in 1813, is listed in Kershaw County tax records of September 1860 as owning $2,000 in personal estate, born in Ireland. Despite the Civil War in 1870, he is worth $3,000 retired.

Part Three

Charlotte Johnson, daughter of Sarah Beckham, married Theodore John Levy (1835–1868), who was a German Jew from Charleston, South Carolina, and they had six children:

Elizabeth Levy, born 1856

Death no. 3546 Chester County: Elizabeth L. Dibble, born July, 21, 1856. Died March 20, 1934. Daughter of Theodore Levy and Charlotte Levy. Husband, Andrew H. Levy Jr. Informant, Mrs. J. D. Martin. Burial at Camden Cemetery.

Cary Levy, born 1858

In 1880 census: Sarah, white, thirty-five. Children: Joseph, four; Nancy, nine. Sister Cary, twenty-two; brother Charles, fifteen.

In 1940 census: Carrie Levy, eighty-two, white, widowed, lives Atlantic City, New Jersey. Mother of Harry H. (fifty-nine) and Frank (fifty-one).

Sarah Levy, born 1859

In 1880 census: Wilson Williams, twenty-four. Son of Wilson and Mariah Williams. Occupation: blacksmith. Lives in Winnsboro, Fairfield County. Sarah, twenty-one, wife.

In 1880 census: Sarah Williams, white, thirty-five. Children: Joseph (four) and Nancy (nine). Sister Cary (twenty-two), brother Charles (fifteen).

In 1900 census: Wilson, forty-four. Occupation: blacksmith. Sarah (forty), Cassie W., born October 1893. Theodore L., born September 1895. Eugene H., born December 1898.

In 1910 census: Sarah (fifty), Carrie W. (fifteen), Eugene D. (eleven). Three children born, two living.

In 1920 census: Sarah Williams (fifty-five), widow, lives in 906 Market St. Occupation: innkeeper.

Lives with daughter Willa C. Harrison, born October 22, 1894, and died February 7, 1982, and her husband, Joseph Harrison. Their children, Sadie H. Brown, Joseph, adopted daughter Edna B. Cook.

Death no. 12707: Sarah Williams (sixty-one), died August 25, 1936, in Kershaw County, widow. Daughter of Theodore Levy and Charlotte Thompson. Informant: Eugene Williams.

Death no. 775: Eugene Levy Williams, born December 9, 1899. Died January 18, 1962. Son of Wilson Williams (born August 1855) and Sarah Levy (born September 1859). Informant: Willa C. Harrison. Burial at Camden Cemetery.

Prudence Louise Levy, born 1861

In 1880 census: Theodore Levy (seventeen), mulatto, son of Charlotte Levy (forty-eight), Prudence (seventeen).

In 1900 census: Lived Clinton Court, Worcester, Massachusetts. All listed as white. Louise (thirty-nine), wife of Harry C. Elliot (thirty-nine), married 1881. All eight children born before 1900 and living: Lillian (seventeen), Edith (sixteen), Harry C. (fifteen), William T. (thirteen), Ida (ten), John (nine), Ethel (three), Catherine (one).

Harry Chester Elliott Jr. married Kate E. Prophet, 1904, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Death no. 4, January 1, 1906, Worcester city hospital, stillborn daughter of Elliot C. Jr. and Kate Prophet. Burial in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Death no. 1505: Charles Elliot, one year five months old. Died tb July 18, 1908. Son of Harry Chester Elliott Jr. and Kate E. Prophet of St. Albans, Vermont. Burial in Worcester, Massachusetts, July 23, 1908.

WWI registration September 12, 1918, Harry Clay Elliot Jr. Lives 13 Bancroft Street, Worcester, Massachusetts. Thirty-four years old, Negro, born September 26, 1883. Occupation: barber. Employer: Harry C. Elliot Sr. at 103 Front St. Mother, Prudence L. Elliot.

In 1910 census: Prudence L. Elliot, forty-eight, born 1862, South Carolina. Lives in Belmont St., Worcester, Massachusetts. Father born in Germany, married to Harry C. Elliot, twenty-six years. Number of children born eight, living five: Ida (twenty), Edith (twenty-five), John B. (twenty), Ethel (twelve), Catherine (ten).

Lillian E. Elliot, twenty-six, married Archibald Guin, fifty-one, at Worcester, June 10, 1909. Daughter of Harry C. Elliott and Prudence L. Levey, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Death no. 854: Edith Elliot, twenty-five, Bliss Street, Springfield, Massachusetts. Born July 28, 1882. Died June 25, 1910. Occupation: nurse. Mulatto, single. Daughter of Harry Elliot (born Camden, South Carolina) and Prudence Levy. Burial in Worcester, Massachusetts, sudden death, playing ball. Informant: James E. Bowen, 53 Margaret Street.

WWI registration: John D. Elliott, Co. C 550th Engineer Corps. Mother, Mrs. Prudence L. Elliot, 13 Bancroft St., Worcester, Massachusetts. Embarkation November 12, 1918, Brooklyn, New York, Camp Humphrey 550th Engineers Co. C by vessel Patria; shipped from Brest, France, June 30, 1919; arrived July 10, 1919, vessel Saxonia.

SS Index: Prudence L. Levy and Harry C. Elliott. Child, William Theodore Elliott.

SS Index: Prudence Levy and Harry Elliot. Child, John Depew Elliot.

Delayed birth certificate November 7, 1955, Dephew Elliot. Lives in Massachusetts. Son of Harry Elliott and Prudence Levy (both deceased, born Camden, South Carolina). Witnessed by M. L. McLain, eighty.

Theodore Levy Jr., born March 28, 1862. Died January 20, 1917, Orangeburg County

Headstone: Theodore J. Levy, born Camden, South Carolina, March 28, 1862. Died January 20, 1917. Ella Naudin Dibble, born May 30, 1865. Died June 1, 1913. It’s a twelve-foot-high monument with a life-size angel on top holding the Bible, metal fenced exterior. Also inside the enclosure is Wilhelmenia Levy, born May 16, 1893. Died May 23, 1893.

In 1880 census: Theodore Levy (seventeen), mulatto, son of Charlotte Levy (forty-eight) and Prudence (seventeen)

Orangeburg, South Carolina, city directory 1907: Theo J. Levy (Ella), barber at 20 S. Middleton St. Lives in 114 E. Amelia.

In 1910 census: Theodore (forty-nine), Ella N. (forty-five), Ellie N. (twenty-two), Elizabeth C. (twenty-one), Eugene D. (nineteen). Lives in E. Amelia St., Orangeburg, free house. Occupation: barber.

Charles Levy, 1865

In 1880 census: Sarah, white, thirty-five. Children: Joseph (four) and Nancy (nine). Sister, Cary (twenty-two). Brother, Charles (fifteen).

In 1880 census: Charles C. Levy, twenty-two. Born in Camden, single. Occupation: Huenalin

Part Four

Jane Johnson, daughter of Sarah Beckham, who was Scotch Irish, had two children with Henry McLain. Their son (A) George was born September 9, 1846; daughter (B) Martha, 1847; and later (C) Moscow S., 1856, father unknown (white).

Death no. 8894: George Weston McLain Sr., born September 9, 1846. Died May 27, 1917. Son of Henry McLain and Jane Johnson. Occupation: barber. Informant: J. D. McLain.

George Weston McLain Sr. first married Rebecca Anna Deas, born in 1849.

In 1880 census: George (thirty-four), Rebecca (thirty), Tom D. (ten), Jennie M. (nine), Minnie L. (eight), Janie T. (five), George (three), Daisy K. (two), Bertha W. (five and twelve months). Jane Johnson (fifty-four) lives with them.

Chronicle, December 12, 1889, "Death of a good woman.

Mrs. Rebecca McLain, wife of the popular barber, George McLain, died at her home in Camden Monday morning. She was about 40, a member of the M.E. Church and well-liked by all, white and colored. Mother of 12, the youngest being a baby of only a few days old. Died as a result of childbirth.

GW McLain Sr.’s second marriage in 1891 was to Elizabeth Calcock Lloyd, born 1858.

In 1900 census: George (fifty-three), Lizzie (thirty-six). Number of children born, five, living, five. Lillian (nine), James (eight), Ideline (six), Eartha (four), Alwilda (two). Living with them Jane McLain (seventy-one), mother of George, and his children by Rebecca: John Deas (thirty), Janie (twenty-eight), Loulee (twenty-six), Julia (twenty-four), George Jr. (twenty-two), Daisy (twenty-one), Bertha (eighteen), Annie (sixteen), Natlee (fifteen), Maggie (thirteen)

Jane Johnson McLain dies in 1907.

In 1910 census: George Sr. (sixty-three), Elizabeth (fifty), John (forty), Minnie L. (thirty-six), Annie (twenty-four), Natine (twenty-three), Maggie (twenty-two), Lillian (twenty), James (sixteen), Alwilda (twelve), Ideline (fifteen), Otis (nine).

In 1914 Camden City directory: GW and Sons (GW, GW Jr., and JD McLain) barbers, located at 1047 Broad, considered as the oldest operation in Camden, 47 years.

GW McLain lived in 1413 4th Ave. (Lyttleton St.) with James, John Deas, and Lizzie, occupation: dressmaker. Lula, occupation: hairdresser.

In 1915 Natalie Mclain (twenty-eight) married Thomas Levy Jr. (fifty-three), first cousins, becoming his second wife. His first wife was Tenah. They were married in 1897. She died in 1906.

In 1920 census: Lizzie (fifty-eight), widow; Minnie (forty); Janes (twenty-eight); Alwilda (eighteen); Otis (sixteen).

In the 1925 Camden City directory, the McLain Barber Shop is now owned by Walter Wright, and John Deas McLain works there. Widowed wife, Elizabeth. Occupation: dressmaker. Lives in 1413 Lyttleton with Alwilda. Occupation: teacher, and Lula. Occupation: hairdresser.

Death no. 21111 Richland County Good Samaritan hospital: John Deas McLain born January 9, 1870. Died November 1, 1924. Occupation: barber, Son of George W. McLain and Anna Deas.

Death no. 4233: Anna R. Collins, forty-nine, died March 17, 1935. Daughter of George W. McLain and Anna Rebecca Deas. Wife of Amon R. Collins. Burial in Camden Cemetery.

Delayed birth certificate August 15, 1942: Alwilda Withers McLain, born August 4, 1898. Lives in Trenton, New Jersey. Daughter of George W. McLain (deceased) and Elizabeth C. Lloyd. Lives in 1116 Campbell St. Witnessed by Minnie L. McLain (sixty-five) and A. R. Collins (sixty).

Death no. 16299 Orangeburg, South Carolina, September 1, 1963: Daisy B. Taylor, divorced. Occupation: teacher. Eighty-three years-old, daughter of George McLain and Rebecca Deas. Informant: George Collins of Camden, South Carolina.

Martha, born 1847

In 1860 census: Jane Johnson (forty), Martha (fourteen).

In 1870 census: Jane Johnson (fifty-four), son Mosian (fifteen).

In 1880 Kershaw County census: Jane Johnson (sixty-two), white, widowed. Son M. S. (Moscow) Johnson, born 1856, born in Georgia. Occupation: laborer. Both identified as deaf & dumb. A daughter, M. S. (Martha) Thimle, born 1847, widow. Occupation: seamstress. Grandson John G. Thimle (seventeen), middle name of George. And the initial S. for Moscow could be a clue to his father’s identity.

Moscow, born 1856.

In 1900 census: Moscow S. (forty-four), Eleanor F. (thirty). Mother, Jane Johnson (sixty-five), dies 1907.

In 1910 census: S. M. (fifty-three), Ellen (thirty-eight).

In 1920 census: Moscow (sixty-one), Eleanor (forty-nine). Lives in Rutledge St. Occupation: retailer of petroleum.

In 1930 census: Mosco (seventy-two), Eleanor (fifty-nine). Occupation: retailer of peanuts.

In 1940 census: Moscow S. (seventy-eight), Eleanor (sixty-nine), lives in 1002 Market St.

Buried at Quaker Cemetery: Moscow S. Johnson, born May 13, 1856, in Georgia. Died July 21, 1946. And buried beside him is his wife, Eleanor Wilson Johnson, born January 25, 1870. Died March 13, 1963.

Death no. 8436 Kershaw County, Camden: Moscow Johnson (ninety), white male, lived in 1002 Market St. Was a retired retail merchant. Married to seventy-six-year-old Eleanor Wilson. Died July 21, 1946, parents unknown. Informant: AC McKain, manager of JC Penney Co. Buried in Quaker Cemetery, July 22, 1946. Dr. George S. Rhame attended the deceased six months from January 1946 until death.

Obit: Mrs. Ellen W. Johnson (ninety-three). Died in Camden hospital Wednesday. Widow of Moscoe S. Johnson, daughter of Henry and Louisa Howell Wilson. Survivors: three nieces; Mrs. JC Cox; Mrs. EE Murray, both of Camden; Mrs. BL McNeely of Cassatt. Two nephews, JE McKain and AC McKain of Camden. Pallbearers: McCrady Dunlap, Freeman Shealy, Kenneth McNeely, Joe McKain Jr., Dickie Cox, and Martin Price.

Mrs. Johnson purchased the plot at Quaker in 1946 when Moscow died. Not until 1990 was perpetual care arranged by Richard Tiller of Camden, South Carolina. Mr. Tiller told me his mother was Mrs. JC Cox, remarried. Her first husband was Haskell C. Tiller, both buried at Quakers.

Part Five

Theodore John Levy Sr. (1835–1868), husband of Charlotte Johnson, was the son of Lucretia Wilson, white, a native of Germany who died November 14, 1859.

When his father died, Lucretia remarried and had two mixed-race sons: James S. Price (died November 14, 1859) and Richard Price.

James Price Jr. (sixty) died November 10, 1915. Son of James Price and Ellen Sammons. Informant: William Price, Kilgo, South Carolina. Ellen Simmons, born 1830, died January 1870, pneumonia. Lived in DeKalb. William Price born 1881, married Jane Gary on January 18, 1936.

Richard Price, born July 1837, was one half to Theodore Levy Sr. (white) in 1865 Kershaw County tax list. He’s listed as a person of color, PC. No assets, two dollars poll tax levied as being between twenty-one to sixty.

In 1865, he married Susan McDowell, who was mixed. Mother was white. They had eleven children.

In 1870 census: Richard (twenty-eight), Susanna (twenty-six), Luerita (nine), Edward C. (three), Elizabeth C. (three months). Occupation: butler.

In 1880 census: Richard (forty) born in South Carolina. Father born in Africa. Occupation: keeps restaurant. Susan (thirty) born in Virginia, Lucretia (fifteen), Edward (eleven), Florence (seven) (Fannie), Richard (five), Eugene (four), Robert (one).

In 1900 census: Richard (sixty-two) born July 1837. Occupation: painter. Susan (fifty) born August 1849. Florence (twenty) born February 1880. Occupation: teacher. Robert (seventeen born August 1882. Eleven children born, five living.

Susan Price bought the store (Price House) at a sheriff’s sale in 1902 for $675, lot no. 183. She already owned lots no. 184, no. 185, and no. 187. The house was originally built by a planter and was abandoned.

In 1910 census: Richard (sixty-nine), Susan (fifty-eight), Florence H. (thirty-two). Eleven children born, four living. Married forty-five years.

In 1920 census: Susan (sixty-five), Florence (forty). Occupation: grocery merchant. Daughter of Florence: Henrietta Belton (thirteen).

In 1930 census: Susan (seventy-eight), Florence (fifty-two). Occupation: retail merchant. Lived in 752 Broad St.

Death no. 9163 Kershaw County, Camden: Susan Price (ninety-two). Widow, died April 30, 1937. Born in South Carolina. Unknown parentage. Informant: E. L. Price of Nashville, Tennessee.

WWI registration September 12, 1918, Eugene Levy Price, born March 16, 1878. Son of Lucretia Price. Lives in 1030 N 6th St. Nashville, Tennessee. Next of kin: Mabel Pauline Price. Occupation: merchant tailor.

In 1920 census: Eugene L. (forty-one), Mabel P. (thirty-eight). Mother-in-law, Pauline Chadwell (sixty), born in Tennessee, widowed, mulatto. Father born Pennsylvania. Occupation: music. Children: Ruth L. (thirteen), Eugene Jr. (twelve), Edward (eleven).

In 1930 census: Eugene L. (fifty-two), Mabel P. (forty-five), Eugene Jr. (twenty-two) (E. L. Price Jr., born July 11, 1882, died March 1969 in Nashville, Tennessee).

Delayed birth certificate May 2, 1942: Margaret Ellie Naudin, born January 14, 1879. Lives in 15 Elizabeth St., Worcester, Massachusetts. Daughter of Wyatt Naudin (fifty-six at death) and Rachel Carter (thirty-five at death). She married Joseph Oswell, November 7, 1898, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Buried at Hope Cemetery. Witnessed by R. D. Dibble (seventy-seven), Lucretia Price English (ninety).

Death no. 23242 Nashville, Tennessee: Eugene L. Price Sr. (sixty-six), died November 24, 1944, married, lived in community forty-four years. Born March 16, 1878, in Camden, South Carolina. Occupation: tailor. Son of Richard Price and Susan McDowell, both born in Camden, South Carolina. Buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville (no photo). Informant: Mabel Price. Lives in 122 14th Avenue N.

Death no. 606 Kershaw County, Camden: Lucretia English, widow, sixty-seven. Died January 25, 1948. Lived in community twenty-five years. Lived in 752 Broad St. Daughter of Richard Price and Susan McDowell. Informant: R. H. Price. Burial in Camden Cemetery, January 29, 1948. Florence, daughter of Richard, and Susan Price was born 1873 and died in her eighties in 1955.

Part Six

To further connect the two families, the burial stone inscriptions tell a story.

Tombstone inscription for James Price:

In the 22nd year of his age, an affectionate son and brother, his death has created a void that can never be supplied.

Tombstone inscription for Theodore Levy:

In the 32nd year of his life, a devoted husband and father, his death an irrepairable loss long will be remembered in the hearts of his mourning relatives and friends.

Part Seven

But these questions remain.

So what happened to Sarah Beckham?

She travels to America with her children, Johnson’s, without their father?

Does her husband join her later?

Does she go west with William T. Johnson like so many in search of better lands?

Does Jane Johnson go west with her children and her mother after Jane’s husband dies?

And when Sarah dies in 1896, did she return to South Carolina to be buried with her children?

Based on Jane Johnson’s South Carolina firstborn in 1846, George, they were living in Camden before that. Her husband, Henry McLain, does not appear in the 1850 Kershaw County census. However, Jane’s third child, Caucasian, Moscow, was born in Georgia in 1856, and it placed them there.

If Sarah migrated westward, as many Kershaw County residents did, she could have settled in Georgia.

In 1850 Washington, Georgia, census: Sarah Beckham (thirty-four) lives with the William May family (white) who own twenty-eight slaves. William is Sarah’s age (thirty-four). His wife, Rachel, is thirty-five. Both born in Georgia. Children: John H. (twenty), Jabez (eighteen), Richard (sixteen), William Jr. (fourteen), Edmund (twelve), and Martha (five). By 1860, they had added another son, Temperance (seven).

Surviving the Civil War, his sons in the Confederate Army, William May lived to 103 years old and died May 14, 1919, in Giles, Washington County, Georgia.

Who appears in the August 5, 1870, Catos, Washington County census but William Johnson of Camden and in 1880. He and wife, Jane, both seventy, live in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

So there was a connection to the Johnsons of Camden and the Mays of Giles, Georgia.*

And what happened to daughter Martha S. and her son John G. listed in the 1880 census?

Thimle? Could be a colloquial concoction of the census taker? I never found neither. My guess is Martha remarried and they adopted her new name.

In summary, the lives of people in their times who came to America, settled, married, and raised families that have contributed to the prosperity of Camden, Kershaw County, and South Carolina.

Every time I drive past the Price House, across the street from Mount Moriah Church, at the corner of York and Broad Streets, I think of their history, previously, until now untold.

---

* Giles and Catos are just five miles apart.

Chapter Two

104th United States Colored Troops of Kershaw County

Part One

On July 1, 1862, Rufus B. Saxton was named military governor of South Carolina, and for the next three and a half years, he strove to defend the territory and bring peace among the whites and their slaves. A native of Deerfield, Maine, a graduate of West Point, and a career officer in the army, he was transformed by the war. On the eve of conflict, he was a plain-mannered, middle-aged, settled bachelor of unpronounced political views seen as a handsome figure in dress uniform, with black hair and luxurious English whiskers and mustache. His father had been an enthusiastic abolitionist, but Saxton took the post out of loyalty to the government and said, I was educated in its school and for its service and I thought it my business to do whatever it required.

On August 25, Saxton journeyed to Washington, DC, and was ordered to arm five thousand Negro troops. He returned in mid-October to South Carolina with a sense of importance and urgency as a test experiment to see if Negro troops would defend themselves. If successful, he could then enlist them as they became liberated, and the proclamation of emancipation would become a more terrible and effective weapon against the South.

African Americans were compelled to travel to the South Carolina coast once Union occupation occurred from 1862 on. However, the majority of recruits came from plantations on the coast and inland towns affected by the Civil War. Those 101st and 102nd USCT units were formed shortly thereafter, and the 103rd after the Union Army and navy controlled most of the lower state. As General Sherman moved through Columbia and Camden in the fall of 1864 on his March to the Sea, ex-slaves followed for safety and provisions. On the morning of February 18, 1865, General Potter, who commanded 2,700 Negro troops, including the 103rd USCT, came from Georgetown and met Sherman eighty miles inland at Camden. When the Negro troops left Camden, a great many ex-slaves followed. Eyewitnesses complained, Great numbers of servants went off from town, really crazy from excitement and the parade, as well as the idea of going to Charleston in carriages. Her mother said that two male servants had gone and, we believe, Mary and several others would have done, save that they got there too late and were turned back by our men. Chloe and Judy do not deny it, but the former said, If she had known in time that her son Thomas was there she would have gone.

Martin R. Delany was sitting in President Lincoln’s office at the White House. He had been waiting to see the president for some time. He was born in Charlestown, Virginia, in 1812, and his pride of birth is traceable to his maternal as well as paternal grandfathers, native Africans, on the father’s side, pure Golah. On the mother’s, Mandingo. His father’s father was a chieftain, captured with his family in war, sold to the slavers, and brought to America. He fled from slavery in Virginia with his wife and two sons, born to him on this continent. And after various wanderings reached Little York, as Toronto, Canada, was then called. The old chief, his father, was afterward said to have lost his life in an encounter with some slaveholder who attempted to capture him into submission. On his mother’s side, her father was an African prince, from the Niger valley region of Central Africa, and was captured during hostilities and brought to America with his betrothed, Graci. His name was Shango, surnamed Peace, and he was able to obtain his liberty and return to Africa, but his wife, Graci, who also