President Grant Visits Beaufort

New Year's Day 1880 brought an unexpected treat to local residents. Former President and Union General Ulysses S. Grant was coming to town - and on the anniversary of Emancipation Day no less! 

When he left the presidency, Grant embarked on a world wide tour with his wife Julia and son Jesse. They spent about 2 1/2 years visiting most of Europe, some of the Mediterranean countries, Scandinavia, East Asia, China and Japan. Along the way, he met a host of political leaders and royalty including Queen Victoria, Emperor Meiji, King Leopold II and Pope Leo XIII.  

Map by John Russell Young / artist: Kemp - Book: Young, 1879. Around the world with General Grant,  Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64169613

When Grant returned to the United States, he rested for only a short time before he embarked on a cross-country tour visiting Chicago, Kentucky, Ohio, and Philadelphia before heading southward. (1) He left Augusta, GA at 11 AM on New Year's Day 1880 via the Magnolia Route heading towards Savannah (2) with an eye towards catching a steamer in St. Augustine Florida to book passage for Cuba. 

Grant in 1879 (Library of Congress)

According to Wise and Rowland, Grant was the most famous passenger who ever rode the Port Royal Railroad. Accompanying him on the trip were his wife, their son and his aide, Col. Fred Grant, Gen. and Mrs. Philip Sheridan. (3)

Col. Grant sent a telegram from Augusta to Congressman Robert Smalls that the group would be arriving in Beaufort on the "Down Train" that very afternoon. Beaufortonians sprang into action. A committee was formed. (4) When the train arrived at 3:30 PM the town was festooned and ready to fete the presidential party. (5)

An arch with "Welcome" spelled out in evergreen boughs was near the Depot - as approximately 3000 enthusiastic residents cheered. Local militia and naval personnel lined Bay Street as the Presidential party toured the town in the best carriages that could be hastily assembled for their use.  Wise and Rowland wrote that the welcome reflected "Reconstruction Beaufort in that blacks and whites, Union and Confederate veterans, northern merchants and southern professionals came together for the good of the community." (6) 

At the Sea Island Hotel all the local notables were present: Congressman Smalls, William Elliott, James M. Verdier, J. W. Collins, P.E. Ezekiel, George Holmes, George Waterhouse, Moritz Pollitzer, George Gage, Joe Richardson, Dr. Henry A. J. Stuart, Commodore Thomas Pattison, Intendant (or Mayor) Alfred Williams and James Crofut, a Bay Street merchant, real estate investor, and auctioneer. (7)

                                    The Heyward House in 1864; It became the Sea Island Hotel                                                                    https://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:126658; (BDC Archives)

Crofut's wife, Ellen Chapman Crofut (1837 -1905) begins her 1880 diary with this observation about Grant's visit to Beaufort: 

                                          Ellen Chapman Crofut Diary, 1880 (BDC Archives)

... We have had quite an exciting time for a little ^place like Beaufort today. This morning all the different companies turned out and this afternoon Gen. Grant with wife and son and friends came and stayed an hour rode around town and then came to the hotel and spoke to us all that is shook hands with us. Then made a speech to the Mayor which they say is one of the longest he has ever made They were quite pleased with Beaufort and the people. We went to the depot to see him off Geo. and I.         

Had several callers and then after supper went down and spent the evening with the Crofuts’ Every thing was about Grant. Mr. Wilson told us a good deal about him and if we had only known that he was coming sooner we should had the hotel and other places fixed all up – as it was he was very much pleased. I suppose he liked the quickness after such receptions he has been having. This is rather a bad beginning for the first page but it is hotel ink. (8)

That speech which Mayor Williams termed Grant's longest consisted of four or five sentences (sources vary on the actual sentence count.): 

                                                 Weekly Louisianian, 10 January 1880, p. 1

Grant stayed about an hour in Beaufort before heading off to Savannah. 

Mrs. Crofut wrote that Grant left town too soon. As she and her son, George, rode back from Garden's Corner in a horse drawn carriage on January 2nd: 

We met folks coming in town to see Massa Grant if he could have stayed a day he would have had nearly half of the people in the county here to see him. The larger cities feel rather hard against him for not stopping in there instead of coming to Beaufort. (9)

News of the former President's surprise visit to Beaufort was published in newspapers throughout the country. Far and wide, from Savannah to Washington, Chicago to Montana, the visit was noted in the press. Charleston was indeed envious. The Anderson (SC) Intelligencer gave the Grant's brief sojourn to Beaufort its top billing in the "Events of the Year. A Bird's Eye View of South Carolina in 1880" column in early January 1881. (10) For once, Beaufort trumped Charleston in the national news.

Sources:

1) Wikipedia contributors, "World tour of Ulysses S. Grant," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=World_tour_of_Ulysses_S._Grant&oldid=985013252 (accessed December 10, 2020). 

2) The Weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.), 10 Jan. 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016632/1880-01-10/ed-1/seq-1/> 

3) Stephen Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption: The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1861 - 1893, vol. 2: 490- 491. 

4) Stephen Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption: The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1861 - 1893, vol. 2: 490- 491. 

5) Chicago Daily Tribune. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.), 02 Jan. 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84031492/1880-01-02/ed-1/seq-5/>

6) Stephen Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption: The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1861 - 1893, vol. 2: 490- 491. 

7) Stephen Wise and Lawrence S. Rowland, Rebellion, Reconstruction, and Redemption: The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina, 1861 - 1893, vol. 2: 490- 491. 

8) Ellen Chapman Crofut Diary, January 1, 1880. (BDC Archives)

9) Ellen Chapman Crofut Diary, January 2, 1880. (BDC Archives)

10) The Anderson Intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.), 13 Jan. 1881. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026965/1881-01-13/ed-1/seq-1/>

Sources of Images: 

Around the world with General Grant, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=64169613

[Ulysses S. Grant] Chicago : [publisher not transcribed], c1879 Library of Congress. https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/pnp/ppmsca/46700/46704_150px.jpg  

"Heyward House now the headqtrs of Gen. Saxton Beaufort, SC Jany 1864." by Samuel A. Cooley from the L.A. Hall Collection, (BDC Archives)

 Ellen Chapman Crofut Diary, January 1, 1880. (BDC Archives)

The Weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.), 10 Jan. 1880. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83016632/1880-01-10/ed-1/seq-1/>

Red Letter Day : 20 December 1860

Please note: This post was last updated on 10 November 2021 - gmc.

20 December 1860 is a date that was highly significant in United States, South Carolina - and Beaufort District's - past as South Carolina was the first state to formally secede from the United States. Soon thereafter years of blood-letting and profound social and economic changes would follow. 

The issue of secession still inflames the hearts and minds of some Americans in the current political environment. But that is not an appropriate topic for this blog. The Secession that I am talking about here is Beaufort District's role in the 19th century Secessionist movement in the United States. 

Secession had been championed by native Beaufortonian and Charleston Mercury publisher Robert Barnwell Rhett ever since his fulminant speech under the live oak tree near Bluffton in 1833. Others known as "Fire-Eaters" followed his lead and over the years more and more influential Southern White men began to consider secession as a viable option to their political, social and economic problems during the mid-19th century. Dr. John McCardell, Jr. examined how this change in thought came about in his lecture "The Idea of a Southern Nation" as part of the 2009 Beaufort Tricentennial Lecture Series.

On December 20th, 1860, one hundred sixty-nine (169) delegates sat in Charleston's Institute Hall deciding whether or not South Carolina could - and should -  leave the United States of America. Representing Beaufort District at the Convention were: Robert Woodward Barnwell; Langdon Cheves; Richard James Davant; John Edward Frampton; William Ferguson Hutson; Joseph Daniel Pope; George Rhodes; and Ephraim Mikell Seabrook. You can read what they and others said at the Convention in South Carolina on the "Documenting the American South" website. All these men -- indeed all the delegates present at the Secession Convention -- voted in favor of secession and signed the state's Ordinance of Secession. 

However, not everyone in South Carolina was in favor of secession. Beaufort native William John Grayson, though pro-slavery, remained a Unionist until his death during the war years. South Carolina's most ardent Unionist was James Louis Petigru who had taught school at Beaufort College and practiced law at the Beaufort District Courthouse when it was located in Coosawhatchie. He is most remembered for saying "They've gone mad. South Carolina is too small to be a republic and too large to be an insane asylum."

Petigru remained an Unionist until his death in Charleston in 1863. He was highly respected despite his political views. City and state officials, as well as Charleston's Confederate officer corps, followed his coffin to St. Michael's Cemetery in tribute. 

• The real SC Ordinance of Secession is safely stored away in the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
• We have a facsimile of the Ordinance of Secession in the BDC Research Room.
•  For a basic introduction to South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession published by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History we recommend Relic of the Lost Cause.
  
• The American Battlefield Trust has created lesson plans for elementary through high school students to help them draw conclusions about the legality of the Ordinance.
  
• The text of the Ordinance of Secession is found in the "Teaching American History in South Carolina: a state-wide approach to teaching professional development" web page about the historic document.
• Dr. John McCardell, Jr. examined how disgruntlement turned into Secessionism in his lecture "The Idea of a Southern Nation" as part of the 2009 Beaufort Tricentennial Lecture Series.
  
• The first "true copy" of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession to fall into Union hands was actually captured in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Port Royal Sound -- right here in Beaufort County. 
  

There are indeed many more titles on the topic of "Secession" in the SCLENDS catalog and through the Hoopla catalog if the ones that I have chosen for the flyers are not enough for you to get started exploring the topic. A valid Beaufort County Library card is all that is needed to borrow circulating materials from the SCLENDS consortium.

In addition, the BDC's WordPress blog contains lists of links and materials about the man who started the Bluffton Movement that ultimately led to the Palmetto State's secession, Robert Barnwell Rhett; his cousin, Robert Woodward Barnwell; Unionist  William John Grayson; and Unionist James Louis Petigru.

SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENTS: 

Please note that the Library is entering the year-end holidays so there are some closures of note for you to pencil into your calendars. 

Special Circumstances in the Research Room: 

Since October 5th, 2020 access to the Research Room is by advance appointment only. 

If you want to schedule an appointment, be sure to email bdc@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6468 to make the necessary arrangements. Just be aware that permanent reduction in BDC staff size has severely restricted appointment opportunities. 

The Beaufort District Collection Research Room will be closed from Thursday, December 23, 2021 through Monday, December 27, 2021. Appointments will be accepted as available on December 28, December 29, and December 30th. 

The BDC and Library will be closed on Friday, December 31, 2021 and by Library Board of Trustee decree on Saturday, January 1, 2022. All units of the Library system will be re-opening on Monday, January 3, 2022 beginning at 9 AM for most locations. 

 

The BDC's December 2020 & January 2021 Schedule

It's not by accident that there are so many holidays bunched up from the months of November through February. It's human to want to do something fun and celebratory in the darkest parts of the year.  No wonder that the Christians adapted the traditional pagan festivities relating to the Winter Solstice into the celebration of Jesus' birth. 

Please take note of the following dates when the Library system will be closed in December 2020 and January 2021.

Closed Dates over Christmas: 

Wednesday, December 23

Thursday, December 24

Friday, December 25

Saturday, December 26

 

 

The Library will be OPEN: 

Monday, December 28

Tuesday, December 29

Wednesday, December 30

Thursday, December 31 until 5 pm.  The Library is closed Friday, January 1.

 

 

The County closes at 5 pm on New Year's Eve, stays closed on New Year's Day, and Library staff usually have to report back to work on January 2nd - even when January 2nd happens to fall on a Saturday, as it does this year. Thus, those parts of the Library system that are usually open on Saturdays, will be open on Saturday, January 2, 2021. 

 

However, the BDC is closed on Saturdays so the Research Room will be open for appointments from January 4th - and beyond -- with appropriate advanced arrangement with me personally. 

To make those arrangements, email me at gracec@bcgov.net or call me at 843-255-6446 so we can negotiate a mutually agreeable date and time. Just so you are aware: I will be unable to negotiate from Friday, December 18th at Noon through Wednesday, December 30th. I do not monitor incoming emails or phone messages when I am on personal leave or on paid County holidays. Please plan accordingly.

 

The Library will be closed for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday on January 18, 2021 as well.