Union Troops in Beaufort District Display by Cassandra Knoppel

Before Cassi left for fulltime employment at a sister cultural heritage agency, I asked her to create the BDC's display for February 2022 to reflect our upcoming "Historically Speaking" lecture topic. Registration opens February 3, 2022. Thus she selected the items shown on the left and wrote about them below. My comments are in italics. And just in case you're wondering, I am very sorry to see her go. -- Grace Cordial  

The theme of this month’s display was “Union troops in Beaufort during and after the Civil War, including colored troops.”

1^st Shelf

I wanted the top shelf to reflect the beginning of the Union occupation of Beaufort. The first book I chose to add to this display was SC 973.77579 COK 2009 - The Battle of Port Royal by Mike Coker. This book details the strategies used and the actual events of the battle that changed the tides of the war. It is a highly readable popular history as most of the History Press books are. It's carried on Hoopla, the Library's digital service in case you'd like to read the e-book. There are also copies in the Local History sections for you to check out. I recommend our WordPress blog post about the battle to you as well. 

Next to The Battle of Port Royal, I placed SC 973.782 LUS 1911 - War Letters of William Thompson Lusk: Captain, Assistant Adjutant-General, United States Volunteers 1861-1863, afterward M.D., LL. D. by William Thompson Lusk. The author of the letters, Capt. Lusk, served in the US 79^th New York Infantry from 1861 to 1863 and was stationed in Beaufort after the Battle of Port Royal Sound. I chose to open the book to page 122, where a letter dated February 16^th, 1862, begins. The letter was written to Lusk’s mother, and he starts by comparing the balmy winter he’s experiencing to her frigid one up north. I thought that this would help to give an idea of what the first Union troops in Beaufort were experiencing and chose a date within our current month/season for fun. You can read more about Capt. Lusk and his letters in the July 6, 2021 post about posts I made to Facebook in June. His letters were the topic of my Facebook post on June 7, 2021.  You can read the book on the Hathitrust website. The letter says: 

Above the books, I hung two prints. On the upper left is a copy of SC PRINT 51A, 51B “Government Buildings for Contrabands Erected at Hilton Head, SC in 1862”. On the right is a copy of SC MAP 164 & 163 - Sketch showing position of Boyd's Neck, Honey Hill, and Devaux' Neck, in Decr. 1864 by John G. Foster. Both are surrogates. I wouldn't allow an assistant to pin an original map and historic print to a surface! I think that SC MAP 163 & 164 just might be my personal favorite maps within the BDC. 

2^nd Shelf

For the second shelf, I wanted to focus on the 1st South Carolina Volunteers / 33^rd U.S. Colored Troops as they formed in Beaufort County and had a significant role in the Civil War. First, I hung an unnamed print, likely a copy of a Harper’s Weekly print, that depicts a Union soldier standing between two groups of armed men, one side Black and the other white.  The depiction shown here in surrogate is on centered on, well the central image. Some of the people in the groups along the right and left margins are left out of the surrogate. This image has become sort of the trademark for the Reconstruction Era. The title of this Harper's Weekly illustration by A. R. Waud is "The Freedmen's Bureau." The image was published in the July 25, 1868 issue. We have an original catalogued in the BDC as SC PRINT 66.   Then I added SC 973.7 HIG - The Complete Civil War Journal and Selected Letters of Thomas Wentworth Higginson edited by Christopher Looby. Col. Higginson commanded the 1^st US Volunteers and described day-to-day life, war experiences, and political musings in his journal and letters. Higginson was also closely connected as an editor and mentor to poet Emily Dickinson. You can read more about Higginson and his letters  from republished Facebook posts here in Connections. Look for the Facebook post made on October 18, 2021.

Next to this, I placed SC 973.74157 SAU 2012 - An We Ob Jubilee: The First South Carolina Volunteers by John Saucer. An We Ob Jubilee details the founding of the regiment and highlights the significance of the group. There are copies that you can borrow from the branch libraries. Because the Civil War is such a popular topic for local history programs and questions, I put together this flyer about just some of the materials we have about regiments that served within Beaufort District. 

Beside it is SC 973.7 TAY 1988 - A Black Woman's Civil War Memoirs: Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troops, late 1st South Carolina Volunteers by Susie King Taylor. While Taylor did not serve as a soldier, she followed the troops and documented both mundane and memorable events from their service. In front of the books is this quote from Robert Smalls: “My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.” This quote also is engraved on the monument to Robert Smalls in the Tabernacle Baptist Churchyard where he is buried. 

3^rd Shelf

The third shelf is photography themed. The first time Beaufort and its people were photographed in detail was during the occupation of Beaufort. The only book I pulled with photographs on the cover was SC 973.77579 ROT 2020 - The Civil War in the South Carolina Lowcountry: How a Confederate Artillery Battery and a Black Union Regiment Defined the War by Ron Roth. I also included photographs and a stereograph of Downtown Beaufort and surrounding areas during the 1860’s. Also on the shelf is the BDC’s flyer on “Sources for Civil War Images Online” that was produced for the Beaufort History Museum's Civil War Encampment at the Arsenal in December. (Ask for a digital copy bdc@bcgov.net and I will send one to your email account.)

Most of the BDC's Civil War and Reconstruction Era photographs are online in the Lowcountry Digital Library. I write "most" because work is underway to post the Reed Collection online later this year. I want that project done before I retire (which is definitely coming though I haven't determined the precise date yet.)   

4^th Shelf 

The bottom shelf does not have a clear theme. I hung a copy of SC PRINT 41 “Pocotaligo Depot, South Carolina: Harper's Weekly, Saturday, February 25, 1865” by Theodore B. Davis on the back of the display. I also placed SC 973.74157 BUR 2017 - They Served: Stories of the United States Colored Troops from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina by Nancy Burke to the side. On Facebook on February 22, 2021 I wrote about a letter included in They Served:  

"Materials Monday : Letters": One of the major sources for African American military service records are pension records. Securing one for yourself or by your survivors can entail a great deal of paperwork - and documentary evidence.

Thanks to the Heritage Library, we have copies of "They Served: Stories of United States Colored Troops from Hilton Head Island, South Carolina," compiled and edited by Nancy Burke, Patricia Burke, and Susie Marquis (2017). It includes transcriptions of pension files of Black soldiers who served during the Civil War.

Among the men who sought pensions was Renty Miller. Miller had been a Black soldier who served in Company G, 21st Regiment, USCT from August 23, 1864 to April 25, 1866. Miller could read and write (albeit with some phonetic spelling like many others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). He set up a side business as a scribe to other former soldiers on the island. He would write the Pension Commission Office on their behalf. However, in the letter dated August 16, 1916 shown in the image, Renty Miller asks about his own pension payment.

Dear Pension Commission Sir

I have Rote this few line for to ask you when my increse will commence. I have see all of the boys that is belong to the Same Regmeant have reseaved their increase and I having get mine same I have Rote to you for to find out sumthing about it. Please to oblig me to give me answer. Yours truly, Renty Miller, Co. G 21 Regt.

The Pension Commission Office registered receipt of Miller's letter three days later. His pension was increased to $21.50 a few days after that on August 23, 1916. At the time of his death, his USCT pension was $50.00 per month.

We have copies of "They Served" in the Research Room and more that can be checked out from the Local History sections at the Branch Libraries.

Next to the book, I added the BDC’s flyer on “Concise Civil War in Beaufort District, 1861-1865" and our brochure on “How to Find Out More: Civil War Ancestors.” These were also distributed during the encampment.  (Ask for a digital copy of one or both by emailing bdc@bcgov.net and I will send one to your email account.)