President Grant Visits Beaufort

Latest update: 10 December 2025

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/>

Friends Groups Review Books 2020

The Friends of the Beaufort Library and the Friends of the Hilton Head Library have posted their book review sessions for 2020. Schedules: 2020 Books Sandwiched In and 2020 Book Breaks


You can watch Vicki Mix and Marilyn Harcharick of the Friends of the Beaufort Library discuss the upcoming BSI series on the County Channel:



                                                                                                                                                                        
A few of the books have a connection to local history in some manner.

This is the 33rd season for Books Sandwiched In and although all of the books are interesting, of particular note are:

Monday, February 3, 2020
The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs has gotten great reviews. I heard Dr. Cobbs speak about the book in 2019 when she presented at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Roland Gardner and former Superintendent of Education Herman Gaither will review the book. You can learn more about Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid, 1862 on the BDC's WordPress blog.  Available in print, as audio book, and on Hoopla

Monday, February 17, 2020 
Minnow presented and written by James McTeer draws upon McTeer's deep lowcountry roots - in more ways than one. (The High Sheriff of the Lowcountry was his grandfather and his parents are well known in the community.) The book won the South Carolina First Novel Prize in 2015.  Available in print and on Hoopla.

Book Breaks at the Hilton Head Branch Library have been held for a number of years as well. On that schedule, the items with a local history connection are:

Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Letters and Diary of Laura M. Towne will be reviewed by Maria Benac, the St. Helena Branch Manager. Towne came to the lowcountry to help the newly freed enslaved and spent the rest of her life tending to them and running Penn School. You can read more about her on the BDC's WordPress blog. Available in print, Hathitrust and Internet Archive.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020
2019 was a banner year for memoirs of local interest. Daughter of the Dawn by Avary Hack Doubleday will be reviewed by Coastal Discovery Museum's Vice President of Programs/Exhibits Natalie Hefter.  Doubleday recounts her life as a white child living on Hilton Head Island in the 1950s before Sea Pines Plantation was transformed into a resort housing community. Available in print.  

As  the Chairwoman of the Beaufort County Library Board of Trustees, Dr. Anna Maria Tabernik, noted in her letter "Library Friends & Foundation Help the Library Grow" last month, each of the three Friends of the Library groups (Beaufort, Bluffton, and Hilton Head Island) and the Public Library Foundation of Beaufort County are "all-volunteer groups dedicated to supporting the work and supplementing the resources of the Library system." Supporting one or more of these groups helps support Beaufort County Library - and if not for them (and the Clover Club), the BDC would not have the new microfilm reader/printer.

A vast improvement and upgrade

If you're interested in attending the film related lecture on January 7, 2020, please register online. Registration will remain open until capacity of the First Presbyterian Fellowship Hall is reached. 

Summer Reading Program 2019 Ends Soon

Need something short and sweet to notch off another block on your 2019 Summer Reading Program game card? Here are a few suggestions to get your "Local History On!":

So far all indications are that Summer Reading 2019 will be the most successful year in many, many years. Don't get left out. There's still time to participate. Game cards are available at each branch library and on the bookmobiles. Registration information and details are online. To be eligible for the grand prize drawings, completed game cards must be turned in on or before Wednesday, July 31, 2019.

Register for these Upcoming Programs Today!

For the most part, programs held inside library buildings are free of charge and often are "First come; First seated" programs. However, when library staff make presentations outside the library buildings or co-sponsors a community event, there may be advance registration and fees assessed by our co-sponsors. Sometimes programs inside our buildings require registration because we only have so many computers or so many seats and expect good turnouts. Thus, it can get somewhat confusing so here are the programs in January, February and one in March that require registration and/or payment of a fee to attend. Don't delay register today or risk all the seats being taken!   


Coming up on Thursday, January 31, 2019 - Lecture at Coastal Discovery Museum

Coosawhatchie. Pocataligo. Combahee. These words can be difficult for newcomers, or even old-timers, to pronounce. Join us to learn how to properly pronounce local family and place names the way native South Carolinians do while also picking up some local history tidbits. Beaufort District Collection manager, and South Carolina native, Grace Cordial will share fascinating stories of our local history, places, and families - and the correct way to mispronounce them!

Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names with Grace Cordial
BDC@ Coastal Discovery Museum, 70 Honey Horn Drive, Hilton Head Island
January 31 at 3 pm. Cost is $7 per person and reservations are required by continuing online to https://www.coastaldiscovery.org/event-registration/?ee=12625 or by calling 843-689-6767 ext. 223.
The lecture will be closed when capacity is reached.


Coming up on Saturday, February 2, 2019  - FREE Family History Workshop at St. Helena Branch Library

PLEASE NOTE: Wait List started on 15 January 2019. We may be able to offer this workshop again. So please get your name on the Wait List.

We had such a great experience working with Toni Carrier of the International African American Museum and the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission in October 2018 that we are jointly offering a follow-up genealogy workshop about how to use Freedmen's Bureau Records.

Family Search has posted most of these Federal records online. The Freedmen's Bureau records that Family Search has made into a digital collection consists of an index and images of records relating to census lists, arrival and departure registers, transportation records,  and some birth, death and burial records. Field Office records from the following states are represented: Alabama (M1900), District of Columbia (M1902), Georgia (M1903), Louisiana (M1905), Maryland and Delaware (M1906),Mississippi (M1907), North Carolina (M1909), South Carolina (M1910), Texas (M1912), Virginia (M1913). [The (M####) indicates that the records were taken from National Archives microfilm series]. 


The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (often called the Freedmen’s Bureau) was created in 1865 at the end of the American Civil War to supervise relief efforts including education, health care, food and clothing, refugee camps, legalization of marriages, employment, labor contracts, and securing back pay, bounty payments and pensions. The collection covers the years 1865 to 1872. As such, Freedmen’s Bureau records are a major source of genealogical information about post Civil War African Americans.

There are three ways to get on the wait list: Call 843- 818 - 4587; or register through the GGCHCC's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/336240036925392 or send an e-mail to info@gullahgeecheecorridor.org.

 Coming up on Thursday, February 7, 2019 - Lecture at Tabernacle Baptist Church

The Beaufort County Historical Society and the Beaufort History Museum celebrate their 80th anniversaries with a special lecture sponsored by the BCHS, BHM, Tabernacle Baptist Church in cooperation with the Beaufort District Collection. The BDC's role is to share images of materials from our holdings about the history of those august institutions, these two lawyers, and the Reconstruction period during the celebratory reception.

Prof. W. Lewis Burke

William J. Whipper and Jonathan Jasper Wright: Beaufort's and South Carolina's First Civil Rights Lawyers presented by Distinguished Professor Emeritus W. Lewis Burke of the School of Law, University of South Carolina.
Thurs., February 7, 2019, 6:00 - 7:30 PM
BDC@ Tabernacle Baptist Church, 901 Craven Street, Beaufort
$ charged by partners
Details and registration: https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-3119022

Seats are limited.


The Beaufort District Collection is partnering with the Pat Conroy Literary Center to bring a very special world premiere program about Beaufort's Forgotten Author, Ann Head and her influence on Beaufort's best known author, Pat Conroy. The program is free though space is limited. Registration has opened: http://bit.ly/2Ddyda6

A word to the wise:

Don't delay registering if you're interested in the programs and workshops. Many of our program opportunities "sell out" in advance of the program date.