"Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption" Local History Program July 12th

The Beaufort District Collections second contribution to the Library's summer activities delves into an exploration of the collaboration among disparate groups to create a Fusion political movement in the early 1870s. It's a topic that deserves more focus than it usually receives. 

As you are probably aware, Reconstruction Era politics was a rough and tumble and often violent affair. National Park Service Historian Nathan Betcher will discuss the political turbulence of the ten years between the end of the Civil War and the election of 1876. Radical Republicans, Independent Republicans, Straight-out Democrats and Fusion Democrats all vied for votes and dominance. Scandals, malfeasance, and charges of voter fraud were rife. Local players included William Whipper and Robert Smalls. 

We are pleased to offer “Waving the Red Shirts of Redemption: Reconstruction Era Politics and the South Carolina Election of 1876” with Nathan Betcher (NPS) as an "Historically Speaking" Extra during Summer Reading Program 2023 on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 in the Beaufort Branch Library's Theresa Dunn Meeting Room, 311 Scott Street, beginning at 2:00 pm. This free program will be a "First Come, First Seated" local history opportunity.  

About the Speaker: 

Nathan Betcher is the Historian for Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort, South Carolina. At the park, he is responsible for research into the people and places of Reconstruction, coordinating activities of the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network, and is responsible for all resource management at the park in accordance with Section 106 and NEPA. He holds a Red Card as an All-Hazards Resource Advisor (READ) and has been on multiple hurricane damage assessment teams as a READ. He has also completed the ARPA For Cultural Resources Professionals and NEPA/Section 106 in-resident courses. 

​​​​​​​Nathan spent ten years in the Army on active duty as an Armored Crewman, where his Army assignments took him overseas to South Korea, Germany, Iraq, and multiple duty stations in the US.  After leaving active duty, he returned to school to finish his degrees, and transitioned to the Army Reserve as a Civil Affairs Specialist.  He holds two BAs, one in History and the other in Political Science from the University of Kentucky, and earned his MS in Historic Preservation from the Clemson/College of Charleston historic preservation program.  During his time in graduate school, he did internships at Grand Canyon National Park and Ft. Sumter & Ft. Moultrie National Historical Park.  

Nathan started his Park Service career in 2018 as the Historian at Ft. Sumter and Ft. Moultrie NHP and the Charles Pinckney NHS, both located in the greater Charleston SC area.  He transferred in 2021 to Reconstruction Era NHP to build a Resources Program at the park.  In 2022 Nathan was selected into the first cohort of Army Monuments Officers – the first group of Soldiers tasked with protecting cultural heritage in the Army since the famed “Monuments Men” of World War 2.   

During his free time, Nathan loves to travel with his wife Bailey who is also completely committed to spoiling their dog, Abby.    

Miller Featured in the SC African-American 2022 Calendar for October

Latest update: 7 May 2026 - gmc 

Since 1989, the South Carolina African American History Calendar has highlighted the contributions of distinguished Black citizens who have connections to the Palmetto State. The October 2022 honoree is Beaufort District's own Thomas Ezekial Miller. 

The text from the October 2022 calendar says: 

"Thomas Ezekiel Miller was born June 17, 1849, in Ferrebeeville, S.C. near present-day Ridgeland. He was raised by Richard and Mary Ferrebee Miller, both freed slaves. Due to his fair skin, there was much speculation about his biological father. [Indeed in the press, he was often referred to as the "Yellow Canary."] 

In 1851, Miller moved to Charleston with his family where he attended illegal schools for free Black children. Miller attended Lincoln University in Chester County, Pa. and upon graduation in 1872, he returned to South Carolina where he became school commissioner of Beaufort County. Later he studied law at the recently integrated University of South Carolina before returning to Beaufort to set up his practice. 

Miller was elected to the S.C. General Assembly where he served until 1880 when he went to the state Senate. Miller returned to the S.C. House of Representatives in 1877 and served on the Republican State Executive Committee from 1878 to 1880 and was state party chairman in 1884. In 1890, Miller served in the U.S. House of Representatives in the seat formerly occupied by Black Representative and Civil War hero Robert Smalls, although he only served for a few months due to election fraud, which many registered Black voters were prohibited from casting their ballots resulting in his opponent, incumbent William Elliott being initially declared the winner. 

After his time in Congress, Miller remained active in politics, serving as a member of the 1895 Constitutional Convention. He helped establish South Carolina State University in 1896 and served as their first president until 1911. Miller was married to Anna Hume and had nine children. He passed away in 1938 in Charleston, S.C." 

Miller faced a lot of scorn in the local press. The Palmetto Post published a derisive "We'uns Canary" article on June 9, 1892 on page 2: 

Tom Miller is reported as being in Minneapolis, whooping up Harrison and "hustling" generally. If Miller should accidentally get lost so far away from home - but the thought is too harrowing -- Columbia State.

So far as the people of his own county are concerned, the loss of Miller, and a half dozen others of his kidney, would be looked upon as a great gain through the mercy of Providence. 

His tombstone in the Brotherly Association Cemetery in Charleston is inscribed: “I served God and all the people, loving the white man not less, but the Negro needed me most.”

An earlier Connections blog post includes links to additional biographical and political information about this important Beaufort District historical figure. 

Beaufort County Women in Local and State Government, 1974 - 2021

Notes: The link to the Ciehanski Papers Finding Aid posted online was added 15 March 2023. - gmc 

Editing “The Hidden Senator” recording as the final installment of the “Historically Speaking” Season 2 lecture reminded me that five years ago, the theme of National Women’s History Month was meant to honor women in public service and government. Please note: This is at best a rudimentary list of women serving in local governments since 1974. Please help me by letting me know who I may have left out, their position, and the period in which they served in that position.   Therefore, I am updating the Connections post of 27 March 2016 to reflect the situation in March 2021.

Securing the right to vote for American women was a long and arduous process. After almost 100 years of advocacy and strife, Congress passed the 19th Amendment to the United States in 1919 and submitted it to the states for ratification. On August 20, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment and it became the law of the land. While on paper, every American female citizen was eligible to vote, the states set the voter registration rules and procedures.  In many parts of the country, exercising one's right to vote was abridged by these rules, particularly Women of Color. Even with the reforms of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964 in place, another decade passed before women began to secure elective office here in Beaufort County. 

In 1974 Harriet Keyserling (1922 - 2010) became the first female elected to serve on Beaufort County Council. She served in the State House from 1977 - 1993 and helped found the SC Legislative Women's caucus. Read her memoir Against the Tide: One Woman's Political Struggle. It is available in our Research Room or check out a copy from a branch library's Local History sections. We have a BDC.BCL List of Links and Materials about her posted on our Wordpress blog.

The very first archive we processed with a SC State Historical Records Advisory Board (SHRAB) grant was the Nancy Ciehanski Papers. She was appointed to the Beaufort County Joint Planning Commission, Island Commission in 1979 and was elected to serve on the Town of Hilton Head Island’s first municipal council becoming Mayor pro tempore in 1983. She was actively involved with environmental groups and the Hilton Head Island Member-at-Large Unit of the League of Women Voters. 

Juanita White, an African-American woman, represented parts of Beaufort and Jasper Counties in the State House of Representatives from 1980 - 1995. Holly Cork won the state representative seat left vacant by her father's death in 1989 and was elected to James Waddell's long-held State Senatorial seat in 1992. JoAnne Gilham, Edie Rodgers, and Catherine Ceips also were elected to the State Legislature. Margie Bright Matthews represents District 45 in the SC Senate, filling the vacancy caused by the murder of Sen. Clementa Pinckney, one of the Emmanuel 9. Shannon Erickson was elected to State House District 124 in 2018 and was again reelected in 2020.

Laura Von Harten, Dot Gnann, Beth Grace, Alice G. Howard, Cynthia M. Bensch, Starletta Hairston, Margaret Griffin, Eva M. Smalls, Gloria G. Williams, and Victoria Mullen are among former or sitting female Beaufort County Council members. Among former or sitting female Beaufort County Clerks of Court are Jerri Ann Roseneau and Elizabeth Smith. Maria Walls and Joy Logan served as Beaufort County Treasurer. Other women elected to County level positions were Bernice Wright, Sharon P. Burris, and Mary Ann Gray. To date Beaufort County has had one female administrator, Ashley Jacobs.  

The City of Port Royal has a number of women on its governing board and commissions. Mary Beth Gray-Heyward sits on the Port Royal City Council. 

Tamara Becker sits on the Town of Hilton Head Island Council. Kimberly Likins and Nancy Ciehanski once did as well. There may well indeed be women on some of Hilton Head's boards and commissions but I found no online list of current board and commission members.

Lisa Sulka was elected to the Bluffton City Council in 2004 and first won the mayorship that she holds today in 2007.  Bridgette Frazier currently serves as a Bluffton City Councilwoman.

Among the African-American women to hold elective office since 1960 were Freida Mitchell, Agnes Sherman, Ann Perry on the Beaufort County Board of Education, Alice G. Wright on the Beaufort City Council, Bluette H. Jones and Annette Drake Smith on the Port Royal City Council. A number of Black women have served on County Boards & Commissions. Among them were Jessie M. Jenkins, Mary Davis, Mary Mack, Renell Brown, Jennie Green, and Rosalyn Thompson.  

The 11 member Beaufort County School Board has six women currently serving: Ingrid Boatright, Cathy Robine, Rachel Wisnefski, Tricia Fidrych, Angela Middleton and Chairperson, Christina Gwozdz. Some former School Board members were Evva Anderson, Laura Bush, Mary Cordray, Geri Kinton, and JoAnn Orischak. 

Thomas E. Miller: Reconstruction Era "Man of Mark"

Latest update: 7 May 2026 - gmc 

In honor of Black History Month [2020] we draw your attention to one of Beaufort District's African American native sons who found prominence on the state and national scene.  That "Man of Mark" was Thomas Ezekiel Miller (1849-1938). He was active in political and educational matters during the Reconstruction Era along with Robert Smalls and William J. Whipper among others.     

Miller was born to free black parents, Richard Miller and Mary Ferrebee Miller in Ferrebeeville, S. C., near present-day Ridgeland. He was a very light-skinned person who identified as Black. He was disparaged by many as the "Yellow Canary" on account of the hue and tone of his skin. As a youth, Miller attended schools for free African-Americans in Charleston although such schools were prohibited by state law at the time. He studied for the bar in Columbia, S. C. after his graduation from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1872. It was in the course of his law studies that Miller’s involvement in the Beaufort County Republican Party began.

Miller married Anna M. Hume around 1874. They would have 9 children together, 7 of whom would survive into adulthood.
 
His first public office was that of Beaufort school commissioner in 1872.  Two years later he was elected as representative to the state General Assembly. Miller served in the U. S. House from 1890-1891 upon successfully contesting the election of William Elliott. His political career was plagued by questions about his parentage and racial identity. He was frequently mocked as the "Yellow Canary" in the Democratic press. He lost the next election and returned to Beaufort before he served again in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1894 to 1896.

Miller was a progressive Republican. Miller joined with Robert Smalls to block legislation at the state Constitutional Convention of 1895 that would disfranchise black male citizens. They failed. At this same convention, Miller expressed his support for women’s suffrage. It failed. More successful was Miller’s efforts to found a state-supported college for African-Americans, the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College in Orangeburg, now known as South Carolina State University (SCSU).

SCSU is the only public, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina. He oversaw construction of the campus's first building, Bradham Hall. Miller became the college’s first president in 1896 and served until 1911 when he was forced to resign by Governor Coleman Blease. 

From 1911 until 1923 and again from 1934 until his death on April 8, 1938 he lived in Charleston, devoting himself to community activism. His tombstone in the Brotherly Association Cemetery in Charleston is inscribed: “I served God and all the people, loving the white man not less, but the Negro needed me most.”

To learn more, we recommend these materials about Thomas E. Miller:

The 1895 Segregation Fight in South Carolina by Damon L. Fordham. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2022. 

All for Civil Rights : African American Lawyers in South Carolina, 1868-1968 by William Lewis Burke. Athens : The University of Georgia Press, 2017. 

Beaufort during the Reconstruction Era : USCB Forum : [February 25, 2003] by Marge Yanker. VHS recording. 

Black Americans in Congress, 1870 to Present website, Accessed 7 May 2026.

Black Carolinians: A History of Blacks in South Carolina from 1895 to 1968 by I.A. Newby. Columbia, SC: Published for the South Carolina Tricentennial Commission by the University of South Carolina Press, 1973. 

Black over White: Negro Political Leadership in South Carolina during Reconstruction by Thomas Holt.  Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1979, ©1977.

Capitol Men: The Epic Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen by Philip Dray.  Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co., 2008.

"Dr. Thomas E. Miller, President:" A Digital Collection Celebrating the Founding of the Historically Black College and University is a collection of primary resources from HBCU libraries and archives, no date. Accessed 7 May 2026.

The First Eight : A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation by James E. Clyburn. New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2025. 

Gullah Statesman : Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915 by Edward A. Miller. Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, 1995. 

The History of Beaufort County South Carolina (3 vols.) by Lawrence S. Rowland and Stephen R. Wise. Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, 2015. 

• Volume 2: Rebellion, Reconstruction and Redemption, 1861 - 1893
• Volume 3: Bridging the Sea Islands' Past and Present, 1893 - 2006

A History of South Carolina State College, 1896 - 1978 by John F. Potts. Orangeburg : South Carolina State College, 1978.

Miller, Thomas E., (1849-1938), BDC Vertical File.

"Miller, Thomas E. (1849 - 1938)." Online Encyclopedia of Significant People and Places in African American History, 2007. Accessed 7 May 2026.

"Miller, Thomas Ezekial," Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to the Present website, Accessed 7 May 2026.
 
"Miller, Thomas Ezekiel," History, Art and Archives: United States House of Representatives website, Accessed 7 May 2026. 

Miller, Thomas Ezekial" by William C. Hine, South Carolina Encyclopedia, 2016, latest update August 15, 2022; Accessed 7 May 2026.

South Carolina Negroes 1877–1900 by George Tindall. Columbia : University of South Carolina Press, reprint edition, 2003.

"Thomas E. Miller, 19^th Century Politician” in the African American Registry website, Accessed 7 May 2026.

 

"Thomas E. Miller and the Early Years of South Carolina State University," by William C. Hine. Carologue 12 (Winter 1996): 8 -12. 

Heritage Walking Tour: Smalls & Whipper

Latest update: 7 May 2026 - gmc

Beaufort's native son, Robert Smalls, was born into slavery in 1839. He was a man of great daring and a masterful politician. Smalls served in the South Carolina Legislature, the United States Congress, and was a Customs official almost to his death in 1915. He was an exceptional man in an exceptional time as our post "Robert Smalls: War Hero, Public Servant, and a Man of Mark, 1839-1915" explains. 

His relationship with his master's family is well documented in Yearning to Breathe Free by Andrew Billingsley (2007) and his political activities are well documented in Gullah Statesman by Edward Miller, Jr. His audacious plan to steal The Planter steamer and deliver the vessel to the Union Navy is excitingly recounted in Be Free or Die: The Amazing Story of Robert Smalls by Cate Lineberry (2017).  But there are plenty of other titles and materials from which you can learn more about his amazing story in our "Robert Smalls, 1839-1915: A Selective List of Links & Materials" guide.   

If you are in downtown Beaufort and are able to walk 1 to 2 miles without difficulty, then perhaps you will want to take this heritage walking tour. It is based on one created by Penn Center in 2005 for a Beaufort County Library/Penn Center co-sponsored seminar near the release of Adrina Ifill's documentary, Congressman Robert Smalls: A Patriot's Journey from Slavery to Capitol Hill. 

Stop #1: 911 CRAVEN STREET Robert Smalls Bust and Burial Site in the Tabernacle Baptist Church Cemetery

Robert Smalls Bust by Marion Talmage Etheredge

A bust of Robert Smalls sculpted by Marion Talmage Etheredge sits next to Tabernacle Church. Although a founding member of First African Baptist Church, Smalls was interred between his two wives, Hannah Jones (1826-1883) and Annie Elizabeth Wigg (1856-1895) in this churchyard.  The monument is inscribed with an excerpt from his speech contesting the SC Constitution of 1895 in which black citizens were stripped of many of the rights they had under Reconstruction: “My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be the equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.” (1895) 

Stop #2: 920 BAY STREET “Abraham Cockcroft House / Beaufort Customs House”

This building was constructed as a residence about 1857. The Greek Revival styled front of the house faces the Beaufort River. The structure looked over wharves and docks on the river making it an ideal location for the Beaufort Customs House.  Robert Smalls worked here as the Collector of Customs from 1889 until his retirement in 1912. William Joseph Thomas bought the building in 1932 converting the Bay Street façade into retail and office space.

Customs House, 920 Bay Street as it appeared in 1860s (Beaufort County Library)

On your way along Bay Street as you head towards New Street, you will pass some buildings that Robert Smalls would have passed himself as he walked home from the Customs House. Linger at the base of the Woods Bridge at Cannon Park to enjoy the view. If it's low tide, breathe in the wonderfully evocative smell of pluff mud.

Stop #3: 414 NEW STREET “William Johnson House”

Samuel J. Bampfield bought this two storied frame house around the time of his marriage to Smalls’s daughter Elizabeth on April 24, 1877. The structure sits on a tabby foundation and may have been built as early as the 1770s based on architectural studies done in 2006. Bampfield participated in the political affairs of the town and county during the Reconstruction era serving as a state representative, newspaper editor, Clerk of Court and postmaster. After her husband’s death in 1899, Elizabeth served as Postmistress until 1908 after which she became secretary to Rossa B. Cooley, head of Penn School. In 1910 Elizabeth and her children moved to Charlotte, NC where she died at age 101 in 1959. She never remarried. Samuel, Elizabeth and seven of their children are buried in the Mercy Cemetery at the corner of Boundary and Lafayette Streets on US Highway 21.

Stop #4: 606 NORTH STREET “Whipper House”

Both Smalls and prominent Black attorney and politician William J. Whipper owned this antebellum property at separate periods after the Civil War. Whipper attended the SC Constitutional convention of 1868, served as a State Representative 1868-1872 and again from 1875-1876, and was Beaufort County Probate Judge, 1876- 1888. Smalls and he became political rivals beginning with the election of 1872. After arguing vigorously against black disenfranchisement during the SC Constitutional Convention of 1895, Whipper refused to sign the document as did all the other Beaufort County delegates, including Robert Smalls. Whipper died in Beaufort in 1907. It is believed that both his wife, Francis Rollin Whipper and he are buried in unmarked graves in the Wesley United Methodist Church yard at the corner of Prince and West Streets.

Stop #5: 601 NEW STREET “First African Baptist Church”

First African Baptist Church was built in the Gothic Revival style circa 1861 by the Baptist Church of Beaufort for its black members who far outnumbered the white congregants. The black congregation took over the building in 1863. Robert Smalls helped found the congregation and attended services. Needing funds to repair Civil War damage in their own church, the Baptist Church of Beaufort sold the structure to the congregation’s deacons for $300 in 1868, at a considerable discount. The building “was enlarged and beautified” before 1873. Smalls family weddings and funerals were held here.

Stop #6: 511 PRINCE STREET “Henry McKee House / Robert Smalls House”

Likely built around 1810, this house was owned by the McKee family at the time when Robert Smalls was born into slavery on this property in 1839. Working as a crewman aboard the steamer Planter in Charleston in 1862, Robert Smalls earned freedom for his family by stealing the steamship and delivering it to the Union Blockading Squadron. Small purchased this house at a tax sale in occupied Beaufort in January 1864. The DeTreville Family who had purchased the property in 1855 sued to regain title to the house after the Civil War. The US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Smalls thus deciding the validity of all the wartime property tax sales in South Carolina. Robert Smalls lived in this house throughout his busy political career as state legislator, state senator and five-term U.S. Congressman. He died in the house on February 23, 1915. It remained in the Smalls family until 1940. The house was added to the National Register in 1975.

Stop #7: 708 EAST STREET “The Tree House”

This property gets its nickname from its situation around a beautiful great oak tree. The structure originally served as a home on the Emmon’s Farm located at the corner of Carteret and Boundary streets. Smalls moved it to East Street in 1910. The wing was added by a later owner. 

Stop #8: 508 DUKE Street "The Smalls-Nash Cottage"

This structure was built by Robert Smalls as a rental property in 1890. It has two fireplaces placed back-to-back inside. It may have served as a wash house. Dolly Nash, a direct descendant of Robert Smalls, and her husband John willed the property to Historic Beaufort Foundation (HBF) in 2006. HBF renovated and restored the structure in 2007. 

 Stop #9: 715 NEW STREET “Samuel Bampfield House”

Robert Smalls purchased this circa 1830 property for Bampfield to house his large family. Originally only 2 rooms over 2 rooms, extensions were added to the rear and double-porches were added to the front of the house.

Stop #10: CORNER OF CARTERET AND WASHINGTON STREETS Former “William Fuller House” (razed) 

Colonel William Fuller built a house on these grounds in 1829. The Beaufort School Board of Education purchased the property in 1867 to open a public school for blacks. The deed had a proviso that the property always be used by citizens of Beaufort for school purposes. The board was mostly African American and consisted of Robert Smalls, Jonathan J. Wright, William J. Whipper, Richard H. Gleaves, London S. Langley, Walter Fuller, Isaac Simmons, Prince Rivers, R.F. Bythewood, Rev. Arthur Waddell, J.J. Cohen, George Waddell, and J.C. Rivers. In 1925 the Board of Education decided to raze the deteriorated black school and build a new school for black students to be called Robert Smalls High School at another site. The property is part of the University of South Carolina Historic Beaufort Campus complex today. 

OPTIONAL Stop #11: It's probably too far for some to walk, but the Beaufort County ROBERT SMALLS GOVERNMENT COMPLEX sits on the CORNER OF BOUNDARY STREET AND RIBAUT ROAD on the site of the former Robert Smalls Schools complex. 

When the public school for black students located in the former William Fuller house closed, a new school was built in 1924 at the intersection of Ribaut Road and Boundary Street. Named for Robert Smalls, this school complex at various times included both primary and secondary education facilities for black students. This school integrated as did all Beaufort County schools in 1965. The Robert Smalls High School was razed in the mid-1980s to make way for the current Beaufort County government administration buildings. A new integrated Robert Smalls Middle School opened in 1985 on W.K. Alston Drive, named after the longest serving principal of Robert Smalls High School, W. Kent Alston. Alston was principal of the Robert Smalls High School from 1938 until 1962.