The Pup in the Pokey and Other Stories

In January 1962, Ann McIntosh, who taught many of you, I'm sure, but who also spent years filing stories about Williamsburg County with the daily newspapers, wrote an article for the News & Courier from notes she had taken in 1961 for stories that, for one reason or another, were never written. Looking back on them now, I wish we knew more about their circumstances. Here is her newspaper article:

Ann McIntosh in 1973

Source: Williamsburg Academy Étalon

"Hundreds of words went out from Kingstree on its doings and undoings during the past year, but hundreds more went unwritten. Some demand to be noticed before the notes are thrown away on 1961.

"Notes on stories like the pup in the pokey. Mrs. J.G. McMaster has a three-legged pet that always manages to run away. Appropriately, he was first picked up on the Columbia airport runway and given to Mrs. McMaster. One night recently he meandered off, and Kingstree policemen––small town policemen know children and pets––called Mrs. McMaster and told her they had Nickie. 'Just keep him down there until I can get him. It's too late to come out tonight,' answered Mrs. McMaster. So errant Nickie spent the night in jail. (NOTE: Mrs. McMaster was, of course, Eleanor Gourdin McMaster, grandmother of current South Carolina Governor Henry D. McMaster)

"Volumes could have been written on the Donald Madsen family who lived for six years in Belgium. Mr. Madsen was manager of the Baxter Laboratories plant at Brussels before coming to Kingstree to start the new plant here. Sandy, 12, had gone to school in Belgium, and her new Kingstree classmates often urged her to speak French.

"Nobody had to urge the irrepressible Christine. The three-year-old was out in the yard chatting away with the yardman. Puzzled at receiving no reply, she turned and looked up into his elderly, wrinkled face. 'What's the. matter,' she asked him, 'can't you speak French?" (NOTE: Donald Madsen spent his entire career working for Baxter, where he went on to head worldwide manufacturing as its senior vice president. He retired in 1986, and died in Phoenix, AZ, at age 81 in 2004.)

"Doctors are busy, the days slip by, and we never asked two MDs if we should put a story about them in print. It's too good a coincidence to omit. Dr. Claffy Montgomery was suddenly stricken with appendicitis in the middle of one 1961 night. His co-worker and office partner, Dr. Howard Poston rushed him to a hospital for an operation. A week later, the recuperating doctor had an emergency call. It was Dr. Poston, whom Dr. Montgomery rushed to the same surgeon in the same hospital –– for an appendectomy.

A photo of a young Dr. Claffy Montgomery.

Source: Ancestry. com

Dr. Howard Poston from the 1949 Duke University yearbook.

"There were stories with heartbreak that no one ever knew. The beautiful queens who came to Kingstree for the Christmas Festival seemed not to have a care in the world. But one of them found out about the death of a loved one just before the curtain went up on the beauty contest. She was expected to perform on the program, and she carried on like a real trooper. To this day, only a handful know that she had tears in her heart.

"Christmas is full of touching scenes. Episcopalians will long remember their Christmas pageant. At the last minute it was discovered that the littlest angel, who was supposed to have brought a doll for the manger was sick, and there was no doll.

"'That's all right,' soothed Mrs. Joe Alsbrook, portraying Mary. 'You can use this Teddy bear.' Surely the Baby Jesus would have smiled at the beloved Teddy bear wrapped in swaddling clothes. The only one who didn't understand was the Alsbrook toddler, Joby, who kept pulling back the wraps to look at his Teddy bear.

St. Albans's Episcopal Church on Hampton Ave.

"A teen-aged son lifeguarded one summer, paying for a cherished transistor radio at the rate of five dollars per week out of each paycheck. In January, a friend, David Ward, was plowing, and Mac stuck the constant radio in his big carcoat pocket to climb up on the tractor with him. The radio must have slipped out of the pocket and was plowed under and lost.

"In April, after 19 inches of rain and some snow, a Negro boy found the radio as he was doing the spring plowing. He said that it was playing as he picked it up. Anyway, it would play and was in good condition in its weather-worn leather case. Radio and battery people were amazed. 

"There was a theft, but it wasn't reported. The Kingstree Boll Weevil made his first dramatic appearance in the high school homecoming parade. The boll weevil was an enormous, red, long-snouted head that sat on the shoulders of a prancing, clowning teenager. It was made by Roscoe Hinson and contributed greatly to the fun of football games. When the team went to Johnston to play, the boll weevil went along, too, but he didn't come back. Somebody stole the head right off Scott McFadden's shoulders. (NOTE: I don't know if the Boll Weevil was returned, or if a new one was constructed, but something fitting this description is now in the collection of the Williamsburgh Historical Museum.)

"There were scary incidents. The convict who attacked two young girls here told Sheriff Buford Boyd that he rode into Kingstree on a pulpwood truck at 9 p.m. on the night of the after-midnight attack. He was looking for a car, he told Sheriff Boyd, and wandered around several homes––and one wonders––whose?

Bernard M. Baruch

"Charlie McDonald must be full of stories about Bernard M. Baruch, but only occasionally does he mention one. We were buying a small pencil sharpener, shaped like a globe, in his stationery store, and commented on its attractiveness. The globe sharpener had also caught Mr. Baruch's attention, Mr. McDonald said.

"'I told him he could have it,' recalled Charlie McDonald, but Mr. Baruch shook his head in rebuke at the merchant for giving away a 19-cent item. 'You'll never make any money that way,' said the man who has given away millions.'"

In today's fast-paced world, these simple little stories would have an even harder time finding space in the news of the day. But, incidents just like these still happen every day in this small town and others all across the country. And we might be a better people if we took the time to acknowledge and appreciate them more. Maybe that could be a goal for all of us in 2022. Happy New Year.

Day After Christmas Meant Horse Racing in 1940s Williamsburg County

In December 1940, the Williamsburg Jockey Club announced that as part of the Kingstree Jaycees big Christmas Activity Program, it would co-sponsor horse racing on the day after Christmas at its new track on Dave McGill's property nine miles east of Kingstree.

The Cedar Swamp Lancers in 2012.

The half-mile track was sited on 22 acres. Only the judges' stand would be completed by December 26, but the jockey club promised that in the future, it would build permanent stands for spectators. As for 1940, newspapers reported that "adequate parking space on the knoll overlooking the racetrack will enable spectators to have a full view of the entire field and each event of the day."

A lancing tournament at 1 p.m. would kick off the big day. There would be three horse races and a mule race following the lancing tournament. Hot BBQ and turkey dinners would be sold on the grounds. The three races were the Black River, three furlongs on the flat; the Kingstree, two furlongs on the flat for lady riders only; and the featured race the Old Wiliamsburg, six furlongs on the flat. The mule race was for Black riders, riding bareback.

All businesses in Kingstree closed for the races, and 3,000 spectators converged to witness, under ideal weather conditions, the 75 horses entered on the day's race card. The track, according to reporting on the races, was declared to be one of the finest in the state.

M.B. Cross of Eutawville delivered the charge at the lancing tournament which saw a winner in English Josey, Knight of St. Charles. Billy Epps, Knight of Williamsburg was second, and Joe Bates, Knight of Wateree, finished third. That evening, the winning knights crowned their ladies at a dance at the Kingstree High School Gym. Josey crowned Amanda E. Bates; Epps crowned Madeline Brown, and Bates crowned Eleanor Barwick. Jaycee President Steve Montgomery was master of ceremonies for the event. Jimmy Slayton and his Orchestra from Virginia provided the music for the dance.

The Black River, run in 35 seconds, was won by Kirby Tupper riding "Last Chance," owned by H.E. Baird, Jr., of Camden. The mule race was won by Rough Boy riding "Pet," owned by Sid Brown of Kingstree. The mule race was described as "an hilarious and bitterly fought battle" among the 11 riders.

 The Old Williamsburg was won by "Symbolic," ridden by Al Capuano and owned by Col. Bob Brooks of Columbia. The ladies race, The Kingstree, was won by a nose by "Blackout," ridden by Edith McCants Bookhart, owned by Alonzo B. Seabrook of N. Charleston. (As a point of personal privilege, I'll note here that Edith McCants Bookhart was my third cousin. She had been riding and winning races since she was nine years old in the early 1930s.) An unadvertised harness race was won by Dave McCutchen of Kingstree. J.Henry McIntosh announced the races over a public address system provided by Moore & Wise Radio Company of Kingstree. This was believed by reporters to be the only track in the state with such a system.

Nine-year-old Edith McCants Bookhart in 1931.

Williamsburg Jockey Club officers in 1940 were W.B. Epps, president; Watson McCollough, vice president; J.K Harvey, secretary; C.E. McGill, treasurer; S.D. McGill, R.I. Snowden, Herbert Brown, Henry Brown and Dave McCutchen, directors. 

In March 1941, officers from four jockey clubs across the state––Summerville, Elloree, Belvidere, and Williamsburg––met at the American Legion Hut in Kingstree to plan for the spring racing season. There would be a race each week for three weeks in April and one in May at one of the tracks of the various jockey clubs. Kingstree's spring race date would be at the McGill track on April 24. There was no lancing tournament at the spring meet, but there were five horse races and a mule race.

During the Spring races, Gene Brown, seven-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. D.C Brown suffered a broken leg when he was thrown by "Yellow Gal" in the first race. It was also noted that the Spring mule race was won by a mule that had balked at the Christmas meet and refused to compete in the race.

Ad for the 1941 Day after Christmas Racing Meet near Kingstree.

On the day after Christmas in 1941, there were 50 entries in six races. The winner of the Old Williamsburg, again the featured race, was "Chick-Chick," a local horse, owned by C.E. McGill and ridden by Willis Ed Tisdale.

At the Spring Meet in 1942, there were again five races and a mule race. Thirty-three horses were entered in the five races, with nine locally-owned horses running.

Al Brown goes for the ring in the Cedar Swamp Lancers' last tournament in 2015.

World War II seems to have suspended racing until the day after Christmas in 1944, when 51 horses competed in seven races––the largest number of horses to run on a single day in South Carolina that year. Newspapers promoting the races noted, "The Holiday Handicap races will have as its main event, the fifth race, the South Carolina, in which six of the state's finest horses and some of the South's best have been entered. This is the only race this year in which these horses will go to the post together in the same event. The winner of this race will receive a war bond purse and the annual handicap trophy given by the Williamsburg Jockey Club. This race will probably create more interest and enthusiasm with horse owners and sports fans than any other event held in South Carolina this year."

An extremely large crowd attended the 1944 Christmas races to see Rapitel, owned by R.A. Reeves of Charleson, win the South Carolina. Jockey Neil Bates, son of Joe Bates, rode three straight winners that afternoon.

There were no spring races in 1945, but on the day after Christmas, 40 horses from 15 different towns in South Carolina competed at Dave McGill's track. The State newspaper noted, "Five thousand spectators––the largest crowd to see an event in the modern history of South Carolina horse racing––saw Miss Carolina, state champion flat racer, score another triumph on the Williamsburg Jockey Club Track this afternoon."

The Jockey Club attempted to resume the spring turf program in 1946. Forty-two horses were on the card, but a cold rain curtailed the crowd to only 1,500 spectators. There was talk later that year of having an annual Armistice Day racing program on November 11, but there was little statewide publicity. And by December 1947, the Williamsburg Jockey Club had disbanded.

Scott-Atkinson House Likely the Oldest in Town of Kingstree

The third of the three houses in the Town of Kingstree on the National Register of Historic Places is the Joseph Scott House. Historians tend to agree that it is likely the oldest of the three houses on the National Register, constructed in 1843. 

The Joseph Scott House seen from Kellahan Park. The park

was at one time the front yard of the Scott House but was

deeded to the Town of Kingstree by R.H. Kellahan for a park.

Joseph Scott, born in 1782, spent his early life with his brother, Samuel Scott, on the old George White place about a half mile from Indiantown Presbyterian Church, according to Dr. Samuel Davis McGill in his Narrative of Reminiscences in Williamsburg County. Dr. McGill relates the story that when it was "not convenient" for Joseph Scott to go to church, he could, from his home, distinguish the bell-like tones of Mary Ann McGill's voice from the other singers as she led the women in song during services.

Dr. McGill and Joseph Scott were apparently close friends as Scott was best man at Dr. McGill's  wedding.

According to William Willis Boddie's History of Williamsburg, "Joseph Scott and William Reid established a sawmill about 1820 on 'The Branch' in the northeastern part of the present limits of the Town of Kingstree." This would have been the town limits a hundred years later in the early 1920s. Boddie says this was the first sawmill in Williamsburg County.  He adds that this sawmill furnished much of the lumber from which the reunited Williamsburg Presbyterian congregation built its new meeting house in 1828.

Boddie adds that later, Joseph Scott established a steam sawmill on his second wife, Mary Ervin Matthews', plantation on Findley Bay. This would be in the vicinity of the DSM facility today. This mill used the first steam engine brought to Williamsburg County, Boddie writes. He continues, "The whistle was the most important part on a steam engine of that day. It is said that for years when Joseph Scott's whistle blew on Findley Bay, all Williamsburg, man and beast, stood at attention. Planters for miles around abandoned their noonday horns and gongs for when this steam whistle sounded, it was twelve o'clock in all the land." 

The Scott House in the background as seen from Kelley Street.

Boddie got much of the information he used in his history from the records kept by his mother-in-law, Martha Brockinton "Patti" Scott. She was Joseph Scott's granddaughter, the child of his daughter, Elizabeth Burgess Scott who married John Fowler Brockinton, and so one wonders if the story of the whistle that could be heard all over Williamsburg was passed down through the family or was simply a bit of embellishment on Boddie's part.

Dr. McGill simply notes that the machinery of the steam sawmill on Findley and Rutledge bays "was a great curiosity, and people came from a distance to look at it and hear the whistle of the engine, being the first ever brought in this part of the district."

Dr. McGill further states that Joseph Scott built a large dwelling in Kingstree and moved his family to town for "educational advantages." Scott was a founding trustee of the Kingstree Academy, where his four children, Mary Burgess, Samuel McBride, Susanna Theresa, and Edward Branard, or Brainard, were educated. Edward Branard, the youngest of the children died in Virginia in 1862 while fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. According to Dr. McGill, "When the report of his death reached his beloved father, the old gentleman, [who was then 80 years old], said, 'Would to God I had died for thee, oh, Branard, my son, my son.'" 

Of the house, Dr. McGill writes, "The house was constructed after the old-fashioned style of our well-to-do citizens and stands today as a memorial of ancient economy and comfort."

In 1961, a Kingstree Girl Scout troop visited the Scott House as part of a Heritage Hike. At that time, the house was owned by 89-year-old Elise Kennedy Hodges, who lived there with her daughter, Margaret Hodges Hauenstein, and her family. Elise Hodges was Joseph Scott's grand niece, according to the article in The Florence Morning News. 

Margaret Hauenstein explained to the Girl Scouts that the framing for the house appeared to have been hand-hewn. The sills were marked with Roman numerals and were probably cut to fit before the actual construction began. Some of the boards were put together with wooden pegs.

She also noted that the brick for the pillars, which rest on millstones, and the chimneys were made from clay on the place. Three of these clay pits were located where the Welch house now stands, just down Live Oak Avenue from the Scott house. At that time, some of the original, long, hand-forged iron hinges were still on the upstairs doors. 

Last summer a storm broke a huge limb off this old oak in the back yard of the house.

"The stairs to the second floor are steep and narrow," Mrs. Hauenstein said. "How Susan Theresa Scott, one of Joseph Scott's two daughters, ever came down the stairs in a bride's dress and train to be married to Col. R.C. Logan, is a wonder."

Joseph Scott was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1836. His descendants, likewise, took an interest in public affairs. His older son, Samuel McBride Scott, served the citizens of Williamsburg County at various times as sheriff, magistrate, clerk of court, and probate judge. He was probate judge when he dropped dead at 4 p.m. on December 31, 1907, while in conversation with a friend in front of the Bank of Williamsburg on Main Street in Kingstree. Without warning, he fell forward on his face. Dr. C.D. Jacobs reached him within minutes but was unable to revive him. At 73, he had been the oldest citizen of Kingstree. The County Record noted, "With the death of Judge Scott... another landmark of this old town passed away." The judge, the paper reported, "had a most prodigious and retentive memory for facts and circumstances connected with the history of Williamsburg." Attorneys, when examining real estate titles, always went to him for help when the records failed to show a clear chain of title, and it was "seldom that the judge failed to put them on the right track."

It was in front of this building that housed the Bank of Williamsburg

 that Probate Judge Samuel McBride Scott died on the last day of 1907.

Some years earlier, Judge Scott's son, Samuel McBride Scott, Jr., had died in a tragic boating accident on Black River. On Saturday afternoon, March 21, 1896, Scott and a Black companion, Ned Covington, were fishing for shad after they got off work. As they were returning to town, they encountered a canoe which had capsized. In the attempt to rescue the two men who had been thrown into the water, a gun lying on the seat of Scott and Covington's boat discharged, hitting Scott in the chest. He reportedly lived long enough to announce, "Boys, I am killed!" before he died.

Another of the Judge's sons, William Rodgers Scott, served three terms as Mayor of Kingstree. He was mayor during the time in which the Carnegie Library was built. During World War I, he encouraged the town's citizens to "adopt and apply every possible means in conserving and protecting our present resources and increasing food production." He was a partner in a seed and fertilizer business and was president of Kingstree Grocery, which catered to both wholesale and retail trade.

William Rodgers Scott

Through the years, the house has passed through a number of different families. As a young lawyer Thomas McDowell Gilland bought the house in 1874 and "kept a Bachelor Hall there while establishing his law practice," according to a 1933 profile written by Gilland's daughter-in-law, Nell Flinn Gilland, of Louise Brockinton Gilland, his wife. Sharing the house with him were three ministers, W. Smith Martin, who married Lou Brockinton's sister Vermelle, the Rev. Mr. Newell, and Tom Gilland's brother, Henry, who succeeded their father as minister at Indiantown Presbyterian. When Louise Brockinton and Thomas Gilland married in 1877, they set up housekeeping at the Scott house. "I loved it," Louise Gilland said, "although it was built by a cock-eyed carpenter, and no two windows are at the same level."

Louise Brockinton Gilland and Thomas McDowell Gilland

Later, Tom Gilland traded the house to Bill Lee, with a "bit more," for the house on the corner of North Academy and Kelley where the old Kingstree Elementary School stands. Lee's wife, Jennie, was not too happy about the trade, but Lou Gilland noted, "One morning early I saw her coming to the Scott house. I called Mr. Gilland and told him to get up, Mrs. Lee was moving in."

R.H. Kellahan

R.H. Kellahan also owned the house at one time. During the time of his ownership, he deeded a portion of his front yard to the Town of Kingstree for use as a park. You may read about Kellahan Park here.

The Hodgeses and the Hauensteins lived in the house for over 50 years, and the current owners, Kelly and Ernie Atkinson have lived there since the 1990s. 

John G. Pressley, Melvin Hirsch Lived in Home Now on National Register

There are three houses in the Town of Kingstree built before the Civil War that still stand at their original locations. Some time ago, we looked at the Heller House on Academy Street. You can read about it here. Today, we'll look at the second of these houses, also on Academy Street, and two of its early owners. It is known as the John Gotea Pressley House, or sometimes the Pressley/Hirsch/Green/Hamby House, and was built in 1855.

The Pressley House during Spring.

Born in Williamsburg County in May 1833, John Gotea Pressley graduated with honors from The Citadel in 1851. He then "read law" in Charleston with his uncle B.C. Pressley and was admitted to the bar at age 21. He returned to Kingstree where he set up a law firm. He and his wife Julia started their married life in 1854 in the old Rich-Armstrong house, one of several houses over the years that were located on the property that later became the old Kingstree Elementary School and is now the District Office for the Williamsburg County School District.

A year later, he bought acreage from Virginia and Dr. James Brockinton and began building a one-and-a-half story Greek Revival-style home to which he added a very Southern rain porch. While the house today sits in the heart of Kingstree's residential district, at the time of its construction, it would have been considered a country home. The Brockintons who lived in the old Kingstree Academy building were John and Julia Pressley's nearest neighbors. The property on which the Pressleys built their home was at one time a portion of the Dr. Thomas Day Singleton plantation, which Virginia Singleton Brockinton had inherited.

Dr. James and Virginia Singleton Brockinton lived in this house 

and were John and Julia Pressley's nearest neighbors.

It appears that John G. Pressley farmed some of the acreage surrounding his home as the Charleston Daily Courier reported in August 1858 that "John G. Pressley informs us that while taking a stroll through his fields on Sabbath evening last, he suddenly met up with and succeeded in killing a rattlesnake of the following curious (in one respect) description: eight fangs instead of two, four on each side of the mouth. This snake measured five feet, two inches and had 15 rattles and a button. Mr. Pressley also informs us that he killed one about 10 days ago near the same place with 11 rattles and a button."

In November of that year,  J.G. Pressley was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from Williamsburg County. As tensions built between North and South, Pressley was a member of the Secession Convention and signed South Carolina's Ordinance of Secession on December 20, 1860. To prove that his signature meant something he immediately enlisted in Captain Gregg's Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers. In April 1862, he was promoted to Major of the Eutaw Battalion and in July of that year became a Lieutenant Colonel for the 35th Regiment of the South Carolina Volunteers, a position he held until the end of the war. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Port Walthall Junction in Virginia in May 1864, after which one bone from his arm was totally removed, leaving him with little use of one hand.

Lt. Col. John Gotea Pressley

Source: Find a Grave

After the war, Pressley returned to Kingstree where he continued to take an active interest in public service. The Town of Kingstree was incorporated by the state legislature in 1866, and in January 1867, John G. Pressley was sworn in as one of the first wardens (town council) of the town. Another attorney, Samuel W. Maurice, had been elected intendant (mayor). Other wardens were George Purvis Nelson, Morris Schwartz, and William W. Ward. Pressley also served as a county judge for Williamsburg County from 1866-1869.

He continued to practice law in Kingstree. In addition, he entered into partnerships with Pressley Barron in Manning and A.W. Dozier, Jr., in Marion to expand his law practice across the Pee Dee region.

Advertisement in The Charleston Daily News of February 14, 1867.

As the 1860s drew to a close,  a large number of South Carolinians became increasingly discouraged by the political climate, especially with their feelings of disenfranchisement under Reconstruction. Many of them, including John G. Pressley and his brother, James Fowler Pressley, decided to move to California. The Pressley families sailed on a steamer from New York on March 16, 1869.

Settling in Sonoma County, California, John G. Pressley was elected City Attorney for the town of Santa Rosa in 1873. Two years later, he was elected a county judge. In 1880, he was elected a Superior Court Judge. His name was also put in nomination to become an associate justice on the California Supreme Court. However, another better-known judge, Jackson Temple, received that appointment. But after their retirement from the courts, John G Pressley and Jackson Temple, became law partners in Santa Rosa. 

By 1875, no fewer than six former South Carolinians held important political positions in California, including that of Lieutenant Governor.

Pressley had been a founding member of the Kingstree Baptist Church and was a leading member of the Baptist Church of Santa Rosa. And despite the fact that he lived across the country, an 1874 catalog for Furman University shows "Col. Jno. G. Pressly" as a board member.

Pressley crossed the country to visit his old home in Kingstree in 1885, where he gathered information that he compiled into an unpublished family history for his descendants.

In the summer of 1895, Pressley went as usual on his annual camping trip to Camp Pressley in the mountains near Santa Rosa. On July 5,  he died in his tent of a heart attack. His obituary noted that he and his wife Julia were greatly beloved by all who knew them.

In 1942, one of John and Julia Pressley's grandsons visited South Carolina from Fresno, CA. He paid a visit to The State newspaper where he displayed for the news staff the pen he said his grandfather had used to sign the Ordinance of Secession. The resulting news article described it as having an ebony staff on which was engraved "John G. Pressley, December 20, 1860," and a gold nib. The reporter speculated that it was likely that all the signers used their own pens and retained them as souvenirs.

Before his move to California, Pressley had sold his Kingstree acreage, including his home, to John M. Hirsch, who, within months, had deeded it to his son, Melvin J. Hirsch. 

According to his obituary, Melvin Hirsch was born August 14, 1842, in Mexico, although all census records indicate that he was born in South Carolina. He moved with his parents to Charleston, where, after completing his education, he worked for Mordecai & Co., the largest importer in Charleston with a steamship line running between Charleston and Havana.

Hirsch Street in Kingstree is named for Melvin J. Hirsch.

After the outbreak of the Civil War, Melvin Hirsch joined theWashington Light Infantry, where he served as Regimental Commissary for Col. Simonton's regiment. He fought for the Confederates at the Battle of Battery Wagner, while Stephen A. Swails, who would later become Hirsch's law partner, fought in the same battle for the Union with the 54th Massachusetts. 

Shortly after the war, Hirsch made his way to Kingstree where he opened a mercantile company.  As one of few white Republicans in Williamsburg County, he was elected Clerk of Court for Williamsburg County in 1868 and was named a trial justice for the county in 1870. In 1872, he was elected to the SC House of Representatives where he served two terms. In 1876, he was elected Solicitor for the Third Judicial Circuit, serving until 1880, when he withdrew from politics to devote his time to his law practice. He did, however, serve as as trustee for the Kingstree school for a number of years after he left politics and was chairman of the Williamsburg County Pension Board for the last three years of his life. 

In 1867, Melvin Hirsch was a member of the Coroner's Jury that heard testimony regarding the tragic fire at the Williamsburg County Jail which killed 22 prisoners. You may read more about that fire here.

Hirsch and his law partner, Stephen Swails, were parties in what was alleged by some to be "The Williamsburg Land Swindle." Hirsch was clerk of court and Swails county auditor and state senator at the time, and the transaction involved property from the Estate of Dr. Staggers which was sold to John H. Hirsch, Melvin Hirsch's father. John Hirsch then sold the property to the State of South Carolina for $3,000, which many argued was well below its market value. It was believed by many that the younger Hirsch and Swails had worked some kind of nefarious deal.

At some point in their partnership, Hirsch and Swails had a serious falling out, so that when Stephen Swails was "banished" from Williamsburg County, it was not his old law partner who took care of his business dealings here while he was in exile in Washington, but Louis Jacobs, who had served as business manager for The Williamsburg Republican, the newspaper Stephen Swails founded in 1873. Melvin Hirsch was an associate editor of that paper, which the Newberry Herald called a "credibly printed and edited sheet."

It's possible the split between Swails and Hirsch occurred in 1877 after Hirsch published very complimentary statements about Governor Wade Hampton in an assessment of the Third Judicial Circuit. In 1878, Swails wrote Governor Hampton complaining about the ill treatment he had experienced at the hands of a group of white men who harassed him after a political rally. Hampton referred Swails to Solicitor Hirsch in his reply. This, too, may also have played a role in Swails' and Hirsch's falling out.

Pressley Street is located just across Longstreet and almost within site

of the John G. Pressley House

In 1889, Sumter's Watchman & Southron newspaper reported, "Melvin J. Hirsch, Esq., of Kingstree owns a violin made in Brescia, Italy, by Gion Paolo Maggini in 1696 and is therefore 193 years old. Mr. Hirsch's father who was an accomplished musician owned this violin which is still in a perfect state of preservation, both in appearance and tone." The Manning Times added that it was probably the oldest violin in the state. [According to the Smithsonian Institution, Maggini died circa 1630, which makes it impossible for him to have made a violin in 1696, so either the violin was not a Maggini, or it was much older than it was believed to be.] Today, an authenticated Maggini violin ranges in price from $200,000 to $2 million.

Melvin J. Hirsch died after a long battle with kidney disease on May 28, 1903. The house remained in the Hirsch family until 1924, when it was sold to Nita Epps who owned it for 20 years before selling to Wylma McCollough Green. Mrs. Green's daughter, Peggy Hamby, owned the house until this year. It remains a private residence. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 10, 1997.

The history of the area surrounding this house is reflected in street names, such as Pressley, Hirsch, and Brockington streets, and Singleton and Gilland avenues.

June 1949 Fire Gutted Three Buildings

Shortly after 3 o'clock on Thursday morning, June 23, 1949, Dr. Philip Assey of Georgetown was bringing one of his patients to Kelley Hospital in Kingstree. As he turned off the Georgetown/Andrews road on to East Main Street in Kingstree, he noticed an orange glow above the main business district. Passing the railroad depot he saw a Kingstree police officer who did not seem to be aware that anything was amiss. However, as Dr. Assey turned from Main on to Academy Street, he saw flames shooting up from three buildings on the west side of the street.

The three building that burned in June 1949 as they look today.

in 1949, the A&P was to the far left; D.D. Hardee's barbershop 

was in the center, and Stanley's Grocery Store was the building to the far right.

He immediately began searching for a fire alarm box so that he could report the fire. Finding none, he began blowing his horn continuously until he aroused someone who alerted the fire department. Although the fire department was less than a block away on Mill Street, by the time volunteers arrived on the scene, all three buildings were fully involved. And, firefighters saw that their worst nightmare had come to life.

For some time, town officials had known it would be difficult to fight a fire to the rear of the buildings on the west side of Academy Street as there was no room to maneuver a fire truck and hoses. However, they had yet to come up with a solution to the problem. But time had just run out. The three buildings on fire were near the center of the block, including the A&P grocery store, managed by A.W. Dabbs; the Palace Beauty and Barber Shop, known locally as D.D. Hardee's; and Stanley's Grocery, owned by Stanley Inman. 

Kingstree Fire Chief Dr. W. Gordon Rodgers, 

who was also a pharmacist and owner of Rodgers Drug Company,

and served as Mayor of Kingstree in the 1950s.

Kingstree Fire Chief Dr. W. Gordon Rodgers quickly found a creative solution to the problem. Firemen dragged their hoses up the stairs to the second floor of the three-story building on the corner of Main and Academy streets. The second floor was used as a Masonic Lodge, and the firemen and their hoses went out the second-story lodge windows to the roof of Sidney Dubin's dry goods store. They were then able to drag their hoses to the back of that roof and direct water on the fire burning in the A&P next door. 

Firefighters dragged their hoses up to the second floor and out onto the roof

of Dubin's store so that they could fight the fire at the rear of the A&P to the right.

Three alarms were issued, one at 3:45, one at 4:15, and one at 6:30 before the fire was brought under control about 8 a.m. While the walls of the buildings still stood, the interiors were gutted by the fire, and the two stores which flanked those that burned, Dubin's and Kingstree Electric & Supply, owned by J.W. Wallace and Philip C. Stoll, suffered smoke and water damage. Damages were estimated between $70,000 and $100,000, which today would amount to $813,500 to $1,162,140. The cause of the fire was not known at the time it was reported in the press.

The A&P suffered the heaviest damage. That building was owned by R.M. Kellahan. D.D. Hardee owned his own building, and M.H. Jacobs owned the building that housed Stanley's grocery. 

Western Union Telegraph lines were damaged, cutting Kingstree off from telegraph service for several hours. Telephone lines in that part of town were also out of service until Thursday afternoon.

Repairs were made, and life got back to normal. Today, the old A&P store is vacant. The barbershop, which has been in a state of disrepair for a number of years, was recently bought by Pam Davis of the Downtown Café and has been torn down. It will soon provide a space for outdoor seating for the café. The Café itself occupies the old Stanley's Grocery building.

Mrs. Reeves Writes About Thanksgiving

I'll start this Thanksgiving week post with gratitude to my friend, Jay Reeves, for giving me permission to use a column, written by his mother in The County Record in the early 1960s. During that time, Jay's dad Ernie wrote a regular column for the local paper. But, that week, he asked his wife Jerry, who taught many of you in kindergarten, I'm sure, to write the column for him. Here is Mrs. Reeves' take on Thanksgiving from Jay's 1993 compilation of his dad's columns called, as the column was, Whistling In Dixie.

Jerry Brantley and Ernest Reeves at their wedding in 1953.

Photo courtesy of Jay Reeves

It starts out with with an introduction from Mr. Reeves: "I'm sure that most who read these rantings each week could do a better job than the writer. I asked my wife if she'd like to write the column this week. Our six-year-old, Tom, asked her to write something about Thanksgiving. What follows is her work.

"Tonight when Ernie left the house to go see Psycho at the movie, he jokingly said for me to write his article for the paper this week. So, I thought I'd be a good student and do his homework for him. At least I have something definite to write about––Thanksgiving.

"Children make a holiday seem much more real.

"At kindergarten, we've been coloring turkeys and finding out why we eat turkey at Thanksgiving, coloring butterflies and pasting Bible verses of praise to God in them, and learning that the word Thanksgiving means giving thanks to God for everything he has given us so freely.

"Thanksgiving is one of our American holidays. More than 300 years ago in October 1621, William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony, proclaimed a day of prayer and feasting on which the Pilgrims might give special thanks to God for their blessings. The main dish that day was wild turkey, which the men had killed. I guess that's why so many men go hunting on Thanksgiving day now––just the 'ole pilgrim blood' showing itself. The only difference in the hunting then and now is that the wife brings home the game from the store already dressed and pre-cooked, and the men come home tired and empty-handed (usually, that is.)

"On the first Thanksgiving the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for a chance to live and work in this new land, their new home, which was the real beginning of our U.S.A.

"We are apt to take much for granted today. We accept all the good things that make our lives pleasant, forgetting that life, even in the United States, hasn't always been so easy. Our warm homes, electric lights, running water (especially hot water), radios, and TVs are really quite new. Our grandmothers and grandfathers can tell us how different things were when they were small.

"This Thanksgiving, and every other day, let us give thanks for our loved ones and for all the good things that surround us. We can give thanks to God in any place or in any way that we think best––in family prayers or alone, indoors or out, where God seems quite near with nature all around us––or we can give thanks to Him in the church of our choice. It is important to feel thankful and to express our thanks for His love and protecting care. Prayers can bring us peace of mind––faith in God and appreciation of the worth of each other person are necessary for our own happiness and will help carry on the high purposes that Americans have always held important."

I'm supremely grateful that Ernie and Jerry Reeves were influences in my life, both as a child and as an adult, and that their sons Tom and Jay have been my friends for far more years than any of us care to remember. I'm also grateful to all of you who take the time to read these blog posts each week.  Although I may not respond to all your comments, know that they are always appreciated.

New Biography Looks at Former Senator, Auditor, Mayor of Kingstree

The third book published this year that focuses on a unique part of the history of Kingstree and Williamsburg County is a biography of Stephen Atkins Swails. Written by Mount Pleasant historian, author, and attorney Gordon C. Rhea, the book takes a close look at a man who was both loved and hated in his day.

Author Gordon C. Rhea

Source: Blue and Gray Education Society

Stephen A. Swails, Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction was released November 3. It follows the life of Stephen Swails from his birth in Columbia, Pennsylvania, in 1832 until his death in Kingstree in 1900. Although he was born to free Black parents, Swails saw from an early age that Black citizens, although free, were not free from harassment, as many of his neighbors' homes were burned and Black residents intimidated by whites who feared that Blacks would take their jobs. The Swails family eventually moved to Elmira, New York, and as a young man during the Civil War, Stephen Swails enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the regiment on which the movie Glory is based.

Rhea traces the movements of the 54th Massachusetts from the bloody battle at Battery Wagner near Charleston to the Battle of Olustee in Baker County, Florida, in which Swails was wounded, to their march with General Edward Potter across parts of South Carolina. Stephen Swails' performance was such that his white commanders and Massachusetts governor John Andrew requested that the War Department commission him as an officer. However, War Department officials were reluctant, fearing  this would put Swails in a position to command white soldiers. Only after his commanding officers assured those officials that Swails looked like a white man did he become the first African-American commissioned line officer in the United States Army.

Stephen Atkins Swails

Following the war, Stephen Swails returned to South Carolina where he was employed by the Freedmen's Bureau and assigned to Williamsburg County. His job was to mediate grievances and issues between Blacks and whites. Rhea, in an interview with the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, noted that this position gave him a great political advantage in that he was well-known by all segments of the community and was "able to win allies in both sectors of the population. "

While working with the Bureau, Swails studied law and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 1872. He set up a law practice in Kingstree with Melvin J. Hirsch, who had fought at Battery Wagner on the side of the Confederates.

Swails also sought public office and was elected to the South Carolina Senate where he served as president pro tem. He also served as Williamsburg County Auditor and as Intendant, or Mayor, of Kingstree from 1873 until 1877. In addition, he was editor and publisher of The Williamsburg Republican. He was an electoral college elector for several Presidential elections and served as a trustee for the University of South Carolina.

Gordon Rhea notes that until recently little has been written about Reconstruction. "This was a real educational experience for me," he said in the interview with the Civil War Institute. "I'm glad I went through it because I learned so much and met some fascinating characters."

During Reconstruction throughout South Carolina there was much violence, including a number of political assassinations. And while there were racial tensions and upheavals in Williamsburg County, there was little overt violence. Stephen Swails has been credited by several who lived through the time with helping to keep relative calm in Williamsburg County.

The historical marker commemorating the Stephen Swails' home

which was located on the corner of Main and South Brooks streets in Kingstree.

However, as times began to change, Stephen Swails began to feel the heat of his opponents' wrath. They eventually were able to drive him from the county by threatening his life. He found work in Washington, DC, with the Post Office Department and the Department of the Treasury. But it also appears that he regularly visited his wife and children in Kingstree without incident, and after he became ill, he moved back to Kingstree where he died May 17, 1900, attended by Dr. D.C. Scott.

Stephen Swails had more or less become a footnote of local history until 1978 when brothers Jimmy and Edward Moore happened to see a trunk on the side of Brooks Street, outside the Carolina Warehouse. (The Swails home once sat where the warehouse was then located.) They didn't stop at the time but came back later that day to find it gone. Still later, Jimmy Moore drove by the town dump and saw the same trunk. This time he stopped and picked it up. Inside were the personal papers of Stephen Swails. The brothers didn't know who Stephen Swails was, but they took their find to Sammie McIntosh at the Williamsburgh Historical Society. McIntosh gave them $75 as a finder's fee. But, it wasn't until the 1990s that Kingstree attorney Billy Jenkinson became interested in the papers and, as a result, in 1998, an historical marker was placed on the property to commemorate Stephen Swails. In 2006, Russell Horres, a board member of the African-American Historical Alliance, was able to identify Stephen Swails' unmarked grave in the Humane and Friendly Society Cemetery in Charleston. Subsequently, the Alliance placed a marker on the grave. Billy Jenkinson, through a set of unusual circumstances, met Gordon Rhea and told him the story of Stephen Swails. Rhea became interested and soon found out that Hugh McDougall, the official Village Historian of Cooperstown, NY, and a former attorney and diplomat, had also gathered information on Stephen Swails. Jenkinson and McDougall's research gave Rhea a solid base from which to begin his own research.

Stephen Swails' grave marker in the Humane and Friendly Cemetery

in Charleston, South Carolina.

Rhea points out that the white citizens of Williamsburg County had varying views of Stephen Swails. Dr. Samuel Davis McGill in his book Narrative of Reminiscences in Williamsburg County credited Swails with keeping serious violence at bay in Williamsburg County during Reconstruction. However, W.W. Boddie and Henry Davis saw him more as a villain, calling him a carpetbagger. I can add two other voices to these, one on either side. In 1932, Nell Gilland interviewed David Erwin Gordon, son of A.M. Gordon and Mary Lee Gamble, for the Bicentennial issue of The County Record. His view of Stephen Swails was much like that of Dr. McGill with the feeling that without Stephen Swails' influence, Williamsburg County's experience during Reconstruction would have been much more violent. However, in his unpublished memoirs, State Senator Edwin Christopher Epps noted that "The elder Swails was an agitator among negroes and must have caused quite a bit of trouble for how the Klu Klux and the Red Shirts handled him and finally made him leave town are stories which are among my first memories, and were told by both negroes and white people."

Senator Epps, however, had much kinder words for Stephen Swails' eldest son, Florian. He remembers Florian as working in James Sullivan's blacksmith shop; however, in his 1935 obituary, Florian is remembered as having worked as mail clerk on the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad for 32 years. His obituary notes that he owned one of the oldest homes in Kingstree, as he inherited his father's house on the corner of Main and South Brooks. Florian Grant Swails was also elected to the Kingstree Town Council in 1895. The article in The State newspaper notes that he and the three white men elected were all "young businessmen, expected to give general satisfaction."

Stephen and Susan Swails' daughter, Daisy, born in 1880, was also well-thought of by the citizens of Kingstree. She appears to have been the sole teacher in the "colored school" in Kingstree in the late 1890s. There are several mentions in The County Record of programs she and her students put on at the Court House that were attended by both white and Black residents. The 1940 census shows a 60-year-old Daisy M. Swails still teaching in Kingstree, boarding at the home of Joe Austin. Also boarding with the Austins was a 35-year-old Charles Edward Murray, who would make his own name in education in Williamsburg County.

Florian Swails' son, another Stephen A. Swails, was a veteran of the Korean War and taught for 15 years in the New York City school system, carrying on the legacies of his family in both the military and education.

"If you don't know about the past, you're bound to repeat the mistakes of the past," Gordon Rhea commented in his interview with the Civil War Institute. "It helps put into context a lot of what is going on today."

Historial Novel Set in Kingstree and Greeleyville

The second book with ties to Kingstree and the surrounding area is very different from the one we looked at last week. Silk: Caroline's Story by Sophia Alexander is, according to its author, "a character-driven historical novel with unexpected twists." One reviewer has described the book as the "social realism of Jane Austen meets the Southern Gothic of Flannery O'Conner." It was published June 30, 2021

Author Sophia Alexander

Photo Courtesy of Sophia Alexander

In 1899, Caroline Corbett moves to her uncle Sam Swann's plantation near Kingstree so that she can work in a nearby sewing factory. Her new surroundings bring her into contact with two attractive men: one, a sharecropper who lives near Greeleyville, and the other, a young doctor in Kingstree. And, as Alexander says, while the doctor is the obvious choice, "things get complicated, as life does." One of the complications is a young sociopath who is determined that Caroline will have nothing to do with the sharecropper. The story does indeed have many twists and turns, some that I saw coming and some that I did not.

And while this is Caroline's story, there is a sub-plot which involves her best friend, Anne, also employed at the factory. While Caroline ends up choosing traditional family life, Anne, who becomes a talented clothing designer in the course of the book, makes her way out into the modern world. "I believe they balance each other out," the author told "Book Banter" host Tanya E. Williams in an interview streamed on You Tube July 23. 

The title for Silk came from silk dresses the girls made for a Christmas party.

Silk's origin is almost as interesting as the storyline itself. Sophia Alexander, which I might note is a pen name, states that while the plot and storylines of the book are totally fictional, a number of the characters names come straight from her family tree. Names like Caroline, Amarintha, Jessie, Swann and Gaynell. (And if any of you are wondering if Gaynell is for Gaynell Gamble Hammet, you are indeed correct, as she was the daughter of Caroline "Carrie" Cox Gamble, for whom the title character in Silk is named.)

Caroline "Carrie" Cox Gamble, for whom Caroline in Silk was named.

Source: Ancestry.com

Alexander has been interested in genealogy since she was 12 years old, and it was natural for her to reach into her family's past to name her book's characters. Another character in the book, Sam's Swann's younger daughter, Emma, was based on none other than Bessie Swann Britton. In fact the idea for Silk came to Alexander while she was reading Remembering Kingstree: Memories of a Southern Village, which is the collected writings of Bessie Swann Britton, that I edited and published in 2007. "A Visit from Mrs. Santa Claus" is the final story in Remembering Kingstree, and Caroline Cox makes an appearance in that story, which relates a Christmas Eve adventure in the Swann household. This story became the springboard for Silk.

Sophia Alexander also combed through Dr. Samuel D. McGill's Narrative of Reminiscences in Williamsburg County. From it, she was able to tease out authentic details about what schools were like in those times, and also found colorful descriptions which helped her create a wedding dinner.

The overall plot and storylines may be fictional, but there is at least one small vignette in the story that comes straight from young Bessie Swann's life. Like Bessie, Emma in Silk insists on going to school before she is eligible, all because she wants to carry a shiny lunch pail like her older sister. And also like Bessie, her first day of school is a less than happy experience.

Silk is Alexander's first novel and was a Finalist in the Family Saga Division for the American Fiction Awards, sponsored by American BookFest. It was also a Finalist in the Historical Fiction category for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and was longlisted for the Goethe Award 2022 by Chanticleer International.

Tapestry will be available in April 2022.

Silk is the first novel of a trilogy, tracing three generations of this family. The second novel, Tapestry: A Lowcountry Rapunzel, will be released on April 16, 2022, with Homespun to follow at a later date. The e-book version of Tapestry is already available for pre-order.

Sophia Alexander is a South Carolina native and a graduate of the College of Charleston who lives in Savannah with her husband.

A Fresh Look at Francis Marion and Snow's Island

It continues to surprise me that an area as rural and sparsely populated as ours is the subject for a number of books on a variety of topics each year, and this year is no exception. Today, we'll look at a February 2021 publication by archaeologist Steven D. Smith. Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community offers a fresh look at Gen. Francis Marion and the area that offered him refuge.

Author Steven D. Smith is Director of the South Carolina Institute of 

Archeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina.

Source: University of South Carolina

In the past 30 years Steve Smith has excavated a number of sites within a circle around Snow's Island from Port's Ferry west to Witherspoon's Ferry, southeast down to Britton's Ferry, and across Britton's Neck to Potato Bed Ferry, looking for signs of military encampments. He has also searched Snow's Island itself for any indication of Francis Marion's famed hideout. In this book he looks at both the historical and archaeological record and presents an intriguing theory.

While he gives us a brief overview of Francis Marion's life, he spends much more time introducing us to the families who lived in the vicinity of Snow's Island during the American Revolution. We meet the Snows, Goddards, Ports, Brittons, Jenkinses and others who entered into a symbiotic relationship with Francis Marion, in that Marion and his men, many of whom were from these same families, provided some protection from the Loyalists who lived across the Little Pee River, and the families of the area provided Marion's Brigade with provisions, including food, fodder for their horses, and valuable information on British and Loyalists movements.

The subtitle of the book is Myth, History and Archaeology, and he aptly covers all three within its pages. Much of what the general population knows about Gen. Marion comes from three sources–books by Mason Locke Weems, William Dobein James, and William Gilmore Simms. All of these works paint a romanticized picture of the man we know today as The Swamp Fox. However, these books do capture "the sense of the time." Smith spends time looking at all three of these works and how they furthered the legend of Francis Marion. He also mentions the 1960s Wonderful World of Disney production, starring Leslie Nielsen, which added to the Swamp Fox mythology. 

Mason Locke Weems, also known as Parson Weems, 

attained fame for his romanticized biography of George Washington.

Source: Smithsonian Institution

He presents the historical record from a number of different perspectives. This includes a look at how and when Marion became known as "The Swamp Fox." In addition, he looks at receipts for support provided to Marion and his men from the surrounding community. In doing so, he sheds light on some of the stories that have been passed down about Marion. 

As an example, Nathan Savage is a name associated with the siege of Rebecca Motte's home at Fort Motte. Savage is credited with shooting the flaming arrow onto the roof of the house, which drove the British from the building. We learn from Smith's book, that during his lifetime Nathan Savage amassed thousands of acres of property in the Britton's Neck area. Smith notes, "It is possible that the reputation gained as a result of his service during the war prompted his post war leadership."

Major John James also receipted a number of meals for sometimes as many as 70 individuals and forage for their horses at his home near Indiantown.

Contemporary writings noted that Marion's Brigade was composed of both white and black soldiers, but many historians believed the black soldiers were body servants for the more well-to-do partisans. To some degree that was true, including Marion, himself, whose body servant Oscar "Buddy" Marion found his own place in history thanks to a genealogist descendant. Smith mentions that Jasper Browngard and Moses Irwin were also enslaved men who were part of Marion's Brigade. However, he notes that there were an indeterminate number of free men of color who participated as well, including Jacob and George Perkins and drummer Jim Capers. 

The archaeological evidence is also carefully reviewed. In all the years of excavation, Steve Smith has found little that would indicate a military presence. However, he now believes that partisan groups may have left fewer artifacts that we today would associate with a military presence. There is also the possibility that over the long, intervening years, many of the buttons and hardware one would expect to find in a military camp may have been scavenged by relic hunters.

Francis Marion and the Snow's Island Community was published February 1, 2021.

Smith entertains the theory that Marion's base camp might have been at Dunham's Bluff rather than on Snow's Island itself. Snow's Island has yielded no archaeological evidence of such a camp, but the remains of a camp have been discovered at Dunham's Bluff across the Pee Dee River from the island. There is also some historical evidence that might add credence, including Robert Mills' 1825 Atlas which shows Marion's Camp at Dunham's Bluff. (The reference to Mills' Atlas is interesting in that I recently read a 1929 newspaper article on Robert Mills, written by Laura Hemingway, in which she quotes Charles C. Wilson, who was then an architect in Columbia on the accuracy of the maps in Mills' Atlas. Wilson said, "I have had occasion in the course of my practice to test the accuracy of these maps by extensive and precise surveys in 13 of the 28 districts, and I have yet to find the first material error or omission. Every stream, lake, road, hill, swamp or other permanent landmark I have found to be exactly as represented...")

Statue of General Francis Marion at Venters Landing near the site of

Witherspoon's Ferry, Johnsonville, South Carolina.

Steve Smith notes that while he can almost believe that Marion's famed base camp was at Dunham's Bluff, there are still some points that raise questions for him. However, he concludes, "Essentially, the geographical core family region of the larger Snow's Island region was in fact Marion's Snow's Island camp and depot." He adds that it is certain that "the Snow's Island community informed his strategy and tactical situation. He could not afford to lose the community which was not only his refuge but also his source of manpower, food, and forage."

Despite the fact that no physical evidence of Marion's presence has been found on Snow's Island, it is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is recognized as a National Landmark. Steve Smith writes that "the living memory of Francis Marion alone establishes it as a place of importance in the American narrative." This book also deserves a place of importance in the American narrative of Francis Marion and this area's role in the American Revolution.

P.S.: Don't neglect to read the footnotes at the end of each chapter. They contain additional information that is informative, and Kingstree residents will find one that mentions Spencer Barker, who grew up here.