This walking tour is based on the book Civil War Tours of the Low Country by David D’Arcy.

Battery Saxton- I visited Battery Saxton on the way into town to begin the first of three walking/driving tours of Beaufort in the excellent book- Civil War Tours of the Low Country by David D’Arcy.

901 Craven Street- property may have been stolen from this house during the war

Tabernacle Baptist Church- 911 Craven Street. During the war freed slaves purchased the church. Robert Smalls and his family are buried in the cemetery here.

The Harriett Tubman Statue also at 911 Craven Street

Baptist Church of Beaufort- 601 Charles Street- served as Hospital #14

The Thomas Rhett House Inn- 1009 Craven Street. Today the house is a bed and breakfast. The Rhett family were ardent secessionists.

The Milton Maxcy-Rhett House- 1113 Craven Street- The Secession House. During the war the house was used as a hospital, officer’s quarters and paymaster’s office. Civil War graffiti has been discovered on the basement walls.

Cuthbert House Inn- 1203 Bay Street. The house is currently a bed and breakfast. Mary Cuthbert Stuart owned the house at the start of the war but fled the city when the Union invaded Hilton Head never to return. General Rufus Saxton, the military governor of the Sea Islands confiscated and purchased the house. General William T. Sherman stayed here as a guest on the evening of January 23, 1865.

Robert Means-Gage House- 1207 Bay Street- The Bluff House. In 1864 Captain Joseph Lowe, the Army Quartermaster, used the Robert Means house as his home.

John Joyner Smith House- 32.4330233, -80.6777428. The house was confiscated by the Federals for failure to pay taxes. In 1862 General Isaac Stevens had his headquarters here.

The two pictures below of General Stevens and his staff were taken on the porch of this house by Timothy O’Sullivan in March of 1862.

The same ornate top to the door is still present.

Stevens would have had a great view of the Beaufort River from the porch.

Edward Barnwell House- 1405 Bay Street. This home is thought to have been occupied by Union troops.

Monument to Confederate Dead- 32.4335122, -80.6795295. The monument is on the site of what once was the Robert Woodward Barnwell house called the Castle.

St. Helena Church- 505 Church Street

The next post in the series (link)

The William Elliott House- 1103 Bay Street- The “Anchorage House”. The house was used as a hospital during the war. The listed address in D’Arcy’s book is incorrect.

Source

Civil War Tours of the Low Country by David D’Arcy