Coastal Towns of South Carolina- Beaufort- Officers and Planters Walking Tour #2

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

I added two stops between tours #1 and #2. When I visited the marker below was located at the parking lot for the Henry Chambers waterfront park. It may have been moved.

The Henry Chambers Waterfront Park

Text from the above sign- On November 7, 1861, a flotilla of U.S. warships steamed into Port Royal and the “Cotton Kingdom” came to a swift and thunderous end. The planters were forced to flee inland, many never to return, abandoning homes, lands and slaves. Beaufort became headquarters for the U.S. Army Department of the South and the chief base for the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The houses were used by the occupying forces and thus saved for future generations.

After the war the tough-minded adapted quickly and struggled back from defeat and reprisal. The long-fibered “Sea Island Cotton” recovered and continued to support the economy. The coming of the boll weevil, some sixty years later, banished cotton forever from the sea islands. In 1892 a great storm came ashore at the high tide, piling water on water until the islands were swept clean of agriculture and shipping. Thousands drowned.

Now, where rice, indigo and cotton once flourished, cattle, feed crops, vegetables and soybeans grow. A fishing fleet ” drags” the local waters for shrimp. Crabs and oysters are harvested for local consumption and export. Clean industry, military installations, tourists and retired persons contribute heavily to the present economy.

The next three images are views of the Beaufort River from the Henry Chambers Waterfront Park.

**In the center the Woods Memorial Bridge leads to St. Helena Island**

Text from the above sign- The Civil War began in Charleston Harbor in April, 1861. Seven months later on November 7, 1861, a huge Union fleet steamed into Port Royal Sound, subdued the Confederate forts on Hilton Head and Bay Point, and occupied Beaufort and the Sea Islands. The Sea Islands remained in Union control throughout the war. The wealthy planter families evacuated, leaving behind nearly 10,000 slaves. In 1862, numerous religious and charitable groups came to Beaufort to educate the former slaves and prepare them for emancipation. Penn School, founded by Laura Towne on St. Helena Island in 1862, is one of the oldest Freedmen Schools in America. These Philanthropic efforts were called “The Port Royal Experiment.” Beaufort became a headquarters and hospital community for the U.S. Army. On January 1, 1863, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued and the Sea Island slaves became among the first freedmen in America. Thousands of African American soldiers were recruited into the U.S. Army to fight for their own freedom. General William Tecumseh Sherman arrived in Beaufort in January, 1865. On April 26, 1865, the Civil War ended. By then, Beaufort and the Sea Islands had become a colony of African American freedmen and northern merchants. The Civil War totally transformed Beaufort. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution ended slavery, guaranteed civil rights, and gave the vote to the freedmen. Beaufort’s African American majority controlled politics for three decades. The political leader of Beaufort was Robert Smalls, former slave, Civil War hero, and five-term U.S. Congressman. Reconstruction Beaufort was also transformed from a plantation economy to a commercial and industrial economy. In 1873, the Port Royal and Augusta Railroad connected Port Royal Island to the mainland for the first time. The railroad delivered coal and Trans-Atlantic steamships frequented Port Royal Sound. In 1877, the U.S. Navy established a coaling station and bought land on Parris Island. Phosphate rock was discovered on the river bottoms and from 1870 to 1893, Beaufort County was the leading domestic source of phosphates, providing 3,000 local jobs. The commercial and industrial leader of reconstruction Beaufort was Duncan Campbell Wilson, a native of Greenock, Scotland.

Stephen Elliott Monument- Elliott was born in Beaufort and when the war broke out organized the Beaufort Artillery which took part in the bombardment of Fort Sumter. He fought at the Battle of Port Royal, Pocotaligo, Petersburg, and Bentonville. He would die of wounds sustained at Bentonville at home on March 21, 1866.

The Louis Reeve Sams House at 601 Bay Street was used as a Union hospital #13.

George Mosse Stoney House- 500 Port Republic Street- the family living here lost a son during the Battle of Bentonville in March 1865.

Berners Barnwell Sams House at 310 New Street was obscured by large hedges. The house was General Hospital #10 during the war. It was a hospital for Black soldiers. Harriet Tubman volunteered as a nurse here.

Joseph Johnson House- 111 Craven Street- Union Hospital #6- The Castle

William Fripp House “Tidewater”- 302 Federal Street. It was built in 1830 by one of Beaufort’s wealthiest planters. He owned more than 3,000 acres of land on St Helena Island with nine plantations.

James Robert Verdier House- 501 Pinckney Street was used as a hospital by the US Sanitary Commision. Injured troops from battles in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida were cared for here.