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1850 - Largest plantations (by slaves) in Beaufort region.
1. Henry Middleton (d. 1846) had 686 slaves working on a rice plantation in Beaufort-Prince William, but he was ranked 7th overall in SC in 1850.
2. Joseph Blake (d. 1865) had 610 slaves on a rice plantation in Beaufort-Prince William, ranking number eight in all of SC for 1850.
3. Nathaniel Heyward (d. 1851) had 286 slaves on a rice plantation; Beaufort-Prince William. He ranked number one for total slaves in SC for 1850 too.
The Top Ten cash crops in 1850 in South Carolina were:
1. Rice (seven of top ten)
2. Cotton (two)
3. Sugar (1)
Middleton Place, July 2006.
1860 - Largest plantations (by slaves) in Beaufort region.
1. Joseph Blake (d 1865) had two plantations; one in Prince William and one in St. Peter; He had 545 rice slaves in the former and 74 in the later. He was the the largest in South Carolina overall.
2. John I. Middleton (heir to Henry’s estate; d. 1877) had two plantations by then too. He had 520 rice slaves in Prince-William. He was the 2nd largest planter in South Carolina overall.
3. William H. Heyward (d. 1889, was heir to his father Nathaniel) had 386 rice slaves in Prince William; and another 136 in St. Peter. He was the 4th largest planter in all of South Carolina.
Source: Masters of the Big House, Kauffman.
According to Robinson (p.5):
Most Americans, no doubt, imagine the prewar South as a region so thickly dotted with immense plantations on which most of the black and white populations worked and lived. But, on the contrary, while slaves made up 40% of the total population of the South, only 25 percent of free families, most of them white, owned any slaves at all, and fully one-half of this minority (12.5%) held fewer than five slaves. Only an owner of twenty or more slaves, and of substantial land, could qualify as a planter, and fewer than 10 percent of slave-holding families qualified. The plantation elite of the antebellum South made up less than 3 percent of the free population in the region and less than 2 percent of the total free and slave populations combined.
Bitter Fruits of Bondage: The demise of slavery and the collapse of the Confederacy, 1861-1865. Armisted L. Robinson. Univ of Virgina Press, 2005.
South Carolina Secedes: “Charleston Mercury Extra” — “The Union Is Dissolved!” “AN ORDINANCE To dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled ‘The Constitution of the United States of America.’” Broadside; Charleston, December 20, 1860. Measures 12 x 24 inches.
Printing begun approximately 15 minutes after secession ordinance passed. As South Carolina was the first state to secede, this broadside is the first Confederate imprint. Rarity, historical importance, and graphic appeal combine to make the Charleston Mercury Extra one of the most sought-after of all American broadsides.
Transcript: “CHARLESTON MERCURY EXTRA: Passed unanimously at 1.15 o’clock, P.M., December 20th, 1860 AN ORDINANCE To dissolve the Union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled ‘The Constitution of the United States of America.’ We, the People of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also, all acts and parts of Acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendments of the said Constitution are hereby repealed; and that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of ‘The United States of America,’ is hereby dissolved. THE UNION IS DISSOLVED!” Beginning with the nullification controversy of 1832, South Carolina became the hotbed of states’ rights sentiment.
“If the general government should persist in the measures now threatened, there must be war. It is painful to discover with what unconcern they speak of war, and threaten it. They do not know its horrors. I have seen enough of it to make me look upon it as the sum of all evils.”Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, letter to a minister, December 19, 1860
South Carolina became the first southern State to secede the next day
Recommended read:
Stonewall Jackson : The Man, the Soldier, the Legend. By James Robertson
Recommended artist - Andy Amato (see web site)
“If the cotton states shall become satisfied that they can do better out of the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in peace . . . . We hope never to live in a Republic whereof one section is pinned to another by bayonets.”
- Horace Greeley, editorial, December 17, 1860, The New York Tribune
South Carolina became the first southern state to secede three days later.
Confederate Military History, Vol. 5
CHAPTER I.
Fort Sumter, in the very mouth of the harbor, was in an unfinished state and without a garrison. On the night of the 26th of December, 1860, Maj. Robert Anderson dismantled Fort Moultrie and removed his command by boats over to Fort Sumter. The following account of the effect of this removal of Major Anderson upon the people, and the action of the government, is taken from Brevet Major-General Crawford’s “Genesis of the Civil War.” General Crawford was at the time on the medical staff and one of Anderson’s officers. His book is a clear and admirable narrative of the events of those most eventful days, and is written in the spirit of the utmost candor and fairness. In the conclusion of the chapter describing the removal, he says:
The fact of the evacuation of Fort Moultrie by Major Anderson was soon communicated to the authorities and people of Charleston, creating intense excitement. Crowds collected in streets and open places of the city, and loud and violent were the expressions of feeling against Major Anderson and his action … [The governor of the State was ready to act in accordance with the feeling displayed.] On the morning of the 27th, he dispatched his aide-de-camp, Col. Johnston Pettigrew, of the First South Carolina Rifles, to Major Anderson. He was accompanied by Maj. Ellison Capers, of his regiment. Arriving at Fort Sumter, Colonel Pettigrew sent a card inscribed, “Colonel Pettigrew, First Regiment Rifles, S.C. M., Aide-de-Camp to the Governor, Commissioner to Major Anderson. Ellison Capers, Major First Regiment Rifles, S.C. M.” . . . Colonel Pettigrew and his companion were ushered into the room. The feeling was reserved and formal, when, after declining seats, Colonel Pettigrew immediately opened his mission: “Major Anderson,” said he, “can I communicate with you now, sir, before these officers, on the subject for which I am here?” “Certainly, sir,” replied Major Anderson, “these are all my officers; I have no secrets from them, sir.” The commissioner then informed Major Anderson that he was directed to say to him that the governor was much surprised that he had reinforced “this work.” Major Anderson promptly responded that there had been no reinforcement of the work; that he had removed his command from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter, as he had a right to do, being in command of all the forts in the harbor. To this Colonel Pettigrew replied that when the present governor (Pickens) came into office, he found an understanding existing between the previous governor (Gist) and the President of the United States, by which all property Within the limits of the State was to remain as it was; that no reinforcements were to be sent here, particularly to this post; that there was to be no attempt made against the public property by the State, and that the status in the harbor should remain unchanged. He was directed also to say to Major Anderson that it had been hoped by the governor that a peaceful solution of the difficulties could. have been reached, and a resort to arms and bloodshed might have been avoided; but that the governor thought the action of Major Anderson had greatly complicated matters, and that he did not now see how bloodshed could be avoided; that he had desired and intended that the whole matter might be fought out politically and without the arbitration of the sword, but that now it was uncertain, if not impossible.
To this Major Anderson replied, that as far as any understanding between the President and the governor was concerned, he had not been informed; that he knew nothing of it; that he could get no information or positive orders from Washington, and that his position was threatened every night by the troops of the State. He was then asked by Major Capers, who accompanied Colonel Pettigrew, “How?” when he replied, “By sending out steamers armed and conveying troops on board ;” that these steamers passed the fort going north, and that he feared a landing on the island and the occupation of the sand-hills just north of the fort; that 100 riflemen on these hills, which commanded his fort, would make it impossible for his men to serve their guns; and that any man with a military head must see this. “To prevent this,” said he earnestly, “I removed on my own responsibility, my sole object being to prevent bloodshed.” Major Capers replied that the steamer was sent out for patrol purposes, and as much to prevent disorder among his own people as to ascertain whether any irregular attempt was being made to reinforce the fort, and that the idea of attacking him was never.. entertained by the little squad who patroled the harbor.
Major Anderson replied to this that he was wholly in the dark as to the intentions of the State troops, but that he had reason to believe that they meant to land and attack him from the north; that the desire of the governor to have the matter settled peacefully and without bloodshed was precisely his object in removing his command from Moultrie to Sumter; that he did it upon his own responsibility alone, because he considered that the safety of his command required it, as he had a right to do. “In this controversy,” said he, “between the North and the South, my sympathies are entirely with the South. These gentlemen,” said he (turning to the officers of the post who stood about him), “know it perfectly well.” Colonel Pettigrew replied, “Well, sir, however that may be, the governor of the State directs me to say to you courteously but peremptorily, to return to Fort Moultrie.” “Make my compliments to the governor (said Anderson) and say to him that I decline to accede to his request; I cannot and will not go back.” “Then, sir,” said Pettigrew, “my business is done,” when both officers, without further ceremony or leavetaking, left the fort.
Colonel Pettigrew and Major Capers returned to the city and made their report to the governor and council who were in session in the council chamber of the city hall. That afternoon Major Anderson raised the flag of his country over Sumter, and went vigorously to work mounting his guns and putting the fort in military order. The same afternoon the governor issued orders to Colonel Pettigrew, First regiment of rifles, and to Col. W. G. De Saussure, First regiment artillery, commanding them to take immediate possession of Castle Pinckney and Fort Moultrie. Neither fort was garrisoned, and the officers in charge, after making a verbal protest, left and went to Fort Sumter, and the Palmetto flag was raised over Moultrie and Pinckney. In the same manner the arsenal in Charleston was taken possession of by a detachment of the Seventeenth regiment, South Carolina militia, Col. John Cunningham, and Fort Johnson on James island, by Capt. Joseph Johnson, commanding the Charleston Riflemen. The governor also ordered a battery to be built for two 24-pounders on Morris island, bearing on Ship channel, and his order was speedily put into execution by Maj. P. F. Stevens, superintendent of the South Carolina military academy, with a detachment of the cadets, supported by the Vigilant Rifles, Captain Tupper. This battery was destined soon to fire the first gun of the war. In taking possession of the forts and the arsenal, every courtesy was shown the officers in charge, Captain Humphreys, commanding the arsenal, saluting his flag before surrendering the property.
What were the largest cities in the South (to become part of the Confederacy) by population at the outbreak of the Civil War?
- New Orleans, LA - Population - 168,675
- Charleston, SC - Population - 40,522
- Richmond, VA - Population -37,910
- Mobile, AL - Population - 29,258
- Memphis, TN - Population - 22,623
- Savannah, GA - Population - 22,292
- Petersburg, VA - Population - 18,266
- Nashville, TN - Population - 16,988
- Norfolk, VA - Population - 14,620
- Wheeling, VA* - Population - 14,083
West Virginia did not exist in 1860 - Alexandria, VA - Population - 12,652
- Augusta, GA - Population - 12,493
- Columbus, GA - Population - 9,621
- Atlanta, GA - Population - Top 10 385,237
Source: 1860 U.S. Census
