The History of Beaufort County South Carolina: 1514-1861

About this book

The complex colorful history of South Carolinas southeastern corner In the first volume of The History of Beaufort County South Carolina three distinguished historians of the Palmetto State recount more than three centuries of Spanish and French exploration English and Huguenot agriculture and African slave labor as they trace the history of one of North Americas oldest European settlements. From the sixteenth-century forays of the Spaniards to the invasion of Union forces in 1861 Lawrence S. Rowland Alexander Moore and George C. Rogers Jr. chronicle the settlement and development of the geographical region comprised of what is now Beaufort Jasper Hampton and part of Allendale counties. The authors describe the ill-fated attempts of the Spanish and French to settle the Port Royal Sound area and the arrival of the British in 1663 which established the Beaufort District as the southern frontier of English North America. They tell of the regions bloody Indian Wars participation in the American Revolution and golden age of prosperity and influence following the introduction of Sea Island cotton. In charting the approach of civil war Rowland Moore and Rogers relate Beaufort Districts decisive role in the Nullification Crisis and in the cultivation by some of the districts native sons of South Carolinas secessionist movement. Of particular interest they profile the local African American or Gullah population - a community that has become well known for the retention of its African cultural and linguistic heritage.