claimed all this coast as far north as Cape Fear. The French planted a
colony in South Carolina, and gave the name Port Royal to the harbor and
what is now called Broad River; but they were driven off by the
Spaniards, and history is silent as to any incidents of their rule for a
century. In 1670 a few emigrants arrived in a ship commanded by Capt.
Hilton, and landed at what is now known as 'Hilton's Head,' the
south-western point of Port Royal harbor, which still perpetuates his
name. The colony was under the management of Col. Sayle; but the
Spaniards at St. Augustine still claimed the domains, and the settlers,
fearing an attack, soon removed to the site of Old Charleston, on Ashley
River. In 1682, Lord Cardoss led a small band from Scotland hither,
which settled on Port Royal Island, near the present site of Beaufort.
He claimed co-ordinate authority with the governor and council at
Charleston. During the discussion of this point the Spaniards sent an
armed force and dislodged the English, most of whom returned to their
native country. A permanent settlement was finally made on Port Royal
Island in 1700. The town of Beaufort was laid out in 1717, and an
Episcopal church erected in 1720. The name was given from a town in
Anjou, France, the birthplace of several of the Huguenot settlers.
For many years the Spaniards threatened the coast as far north as
Charleston, but the settlement increased, and extended over St. Helena
and other islands. Slavery was here coeval with settlement, and the
peculiar institution was so earnestly fostered, that in 1724 it was
estimated that South Carolina contained 18,000 slaves to only 14,000
whites. The slaves were mostly natives of Africa of recent importation,
and were poorly adapted to clear up the forests and prepare the way for
extensive plantations, but their cost was small, and every year they
improved in capacity and value. In the succeeding half century were laid
the fortunes of the prominent families who have controlled the district,
and often greater interests, to our day. Grants of land could be had
almost for the asking, especially by men of influence; and fertile
islands were given, containing hundreds and sometimes thousands of
acres, to a single family, who have here been monarchs of all they
survey, including hundreds of slaves, till _the Hegira_ or _flight_ A.D.
1861.
When we take into account the salubrity of the climate and the fertility
of the soil, we must allow that this district has many natural
advantages which can not be excelled by any section of the same extent
in this country. A considerable part of the district is composed of
islands, which are supposed to be of a comparatively recent formation,
many of them beautiful to the eye, and rich in agricultural facilities;
they are in number upwards of fifty, not less than thirty of them being
of large size. Upon the sea-coast are Reynolds, Prentice, Chaplins,
Eddings, Hilton Head, Dawfuskie, Turtle, and the Hunting Islands. Behind
these lie St. Helena, Pinckney, Paris, Port Royal, Ladies', Cane,
Bermuda, Discane, Bells, Daltha, Coosa, Morgan, Chissolm, Williams
Harbor, Kings, Cahoussue, Fording, Barnwell, Whale, Delos, Hall, Lemon,
Barrataria, Lopes, Hoy, Savage, Long, Round, and Jones Islands. These
are from one to ten miles in length, and usually a proportional half in
width. St. Helena is over twenty miles in extent, and could well support
an agricultural population of twenty thousand. Port Royal is next in
size, but, being of a more sandy formation, is not so fertile. These
islands are all of an alluvial formation,--the result of the action of
the rivers and the sea. There is no rock of any kind, not even a pebble
stone, to be found in the whole district.
The soil of these islands is composed mostly of a fine sandy loam, very
easily cultivated. In most of them are swamps and marshes, which serve
to furnish muck and other vegetable deposits for fertilizing; but the
idea of furnishing anything to aid the long over-worked soil seems to
these proprietors like returning to the slave some of the earnings taken
from him or his ancestors, and is seldom done till nature is at last
exhausted, and then it is allowed only a few years' repose. Situated
under the parallel of 32 deg., there is scarcely a product grown in our
country, of any value, that can not be produced here. Previous to the
Revolution the principal staple for market was indigo, and that raised
in this district always commanded the highest price. It was from the
proceeds of this plant that the planters were enabled for a long period
to purchase slaves and European and northern American productions. Soon
after the Revolution their attention was turned to cotton; but the
difficulty of separating it from the seed seemed to make it impossible
to furnish it in any profitable quantity, for so slow was the process
then followed that, with the utmost diligence, a negro could not, by
hand labor, clean over a few pounds per day. The genius of Whitney,
however, opened a new era to the cotton planters, who were much more
eager to avail themselves of his invention than to remunerate him. It
was soon perceived that the cotton raised on these islands was far
superior to that produced in the interior, which is still called Upland,
only to distinguish it from the 'Sea Island.' It was also noticed that
while the common variety produced a seed nearly green with a rough skin,
the seed of the islands soon became black with a smooth skin; the effect
entirely of location and climate, as it soon resumes its original color
when transported back to the interior. The cultivation of this variety
is limited to a tract of country of about one hundred and fifty miles in
length, and not over twenty-five miles in breadth, mostly on lands
adjacent to the salt water, the finest 'grades' being confined to the
islands within this district. It is true that black-seed cotton is
cultivated to some extent along the coast from Georgetown, S.C., to St.
Augustine, but a great part of it is of an inferior quality and staple,
and brings in the market less than one-half the price of the real 'Sea
Island.' This plant seems to delight in the soft and elastic atmosphere
from the Gulf Stream, and, after it is 'well up,' requires but a few
showers through the long summer to perfect it. It is of feeble growth,
particularly on the worn-out lands, and two hundred pounds is a good
yield from an acre. An active hand can tend four acres, besides an acre
of corn and 'ground provisions;' but with a moderate addition of
fertilizers and rotation of crops no doubt these productions would be
doubled. If the yield seems small, the price, however, makes it one of
the most profitable products known. The usual quotations for choice Sea
Islands in Charleston market has been for many years about four times as
great as for the middling qualities of Uplands,--probably an average of
from thirty-five to forty-five cents per pound; and for particular
brands[C] sixty to seventy cents is often paid. The writer has seen a
few bales, of a most beautiful color and length of staple, which sold
for eighty cents, when middling Uplands brought but ten cents per pound.
It is mostly shipped to France, where it is used for manufacturing the
finest laces, and contributes largely to the texture of fancy silks,
particularly the cheaper kinds for the American market. After passing
above the flow of the salt water, but within the rise of the tide, there
is a wide alluvial range along the rivers and creeks, which, by a system
of embankments, can be flowed or drained at pleasure. This is cultivated
with rice, and, if properly cared for, yields enormous crops, sometimes
of sixty bushels to an acre. The land is composed of a mass of muck,
often ten feet deep and inexhaustible, and never suffers from drought.
This land is very valuable, one hundred dollars often being paid per
acre for large plantations. Much rice land, however, remains uncleared
for want of the enterprise and perseverance necessary to its
improvement.
Farther in the interior the land is principally of a sandy formation,
most of it underlaid with clay. Very little effort is, however, made by
planters to cultivate it, although it is very easily worked, and with a
little manuring yields fair crops of corn and sweet potatoes. The cereal
grains are seldom cultivated, but no doubt they would yield well. A
large portion of the main-land is composed of swamps, of which only
enough have been reclaimed to make it certain that here is a mine of
wealth to those gifted with the energy to improve it. The soil is as
fertile as the banks of the Nile, and nowhere could agricultural
enterprise meet with such certainly profitable returns. Recurring again
to the agricultural capacity of the islands, it is certain that good
crops of sugar-cane can be grown on them. During the war of 1812, the
planters turned their attention to it, and succeeded well, since which
time many of them have continued to plant enough for their own use; but
this plant soon exhausts such a soil, unless some fertilizer is used,
and they therefore prefer cotton, which draws a large part of its
sustenance from the atmosphere alone. The sweet and wild orange grows
here, and some extensive groves are to be seen. Figs are produced in
abundance from September till Christmas. Gardens furnish abundant
vegetables, yielding green peas in March and Irish potatoes in May,
while numerous tribes of beautiful flowers hold high carnival for more
than half the year.
This seems to be the true home of the rose, which is found blooming from
March until Christmas. Many of the rare climbing varieties of this
flower, which we see at the North only as small specimens in
green-houses, grow here in wild profusion. The grape is represented by
many species indigenous to this State alone, and could, no doubt, be
cultivated and produced in greater variety and perfection than elsewhere
on this continent, as the climate is more equable. A species of Indian
corn, called 'white flint corn,' and which when cooked is very
nutritious and white as snow, seems indigenous to these islands. It is
much superior to the common varieties.
Of the sylva we will only say, it is equal in value and variety to that
of any section of our country. Here is the home of the palmetto[D] or
cabbage tree, the only palm in our wide country. The live oak, once so
abundant, has, however, been largely cut off, mostly to supply our
navy-yards, and some of the ships built from it are now blockading the
very harbors from which it was carried. The pitch pine is the common
growth of the interior, and under a new system would form a valuable
article of commerce as lumber, and as yielding the _now_ so much
required turpentine. Of wild animals and birds, here are to be found a
large variety. The Hunting Islands and others are well stocked with
deer. During the winter wild, geese and ducks abound, and a variety of
fish, with fine oysters, can be had at all seasons.
We now come to consider the present inhabitants of this district. The
whites are almost entirely the descendants of the earliest settlers of
this State, who were English,[E] Scotch, and Protestant Irish, with a
slight infusion of the Huguenot and Swiss elements. A century and a half
has rendered them homogeneous. As there has never been any interest here
other than agriculture, and as every man may be said to own the
plantation he cultivates, there has been as little change of property or
condition as possible, and therefore the same land and system of
cultivation has passed from father to son through four or five
generations. Had there been any emigration or change of population, some
alterations, and most likely new enterprise and vigor, would have been
infused, and more modern and national feeling have been instituted for
their narrow and sectional prejudices. No doubt our national character
has been much influenced by the division of land. Where this has been
nearly equal, as in our New England towns, a republican form of
government has been almost a necessity. But at the South an entirely
different arrangement has prevailed. Land was at first distributed in
large bodies fitted to accommodate a state of slavery; and the
consequence was that a feudal system was inaugurated from the
settlement, which has continued with increasing power. This has been one
of the permanent causes of Southern pride and exclusiveness.
The inhabitants of South Carolina and Virginia previous to the
Revolution were very supercilious towards the North, and even to their
less opulent neighbors of Georgia and North Carolina; a feeling which
was often the cause of much antagonism among the officers and soldiers
during the war. Charleston and Williamsburg gave the tone to good
society, and it was haughty and aristocratic in the extreme. While
Virginia has for the last half century been in a state of comparative
decay, South Carolina has, by its culture of cotton and rice, just been
able to hold its own; but the pride and exclusiveness of its people have
increased much faster than its material interests. Although the
Constitution of the United States guarantees to every State a republican
form of government, no thinking person who has resided for a single week
within the limits of South Carolina can have failed to see and feel
that a tyranny equal to that of Austria exists there. The freedom of
opinion and its expression were not permitted. Strangers were always
under espionage, and public opinion, controlled by an oligarchy of
slave-holders, overruled laws and private rights. Nowhere, even in South
Carolina, was this feeling of _hauteur_ so strong as in that portion of
the State which we are describing. On the large plantations the owners
ruled with power unlimited over life and property, and could a faithful
record be found it would prove one of vindictive oppression, productive
oftentimes of misery and bloodshed. Most of the wealthier planters in
the district have residences at Beaufort, to which they remove during
the summer months to escape the malaria arising from the soil around
their inland houses. This place may be considered the home of the
aristocracy. Here reside the Barnwells,[F] Heywards, Rhetts[G](formerly
called Smiths,) Stuarts, Means, Sams, Fullers,[H] Elliots,[I] Draytons
and others, altogether numbering about fifty families, but bearing not
more than twenty different names, who rule and control the country for
forty miles around. This is the most complete and exclusive approach to
'nobility' of blood and feeling on our continent. Nowhere else is family
pride carried to such an extent. They look with supercilious disdain on
every useful employment, save only the planting of cotton and rice.
Nothing in any of our large cities can equal the display of equipages,
with their profusion of servants in livery, exhibited on pleasant
afternoons, when the mothers and daughters of these cotton lords take
their accustomed airing. So powerfully has this feeling of exclusiveness
prevailed that no son or daughter dares marry out of their circle. For a
long series of years has this custom prevailed, and the consequence is
that the families above named are nearly of a common blood; and it needs
no physiologist to tell us the invariable effect arising from this
transgression of natural laws, on the physical and mental faculties of
both sexes. In such a state of society is it strange that the present
generation should have grown up with ideas better suited to the castes
of India than to those of republican America? As a consequence they
consider their condition more elevated than that of their neighbors in
the adjoining States, and of almost imperial consideration. But no
language can express their bitter contempt for the people of the North,
more particularly for those of New England birth.
In perusing the history and progress of any portion of our country, the
statistics of population become an interesting study. Let us glance over
a brief table, showing what the increase has been in this district for
the past forty years, and its miserable deficiency in physical means of
strength and defense. In 1820 the district contained 32,000 souls, of
which there were 4,679 whites and 27,339 slaves, and 141 free blacks. In
1860 there were 6,714 whites and 32,500 slaves, and 800 free blacks,
making a total of 40,014,--an increase of whites of 2,035, of slaves
5,161, of free blacks 650:--total increase 7,855 in forty years. Here we
have nearly the largest disproportion of whites to slaves in any part of
the South. Of the 6,714 whites, about 1,000 are probably men over
twenty-one years of age, and it is not to be presumed that an equal
number are capable of bearing arms. Is it possible to find anywhere a
community more helpless for its own protection or defense? It is one of
the truths of science and philosophy that nature, when forced beyond its
own powers and laws, will react, and again restore its own supremacy. So
we here find a magnificent space of country, rich in all natural
requisites, and unsurpassed in its capabilities of producing not only
the necessaries of life, but its luxuries, having an exclusive right to
some of the most valuable staples of the world, which has been for a
century and a half the abode of an imperious few, who have, by
tyrannical power, wrung from the bones and muscles of generations of
poor Africans the means to sustain their luxury, power, and pride. They
have also robbed from the mother earth the fertility of its soil to its
utmost extent, leaving much of it completely exhausted. This state of
things has reacted on them; it has made them proud, domineering,
ambitious, and revengeful of fancied injuries. It has hurried them into
rebellion against the best government the world ever saw,--and this has
at last brought with it its own punishment and retribution. It has
placed their soil, their mansions, their crops and poor slaves in the
possession of the hated men of the North, and under the laws and control
of the government they affected to despise. When the last gun had
sounded from the ramparts at Port Royal, and the Stars and Stripes again
resumed their supremacy on the soil of South Carolina, a new era dawned
over these beautiful islands and waters, and the day that witnessed the
retreat of the rebel forces should hereafter mark, like the flight of
Mahomet, the inauguration of a new dispensation for this land and its
people. Let us, therefore, in continuing our chronicles, cast the
horoscope, and, without claiming any spirit of prophecy, show the duties
of our nation in this contingency, and the beneficial results that must
flow from it, if carried out with the energy, perseverance, and
practical Christianity due to our country and the age in which we live.
The accession to any government of new territory brings with it new
duties, which it is always important should be performed with energy and
decision, so that the greatest good, to the greatest number, may be the
result. A good Providence has placed the domain under consideration in
our possession. Its political condition is to us unique, and almost
embarrassing. If the question is asked, 'Can we hold and dispose of a
part, or whole, of a sovereign State as a conquered province?' the
answer must be in the affirmative. Government is supreme, and must be
exercised, particularly to protect the weak, and for the general good of
the whole nation. Here is a region, as fair as the sun shines upon, now
in a great measure deserted and lying waste. What is to be done with it?
and what is our duty in this exigency? The first want is a government,
for without a proper one no progress can be made. Let Congress then at
once establish a territorial government over so much of the State as we
now have in our possession, and over what we may in future obtain;--not
a government to exhibit pomp, and show, but one practical and useful,
with a court and its proper officers. Let every large unrepresented
estate be placed in the hands of a temporary administrator, who should
be a practical and honest man, and held to a strict account for all
properties entrusted to his keeping, and who should act also as guardian
to the slaves belonging to the estate. Then enforce the collection of a
tax; and if the owner comes forward within sixty days, pays the tax,
takes the oath of allegiance, and agrees to remain in the territory and
assist in enforcing and executing the laws, during that and the
succeeding year, let him resume his property, and be protected in all
his rights. But in default of any loyal response from the proprietor,
the property should be disposed of, in moderate quantities, to actual
settlers, who should be bound to do duty for its defense, whenever
called upon.
But then comes the great difficulty, the disposition of the slaves,--the
great question which has so long been discussed as a theory, and which
now has to be met as a practical measure. Let us meet it as men and
patriots, and, rising above the clamor of fanatics, or the proclamations
of new-fangled and demagoguing brigadiers, look at the permanent result
to our whole country, and the real good of the African race.
Humanity, society, and property, all have claims and acknowledged
rights; let them all be considered. It is well known that the slaves on
these islands have always been kept in a state of greater ignorance of
the world and all practical matters than those inhabiting the border
States, or where there is a larger proportion of whites, with whom they
often labor and associate. To emancipate them at once would be to do a
great wrong to the white man, to the property, in whatever hands it
might be, and a still greater injury to the slave. There can be but one
way of disposing of this question which will satisfy the nation, and
quiet the fears of the conservative, and preserve the hopes of the
radical, which is, to pursue a _middle_ course--a policy which shall as
nearly as possible equalize the question to all parties. Let the slave
be retained on the plantation where he is found; and, as no race are so
much attached to their own locality, so let them remain, place them
under a proper system of APPRENTICESHIP, with a mild code of laws, where
every right shall be protected, where suitable instruction, civil and
religious, shall be given, and where the marriage rite shall be
administered and respected. Under such laws and beneficent institutions,
this territory would soon be settled by men from the West, the North,
and from Europe, intelligent, enterprising, and industrious, who would
retrieve its worn-out fields, and introduce new systems of culture, with
all the modern labor-saving utensils. With kind treatment and new hopes,
the simple sons of Africa would have inducements to labor and to await
with patient hope the future and its rewards. Then would Beaufort
District become what the Giver of all good designed it to be--the abode
of an industrious, peaceful, and prosperous community. The production of
its great staple, 'Sea-Island cotton,' would be immensely increased, and
its quality improved, till it rivaled the silks of the Old World. The
yield of rice would be doubled, and its gardens and orchards would
supply the North with fruits now known only to the tropics.
So soon as the new government was fairly inaugurated, and the condition
of the land and its future cultivation settled, a movement would of
necessity be made to found here a city which would be the great
commercial metropolis of the South.