Showing posts with label Union County South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Union County South Carolina. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

The Battle Of Musgrove's Mill: The Prelude To Kings Mountain -- August 19, 1780

Colonel Issac Shelby's Overmountain Men crossing the Pacolet River on their way to face
the Loyalists at Musgrove's Mill in mid-August 1780.
Artwork by American artist Richard Luce.


 The Battle of Musgrove's Mill
The Prelude To Kings Mountain
Saturday, August 19, 1780

By: C.W. Roden


(Part 11 of a 15 part series)

On the evening of Friday, August 18th, a force of about two hundred mounted Partisans under the joint command of Colonel Isaac Shelby, Lieutenant Colonel James Williams, and Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke were preparing to raid a Loyalist camp at the site of Musgrove's Mill and farm, which controlled the local grain supply and guarded a strategic ford along the Enoree River in the Spartan District (present-day
Spartanburg, Laurens, and Union Counties in South Carolina). 

Women's Monument at the Musgrove Mill State Historical Site
dedicated to Mary Musgrove, the daughter of the mill owner
and possibly a spy for the Patriot cause during the
Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
While her story may, or may not, have been fictional, this
monument stands in memory of Patriot women of South
Carolina who defended the State and American independence.
The owner of the mill, Edward Musgrove, was a local farmer, road manager, and land surveyor. At the time of the war he was considered a fairly aged man at about 64-years-old. Like many in that part of the State, he wanted to remain neutral and wanted no part in the bloody backcountry civil war between those still loyal to the British Crown and those who supported the independence of South Carolina and the other former British colonies.

In the summer of 1780, however, the war came to his doorstep. His home and land along the river were used by the Loyalists as an encampment and his grist mill used to provide an important source of food for the hungry soldiers.

There have been rumors that his daughter, Mary Musgrove, was a spy for the local Patriots and would listen in on the British and Loyalists camped on her father's lands, then run to the Patriot's camp to relay their plans. This was never actually proven to be true though and there is come speculation that the rumors actually come from a fictional character in a 19th century novel by John P. Kennedy called Horseshoe Robinson: A Tale of the Tory Ascendancy published in 1835.


Shelby's Campaign & Battle Of Fort Thicketty

 
During the summer of 1780, a group of Overmountain Men (Scotch-Irish Americans, or Ulster Scots settlers from the western Appalachian regions of North Carolina, Virginia, and what is today eastern Tennessee and Kentucky west of the Blue Ridge Mountains) led by Colonel Isaac Shelby joined up with Colonel Charles McDowell and his Burke County Militia to raid Loyalist outposts in the Piedmont mountain region of northwestern South Carolina.

Portrait of Colonel Issac Shelby circa 1820 by
American artist Matthew Harris Jouett.

Born in 1750 in Maryland to Welsh immigrants before moving further west, Shelby had his first experience fighting Native Americans as a teenager during Pontiac’s War of 1763. It was during this that, at just 13 years old, Shelby scalped an Indian scout during the conflict. He would later serve in Lord Dunmore's War in 1774, and later helped establish what is now Sullivan County, Tennessee becoming its first magistrate and Colonel of the Sullivan County Militia. Shelby earned a reputation as a fierce Indian fighter, particularly during Cherokee raids on the Overmountain settlements in what is now eastern Tennessee and Kentucky.

Shelby was surveying lands in Kentucky in 1780 when he heard of the Southern Continental Army's defeat at Charleston. He hurried to North Carolina, where he found a request for aid from McDowell to defend the borders of North Carolina from the British. Shelby assembled three hundred militiamen and joined McDowell.

Just prior to joining General Horatio Gates' "grand army" on their ill-fated attempt to defeat Cornwallis at Camden, Brigadier General Thomas Sumter had learned that the British Major Patrick Ferguson's Loyalist troops were moving beyond the Broad River and he directed
Lieutenant Colonel Elijah Clarke and his band of Georgia partisans to move towards that area. Clarke met up with McDowell on July 15th at Earle's Ford along the Chattooga River then moved their camp to Cherokee Ford along the Broad River.
Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Regiment of
Foot "Fraser's Highlanders" appointed Inspector
of Militia in the South in May of 1780.

Ferguson, a British army officer of Scottish aristocracy and formally a member of the 71st Regiment of Foot "Fraser's Highlanders", was the Inspector of Militia in the South, having been appointed by General Sir Henry Clinton earlier that year on Monday, May 22, 1780 just after the British capture of Charleston. His assignment was to
raise and organize Loyalist militia units from the population of the Carolina backcountry.

By August, Major Ferguson had raised a force of around a thousand Loyalist militia, which he drilled and trained to fight in the traditional British military style; turning them into a formidable fighting force under his command.


On Tuesday, July 25th McDowell detached Shelby's Overmountain Men and Clarke's Georgia Patriots, along with
Rutherford County (North Carolina) Regiment of Militia under Colonel Andrew Hamilton and Colonel William Graham to attack Thicketty Fort on the Pacolet River. Along the way they met up with two companies of the South Carolina 1st Spartan Regiment of Militia led by Captain John Collins and Captain Josiah Culbertson. A total force of about 600 men.

On the morning of Wednesday, July 26, 1780, Shelby and his 600 Patriot militia surrounded the British stronghold.
The fort, a log structure built in the early 1760s during the Anglo-Cherokee War, contained a Loyalist garrison commanded by Captain Patrick Moore. 

Shelby
sent Captain William Cocke to immediately demand the fort's surrender. Captain Moore replied that he would defend the fort to the last extremity. Shelby brought his men and formed them within musket range and again demanded surrender.

Though the fort likely would have withstood the attack, Moore lost his nerve and capitulated, not wishing a repeat of the Loyalist defeat at Ramsour's Mill the previous month. Without firing a shot, Shelby's men captured 94 prisoners (93 Loyalists and a British
Sergeant Major who was assigned to train the Loyalists), along with 200 badly needed muskets and ammunition. The Loyalists' muskets had been loaded with buck and ball shot and were at the ready at the nearby portholes, and likely would have been sufficient to stop twice the number of men that Shelby had.

Shelby and his men moved back to Cherokee Ford with their prisoners. The British would later censure Moore for the loss of the garrison.


The Engagement At Wofford's Iron Works & Cedar Springs 

 
After Shelby’s success at Thicketty Fort, McDowell detached about 600 men under Colonels Isaac Shelby and Elijah Clarke from his camp at Cherokee Ford to monitor British Major Patrick Ferguson’s backcountry movements with his loyalist militia and provincials. Ferguson knew of Shelby and Clarke’s partisan bands and hoped to catch them by surprise.

They rode first down the Broad River before retreating 30 to 40 miles to the northwest, stopping along Fairforest Creek about a mile from Cedar Springs. On Tuesday, August 8th, they learned from the wife of a local patriot that a detachment of Ferguson’s men under Major James Dunlap -- British Legion troops and Loyalist militia -- were only a half-mile away. The Patriots quickly broke camp and moved about four miles toward Wofford’s Iron Works, taking a position near a peach orchard.


When Dunlap and his mounted men rode hard into the camp, the Patriots, who had lined the road, opened fire, knocking many from their saddles and throwing the rest into confusion. Once Dunlap regained control, the fighting devolved into hand-to-hand combat, which Shelby described as "An action severe and bloody" that lasted about an hour. Dunlap retreated with 30 men killed, or wounded, and 50 taken prisoner.
Dunlap was pursued by Shelby and Clarke for two miles. However, he met Ferguson coming up with reinforcements, and the retreat became an advance against the Patriot militia.

Ferguson was meeting the Overmountain Men in battle for the first time.


Shelby's men were gathering peaches from an orchard when they were surprised by some of Ferguson's Loyalists on a reconnaissance mission. Shelby's men quickly readied their arms and drove back the Loyalist patrol. Soon, however, the redcoats were reinforced and the patriots fell back. The pattern continued, with one side being reinforced and gaining an advantage, followed by the other. Shelby's men were winning the battle when Ferguson's main force of 1,000 men arrived.


Overwhelmed by numbers, Shelby and Clarke retreated, stopping at points to fight and hold off the loyalist advance. Ferguson pursued for four miles, until the rebels crossed the Pacolet River; he halted pursuit and watched as the patriots taunted them from atop a hill across the river
where British musket fire could not reach them. Now safe, they taunted the British, and Ferguson's force withdrew from the area, thus ending the Battle of Cedar Springs. Shelby and Clarke continued toward Cherokee Ford with their fifty prisoners, having lost only four killed and twenty wounded at what became known as the 2nd Battle of Cedar Springs (or the Battle of Wofford's Iron Works).


Moving On Musgrove's Mill


General McDowell then ordered Shelby and Clarke to take Musgrove's Mill. They rode all night with 200 men including a South Carolina officer, Lieutenant Colonel James Williams, reaching their location about the evening of Friday, August 18, 1780.

The Patriots revealed their presence when several of their scouts clashed with a Loyalist patrol across the river. Two Rebels were wounded in the brief clash. Because surprise was now out of the question, Clarke, Williams, and Shelby fell back, taking a defensive position half a mile away from Musgrove's Ford.

In the meantime the Patriots encountered a local farmer who informed them that, contrary to their initial intelligence, the Tory garrison,
commanded by Colonel Alexander Innes, had been recently reinforced by an additional 100 Loyalist militia under Colonel Daniel Clary and 200 Provincial regulars. The Provincials included a company of the Royal New Jersey Brigade under Captain Abraham de Peyster, and about 100 mounted infantry of the South Carolina Loyalist regiment, part of Innes's own command, as well as North Carolina Loyalists under Captain David Fanning. A total of approximately 500 Loyalists in the camp who were preparing for join Major Ferguson's force.

Shelby's men and horses were too tired for a retreat and they had lost the element of surprise. With their position compromised by an enemy patrol and horses unable to go on without rest, the Patriots understood that they must stand and fight despite being outnumbered better than two to one.


Outfits worn by the Patriot militia and British Provincials
in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
(Photo courtesy of the Musgroves Mill State Historical Site)


The Battle

Outnumbered, and having lost the element of surprise, Shelby, Williams, and Clarke held a council of war that night and came up with a plan that displayed the best tradition of guerrilla tactics. They would lure Innes' Loyalists into an ambush.


Early the next morning at the top of a ridge across the road leading down to Musgrove Mill, the partisans quickly formed a semicircular breastwork of brush and fallen timber about three hundred yards long. In half an hour the makeshift fortifications were complete.

A band of about twenty Georgia men under the leadership of Captain Shadrach Inman Jr. then crossed the Enoree and engaged the enemy. Feigning confusion they retreated back across the river. Colonel Innes, believing that he could overrun and capture the Patriot force, took the bait and ordered the pursuit.

Inman's force reached the hidden line of ambush, closely pursued by the Loyalists. The Patriots were ordered to hold fire until they could distinguish the buttons on the clothes of the approaching Loyalists.
When Innes’s men were within 70 yards, they spotted the Patriot line and fired too early. However, the Patriots held their fire until the Loyalists got within killing range of their muskets and opened fired with devastating effect.

Nonetheless, the Provincials were well-trained and disciplined and nearly overwhelmed the Patriot right flank with a bayonet charge.
Lacking bayonets with which to defend themselves in hand-to-hand combat, the frontiersmen fell back. Attempting to relieve some of the pressure on the imperiled Patriot line, Colonel Clarke attacked the enemy’s right flank. At around the same time, one of Shelby’s men shot and wounded Innes, who fell from his horse. Shelby ordered his reserve of Overmountain Men to support him. They rallied and returned to the fray as the Loyalists began to waverand they rushed into the battle shrieking Indian war cries. Patriots ran from their positions yelling, shooting, and slashing at their enemies. The Patriots pressed home their attack, and the Loyalist wavered after a number of their officers went down, then they broke and retreated back across the river in a rout, some of them throwing their muskets as they ran.

The whole battle took perhaps less than an hour. Within that period, 63 Tories were killed, about 90 wounded, and 70 were taken prisoner. The Patriots losses were negligible, with about 5 dead and 12 wounded. Among those killed was
Captain Inman himself, who played the key role in implementing the Patriot strategy.


Marker at the Musgrove Mill National Battlefield Park
at the site where Captain Shadrach Inman fell in battle.


Aftermath


With their demoralized enemy driven back across the river, the Patriot leaders briefly considered following up on their success and attacking the British stronghold at
Ninety Six. They were preparing to do so when a messenger arrived from Colonel Charles Caswell with the news of Gates' defeat at Camden three days before.

The savage action fought at Musgrove's Mill was a clear victory for the backcountry Partisans and the Overmountain Men, but it could not mitigate the double disasters at Camden and Sumter's rout at Fishing Creek. Shelby was also informed that Ferguson's Loyalists were headed their way from Ninety Six in pursuit. 

With this new intelligence, the Patriots decided to disperse their forces and withdraw north towards North Carolina. Shelby's forces covered sixty miles with Ferguson in hot pursuit before making good their escape. Williams conducted the prisoners taken at Musgrove's Mill to Hillsborough, North Carolina, where the remnants of Gates' defeated Continental Army were slowly reassembling. Shelby and his Overmountain Men fled back into North Carolina and returned to their settlements on the western side of the Appalachians. With the approach of the 1780 harvesting season, most of the Overmountain Men returned to their farms on the frontier, though it would not be the last time many of these men faced the Loyalists. McDowell remained in South Carolina to continue with harassing the Loyalists in the area with Sumter, while Clarke returned to British occupied Georgia to raise more partisans to continue the fight.

Despite yet another setback in the South Carolina backcountry, General Cornwallis, emboldened by his decisive victory of Gates' Continental army north of Camden and Tarleton's defeat of Sumter at Fishing Creek, would soon be preparing to lead his British Army north to try and implement the next stage of the British Southern Strategy -- the invasion and subjugation of North Carolina. 

Nonetheless, the Battle of Musgrove’s Mill signaled that resistance to British rule had not been snuffed out. The defeat of the Loyalists there would also play a role in the upcoming campaign that would turn the tide of the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War decisively in the favor of the American Patriots less than two months later at a place called Kings Mountain on the border between the two Carolinas, which will be the discussed in detail in the next chapter of this series on October 7th.


 
For more information about the Battles of Fort Thicketty and Musgrove's Mill and their significance to American history please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post: 
Partisans & Redcoats: The Southern Conflict That Turned The Tide of the American Revolution   
by Walter Edgar (2001) ISBN 0-308-97760-5
South Carolina's Revolutionary War Battlefields: A Tour Guideby R.L. Barbour (2002) ISBN 1-58980-008-7 (pbk.)

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Visiting Blackstocks Battlefield In Union County


Hello y'all!

Very recently I once again returned to neighboring Union County, South Carolina to visit the site of one of the more significant battles of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War in my corner of the Palmetto State.

The Battle of Blackstock's Farm (also known locally as the Battle of Blackstock's Plantation, Battle of Blackstock's Hill, or simply Blackstocks) took place on Monday, November 20, 1780 between backcountry Patriot militia under the command of Brigadier General Thomas Sumter and British army regulars and Loyalist provincials commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton of the British Legion.

The battle was a significant American victory as it was the first major battle in the South Carolina backcountry where Patriot militia defeated British army regulars and a personal defeat for "Bloody Ban" Tarleton himself -- who was infamous in the South Carolina upstate for his alleged massacre of Virginia Continentals at the Battle of Waxhaws (Monday, May 29, 1780) the previous summer.

Blackstocks is also significant because this was the battle that earned Thomas Sumter his famous nickname "The Fighting Gamecock" for his aggressive defensive fighting style.

The Battle of Blackstock's Historic Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The site of the battlefield is Blackstock hill, the site of the farmhouse and the surrounding open fields where the fighting largely took place. Today the hill is barren save for a small grove of trees, the farm itself long consumed by nature.

The historic site is located in Union County just off Blackstock Road adjacent to SC Highway 56 near Cross Keys, South Carolina.

The following are the photos I took of the site of the battlefield.


The Blackstocks historic battlefield site.

Battlefield Monument.

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Visiting Union County's "Haunted" Crybaby Bridge

Yours truly in front of Union County's "haunted" Crybaby Bridge.
 

Hello and Happy Halloween Season, Y'all!

In keeping with the spirit of this year's spooky season, I wanted to share with y'all the photos of my recent trip to an allegedly local haunted site in nearby Union County, South Carolina.

How many of y'all have ever heard of the "Crybaby Bridge" urban legend? Just about every State and region in the United States has at least one such story, but for those of y'all unfamiliar with the tale, let me explain.

A "Crybaby Bridge"
is the term that refers to numerous bridges associated with urban legends and ghost stories involving the sounds of a baby crying. These tales all typically involve tragic backstories of infanticide, accidents, or other sorrowful events that purportedly occurred at, or near, the bridges. 

At its core elements, the legend has it that, at some point in the bridge's history, a mother -- usually a woman in a state of distress, or madness -- is said to have either thrown, or lost, her baby off the bridge; resulting in the ghost of the baby to cry out at night. Hence the name Crybaby Bridge.

Many versions of this story also include the distressed mother either throwing herself off the same bridge in remorse, or fell to her death in a tragic accident that claimed both mother and child. These variations of the legend later include people reportedly witnessing ghostly apparitions of the mother and child wandering the bridge at dusk, or a woman weeping over the side of the bridge at night for her lost baby.

South Carolina actually has several of these Crybaby Bridges where local legend has it some women lost her child, and sometimes her own life, falling over a bridge that is now haunted by their spirits.

Union County's Crybaby Bridge is officially known as the Tyger River Bridge, and also known as the Sardis Road Bridge and the Rose Hill Bridge as it leads right to nearby Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site.

The bridge is an old steel trestle bridge that spans the Tyger River on an active roadway, with rusty steel beams giving it a somewhat creepy and desolate look with the surrounding woods.

There are actually conflicting accounts about the legend of this particular Crybaby Bridge.

One account says that an adulterous woman, angry that her husband refused to allow her custody of their toddler, threw the child over the bridge into the flowing river in a fit of rage and spite -- then, in horror of what she'd done, flung herself after the child, resulting in both being lost in the current.

Another account suggests that a woman with a baby, desperate to escape an abusive spouse, committed a murder-suicide by jumping off the bridge still holding the screaming baby in her arms, resulting in both downing.

The point where these incidents allegedly took place also vary, with one account saying it happened sometime in the 1950s while another says the 1980s, or 90s. Research on this writer's part has found no conclusive evidence to substantiate any of these stories being valid.

Nevertheless, there are witnesses who claim they've heard the wailing of a baby when standing on the bridge during both day and night.

The bridge itself is located in the southwestern part of Union County, about a 50 minute drive west from where I live in neighboring Chester County. So, I figured I would use one of my days off from work to take a drive and see this place for myself; not to mention take some photos for y'all to share in the experience.

Now, before I go any further, let me make something clear. While I have had my share of encounters with things I can't fully explain, (see the story of my possible encounter with a cryptid HERE) those were things that largely happened when I wasn't going to actively look for them. Nearly all of them had some rational explanation for them, though sometimes I wonder if that's just my mind trying to protect itself from an encounter with the unknown.

I did not plan this trip and take the drive to the site in any way looking to encounter anything at all, nor did I expect to find anything. Most of the Crybaby Bridge stories are just that -- legends and tall tales.

This does not mean I'm a skeptic when it comes to things like hauntings and ghosts by any means. I readily accept that there are things in this world that we do not understand, and while I am a firm believer in my Christian faith when it comes to the afterlife, I can also believe that the energy that makes up the human body could theoretically leave an imprint on this plane of existence once our souls leave.

That being said, I was never the type of person to go to a cemetery and walk around a dead baby's grave three times to try and see if I would hear the baby cry (another urban legend). I don't believe in disrespecting the dead, and I would never play around with Ouija boards to try and summon someone -- EVER! I've heard too many personal stories about what happens to people who play with the supernatural and come to regret it to try it myself.

My trip began just before noon on Tuesday, October 22nd after packing my tripod and camera and making certain that I had the funds for both the gas and my road trip stacks -- always important for those drives into the Upcountry. My road trip snacks of choice were Dr Pepper and Chick-O-Sticks.


Nothing quite beats Dr Pepper and Chick-O-Sticks for a nice
short afternoon trip to an allegedly haunted place....except maybe
some boiled peanuts that is.


After getting my tank somewhat full and securing my road trip snacks, I headed west on SC Highway 9 and crossed the Broad River into Union County. 

I was surprised to see how low the river was in the weeks following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene at the end of last month. The Broad River itself had swollen to flooding levels during the storm and remained swollen for days following the rainfall. Thankfully there has been little to no rainfall since the hurricane in this area, helping the rivers and creeks to return to some semblance of normal levels.

The rocky Broad River which marks the borders of Union
and Chester Counties in the South Carolina Piedmont.


Traveling west through to the town of Union, I could see that Hurricane Helene left her mark hard there too. Uprooted trees could be seen in front yards that had yet to be disposed of, and probably won't be for at least a couple months. The historic downtown Union looked pretty much okay. I snapped a few photos -- including one of the old cotton textile mill that once employed at many as 1400 people at the height of its hundred years of service before being shut down in the 1990s. 



I made my way through Union and made the turn on Sardis Road where the bridge is located further southwest. The road is pretty well maintained up to a point, after which it forks off. At the fork I saw a sign that informed me that the bridge was out a couple miles ahead with a detour sign pointing towards the right side of the fork.

I was a bit concerned that I took the trip for nothing, however the road was not blocked off so I tentatively continued towards the Crybaby Bridge mindful of any sudden need to stop. At this point the woods begins to get a bit thicker and the sunlight isn't quite so bright, even at noontime.

I came to the site of the rusty-looking bridge a few minutes later to see that several trees had toppled across the road and that a pile of dirt was blocking access to the bridge. I parked my car and retrieved my camera and tripod, continuing the rest of the journey on foot.

It turns out I was not alone -- and no it wasn't ghosts. An older gentleman was also there filming the site and just finishing up when I arrived. He'd come from the other way from the nearby Rose Hill Plantation Historical Site and informed me that the river had flooded over the bridge and up the side of the road a ways during the hurricane, which explained the fallen trees and why it was blocked off to car traffic to assess damages to the nearly 80 year-old bridge. He did assure me that it was safe enough to walk across. I thanked him and watched him go before crossing the bridge and taking the following photos of both the bridge and the now quiet Tyger River below.

This was my first view of the Tyger River Bridge from where
I parked. The road was blocked off and fallen trees are visible.

These fallen and uprooted trees mark the spot where the Tyger
River flooded during Hurricane Helene. These were at least
50 yards from the bridge itself.

My first view of the now calm Tyger River below.
It was so shallow I could see the minnows swimming near the
sandy bottom.
This final shot with your favorite blogger at the bridge shows
the scale of the narrow-looking old bridge surrounded by the
October autumn foliage.

I did not have any ghost encounter, although while I was crossing the bridge coming back (just after I took the picture of my shadow) I heard a loud squawk that quickly brought me out of my musings. The sound came from a Blue Heron that I was unfortunately unable to get a shot of as she flew out of sight the moment I spotted her. It didn't quite sound like a baby crying....although I confess, just for a second there, it did startle this Southern boy just a little bit.

The rusty bridge and the nearby woods with its foliage turning red, brown and orange for the fall season here in South Carolina held a somewhat charming, rustic feel. I can see why some people would think the site to be haunted, especially with no traffic on the bridge.

Overall, the visit to the Union County's infamous Crybaby Bridge was a good one, well worth the time spent. Though I did not encounter any spectral apparitions, cold spots, or anything else associated with ghost encounters, I did find a few small lizards....oh and a Sasquatch.



I hope y'all enjoyed my post and photos, please let me know in the comments below what you thought, or if y'all have any stories about "crybaby bridges" near where you live.

Have a wonderful Dixie Day, and Happy Halloween Y'all!

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Union County South Carolina History Museum & Confederate Monument

The Union County Museum located at 127 West Main Street,
Union, South Carolina.
 
Hello everyone!

Located on the first floor of the restored Flynn Office Building on historic Main Street in the city of Union, the Union County Museum houses some really amazing artifacts and displays highlighting some of the great history of Union County, South Carolina and its importance to the history of the United States.

For instance during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War there were at least two important battles fought in Union County in 1780: Musgrove Mill and Blackstock's Farm -- both of them Patriot victories.

Battlefield maps, uniforms from America's various wars, and weapons are displayed at the museum including an 1823 era cannon. Also included is a table on which the original South Carolina Ordinance of Secession was signed in 1860.

At the end of the War Between the States in April of 1865, Union County hosted Confederate President Jefferson Davis as he and the remaining members of his cabinet attempted to escape Federal government authorities. Among the items displays in the museum includes a silver tea service used during President Davis' visit.

Textile mills played a huge role in the local economy during the early 1900s and the museum displays many artifacts from the time.

The following are the photos that I took of my visit to the Union County Museum.


Across the street at the nearby intersection is the historic Union County Courthouse and the 35-foot tall monument honoring Union County's Confederate soldiers and surviving veterans.





A brief history of the Union County Confederate Monument.

The thirty-five-foot obelisk monument, which is surmounted by a small pyramid of granite cannonballs, was originally located "in the middle of Main street at a point in front of the courthouse and on the highest point in the city"
and erected in 1907 by the William Wallace Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC).

The dedication ceremony took place on Saturday, May 25, 1907. A speakers' stand was erected in front of the courthouse near the monument. Garland bearers, flower girls, and the Union cornet band led union's veterans in a parade from Hotel Union to the monument.

The band and a group of Union schoolchildren greeted the veterans with a rendition of "The Sunny South," a new song dedicated to the Confederate veterans. Reverend B.G. Clifford offered the invocation. Mayor Macbeth Young gave the welcoming address, and the band played "The Bonnie Blue Flag."

Four Union County veterans then unveiled the monument. They were Charner S. Greer, formerly a captain of Company A, 18th S.C.V. Regiment; James C. Shellteworth, formerly a private in the Tyger River Volunteers, Company D, 5th S.C. Volunteer Infantry Regiment; J.D. Eppes, formerly a private in the Macbeth Light Artillery; and W.T. Betsill, formerly a private in the Congaree Troop, Company D, The Hampton Legion Cavalry Battalion.

While little girls decorated the monument, the assembly sang "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground."

After the band played "Taps," the beloved Reverend A.A. James, chaplain of the 18th S.C.V. Regiment during the entire war, introduced Colonel Asbury Coward, the speaker of the day. A crowd of 3,000 to 5,000 filling the streets of Union interrupted him several times with bursts of enthusiastic applause. Reverend James offered the benediction, and the band led the 500 veterans in a parade to the graded school grounds for dinner. The monument was later moved to its present location, probably because of traffic congestion.


(Source: A Guide to Confederate Monuments in South Carolina: "Passing the Silent Cup" by Robert S. Seigler, pg. 491.)