History of Charleston, (Charleston County) South Carolina United States of America

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Local History Notes:

CHARLESTON, a port of entry, capital of a district of its own name, and the largest city of South Carolina, is situated on a tongue of land between the rivers Ashley and Cooper, which unite immediately below the town, and form a spacious harbour, communicating with the ocean at Sullivan's island, 7 miles below. It is 118 miles N. E. from Savannah, 580 S. W. from Baltimore, and 540 from Washington. Lat. 32° 46´, N. lon. 79° 57´ W. Cooper and Ashley rivers are from 30 to 40 feet deep, the former 1400, and the latter 2100 yards wide. The ground on which the city is built is elevated 8 or 9 feet above the level of the harbor at high tide, which rises about six feet, flowing by the city with a strong current, thus contributing to its salubrity. A sandbar extends across the mouth of the harbor, affording, however, two entrances, of which the deepest, near Sullivan's island, has 16 feet of water at low tide. The harbor is defended by Fort Pinckney and Fort Johnson, each on an island, the former two and the latter four miles below the city, and also by Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's island. Charleston is regularly built, and extends about 2 miles in length and nearly 1 1/2 miles in breadth. The streets, many of which are 60 or 70 feet broad, and bordered with the Pride of India and other beautiful shade-trees, pass, for the most part, parallel to each other from the Cooper to the Ashley river, and are intersected by others nearly at right angles. Many of the houses are of brick some of which are in a style of superior elegance; others are of wood, neatly painted, and embowered during the summer season amid a profusion of foliage and flowers. The dwellings are often furnished with piazzas extending to the roof, and ornamented with vines or creepers, while the gardens attached to them are adorned with the orange, peach, and other choice trees, and a variety of shrubbery.

Institutions: Charleston contains numerous educational and literary institutions, among which may be mentioned the Medical College of the State of South Carolina, a flourishing school, rounded in 1833. The Charleston college was rounded in 1785, chartered anew in 1791, and again re-organized in 1837. This institution has of late been greatly improved; extensive additions have been made to the main building, unit another professorship established, entitled the chair of Intellectual Philosophy and Greek Literature. It is now in a very prosperous condition, with an able faculty, and the number of students steadily increasing. The Literary and Philosophical Society has a valuable collection of specimens in natural history. The Apprentices' Association possesses a library of 10,000 volumes, and maintains an annual course of lectures upon scientific subjects. The City Library numbers about 20,000 volumes. There are also in the city a high-school and several common schools, all of which are in a flourishing condition. The high-school was established in 1839, and is endowed with $1000 per annum for a hundred years. The number of pupils in attendance is usually from 130 to 150. The orphan asylum is richly endowed, and accommodates about 150 children. The building is one of the most remarkable in the city. A commodious alms-house is provided for the poor. Charleston contains about 30 churches, a theatre, several first-class hotels, (one of which, the City Hotel, cost $150,000,) 4 cotton presses, a cotton factory, 5 or 6 engine manufactories, a large number of grist mills, 5 ship-yards, and an extensive dry-dock, at which the largest vessels, with their cargoes, can be drawn up in about three hours. There are also in the city 9 banks, with an aggregate capital of $11,153,582, 6 individual incorporated banks having an aggregate capital of $8,030,235 and a circulation of $3,944,660, and several insurance and other incorporated companies. Two of the nine banks of Charleston, with a capital of $1,000,000 each, were chartered by the legislature of 1852?53.

Commerce: The chief exports of Charleston are cotton and rice. The average crop of sea-island cotton, in South Carolina, is from 22,000 to 23,000 bales, about two-thirds of which comes to Charleston; the rest goes to Savannah. The rice crop of the state is usually in the neighborhood of 130,000 tierces, of which Charleston receives all, except 1000 or 1500 tierces going to Georgetown. During the year ending August 31st, 1851, Charleston exported 15,000 bales of sea-island cotton; 394,683 bales of upland cotton; 125,166 tierces of cleaned rice; 443,723 bushels of rough rice, and 18,135,231 feet of lumber. Tobacco was also exported in considerable quantities. The total amount of the exports during the year 1852 was $12,899,620. Charleston exports more rice than any other city in the Union, and is surpassed only by New Orleans and Mobile in the exportation of cotton. In 1820 the imports were nearly equal to one-half of the exports; now they are only about one-eighth. The revenue collected at this port in 1801, amounted to $2,257,100; in 1843 it had fallen to $158,405, being the smallest amount collected any one year, with the exception of 1814, since the establishment of the federal government. This decline is explained by the fact that the imports which formerly came directly to Charleston, are now entered at Northern ports. The imports in 1852 were $1,767,343, of which $1,285,716 were by American vessels, and $481,627 by foreign vessels. Charleston formerly was extensively engaged in ship-building, but of late years this business has very much declined. During the year ending June 30th, 1852, only 3 schooners and 3 steamers, with an aggregate burthen of 851 94/95 tons were built. The number of ships and brigs owned and sailing from this port, is also much smaller than it was ten years ago. Still the commerce is important. There are lines of steamers?three steamships to New York, one to Philadelphia, one to Baltimore, and one to Havana; of sailing vessels?11 ships, 2 barques, 8 brigs, and 5 schooners to New York; 3 barques and 3 brigs to Boston; 3 barques, 3 brigs, and 3 schooners to New Orleans; 2 brigs and 8 or 9 schooners to Philadelphia, and 5 or 6 schooners to Baltimore. Besides these there are a large number of vessels of various classes engaged in foreign commerce. The entire shipping of the port, June 30th, 1852, amounted to an aggregate of 22,526 22/95 tons registered, and 19,616 30/95 tons enrolled and licensed.

The great extent of railroads that open communication with the interior, affords Charleston superior advantages for inland trade. The Hamburg railroad, 136 miles in length, was, at the time of its completion in 1833, the longest railroad in the world. Other railroads, recently constructed, connect it not only with the principal towns of North and South Carolina and Georgia, but with Chattanooga and Nashville, thereby opening communication with the navigable waters of the Tennessee, Mississippi, and Ohio rivers. A line of steamboats makes daily trips to Wilmington, connecting with the great Northern route. Steamboats also ply between Charleston and the places along the coast.

The press of Charleston comprises 4 daily and 4 or 5 weekly papers, besides several other periodicals. The "Medical Journal," issued every two months, ranks among the first publications of the kind in the Union.

The citizens of Charleston are distinguished for their hospitality and refinement, and perhaps no place in the United States affords more agreeable society. In winter it is particularly pleasant as a residence, and is much resorted to by persons from other parts of the Union.

History: The city of Charleston is one of the most ancient in the United States, its foundations having been laid in 1672. Some fifteen years afterwards, a company of French refugees, exiled from their native country on account of their religious faith, settled in South Carolina, a part of them at Charleston. From this noble stock, the French Huguenots, have sprung some of the first families of Charleston. In 1731 the city contained 600 houses and 5 churches, and in 1744, 230 vessels were laden at its wharves. It was incorporated in 1783. On the 28th of June, 1776, the garrison on Sullivan's island, consisting of 400 men, under the command of Colonel Moultrie, sustained an assault from a British squadron of nine ships of war, and triumphantly repulsed them, losing only 32 men killed and wounded, while the enemy's loss amounted to nearly 200. Charleston was afterwards besieged by the British under Sir Henry Clinton, from the 1st April, 1780, until May 12th, when it was surrendered by General Lincoln. It was held by the enemy until May, 1782. Charleston has suffered greater disasters by fire than almost any city in the United States. In 1778, 252 houses were consumed, and in 1796 nearly a third part of the city, involving a destruction of property to the amount of $2,500,000. Again, at the great fire in 1838, the loss was estimated at $5,000,000. Population in 1800, 18,711; 1810, 24,711; 1820, 24,780; 1830, 30,289; 1840, 29,261 1850, 42,958, of which 14,692 were slaves.

Charleston Lighthouse, on Lighthouse Island, Charleston Harbor, is 125 1/2 feet high, and exhibits a revolving light. Lat. 32° 42´ N., lon. 79° 54´ 12´´ W.

Biographies:

William Henry Hunt, cabinet officer, was born in Charleston, S.C., in 1824; son of Thomas and Louisa (Galliard) Hunt. His father was opposed to the doctrine of nullification and was induced to leave South Carolina and settle with his family in New Orleans, La. William was a student at Yale college, 1840-41, but was not a graduate. He was admitted to the New Orleans bar and practised in that city, 1845-78. He was professor in the New Orleans law school, and took no active part in politics before the civil war. He was appointed by Governor Kellogg attorney-general of Louisiana in 1876, and was the Republican candidate for that office the same year, when both parties claimed the election. President Hayes recognized the validity of the Democratic state government, and Mr. Hunt removed to Washington, D.C., in 1878, where he was appointed judge of the court of claims by President Hayes. In December, 1880, when Mr. Justice Strong retired from the U.S. supreme bench, the bar of Louisiana sent a unanimous recommendation to President Hayes to appoint Judge Hunt to the vacancy. When Garfield became President in 1881, he appointed Judge Hunt secretary of the navy in his cabinet. When President Arthur reconstructed the cabinet in April, 1882, Secretary Hunt was succeeded by William E. Chandler, and President Arthur appointed him U.S. minister to Russia, as successor to John W. Foster, resigned. He died in St. Petersburg, Russia, Feb. 27, 1884.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Francis Kinloch, delegate, was born in Charleston, S.C., March 7, 1755; son of Francis Kinloch, a member of the king's council in South Carolina, 1717-57, and also president of that body; and a grandson of James Kinloch who emigrated from England in the year 1700 and settled in Charleston, S.C. He was thirteen years of age when his father died, and he was sent to England to be educated at Eton. After completing his course and travelling through Europe he returned to South Carolina, and at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he was commissioned captain in the Continental army and served on the staff of Gen. Isaac Huger at the attack on Savannah in 1779, where he was wounded, and then served with Gen. William Moultrio. He was a delegate to the Continental congress from South Carolina, 1780-81, and on his return to Charleston was captured during the raid led by John Graves Simcoe, but was released on parole. He was a representative in the South Carolina legislature for several years; was justice of the peace and a delegate to the convention of 1787, where he favored the adoption of the federal constitution. He was a member of the legislative council in 1789 and of the state constitutional convention of 1790. He assisted his brother Cleland in restoring their rice plantations, destroyed during the war. He resided in France and Switzerland with his family, 1803-06. He is the author of: Eulogy on George Washington, Esq. (1800); Letters from Geneva and France (2 vols., 1819.) He died in Charleston, S.C., Feb. 8, 1826.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Albert Gallatin Mackey, author, was born in Charleston, S.C., March 12, 1807; son of Dr. John Mackey (1765-1831), an educator, physician, and editor. He attended the public schools, taught school to pay his tuition in the medical department of the College of South Carolina, and was graduated M.D., 1832. He settled in practice in, Charleston, S.C., was demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of the University of South Carolina, 1838-44, and in 1844 abandoned medicine and devoted himself to literature and, to the study of the Greek, Latin, hebrow and continental languages. He established and conducted The Southern and Western Masonic Miscellany, a weekly publication, in 1849-52, and a Masonic quarterly, 1858-60. He is the author of: A Lexicon of Freemasonry (1845; 3d ed., 1855); The Mystic Tie (1849); Book of the Chapter (1858); A History of Freemasonry in South Carolina (1861); A Manual of the Lodge (1862); Cryptic Masonry (1867); Masonic Ritualist (1867); Symbolism of Freemasonry (1869); A Text-Book of Masonic Jurisprudence (1869); Masonic Parliamentary Law (1875); Encyclop?dia of Free-masonry (1874). He died in Fort Monroe, Va., June 20, 1881.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Charles Manly, educator, was born in Charleston, S.C., May 28, 1837; son of Basil and Sarah Murray (Rudulph) Manly and grandson of Basil and Elizabeth (Maultsby) Manly and of Zebulon and Abigail (Murray) Rudulph and great grandson of Thomas and Mary (Ford) Manly of Jacob and Frances (Jacob) Rudulph. His paternal great grandfather emigrated from Ireland early in the eighteenth century Maryland as did Michel Johannes Rudulph, who came from the neighborhood of the Prudish Rhine. Charles studied under Richard Furman at Tuscaloosa, Ala., and was graduated from the University of Alabama, A.B., 1855, A.M., 1859. He was licensed to preach by the Tuscaloosa Baptist church in 1855; was graduated from the Princeton Theological seminary in 1859, and was ordained to the ministry in 1859. He was pastor of chuches at Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1859-71, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1871-73; Staunton, Va., 1873-80, and at Greenville, 1880-81, Belton, 1882-98, Brushy Creek, 1882-86, Rocky Creek, 1882-86, and Seneca, S.C., 1886-98, and became pastor at Lexington, Mo., in 1898. He was president of Alabama Central Female college at Tuscaloosa, Ala., 1862-64, and 1869-71; president of Union university, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1871-73; of Furman university, Greenville, S.C., 1881-97; was a teacher in the Patrick Military institute at Anderson, S.C., 1897-98, and after July, 1898, he prepared Sunday-school lesson notes for the American Baptist Publication society. The degree of D.D. was conferred on him by William Jewell college in 1872. He was married, Nov. 16, 1864, to Mary Matthews. Of his children, John Matthews became an educator, Hellen married Dr. R. G. Patrick, president of Judson institute, Marion, Ala., and Charles Mathews became assistant to Secretary Langley of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D.C.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor