|
Sites Associated with Jefferson Davis’s Flight Through South Carolina, April 26th-May 3rd, 1865
York, Union, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville, and McCormick Counties
(Traveling
Northeast to Southwest) |
1. Springfield Plantation House (Colonel A. B. Springs House), U.S. Highway 21, 3 miles north of Fort Mill, York County, where Jefferson Davis and part of the Confederate Cabinet, traveling south from Charlotte, spent the night of April 26th/27th
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places September 12, 1985
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/york/S10817746019/index.htm
National Register Nomination online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/york/S10817746019/S10817746019.pdf
NOTE: South Carolina Historical Marker in process March 2010, to be sponsored by the Springs Close Foundation
2. William Elliott White House, North White Street, Fort Mill, York County, where part of the Confederate Cabinet spent the night of April 26th/27th, and where the Cabinet’s last meeting was held on the lawn on April 27th
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places March 22, 1987
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/york/S10817746021/index.htm
National Register Nomination online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/york/S10817746021/S10817746021.pdf
South Carolina Historical Marker 46-4 JEFFERSON DAVIS'S FLIGHT SOUTH, April 26-27, 1865 North White Street (S.C. Highway 160), near western city limits, Fort Mill
(Front) Confederate
President Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet, making their way south
from Richmond, Va. with a cavalry escort, stopped at Fort Mill on
April 26, 1865. Davis spent the night at Springfield, the home of
Col. Andrew Baxter Springs, about 3.5 mi. N; others stayed here at
the home of Col. William Elliott White. LAST CONFEDERATE CABINET MEETING, April 27, 1865 On the morning of April 27, 1865, Davis's Cabinet met here on the lawn to discuss the resignation of Secretary of the Treasury George A. Trenholm, appointing Postmaster General John H. Reagan to succeed him. The group, hoping to join the few Confederates still in the field, left for Yorkville later that day. Erected by the White Homestead, 2005, replacing a marker erected by Captain Elliott White Springs on 11 March 1940
3. Davis’s Route from Nation Ford over the Catawba River to Rock Hill, York County, April 27th
South Carolina Historical Marker 46-5 JEFFERSON DAVIS' FLIGHT Corner of Eden Terrace and Myrtle Drive, Rock Hill Having crossed the Catawba at Nation Ford, April 27, 1865, the President of the Confederacy fled south along this road following the fall of Richmond. He was accompanied by the remaining members of his cabinet and a detachment of cavalry under Gen. John C. Breckinridge. Erected by the Ann White Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy
4. Site of the Dr. James Rufus Bratton House, 8 North Congress Street (U.S. Highway 21), York, York County, the home of Confederate surgeon Dr. James Rufus Bratton, where Davis spent the night of April 27th/28th
South Carolina Historical Marker 46-11 BRATTON HOUSE SITE 8 North Congress Street (U.S. Highway 321), York (Front) Robert Clendinen, Yorkville lawyer and South Carolina senator from York District (1816-30), purchased this land in 1813. The house, which he built here before his death in 1830, was acquired in 1847 by Dr. James Rufus Bratton, a surgeon in the Confederate Army. It was razed in 1956. (Reverse) JEFFERSON DAVIS' FLIGHT Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, spent the night of April 27, 1865, in the home of Dr. James Rufus Bratton, which was located on this site. Davis, in danger of capture and arrest by Federal troops, was attempting to reach some remnant of the Confederate Army in the South or West with which he could find protection and continue the war. Erected by York County Historical Commission, 1977
5. Davis’s Route from York County into Union County, April 28th/29th
Davis spent the night on the road between York and Union, at an unknown location. Since no local residents claimed that he spent the night with them, it is likely that he and his party camped along the road.
NOTE: There are no known historic resources, monuments, or markers associated with Davis’s flight, and this site would not be a good candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker. 6. Pinckneyville, 13 miles northeast of Union on the Broad River, S.C. Highway 13, Union County, where Davis crossed the Broad River at Pinckneyville Ferry on April 29th
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places December 3, 1969
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744001/index.htm
National Register Documentation online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744001/S10817744001.pdf
NOTE: There are no known historic resources, monuments, or markers associated with Davis’s flight, and this site would not be a good candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker. 7. William H. Wallace House, 430 East Main Street, Union, Union County, where Davis had lunch April 29th
Contributing to the East Main Street-Douglass Heights Historic District, Listed in the National Register of Historic Places July 17, 1989
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744021/index.htm
National Register Documentation online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744021/S10817744021.pdf
NOTE: This house would be an excellent candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker. 8. Site of the J.R.R. Giles House, 7 miles southwest of Union, between Union and Cross Keys, Union County, where Davis spent the night of April 29th/30th
NOTE: There are no known historic resources, monuments, or markers associated with Davis’s flight, but this house 9. Cross Keys House, S.C. Highway 49, Cross Keys, 12 miles southwest of Union, Union County, where Davis had lunch April 30th
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places June 24, 1971
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744005/index.htm
National Register Documentation online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/union/S10817744005/S10817744005.pdf
South Carolina Historical Marker 44-3 CROSS KEYS HOUSE Intersection of Cross Keys Highway (S.C. Highway 49) & Jones Ford Road (S.C. Secondary Road 44-22), Cross Keys (Front) A post office was established in 1809 at Cross Keys, S.C. In 1812-14, Barrum Bobo erected this house at the intersection of the Piedmont Stage Road and the Old Buncombe Road. During the ante-bellum period, it was the center of a prosperous plantation. The gables of the building contain the cross keys insignia and the dates of construction. (Reverse) On April 30, 1865, during the retreat from Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson Davis passed through Cross Keys, S.C., accompanied by the Confederate cabinet and his military escort of five brigades. Mrs. Mary Whitmire Davis, who owned the Cross Keys House at that time, afterwards related to her descendants the story of President Davis's luncheon at the house. Erected by Cherokee District, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1970
10. Site of the Lafayette Young House, Joanna vicinity, Laurens County, where Davis spent the night of April 30th/May 1st
South Carolina Historical Marker 30-1 JEFFERSON DAVIS' FLIGHT Intersection of S.C. Highway 56 & Jefferson Davis Road (S.C. Secondary Road 29-38), about 2 ½ mi. SW of Joanna Jefferson Davis/President of the Confederacy/on his flight from Richmond, Va./with his Cabinet and other/high ranking officers/spent the night of April 30, 1865/at the house 1 ½ miles west/then the home of Lafayette Young./Arriving there from Union/Davis left early next morning/for Cokesbury and Abbeville. Erected by Stephen D. Lee Chapter No. 1066, United Daughters of the Confederacy, Clinton, South Carolina, 1961 11. Site of the Griffin Williams House, unknown location, Mountville vicinity, Laurens County, where on the morning of May 1st, Davis joined others in his party who had spent the night there
NOTE: There are no known historic resources, monuments, or markers associated with Davis’s flight, but this house site would be an excellent candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker if it could be identified.
12. Dr. Thomas Gary House, 8 miles north of Greenwood and 1 mile south of U.S. Highway 25, Cokesbury, Greenwood County, where Davis spent the night of May 1st/2nd
Contributes to the Old Cokesbury and Masonic Female College and Conference School, Listed in the National Register of Historic Places August 25, 1970
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/greenwood/S10817724002/index.htm
National Register Documentation online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/greenwood/S10817724002/index.htm
NOTE: This house would be an excellent candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker.
13. Burt-Stark House, 306 North Main Street and Greenville Street, Abbeville, Abbeville County, where Davis spent the night of May 2nd/3rd, and the site of the last Confederate council of war, May 3rd
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places April 3, 1970
Selected Photographs online at http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/abbeville/S10817701001/index.htm
Designated a National Historic Landmark October 5, 1992
National Historic Landmark Documentation online at http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/sc/burstark.pdf
South Carolina Historical Marker 1-7 BURT-STARK HOUSE 306 North Main Street, Abbeville (Front) When Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, left Richmond after its fall in April 1865, he traveled south, trying to reach and rally the remnants of his army. On May 2, he spent the night at the home of Col. Armistead Burt. In 1971, Burt’s great-niece Mary Stark Davis gave this historic house and all its furnishings to Abbeville’s Historic Preservation Commission. JEFFERSON DAVIS' FLIGHT (Reverse) Here, at the home of Colonel Burt, President Jefferson Davis held the last Confederate Council of War on May 2, 1865. He met with Secretary of War Breckenridge, Gen. Braxton Bragg, and 5 brigade generals; all agreed the only hope was for Davis to elude nearby U.S. cavalry and escape west. Though Davis passed safely through South Carolina, he was seized in Georgia on May 10th. Erected by Abbeville County Historic Preservation Commission, 1979
14. Site of the Thomas Chiles Perrin House, North Main Street and Wardlaw Street, Abbeville, Abbeville County, where some of Davis’s Cabinet stayed the night of May 2nd/3rd
South Carolina Historical Marker 1-10 THOMAS CHILES PERRIN HOUSE Corner of North Main Street (S.C. Highway 28/71) and Wardlaw Street, Abbeville
(Front) The Greek Revival residence of
Thomas Chiles Perrin (1805-1878), prominent Abbeville District
lawyer, planter, businessman, and politician, stood here from 1858
until it burned in 1877. When completed the house was described as
“one of the finest and most commodious mansions in the State.”
Perrin served as mayor, state representative and senator, and for
many years as president of the Greenville and Columbia RR. 15. Ruins of Fort Charlotte, Mount Carmel vicinity, McCormick County, Davis crossed a pontoon bridge over the Savannah River into Georgia near here on May 3rd
NOTE: There are no known historic resources, monuments, or markers associated with Davis’s flight, and this site would not be a good candidate for a South Carolina Historical Marker.
Select Bibliography
Ballard, Michael B. A Long Shadow: Jefferson Davis and the Final Days of the Confederacy. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1986.
Crist, Lynda Lasswell, Barbara J. Rozek, and Kenneth H. Williams, editors. The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Volume 11: September 1864-May 1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2003.
Davis, Nora Marshall. “Jefferson Davis’s Route from Richmond, Virginia, to Irwinville, Georgia, April 2-May 10, 1865.” Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, 1941 (Columbia: The South Carolina Historical Association, 1941), 11-20.
Davis, Burke. The Long Surrender. New York: Random House, 1985.
Davis, William C. An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government. New York: Harcourt, 2001..
Davis, William C. Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour. New York: HarperCollins, 1991.
Hanna, A.J. Flight Into Oblivion. Richmond: Johnson Publishing Company, 1938. Reprint Edition, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1999.
|
|
J. Tracy Power and Benjamin F. Hornsby, Jr. South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office South Carolina Department of Archives and History 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, S.C. 29223 (803) 896-6182
March 11, 2010 |