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Monthly Archives: October 2014

Today In Charleston History: October 23

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1704 – Religion

 Francis Simonds, a widow, donated a plot of land for the construction of a dissenting church building, the White Meeting House – the site of the current Circular Church on Meeting Street.

1754 – Births

t. pinckneyThomas Pinckney born in Charleston, second son of Charles and Eliza Pinckney.

1764 – Stamp Act

 A masked and armed mob (probably members of the Sons of Liberty) of “about 60 to 80” marched on Henry Laurens’ house at midnight, suspecting that he held the stamps. Lauren’s coolness toward the Patriot cause made him suspicious in the eyes of the public. The mob held “a brace of cutlasses across my breast” and for the next hour the house was searched.  Laurens was amazed by the lack of damage to his house:

Is it not amazing that such a number of Men many of them heated with Liquor & all armed with Cutlasses & Clubbs did not do one penny damage to my Garden not even not even to walk over a Bed & not damage to my Fence, gate or House?

1830

 The Best Friend arrived in Charleston on the freighter Niagra, in parts, and was taken to the shop of Thomas Dotterer where it was reassembled.

best friend

The Best Friend

Today In Charleston History: October 22

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1774

Henry Middleton served as second president of the Continental Congress.

1862 – Civil War

Gus Smythe enlisted in the Signal Corps in Charleston and reported to Capt. Joseph Manigault. He wrote to his Aunt Janey:

I have not yet been assigned to any station, but trust to be kept at the Bathing House [South Battery] … As to accommodations, they are MUCH better than in camp, as we (in town) all stay in houses …

 

View of Charleston from Ft. Wagner

View of Charleston from Ft. Wagner

1925 – Doin’ the Charleston

One of the clubs that challenged the Cotton Club in popularity was Small’s Paradise. Ed Smalls was born in Charleston and moved to New York as a young man. Charleston legend claims that he was kin to the legendary Robert Smalls, an African slave who, during the Civil War, stole a steamer in Charleston harbor and delivered it to the Union navy. Untrue.

Another legend states that Ed Smalls was also related to the notorious Sammy Smalls, “Goat Cart Sam,” a crippled beggar who was often seen drunk on the streets of Charleston being pulled around in a goat cart. Sam usually frequented gambling saloons and whorehouses. “Goat Cart Sam” was about to become a legendary and universal character known as Porgy, the title character of Dubose Heyward’s lyrical novel of black life in Charleston. Also untrue.

Ed Smalls opened Small’s Paradise on October 22, 1925. It was housed in a large basement at 2294½ Seventh Avenue at 135th Street and could accommodate 1500 patrons. It offered extravagant floor shows and the Charlie Johnson Orchestra played the hottest jazz music in Harlem. The Paradise also featured a slew of flamboyant, Charleston-dancing gay waiters who served Chinese food and bootleg liquor to the small tables. During those early years, the Charlie Johnson Orchestra featured two former Jenkins Orphanage trumpet players: Gus Aiken and Jabbo Smith, who had just recently “escaped” from the orphanage.

smalls

Smalls Paradise, New York City. Author’s Collection

Today In Charleston History: October 21

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1718 – Piracy

 Governor Johnson wrote to the Commissioners of trade and expressed his apprehension that “the pirates who infest the coast in great numbers would be much irritated” at the actions of Col. Rhett. (Rhett had recently captured the pirate Stede Bonnet who had blockaded Charles Town harbor with Blackbeard.) Johnson again asked for a permanent vessel be sent for the protection of the Carolina coast.

col rhett and bonnet

Col. Rhett’s capture of Stede Bonnet

Almost immediately, word arrived that a pirate ship named Cape Fear, captained by Christopher Moody, was off the bar with a vessel carrying fifty guns and 200 men. Moody was infamous for giving “no quarter” (sparing of lives). The news spread across the city like wildfire.

The Council approved Johnson’s request to outfit four ships – the Mediterranean (twenty-four guns), the King William (thirty guns), the Sea Nymph (six guns) and, ironically, Stede Bonnet’s former pirate vessel, the Royal James, was outfitted to hunt down pirates. The Council asked for volunteers, promising them a share of all the booty that might be taken.

1779 – American Revolution

Henry Laurens was elected Minister to Holland by the Continental Congress. He was to procure a $10,000,000 loan to finance the war effort.

Today In Charleston History: October 20

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1730 – Religion

Rev. Alexander Garden held the first convention of South Carolina clergy at Charlestown.

St. Philips Church, 1723

St. Philips Church, 1723

Garden was educated at the University of Aberdeen and in 1719 he went to South Carolina as the Bishop of London’s Commissary, and became rector of  St. Philip’s Church. Garden became renowned for his efforts to censor the evangelist George Whitefield and prevent his “enthusiastic” type of religious meetings from being held in Charles Town, SC.

As well as supervising other clergymen in the area he took an interest in the Charleston Free School, and established the so-called “Negro School” which was supported by the Church of England’s Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. In the spring of 1754 he retired and went to live in England, but soon went back to the warmer climate of South Carolina and died there in 1756

Historic Charleston Image #3 – Rainbow Row

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rainbow row 1920s

Rainbow Row, 1910 … looking south along East Bay Street from Elliott Street.

This famous group of buildings at 79-107 East Bay Street are excellent examples of 18th & 19th century wharfside mercantile life in Charleston. They were built as individual businesses and residences by prosperous merchants with the ground floors used for commercial use and the upper floors for homes and boarding rooms.  

rainbow row 1900

Rainbow Row, 1910, looking north along East Bay Street … from Tradd Street.

Post Civil War the entire area fell into neglect due to the economics of the time. The wharves along East Bay Street were abandoned and the waterfront silted in, making the area unusable for shipping. The buildings along the Row deteriorated into slum-like conditions by the time of World War I. 

rainbow row, 1920s

Rainbow Row, 1920s, looking south along East Bay Street … from Elliott Street.

In the 1930s Dorothy Porcher Legge renovated her house at 99-101 East Bay Street and came up with the concept of different pastels colors as a homage to the Colonial Caribbean heritage of the Charleston merchants. As the entire Row was renovated and each individual building was painted a pastel … the nickname Rainbow Row came into use to describe the street.

MythBuster: The colors WERE NOT painted on the buildings so illiterate slaves could identify individual businesses! 

Modern view of Rainbow Row

Modern view of Rainbow Row

Today In Charleston History: October 19

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1781 – American Revolution

Lord Cornwallis surrendered 8000 British troops to George Washington. Victory was assured by the arrival of the French fleet, secured by Col. John Laurens, which cut off Cornwallis’ retreat by sea. Laurens commanded the troops which blocked the path for a British retreat, ultimately leading to them having to surrender. Laurens also represented Washington at the surrender negotiations.

When word of Cornwallis’ surrender reached Charlestown, Lord Rawdon was so concerned about an American attack he ordered forces from Wilmington, North Carolina relocated to Charlestown, constructed new fortifications across the Neck and enlisted Negroes as soldiers.

Publication1

Today In Charleston History: October 18

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1765 – American Revolution -The Stamp Act

The Planter’s Adventure arrived in Charlestown, carrying the hated British stamps, in preparation of the Act taking effect in November. Lt. Gov. Bull first placed the stamped paper in the warship Speedwell but feared it might be attacked while docked. He secretly transferred the stamps to Ft. Johnson for nine days.

 A forty-foot high gallows was erected at Broad and Church Streets in front of Dillon’s Tavern with three effigies: that of a stamp distributor hung between a Devil on one side and a boot on the other. On the front of the gallows was a sign which read – “LIBERTY and no STAMP ACT.” On the back of the gallows was another sign which read:

Whoever shall dare attempt to pull down these effigies had better been born with a mill stone about his neck, and cast into the sea.

 Two thousand people paraded the streets looking for the stamps. The home of the stamp officer, George Saxby (53 Tradd Street), was searched and ransacked. Many in the crowd were part of Christopher Gadsden’s artillery company – labor-class artisans.The mob marched to the “New Barracks” (present-day location of the College of Charleston) and burned an effigy of Saxby and buried a coffin labeled ÁMERICAN LIBERTY.”

1794 – Charleston Orphan House Opens

The Charleston Orphan House opened to 115 children at 160 Boundary Street (present-day Calhoun Street) on the outskirts of the city. Designed by Thomas Bennett the center structure was 40×40 feet, with two wings 65 by 30 feet each. Brickwork was done by Anthony Toomer. It cost $11,000 to construct and was the first public orphanage house in America.

orphan house postcard

Today In Charleston History: October 17

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1793

Slavery. Governor Moultrie issued a proclamation, ordering:

all free foreign blacks who had arrived in the state less than a year before to leave the state, [as there are] many characters amongst them, which are dangerous to welfare and peace of the state.

1971

According to a birth certificate on file at the Department of Health Vital Statistics in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Natasha Marginell Manugault Paul Simmons was born, the daughter of Dawn Langley Hall and John-Paul Simmons. Problem was: Dawn was the former Gordon Langley Hall who, on September 23, 1968, went through a sex change operation at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. 

dawn washington park

John-Paul Simmons and Dawn Langley Hall Simmons, in front of Washington Park, Charleston.

After her return to Charleston, Dawn pushed Natasha up and down the streets in an old-fashioned British baby carrier just like the one the Queen had for Prince Charles. She kept Natasha’s birth certificate handy to flash at everyone who doubted that this was her daughter. Many were not convinced, particularly the father John-Paul. He knew exactly where Natasha came from – one of his girlfriends. He recalled:

I’d been going with her for eight months –constantly had sex, sex, sex, all the time with this girl. She was about twenty-three. She got pregnant.

John-Paul claimed that the girl’s daddy knew Dawn wanted a baby, and the daddy didn’t want his daughter to have an illegitimate daughter with a black man., not in Charleston in 1971. When the girl went into labor, the girl checked into Roper Hospital as “Mrs. Simmons” at Dawn’s direction. Dawn gave the daddy one thousand dollars for the baby. Dawn flew to Philadelphia with the South Carolina birth certificate listing “Mrs. John-Paul Simmons” as mother of the child. Dawn showed up at the Pennsylvania vital statistics office with the infant in her arms and paperwork in her hand bearing her name.

Dawn’s announcement of the birth of her daughter became the fodder for TV comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, hosts of the wildly popular Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, a show with more than forty million viewers. The opening monologue contained the following exchange:

Dan Rowan: News flash: Charleston, South Carolina. Noted transsexual Dawn Simmons has just given birth to a daughter. 

Dick Martin: We can only hope she grows up to be half the man her mother was.

 

laugh-in_rowan_martin

Dan Rowan & Dick Martin

 

Today In Charleston History: October 16

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1651 – English Roots of Charles Town

Charles II and James, sons of the Charles I, fled England to escape Cromwell’s army. Landing in Normandy, France they would live in exile for nine years.

1864 – Bombardment of Charleston 

Gus Smythe wrote to his sister Sarah Annie:

I am sorry to tell you that St. Michael’s steeple has been struck as last, this morning at 10 o’c., a shell entering and bursting in it. Fortunately it came in just by a window, so the wall is little injured, not at all of any account. The just before that one, entered the church, going through the south east corner of the roof, but not bursting. This church … has had now two shells in it, besides one in the steeple, & has been hit several times by fragments.

St. Michael's Church

St. Michael’s Church

1876 – Reconstruction

A joint political meeting took place near Cainhoy, South Carolina, a small town located approximately nine miles northeast of Charleston.  A group of about one-hundred and fifty Democrats traveled to the site by steamboat “Pocosin” and met their political opponents at “Brick Church.”  The leadership from both sides had agreed beforehand that participants would not bear arms at the meeting, but many of the Republicans, mindful of the sort of violence that had occurred previously in places like Hamburg, arrived to the meeting with their personal firearms.  Other black Republicans had hidden weapons in the surrounding woods and swamps.  

brick church

Brick Church at Cainhoy.

During a speech by Republican W.J. McKinlay,  the hidden weapons were discovered. A riot broke out when the black Republicans heard that the whites had seized their weapons and that a white man had drawn a pistol in self-defense. The blacks rushed from the swamps with their guns and pursued the Democrats into the church., where they were held at bay, with a gun battle between the Democrats and Republicans lasting several hours.  Members of Democratic controlled rifle clubs from Charleston quickly organized and arrived on the scene in force within a few hours, Tensions remained high, but no more organized fighting took place.

The “Pocosin” was quickly loaded with the wounded and returned from Charleston with 100 armed men of the Palmetto Guard to provide protection for the white citizens of Cainhoy.  A small detachment of U.S. military forces arrived a few days later in order to maintain the tenuous peace.  

The massacre at Cainhoy resulted in the deaths of six white men and wounding sixteen while only one black man was killed.

Today In Charleston History: October 15

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1764

Peter Timothy of the Gazette requested that all people who owed him money pay their debts as soon as possible. He pointed out that in thirty-three years he had never resorted to a summons or an attorney to collect a bill, but such measures may be forthcoming.

1863 – Civil War. H.L. Hunley sinks

Horace Hunley and seven crew members boarded the submarine, H.L. Hunley, at Adger’s Wharf. There was a small crowd assembled on the dock to watch a demonstration of the Hunley’s capabilities, a dress rehearsal for an actual attack.  They were to submerge beneath the Confederate ship Indian Chief and surface on the other side.

The crowd watched the Hunley cruise away from the dock, submerge but … it never resurfaced. The next day, the Charleston Daily Courier posted this notice:

Melancholy Occurrence – On Thursday morning an accident occurred to a small boat in Cooper River, containing eight persons, all of whom drowned.

General P.G.T. Beauregard ordered that the submarine be raised and then grounded. So far, the Hunley had killed thirteen Confederate volunteers and not a single Yankee. “It is more dangerous to those who use it than the enemy,” he said.

Due to weather conditions in Charleston harbor, it took more than a month for the recovery. It was 60-feet below the surface, its nose buried in silt. On Saturday, November 7, several divers, including Angus Smith who had worked on the first recovery, managed to wrap enough chains around the vessel to raise it. When the Hunley was finally on the dock at Mt. Pleasant, the grim task of removing the eight corpses was begun.

Beauregard wrote, “It was indescribably ghastly. The unfortunate men were contorted into all kinds of horrible attitudes.”

1866

Several different companies started horse-drawn streetcar services in Charleston. No one from the Charleston Animal Society complained about the abuse of horses being forced to carry people around the streets. chas trolly cars