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Monthly Archives: January 2015

Today In Charleston History: January 3

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1840 – Religion

The ceremony for the laying of cornerstones for the new Beth Elohim synagogue on Hasell Street took place.

Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, (Holy Congregation House of God) was organized in 1749 making it the fourth oldest Jewish congregation in the continental United States (after New York, Newport and Savannah). Prayers were initially recited in private quarters and in 1775 an improvised synagogue adjacent to the present-day grounds was constructed.In 1792 America’s “largest and most impressive” synagogue was constructed which was destroyed in the great Charleston fire of 1838 and replaced in 1840 on the same Hasell Street site by the Greek Revival structure in use today.

Today, KKBE has the second oldest synagogue building In the United States and the oldest in continuous use. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1980.

kkbe

1864

 Captain Walpole, commander of the Confederate outpost on John’s Island, captured a “mulatto fellow” who claimed to be the cook of Union General Gillmore. He reported that 18,000 troops were being removed from the Charleston area.

Today In Charleston History: January 2

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1813 – Deaths

Most scholars agree that the sometime today, the Patriot  wrecked off Cape Hatteras. Lost with the ship was South Carolina first lady, Theodosia Burr Alston. 

Theodosia Burr Alston by John Vanderlyn - New York Historical Society

Theodosia Burr Alston by John Vanderlyn –      New York Historical Society

On December 31, 1812, Theodosia sailed aboard the schooner Patriot from Georgetown, South Carolina to visit her father, former vice president Aaron Burr in New York. The Patriot was a famously fast sailer, which had originally been built as a pilot boat, and served as a privateer during the War of 1812, when it was commissioned by the United States government to prey on English shipping. The schooner’s captain, William Overstocks, desired to make a rapid run to New York with his cargo; it is likely that the ship was laden with the proceeds from her privateering raids.

Logbooks from the British warships report a severe storm of the Carolina coast on January 2, 1813. The Patriot would have been just north of Hatteras when the storm was at its fiercest, facing hurricane-force winds on the early morning hours of Sunday. The Patriot was never heard from again. Despite many romantic conspiracy stories that Theodosia survived the wreck, or was captured by pirate, she most likely was lost at sea with the rest of the passengers and crew.

Today In History: January 1

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1787 – Deaths  
TOP: Arthur Middleton & the Great Seal of South Carolina BOTTOM: Middleton tomb at Middleton Place

TOP: Arthur Middleton & the Great Seal of South Carolina BOTTOM: Middleton tomb at Middleton Place

Arthur Middleton died and was buried at Middleton Plantation. The death notice from the State Gazette of South-Carolina described him as a “tender husband and parent, humane master, steady unshaken patriot, the gentleman, and the scholar.”

He was educated in Britain, at Westminster School, and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.He then studied law at the Middle Temple and traveled extensively in Europe where his taste in literature, music, and art was developed and refined. In 1764, Arthur and his bride Mary Izard settled at Middleton Place.

Arthur Middleton was one of the more radical thinkers in South Carolina politics – a leader of the American Party in Carolina and one of the boldest members of the Council of Safety and its Secret Committee. His attitude toward Loyalists was said to be ruthless. In 1776, Arthur signed the United States Declaration of Independence and designed the Great Seal of South Carolina with William Henry Drayton.  

During the American Revolutionary War, Arthur served in the defense of Charleston. After the city’s fall to the British in 1780, he was one of the 30+ Patriot leaders imprisoned in St. Augustine, Florida.

1788

The City Gazette reported that a man “was paraded through the streets, covered with feathers, stuck in a coat of tar, as a spectacle for the execration of others more honest than himself.”

No, it was not a drunken New Years Eve celebration. Apparently, the man had gone “on board of a vessel, where he saw some goods so bewitching as to induce him to break at least one of the commandments, which says ‘Thou shalt not steal.’”

1808 – Slavery.

African American History Slave Ships The foreign slave trade ended by Federal law, as negotiated during the creation of the U.S. Constitution. When the US Constitution was written in 1787, a generally overlooked and peculiar provision was included in Article I, the part of the document dealing with the duties of the legislative branch:

Section 9. The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.

 In other words, the government could not ban the importation of enslaved people for 20 years after the adoption of the Constitution. And as the designated year 1808 approached, those opposed to enslavement began making plans for legislation that would outlaw the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved people.

1865 – Civil War

Maj. John Johnson, a Confederate engineer wrote, “The first of January 1865, found Charleston gathered within her circle of defenses – Not invested, but much perplexed.”