Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb 2015

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“The CivilWar and itsAftermath
inMount Pleasant”
“Surrender”
A bout 12 o’clock on Saturday,”
Tew’s letter continued, “three barges
landed from the fleet and as I had been
elected intendent (mayor) by the people
on Friday, in that official capacity I
surrendered the town, submitting to the
military authority of the U.S. and was promised protection
to persons and private property. The
boats were commanded by Lt. Gif-
ford. They brought a small U.S. flag ashore and hoisted it
for a while on the lighthouse.”
Tew described the officers as being very courteous and the
men quite peaceful, as were others from the Union fleet who
followed them into town later that afternoon and on Sunday.
Union Army Col. Edward E. Potter’s official report in-
cludes the following. The march’s starting point is not known.
“On Feb. 19 (Sunday) we began the march toward
Charleston with the 144th New York Volunteers and the
55th Massachusets. At Andersonville, the 32nd U.S. Col-
ored Troops joined the column. A number of Negroes with
carts loaded with household goods were met on the road
who readily turned back with us. About 100 head of cattle
were captured, which were being driven up the country. At
7 p.m., the column arrived at the Christ Church lines. Sev-
en guards were captured here and another two near Mount
Pleasant. The troops bivouacked at Christ Church, leaving
Col. A.A. Hartwell, 55th Massachusetts, in command.
“I rode with my staff to Mount Pleasant and crossed the
harbor in a small boat, arriving in Charleston at midnight.”
About 11 a.m. Monday, three regiments of Negro troops
under the command of Col. Hartwell marched into town.
This is the tenth part in a series about Mount Pleasant’s role in the Civil War. It has been
offered to Mount Pleasant Magazine by former Post and Courier editor and writer
John L. All, who resides East of the Cooper and is passionate about preserving its history.
We hope you will enjoy this tale about Mount Pleasant’s past.
–The Editors
By JOhN l. All
“
Tew’s letter to his daughter relates the events of that day:
“Many of the Negroes from the plantations came down
with the Army train, and together with those from the
village made quite a multitude of shouting wild creatures
whom the thought of freedom had changed from quiet to
transports of uproarious joy. I must tell you what I did for
my own.
“A few days before, I gave them $50 and told them the
money would soon be worth nothing and advised them to
buy whatever they could then. I also told them that when
the troops came, they knew they were free to go or stay as
they pleased; if they stayed, as long as I had anything to eat,
they would share as they always had done.”
Some of Tew’s former slaves left the following Wednesday
without a word of leave-taking. How many departed is not
known; four were still with him on Feb. 26 when he wrote
the letter to his daughter.
The Confederacy was in its death throes. As for Mount
Pleasant and the rest of the Lowcountry, it was an occupied
land. For some, the worst was yet to come.
Photo by Jose Gil.