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Abbeville History Compiled by: Paul M. Kankula NN8NN (non-copyrighted) |
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10 Jan 2015
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Abbeville History Compiled by: Paul M. Kankula NN8NN (non-copyrighted) |
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10 Jan 2015
Abbeville County was established in 1785 from the split up of the five-county area known as Old 96 District.
Abbeville County lies in the rolling foothills of the northwestern sector of the State of South Carolina. It is bounded on the West by the State of Georgia, on the North by Anderson County, on the East by Laurens and Greenwood Counties, and on the South by McCormick County.
The town of Abbeville developed around a spring which was set aside by General Andrew Pickens for public use. General Pickens had settled at what is now Abbeville proper prior to the American Revolution. Dr. John de la Howe, a French Huguenot settler in Western South Carolina, is credited with giving the county and town the name of his hometown in France.
The first organized meeting to adopt an Ordinance of Secession was held in Abbeville on November 22, 1860. A public assembly voted unanimously to leave the Union; that site is now called Secession Hill.
Confederate President Jefferson Davis, on his retreat trail south from Richmond, stopped overnight at the Abbeville home of his friend, Major Armistead Burt. His home, now known as the Burt-Stark Mansion, was the last meeting place (May 2, 1865) of the Confederate war council. Davis was convinced by his generals and Cabinet that the Southern resources were exhausted and that any attempt to fight another campaign would merely bring more misery to the region. It was in this house that President Davis finally admitted, "All is indeed lost."
Present at this meeting were Cabinet Members: Benjamin, Mallory, Reagan and Breckinridge and Brigade Commanders: Ferguson, Dibrell, Vaughn, Duke and Breckinridge. Students of the American Civil War will certainly recall all of those names.
It's no surprise then that Abbeville is sometimes referred to as both the "birthplace" and the "deathbed" of the Confederacy.
Information provided by
The Greater Abbeville Chamber of Commerce
and The Abbeville
Historical Society
What Ever Happened to the South Carolina Militia Company of Peter B. Rogers
Publications
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Abbeville County Marriages 1780-1879 Implied in Abbeville County SC Equity Records by Barbara Langdon. |
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Abbeville County- Southern Lifestyles Lost in Time by Lester Ferguson |
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Abstracts of Old 96 & Abbeville District Wills & Bonds by Pauline Young |
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Cedar Springs & Lower Long Cane ARP Church Cemeteries by Wilma C. Kirkland & Lucille L. Marrow |
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A Compilation of the Original Lists of Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina 1763-1773 by Janie Reville |
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Due West South Carolina's Oldest College Town by Lowery Ware |
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The Hard Labor Section by H.T. Cook |
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Historical Sketch of Long Cane ARP Church by Nora Davis |
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Index of Charleston County Wills 1671-1868 |
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Lebanon Presbyterian Church Cemetery Survey and Brief History by Susie New |
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McCormick County Cemetery Survey by McCormick County Historical Society |
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Misc. Cemetery Records for McCormick, Laurens, and Greenwood Counties by Wayne Bratcher |
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Old Families of McCormick County SC & Dorn Families of Edgefield, Greenwood and McCormick Counties by Willie Mae Woods |
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South Carolina Genealogical Research by George K Schweitzer |
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Family History Library - Books The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
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