Dick Anderson Chapter #75, United Daughters of the Confederacy


The Objectives of the U.D.C. are Historical, Educational, Benevolent, Memorial, and Patriotic - to honor the memory of those who served and those who fell in the service of the Confederate States; to protect, preserve, and mark the places made historic by Confederate valor; to collect and preserve that material for a truthful history of the "War between the States;" to record the part taken by Southern women in patient endurance of hardship and patriotic devotion during the struggle, as in untiring efforts after the war during the reconstruction of the South; to fulfull the sacred duty of benevolence toward the survivors and toward those dependent on them; to assist descendants of worthy Confederates in securing proper education; and to cherish the ties of friendship among the members of the Organization.

Lt. General Richard Heron Anderson, known as "Fighting Dick," in whose honor this United Daughters of the Confederacy Chapter was named, was born October 7, 1821, at Hill Crest, now know as Borough House, in Stateburg, Sumter County, South Carolina. He as a son of Dr. William Wallace Anderson and his wife, Mary Jane Mackensie.

He was dubbed by his own men "Fighting Dick." His character wsa summed up by the News and Courier in these words, "Brave as a Paladin of old; gentle and modest as a woman."

After he graduated from nearby Edgehill Academy, he was appointed to West Point Military Academy in 1838 by the Honorable Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War. Upon his graduation in 1842, Dick Anderson served in the United States army for nearly eighteen years, with distinguished service in the Mexican War. He was made a brevet first Lieutenant "for gallant and meritorious conduct in an affair with the enemy at San Augustine." Later, in 1857, South Carolina presented him with a handsome sword, recognizing "with pride and gratification the military services of her son...as displayed with all conflicts with the enemy at Vera Cruz and terminating with the capture of the City of Mexico."

When South Carolina seceded he resigned from the U.S. Army and offered his services to his native South Carolina. He was immediately made a colonel of the 1st Regiment of Infantry.

He replaced General Beaurguard in Charleston. Made a brigader in May of 1861, he was soon posted to Florida. Later he saw service in Virginia as a senior South Carolina officer, serving as one of General Robert E. Lee's lieutenant generals with the Army of Northern Virginia.

When the war was over, knowing only the business of war, "Fighting Dick" returned to Stateburg where he tried planting, with poor success. At one point, he took a job as a day laborer on the South Carolina Railroad at Charleston. He was soon recognized by the president of the railroad, who gave him an office job.

In 1879, he was made phosphate inspector, with an office in Beaufort. At the age of fifty-eight, a few, scant months after his move, "Fighting Dick" died of a stroke of apoplexy, on June 27, 1879. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Helena Church in Beaufort.


In 1896, the Ladies' Monumental Association of Sumter voted to deed its books, papers, funds, property, and Confederate Dead Memorial monument to the United Daughters of the Confederacy. In order to accept, the U.D.C. had to have a local charter, which emerged as the Dick Anderson Chapter No. 75, United Daughters of the Confederacy, the eleventh chapter formed in South Carolina. The Ladies' Monumental Association was formed shortly after the war, in 1867, with Mrs. Octavia Moses (wife of Andrew Jackson Moses), president; Judge Thomas Fraser, Sr., treasurer; and Richard D. Lee, secretary. The cornerstone of the monument was laid in 1874. It was completed in 1876. The monument is made of Fairfield granite, and cost about $9,000. It is 18 feet at its base and its height is 42.4 feet. This monument has the distinction of being the first public Confederate monument erected in the state of South Carolina. Inscribed on the momument are 431 of the Confederate Dead of Sumter District. On August 31, 1897, the Ladies' Monumental Association transferred its rights to the monument, at which time the Chapter gave its solemn pledge that it would be responsible for the monument's maintenance and preservation. Organized on July 13, 1896, the Dick Anderson Chapter received its formal Charter from the United Daughters of the Confederacy on October 11, 1897. The members who formed the chapter and received the charter were: Mrs. Eliza C. Moses, Miss Mary A. Hughson, Miss Caroline Moses, Mrs. Ruth A. McLaurin, Mrs. Armida C. Emanuel, Mrs. Octavia C. Moses, Miss Nina Moise, Miss Edith DeLorme, Miss Esther Emanuel, Miss M.C. Graham, and Mrs. Rebecca H. Moise. In 1951, the Dick Anderson Chapter No. 75, UDC, dedicated an eight-foot bronze tablet embedded in a granite boulder at the Sumter Cemetery on Oakland Avenue. Many soldiers who died in Sumter's Confederate hospitals during the war were buried there. Some who died at the Battle of Dingle's Mill were buried in the Sumter Cemetery also. The monument is on the gravesite of Grabriel C. Jones. There are stones surrounding the monument with names from the bronze tablet engraved on each of the stones. The only stone with much more than a name is that honoring Lieutenant R.A. Painpare, a Lousiana native who was killed at Dingle's Mill. Painpare was a patient in a Sumter hospital when he left the hospital to assist in the defense of Dingle's Mill. The Dick Anderson Chapter established a Trust Fund for the perpetual care and preservation of Sumter's Confederate Dead Monument, and for the placement of laurel leaf wreaths on appropriate occasions at this monunment as well as at the Confederate Monument located in the Sumter Cemetery. The Dick Anderson Chapter also established a Trust Account for the purpose of making scholarship awards to highly qualifed student applicants. Through the 2005-2006 school year, the chapter has awarded over $200,000 in scholarship funds to almost 100 deserving Sumter County students.

South Carolina Division, United Daughters of the Confederacy

Sumter's Confederate Dead Monument

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Web site created on April 4, 2001

Last updated on August 9, 2009

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