SUGGESTED READING MATERIAL

            For those who are interested in learning more about Edgefield, a number of books and other sources are available.  In 1897 John Abney Chapman authored a book entitled The History of Edgefield County. This book contains many interesting stories from Edgefield County and has a strong orientation to the northern part of the Old Edgefield District (now Saluda County) from which Chapman hailed. Many of the stories contained herein are copied word-for-word from other sources, including Johnson’s Traditions of the American Revolution. In other cases, Chapman has reprinted word-for-word contributions from other persons, including Maximilian LaBorde and Thomas J. McKie. Though the original edition is poorly organized and indexed, the recent reprinted edition has a much better index. The book is also dated, being more than a century old. This is, nevertheless, a very readable introduction to Edgefield’s fascinating past.

What Chapman’s book failed to do, in terms of organization and analysis, for the full sweep of Edgefield history, Dr. Orville Vernon Burton did admirably for the middle of the nineteenth century: In My Father’s House Are Many Mansions, Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina, Orville Vernon Burton, UNC Press, 1985, is an excellent, well-organized and well-documented economic and social history of the Old Edgefield District in the period before, during and after the Civil War. This book utilizes Dr. Burton’s extensive statistical research and provides a solid base for further historiography. It is a must-read for anyone interested in learning about Edgefield history.

 Other books which can provide valuable insights into Edgefield history include the following:

A History of the Upper Country of South Carolina, John H. Logan, 1859. An excellent and highly readable overview of the early history of the South Carolina backcountry, with particular reference to the flora and the fauna of the region before the settlers arrived, the Indians, the Indian traders and the earliest settlers.

History of the American Indians, James Adair, London, 1775. A fascinating history of the American Indian tribes in the Southeast by one who lived among them for forty years.

The Expansion of South Carolina 1729-1765, Robert L. Meriwether, Southern Publishers, 1940. A well-documented history of the settlement of the South Carolina backcountry.

Forgotten Outpost, Fort Moore & Savannah Town 1685-1765, Harold S. Maness, privately Published, 1986. The fascinating early history of the Beech Island area.

Guardians of the Valley, Chickasaws in Colonial South Carolina and Georgia, Edward J. Cashin, University of South Carolina Press, 2009.

The South Carolina Regulators, the story of the first American vigilante movement, Richard Maxwell Brown, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1963. An authoritative account of the first vigilante movement in America with several interesting glimpses into colonial Edgefield County.

The Devil in Petticoats or God’s Revenge Against Husband Killing, Rev. M. L. Weems, 1816. The original pamphlet or sermon about Edgefield’s infamous husband-killer, Becky Cotton.

God’s Revenge Against Murder; or The Drown’d Wife, Rev. M. L. Weems, 1816. The original pamphlet or sermon about Edgefield’s notorious wife-killer, Ned Findley.

Our Buildings, Edgefield County and the Ridge, Owen Clark, Edgefield Advertiser Press, 2009.

Georgia Scenes, Characters, Incidents, etc. in the first half century of the republic, Augustus B. Longstreet, S.R. Sentinel Office, 1835. A humorous collection of stories, many of which were inspired by Edgefield’s renowned Edmund Bacon.

Bench and Bar in South Carolina, John Belton O’Neall, 1859. A collection of biographical sketches of many of the lawyers and judges of antebellum South Carolina, including many Edgefield leaders.

An Edgefield Planter & His World, the 1840s Journals of Whitfield Brooks, edited by James O. Farmer, Jr., Mercer University Press, 2019. A very rich story of Edgefield in the 1840s as told by a prominent planter who was involved in almost every facet of antebellum Edgefield history.

Great and Noble Jar, Cinda K. Baldwin, UGA Press, 1993. The history of the Edgefield tradition of alkaline glaze pottery.

Prelude to Civil War, The Nullification Controversy in South Carolina, 1816-1836, William W. Freehling, Harper & Row, 1965. An excellent analysis of the political evolution towards Secession in the antebellum period which helps one understand the philosophy and politics of Edgefieldians of that era.

The Caning, the Assault that Drove America to Civil War, Stephen Puleo, Westholme Publishing, LLC, Yardley, PA, 2012. A full account of the 1856 incident in which Congressman Preston Brooks of Edgefield caned Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the floor of the United States Senate, perhaps the most galvanizing event leading to the Civil War.

Wandering to Glory, Confederate Veterans Remember Evan’s Brigade, edited by DeWitt Boyd Stone, Jr., USC Press, 2002. The Civil War exploits of a Confederate Brigade.

South Carolina During Reconstruction, Francis Butler Simkins and Robert Hilliard Woody, UNC Press, 1932. A comprehensive history of Reconstruction in South Carolina with much detail on events in Edgefield.

Of Planters and Patriots, The Hammonds of Old Edgefield District, Susan Elizabeth Self Francis, privately published, 2022.

Red Shirts Remembered, William Arthur Sheppard, Ruralist Press, 1940. A colorful history of the Red Shirt movement of 1876 as told by an unapologetic admirer of General Martin W. Gary.

India Allen, Elizabeth Boatwright Coker, Dutton Press, 1953. Edgefield’s answer to Gone With the Wind, a wonderfully readable romance novel about the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The Early History of Johnston, the Founding and Development of a Railroad Depot Town, Henrik Booraem V., Edgefield County Historical Society, 1993. A well-researched history of the founding and development of Johnston.

Touring Greenwood County, The Original Series as Published in The Greenwood Index, 1911-1913, edited by Jodie Peeler and Ralph Scurry, privately published, 2020. This story of Greenwood County focuses to a large extent on that portion of Greenwood County which was part of Edgefield County prior to 1897 and contains many Edgefield stories.

Remembering Edgefield 1891, Tricia Price Glenn and Tonya Browder Taylor, Old Edgefield Press, 2003. A compilation of newspaper articles and other materials which gives a comprehensive picture of Edgefield during the economic boom that followed the coming of the railroad.

The Guns of Meeting Street, a Southern Tragedy, T. Felder Dorn, USC Press, 2001. The comprehensive story of the Timmerman-Logue affair of 1941.

Free At Last, What Really Happened When Civil Rights Came, Margaret Edds, Adler, 1987. A history of events after the implementation of the Voting Rights Act, with some interesting insights into Edgefield County.

All God’s Children, The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence, Fox Butterfield, Alfred A. Knopf, 1995. A fascinating story of one of the most violent prisoners in New York State penal history whose violence is traced by the author to antebellum Edgefield.

Our Ancestors, Our Stories, The Memory Keepers, Harris Bailey, Jr. Bernice Alexandder Bennet, Ellen LeVonne Butler, Ethel Dailey, Vincent Sheppard, The Write Image, Suwanee, GA, 2014.

Where Sleep the Brave, Edgefield Village Cemetery, Edgefield Preservation Association, privately published, 2020.

Great Things He Hath Done, A History of Republican Baptist Church, Vernon E. Miller, A Press Printing, Greenville, SC, 2005.

Looking Back, Moving Ahead: A Bicentennial History of Mountain Creek Baptist Church, 1798-1998, Jodie Peeler, Summerhouse Press, Columbia, SC, 1998.

Edgefield: Memoir of a Teenager, the War Years (1941-1945) – Just Before and Just Beyond, Mims Mobley, 2001. A wonderfully personal memoir of growing up in Edgefield.

Biographies:

George McDuffie, Southern Orator, Bobby Edmunds, Cedar Hill, 2007.

Giant in the Land, A Biography of William Bullein Johnson, First President of the Southern Baptist Convention, Hortense Woodson, Broadman Press, 1950.

William Gregg, Factory Master of the Old South, Broadus Mitchell, UNC Press, 1928.

Carolina Clay, The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave, Leonard Todd, W.W. Norton, 2008. An interesting story of Dave Drake, Edgefield’s legendary potter, and the times in which he worked.

James Henry Hammond and the Old South, Drew Gilpin Faust, LSU Press, 1982.

The Hammonds of Redcliffe, edited by Carol Blesser, Oxford University Press, 1981.

Secret and Sacred, The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder, edited by Carol Bleser, Oxford University Press, 1988.

Louis T. Wigfall, Southern Fire-eater, Alvy L. King, LSU Press, 1970.

Francis W. Pickens and the Politics of Destruction, John B. Edmunds, Jr., UNC Press, 1986.

Queen of the Confederacy, The Innocent Deceits of Lucy Holcombe Pickens, Elizabeth Wittenmyer Lewis, UNC North Texas Press, 2002.

A Gentleman and an Officer, A Military and Social History of James B. Griffin’s Civil War, Orville Vernon Burton and Judith McArthur, Oxford University Press, 1996.

Southern Hero, Matthew Calbraith Butler, Samuel J. Martin, Stackpole, 2001.

The Virtue of Cain, From Slave to Senator, A Biography of Lawrence Cain, Kevin M. Cherry, Sr., Rocky Pond Press, Tacoma, MD, 2019.

Pitchfork Ben Tillman, Francis Butler Simkins, LSU Press, 1944.

A Builder of the New South, being the Story of the Life Work of Daniel Augustus Tompkins, George Tayloe Winston, Doubleday, 1920.

A Gallant Journey, Mr. Swearingen and his Family, Mary Hough Swearingen, USC Press, 1959.

The Three Faces of Eve, Corbett H. Thigpen, MD, and Hervey Cleckley, MD, Secker & Warburg, 1957.

I’m Eve, The compelling story of the internationally famous case of multiple personality, Chris Costner Sizemore & Elen Sain Pittillo, Doubleday, 1977.

The Sullivan Family, Sameera Thurmond, privately published, 2011.

Born to Rebel, an Autobiography, Benjamin E. Mays, UGA Press, 1971.

Francis Butler Simkins, A Life, James S. Humphreys, University Press of Florida, 2008.

Strom Thurmond & the Politics of Southern Change, Nadine Cohodas, Simon & Schuster, 1993.

Strom, Jack Bass and Marilyn Thompson, Public Affairs Press, 2005.

Dorn: Of the People, a Political Way of Life, William Jennings Bryan Dorn and Scott Derks, Sandlapper Press, 1988.

Dear Senator, A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond, Essie Mae Washington-Williams and William Stadiem, HarperCollins, 2005. The fascinating autobiography of the black daughter of the legendary Strom Thurmond.

Publications of the Edgefield County Historical Society:

The Economic Causes of Tillmanism, Bettis C. Rainsford, Harvard College paper, 1971.

The Central Business District Study for the Town of Edgefield, Bettis C. Rainsford, Floralia Nurseries, 1978.

The First Century of the Edgefield Mill, Bettis C. Rainsford, Concurrent Technologies Corporation, 1999.

The History of the Edgefield County Campus of Piedmont Technical College, Bettis C. Rainsford, Piedmont Technical College, 1998.

The Life and Times of Broadus M. Turner, Bettis C. Rainsford, Tricia Price Glenn & Jane Gunnell, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2009.

Slave Records of Edgefield County, South Carolina, Gloria Ramsey Lucas, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2010. An invaluable reference book which provides the information for genealogists to trace the roots of black Americans back into the early nineteenth century.

The Founding of Edgefield County, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2010.

William Miller Bouknight, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2011.

Braidwood “Braidy” Holmes, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2011.

The Story of Halcyon Grove, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2011.

The Story of Darby Plantation, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2012.

The Story of the Pine House, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2013.

The Early History of Horn’s Creek Church, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2014.

The Story of Holly Hill, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2015.

Memoirs of Litchwood, “I Have Things to Tell,” Francis Butler Simkins Remembers the Edgefield of His Youth, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2016.

Reflections of World War, Ralph M. Scurry, Sr. Edgefield County Historical Society, 2019. The very interesting memoir of Edgefield County soldier’s experiences in World War II.

The First Half-Century of Macedonia Baptist Church, the Edgefield Academy and the Paris & Andrew Simkins Families, Bettis C. Rainsford, Edgefield County Historical Society, 2021.