Tom Rubillo: Joseph Rainey saved Georgetown from itself
By Tom Rubillo
Part of a series
"Freedom is the power by which men can do what does not interfere with the rights of another; its basis is nature; its standard is justice; its protection is law; its moral boundry is the maxim 'Do not unto others what you do not wish they should do unto you."
-- French Constitution of 1793.
A civilized society is one where people respect one another enough to ask questions before they act. An uncivilized world works the other way around. Shoot first, ask questions later. Kick tail before taking names. Ready, fire, aim.
Those who assembled in Columbia at the call of the Governor in the Summer of 1865 were not civilized. High-born in society to be sure. But just men in a panic. They had with good reason. They had just lost a long, costly and bloody war. One consequence of it had been that people these men had brutally enslaved for generations were being set loose. Resentful of past injustices, they could avenge those wrongs at any time. In Georgetown County, that was 90 percent of the population with reason to be angry. That left the remaining 10 percent of the local population (whites) feeling very isolated and vulnerable.
State-wide, newly freed men, women and children added up to 60 percent of South Carolina's population. Although only half of the remaining minority (20 percent of the total population) had owned slaves, there was widespread panic among the entire white population. Color is visible. Personl histories, attitudes, motives and intent are not. Angry people usually don't ask for details before acting. That is not an excuse for racism. It is just a explanation of its workings.. The same sort of racial division happens today among prison inmates. The reason is much the same. Fear.
The result in Columbia in the summer of 1865 was a series of oppressive laws aimed at disarming those being set free, restricting their movements, and binding them to the land. These were the Black Codes. Those, in turn, sparked Federal intervention and military occupation of the South.
War always produces suffering and death. Homes, crops, stores and factories are destroyed. Hunger, disease and disorder follow. Dire times during which people huddle together with others they know and trust. At the end of the Civil War in Georgetown, that was a little complicated. Three political factions emerged; whites, colored house servants and black field hands.
Most of Georgetown's white planters and t heir families families moved into town for mutual aid and protection as field hands took over plantations. Some house servants remained on the plantation. Many others moved to town. Members of each of these groups were very scared about what might happen next.
Times were tense, but there was no race war. Life was too difficult to leave anyone the time. Instead, people began to adjust to a new reality. Reconstruction government had come to Columbia. Popular culture has it that there was a lot of stealing during that era. The money ended up in Wall Street vaults. Black people were still desperately poor at the end of Reconstruction. Do the math to find the thieves.
In any event, during this same era, political maneuvering between the races became something more than a spectator sport. Back then, whites were Democrats. Blacks were Republicans. Being in the overwhelming majority of eligible voters, the black community controlled the polls and public offices. One of the persons chosen to represent Georgetown in Congress during this period of Joseph Hayne Rainey.
Rainey was a mixed-race man who had been born in Georgetown. A barber by trade, after the war he worked his way into and up the local political ladder. By August of 1874, Rainey was a United States Congressman who, among many among other things, was instrumental in the restoration of civil rights to Southern whites.
As time went by, Georgetown's black community split into two factions. One was headed by James A. Bowley and the other by William H. Jones. Both men lived in town.
Bowley was from Maryland and was backed by other Republicans living in town. Many were of mixed blood.
Jones's constituents lived in the countryside. They and their forbearers had worked in the fields. Tension had developed between both these (a) two men and (b) their constituents. The historical record is unclear about the fine points of controversy.
Seeking re-election, Bowley called a meeting at the Georgetown County Court House. Jones sent some of his followers to the meeting to break it up. A fight broke out. Many were injured. Some were arrested. Bowley fled. The Jones contingent then went looking for, but did not find, Bowley. Things quieted down for the night.
Disorder picked up the next afternoon. By that time, word of the fight the night before had spread throughout the countryside. People there (Jones supporters) armed themselves and returned to town. That evening Jones's house in town was attacked by snipers. A man named Harrison was struck in the head. The house was riddled with over 200 bullets. This burst of violence left everyone living in town in a state of dread.
At the request of local authorites, the Governor sent a militia to Georgetown. A navy cutter was disptached from Charleston. The militia arrived first. It restored order and made arrests, Bowley included, charging him with the shooting at Jones's house. A crowd of Jones supporters gathered at the jail to lynch Bowley. Stopped by the militia, they proceeded to Bowley's house and tore it down, piece by piece, all while the militia guarded Bowley at the jail.
Peace was finally restored when a gunboat arrived from Charleston. It fired several shots over the town. That got everyone's attention. Bowley was taken from the jail (then at the corner of Highmarket and Screven Streets) and marched to the Sampit River where he boarded the gunboat to be taken to Charleston. Jones supporters lined Screven Street as Bowley was led by, but remained peaceful, if boisterous.
After Bowley was gone, everyone gathered at the court house. Military commanders addressed the crowd. They scolded the rioters. The crowd was not placated. Joseph Rainey spoke last. He conveyed a straightforward truth: Freedom only thrives where people respect the rights of others. So reminded of the obligations of the Golden Rule, people returned home peacefully.
This violence between political factions within the society of freedmen had a price. Within a month, the white community organized a militia. The Georgetown Times boasted that it was "a dangerous and formidable foe to contend with. The powerful and unerring Remington and the rapid and deadly Winchester are a host in themselves while those long glittering bayonets do not look as though they would improve on close acquaintance."
Once again, the white community had an instrument of violence at its disposal. That made them feel a little safer.