This document is an example of an American Seaman's Protection Certificate. In 1796, the Fourth U.S. Congress authorized Seamen's Protection Certificates (SPCs) to protect American merchant seamen from impressment into the British Navy. The British believed that they could force British seamen in port or on the high seas into service and it was common for them to impress any English-speaking sailors. The documents basically served as "merchant seamen's passports". The impressment of American seamen into service of the British Navy was one of the causes of the War of 1812. This SPC was issued to Samuel Pope on September 1, 1820, by Joseph Storer, Collector for the District of Kennebunk, Maine. Capt. Samuel Pope, who was born in Wells, Maine, in 1800-01, is believed to have moved to Horry District, South Carolina, in the 1830s, where in 1837 he and a partner, Henry Buck, purchased 432 acres on the Waccamaw River at Murdock Landing where they established "Pope's Mill," a steam-powered saw mill. He eventually sold his interest in "Pope's Mill," and Murdock Landing later became known as Bucksport. Capt. Pope moved upriver to the village of Conwayborough where he established a shipyard. In 1856 Capt. Samuel Pope was elected mayor, then called "intendent," of "Conwayboro." He died in 1863 and was buried in the old village burial ground beside Kingston Presbyterian Church, of which he was a founder, in what is now known as Conway, South Carolina.
This letter from Capt. Thomas West Daggett (1828-1893) to South Carolina Gov. Francis Wilkinson Pickens (1805-1869) was written from All Saints Parish, South Carolina, on June 1, 1861. Daggett was captain of the Waccamaw Light Artillery and in charge of the coastal defenses from Winyah Bay in Georgetown Co., South Carolina, to Little River Inlet in Horry Co., South Carolina. In the letter he resigns as captain of that unit and states his reasons for doing so.
This letter from Colonel Edward Manigault (1817-1874) to South Carolina Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens (1805-1869) was written in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 5, 1861. Col. Edward Manigault was the Chief of Ordnance for South Carolina in 1861. The letter is in reference to the transferring of funds to cover the cost of the "establishment of a Coast Police for the State of South Carolina." Page 3 is a handwritten enclosed form dated October 7, 1861, for the Gov. to sign and send with a draft to Gen. DeSaussure.
This letter from Gen. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (1818-1893) to South Carolina Gov. Milledge Luke Bonham (1813-1890) was written from his headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 25, 1863. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard became the first brigadier general in the Confederate States Army. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861, and later returned to defend the city from repeated attacks by U.S. forces. This letter is in reference to the defense of the battery at Taber's Point on the Santee River. Signed original. Paper watermarked WEBB & HUNT, LIVERPOOL with an anchor symbol.
This letter, dated January 30, 1862, was written by John R. Beaty from Cat Island, Georgetown District, South Carolina to his young daughter (Isabella) in Conwayborough, South Carolina.
This letter, dated October 13, 1861, was written by John R. Beaty from Camp Marion, located on North Island, Georgetown District, South Carolina to his young son (Edgar) in Conwayborough, South Carolina.
This letter, dated February 22, 1861, was written by John R. Beaty from Camp Norman, located on North Island, Georgetown District, South Carolina to his wife (Melvina) in Conwayborough, South Carolina.
This letter is the second installment of John R. Beaty’s account to his friend, Dr. James H. Norman, in which Beaty gives a colorful description of a trip to the upstate resort of Williamston Spring, South Carolina. This letter describes his arrival in Williamston, South Carolina by way of train from Columbia, South Carolina and then colorfully describes a day at Williamston. The letter was written in August, 1860.
This letter, dated February 16, 1861, was written by John R. Beaty from Camp Norman, located on North Island, Georgetown District, South Carolina to his wife (Melvina) in Conwayborough, South Carolina.
This letter, dated December 27, 1861, was written by John R. Beaty from Cat Island, Georgetown District, South Carolina to his wife (Melvina) in Conwayborough, South Carolina.
