A THEMATIC OVERVIEW OF EDGEFIELD, SC

Present-day Edgefield County was first settled in the 1750s, then a portion of a vast unsettled region of virgin forests, abundant wildlife and Indian tribes. From the time of the first settlements through the period of the American Revolution, this area was part of the Old Ninety Six District which included all of the northwestern portion of South Carolina. During most of this period there were no courts, law enforcement or local government.

In 1785, immediately following the Revolution, the state legislature addressed the lack of governmental structure by dividing the Ninety Six District into smaller counties, including Abbeville, Laurens, Newberry and Edgefield, SC. Local courts, law enforcement agencies and governing bodies were established for each of these counties. At that time, Edgefield County was far larger than it is today, encompassing 1,720 square miles.

The seat of government for this broad district was located on an “Old Cherokee Path” which was the approximate geographical center of the district. The “Publick Lot” was identified as early as 1785, and a “gaol” (jail), clerk’s office and courthouse were built during the next several years. However, it was not until 1792 that Arthur Simkins, a prominent settler and political leader, officially conveyed to the “Judges of the Edgefield County Court” the 2¼ acres where the Town Square and Courthouse are now located.

In the last half of the 19th century and early in the 20th century, as citizens demanded more local political control, the counties of Aiken (1871), Saluda (1895), Greenwood (1897) and McCormick (1916) were created, taking substantial parts of Edgefield County. Today Edgefield County encompasses only 481 square miles, roughly one-fourth of its original size.

From its earliest history, Edgefield, SC developed a reputation for violence. The bloody fighting of the Cherokee War of 1760 was followed by years of lawlessness and retribution during the Regulator period. During the American Revolution this same extreme violence was continued with Patriots and Tories engaged in a vicious and bitter civil war.

In 1816, an itinerant minister, Parson Mason Locke Weems, who had lived in Edgefield, published “The Devil In Petticoats,” a dramatic sermon chronicling the deeds of the legendary murderess Becky Cotton. He lamented, “Will the Lord have mercy upon Old Edgefield! For sure it must be pandemonium itself, a very District of Devils!”

In the antebellum period, many Edgefield men were participants in the tradition of dueling. Among the famous Edgefieldians who dueled were George McDuffie and Louis T. Wigfall. In 1856 Congressman Preston S. Brooks caned Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The 1878 Booth-Toney shootout, the 1903 shooting of newspaper editor N.G. Gonzales by Lt. Governor James H. Tillman and the 1941 Timmerman-Logue affair, all garnered national publicity, perpetuating Edgefield’s reputation for violence.

Over the years, violence in Edgefield was decried with alarming frequency in its newspapers. It has been said that blood has been shed on every square foot in the Town Square. By the end of the 20th century a number of eminent historians, journalists and novelists had written extensively about Edgefield’s violent past.

Religion has played an important part in the lives of the people of Edgefield County. In the 1760s, the great Separatist Baptist evangelist, Daniel Marshall, came to this area and established Big Stevens Creek and Horn’s Creek Churches. In 1826 Edgefield Baptists, together with others from around the state, established Furman Academy and Theological Institution, the forerunner of Furman University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Edgefield church later came under the leadership of the Rev. William Bullein Johnson, who became the founder and first president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Other denominations, including Methodists, Episcopalians and Catholics, were established here in the antebellum period. 

After the War Between the States, a remarkable former slave, Rev. Alexander Bettis, provided inspiring leadership for the freedmen and established over forty churches throughout Edgefield and Aiken Counties. These churches were organized into the Mount Canaan Association and, with their combined resources, Bettis Academy, a school for the African-American youth of the region, was established in 1881. Another prominent African-American educator from Edgefield County was Dr. Benjamin Mays, the president of Morehouse College in Atlanta and a mentor of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

From early in the 19th century and throughout the antebellum period, Edgefield County was noted for its superior schools, including the Edgefield Village Academy, the Blocker Academy and the Edgefield Female Academy. Later, from 1898 to 1913, the South Carolina Co-Educational Institute, located in the Town of Edgefield, was recognized throughout the Southeast for its academic excellence.