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[Identification of item], Benjamin S. Williams Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.
The Benjamin S. Williams Papers were acquired by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library in 1950 and 1951.
Processed by Rubenstein Library Staff, date unknown
Encoded by Meghan Lyon, September 2011
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory:
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
Confederate Army officer, planter, and official of Hampton County, S.C.
Papers of Benjamin S. Williams, Confederate soldier, cotton planter, businessman and local politician, consisting of land deeds; a marriage license; several papers relating to the sale of slaves; clippings; correspondence; general orders of the South Carolina militia in 1877; and commissions of Williams for various offices. Civil War letters from Benjamin S. Williams, from his father, Gilbert W. M. Williams (d. 1863), Baptist minister and colonel in the 47th Regiment of Georgia Volunteer Infantry, and from A. D. Williams describe camp life; Colonel Williams's duties as commander of the 47th Regiment; deserters; Abraham Lincoln; military activities in Georgia from 1861 to 1862, in Mississippi in 1863, around Chattanooga (Tennessee) during 1863, and Smithfield (North Carolina) in 1865; charges against the 47th Regiment; the death of Sergeant Albert Richardson; and the disbanding of the Brunson branch of the South Carolina militia. Other correspondence discusses the destruction in South Carolina after Sherman's troops passed through; the behavior of the freedmen; articles written by Benjamin S. Williams regarding his war experiences; Tillmanism; the United Daughters of the Confederacy; affairs of the Confederate Infirmary at Columbia; South Carolina; the United confederate Veterans; Williams's pension claim; efforts of William A. Courtenay to write a history of the battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina; the service of Dr. Abraham Dallas Williams, brother of Benjamin S. Williams, in Cuba and Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War; the activities of the "red shirts" in South Carolina; and an investigation of the financial condition of Hampton County, South Carolina, in 1906.
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