No Ordinary Time – Beaufort South Carolina, Autumn 1861

A Fair Cotton Crop

“Fall came late to South Carolina in 1861…. On the Sea Islands, Negro slaves were picking cotton, a crop that promised fair this year to be the largest most men could remember. In ordinary times, such a year was reason for deep thankfulness and enormous relief. But Fall of 1861 was no ordinary time.”¹

John Bell (1792-1864) and Margaret Hingston Bythewood Bell (1810-?), our third great-grandparents, had a modest Sea Island cotton plantation on St. Helena Island,  the largest of a number of sea islands, barrier islands, and tongues of land surrounding Port Royal Sound in the Old Beaufort Judicial District of South Carolina. The 1850 Census listed a white population of 1,111 and a slave population of 8,261 in St. Helena Parish, which included the town of Beaufort and the surrounding sea islands, and 151 plantations of varying sizes on St. Helena Island.² The same census showed that John Bell owned 21 slaves, as compared to the 100-300 slaves of the more prominent planters. It is unclear exactly where on the Island the Bell plantation lay, but one can imagine that from their plantation house their view to the southwest across the cotton fields, marshes, and tidal flats included the distant panorama of Land’s End, Port Royal Sound, and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. John was a widower who had two children from his first marriage in addition to the three born to Margaret, the youngest of whom was Julius Bythewood Bell (1834-1897), our 2nd great-grandfather. Julius’ son Joseph was the father of our beloved maternal grandmother Mary Bell Grayson (1909-2001). Though the Bells were not among the wealthy and influential planter class, the advantageous marriages of Julius’ two older brothers and the summer townhouse Julius’ mother and aunts inherited in nearby town of Beaufort gave the family entrée into the margins of elite Beaufort society. In the summer of 1861, Julius was a 25 year-old clerk and a Corporal in the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (BVA), a militia unit that traced its roots to before the Revolutionary War.

The wealthy planters and intellectuals of the Beaufort District spearheaded the effort that led to the secession of South Carolina from the Union in December 1860. The sons of Beaufort, more than likely including Julius Bell, participated prominently in opening act of the Civil War – the April 1861 bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, fifty miles up the coast. As Lawrence Rowland aptly put it, “No district in the state had contributed more to the secession movement than the Beaufort District. No district in America was to lose more as a result.”² Following another decisive Confederate victory at Manassas Virginia in July, the white citizenry of the Beaufort District had reason to hope for a diplomatic end to hostilities, and thus a return to their accustomed way of life. Instead of thankfulness, relief, and hope, there was doubt that the cotton crop would reach its accustomed destinations of Savannah and Charleston, and ultimately,England.

Naval Blockade

“After the Confederate victory at Manassas, Virginia in July 1861, [the planters of the Beaufort District] did not imagine that when the war resumed, it would be within sight of their homes.“³

Historian Willie Lee Rose described the 1861 sea-island cotton crop as “fair this year to be the largest most men could remember. In ordinary times, a reason for deep thankfulness…. But [this] was no ordinary time.”¹ Within sight of many of the planters on St. Helena (including the Bells in our depiction) were numerous Naval vessels of the Federal fleet. Such was the case off much of the rebel coast, from Virginia to Florida. Would the Federals be content with their blockade, or was an attack imminent? If so, where? This latter question was being discussed in Washington DC as well. In August the Federal Navy seized Hatteras Inlet and thus controlled the North Carolina Coast. In September the Gulf Coast was subdued. South Carolina, the birthplace of the secession movement, was an obvious target. Charleston Harbor was extremely well-defended by numerous forts and artillery outposts. Not so the deep water accesses around Beaufort: St. Helena and Port Royal Sounds.

Defensive Preparations

Preparations for defending against a possible attack had been ongoing since May. Confederate General Pierre G.T. Beauregard toured the South Carolina Coast and ordered the construction of defensive structures, including two forts to guard the entrance to Port Royal Sound; one at Hilton Head Island (Fort Walker) and the other at Bay Point on Phillips Island, later to be named Fort Beauregard in his honor. Julius Bell and his comrades in the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery (BVA) drilled and trained with great vigor, ready to haul their guns wherever they might be needed. The BVA was garrisoned at Fort Beauregard at Bay Point, where their commander Capt. Stephen Elliott, later to gain fame as a Confederate infantry general was named artillery fire director. The recently completed Charleston to Savannah Railroad, although located some little distance from the isolated sea islands, allowed the BVA and other militia units in Georgia and South Carolina the flexibility to more quickly amass at the point of attack. By November 5, 1861 it became crystal clear where that attack would take place.

“[F]orty-one vessels reported off Beaufort,” read the cable to Charleston. “Attack imminent…. Have requested…reinforce Hilton Head with 500 to 1,000 men.”² Rumors had been flying in and around Beaufort for the previous week. The rector of the St. Helena Episcopal Church advised his parishioners to pack some belongings and pray. “Across town, trunks were packed, carts and horses were drawn up, and household servants began busily loading family possessions. For some slaves, it was the last act they were to perform for their masters.”²

Adapted from A String of Bells: Stories of a Southern Family © 2020 by Nick J. Guevara, Jr.

¹Rehearsal for Reconstruction, The Port Royal Experiment by Willie Lee Rose © 1964 Oxford University Press pg 3,

²The History of Beaufort County, South Carolina Volume 1, 1514-1861 by L. Rowland, A. Moore, and G. Rogers ©1996 Univ. of South Car. Press pg 369, 444, 448

³Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter by Theodore Rosengarten ©1986 William Morrow and Co. pg 25, 34, 60