People of the 1st South Carolina Volunteers

Louden S Langley served in the 54th Massachusetts and 1st South Carolina Volunteers. After the Civil War, he became one of the Black political leaders in Reconstruction era South Carolina, and in 1880 served as the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper for the iconic lighthouse in Beaufort County, SC.

Henry Haynes was born free and worked as a tailor. When the Civil War broke out, he joined the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. After the war, Haynes got involved in politics and desegregated the University of South Carolina.

During the Civil War, around 180,000 Black men joined the United States Army, mostly into regiments of the United States Colored Troops. But who was the first? It’s possible that the first was William Bronson.

Prince Rivers was born in the early to mid 1820s, likely near Beaufort, South Carolina. Rivers was an enslaved coachman and was well known throughout Beaufort’s Black community. After the Battle of Port Royal Rivers escaped and returned to Beaufort County to join the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. After the war Rivers became a prominent Reconstruction era politician.

Corporal Robert Sutton was color bearer for the 1st South Carolina Volunteers organized in Beaufort South Carolina. But during the course of his military service, he carried the American flag back to the plantation where he was enslaved before the war.

Susie King Taylor was the first black teacher to instruct African American students in Georgia. Learn more about her life and courageous journey from slavery to freedom.

Learn about the career of Thomas Wentworth Higginson, radical abolitionist and Unitarian Minister known for assisting with the attempted rescue of Anthony Burns, providing financial support of John Brown, and leading Black troops in battle during the Civil War.