Mustering the First South
A multi-year project by USC Beaufort’s Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction
Era and the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts & Sciences to document
every person who enlisted in or was affiliated with the 1st South Carolina Volunteers
of African Descent (33rd US Colored Troops). The project will culminate with a publicly
accessible online database sometime in 2026 or 2027.
This project receives support from a McCausland Innovation Fund grant from the University of South Carolina’s College of Arts & Sciences, the Dick & Sharon Stewart Foundation and the Ernest A. Finney Cultural Arts Center.
With special thanks to Chris Allen and Ben Hodges for bringing the project to the attention of the University of South Carolina, as well as partners such as the National Park Service, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (Edward Wallace Camp #21), and many others.
Her Mark
Largely illiterate following the end of the Civil War, many poorer women, both white
and black, had to sign their names using their mark - a simple “x” that was scribed
between their first and last names on legal documents. “Her Mark” denotes these special
signatures as well as the mark women made in their communities and within society-at-large
during the Reconstruction Era.
The Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era is dedicated to documenting the impact of women during this crucial period by collecting, digitizing, transcribing and sharing first hand accounts written by women such as diaries, memoirs, articles, interviews, pension applications, and other primary sources
South Carolina's Reconstruction Free Schools
As a result of the SC Constitutional Convention of 1868, hundreds of new free schools were opened across the state of South Carolina offering an education for the first time to every child in the state regardless of race or economic condition.
The Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era is currently working to digitize a series of reports filed by the teachers of these schools between 1868 - 1872 which document the locations of the schools, condition and ownership of the school buildings, names of teachers and students, subjects taught and much more. The reports are a part of the Department of Education collection, housed at the SC Department of Archives and History.