S. Carolina's governor fled to this house in Union as Sherman's men arrived. Here's the latest on efforts (and a donation) to repair building. Will staircase return?

Stabilization of ceiling, exterior, crawl space (Preservation South Carolina); Gov. Andrew Magrath

An ambitious project restoring a weathered South Carolina home at the center of an interesting chapter in Civil War history is being compared to taking a patient from critical condition to full recovery.

The nonprofit Preservation South Carolina this month began Phase 1 of its plans to turn the Judge Thomas Dawkins House to an alumni center for the University of South Carolina-Union. The home in Union briefly served as the Confederate state’s capitol during the waning weeks of the war in 1865.

The current stabilization work – funded mostly by $300,000 in state money -- began in early February and is expected to be completed around June 1.

Bill Comer, a Union native and head of the PSC’s Dawkins rehab project, recently brought the Picket up to date on where things stand.

“The Phase 1 work to date is essentially securing, strengthening and shoring up the structure to prevent its ‘falling in and/or falling out,’ similar to resuscitating and stabilizing a dying patient that has been badly injured in an automobile accident,” wrote Comer, a retired health care and finance executive.

The ambitious effort was buoyed recently by a $50,000 donation from philanthropist Barbara Harter Rippy (left), who also has contributed to local and university projects, including scholarships, the USC-Union nursing program and the Bantam athletic program.

Amid its 60 birthday, USC-Union recently launched a new alumni association. About 1,400 students attend the school; the deteriorated, long-vacant dwelling is on the edge of campus.

“Officials hope that the restored and functional Dawkins House as the Alumni Center for USC- U in downtown Union will provide an economic boost for the City and County of Union, which is home to 27,000 people,” PSC said in a news release. “About 21% of residents are in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income lags well below the state average.”

The house is supported by chiseled granite foundation blocks and once had a spiral staircase in the main hall.

Supporters hope the staircase (circa 1970 photos below) -- built by Dawkins in 1845 -- can be reborn.

“We have learned of a home in Union built in the same period that has a similar staircase that could used for duplicative construction drawings,” said Comer. It will not be a part of Phase 2 stabilization unless an adequate amount of funds have been secured to cover the cost, he said.

Rebel leaders reportedly torched papers in home

The Dawkins House, on North Church Street, is best known for several weeks in spring 1865. It was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Thomas Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins. 

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Dawkins (below) about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or April, Magrath (right) ran the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Rebel troops. Magrath apparently worked from an informal library near the drawing room.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.) Magrath had to flee Union and was captured soon after.

Confederates burned documents for myriad reasons, said USC-Union assistant history professor Andrew Kettler.

“Generally, burning would be to avoid military secrets getting into the enemies hands,” the professor said. “But, at the late stages of the war, such secrets may have become secondary as Confederates may have also wanted to hide evidence of the original treason of the Confederacy in the first place, and any other actions that could have led to prosecutions and trials after the war.”

One of the surviving fireplaces on the first floor of the home (Preservation South Carolina)

Here's what has been done in February

Tarps have covered the roof and a portion of the two-story clapboard house for some time; it has not been occupied for years. The outside appearance doesn’t signal the charm inside, even if much of it has crumbled.

The house has exposed beams with carved end fittings, and many rooms are brightly colored. It still has quality features including, beaded and dovetail wood, joints and beams. (At left, Mary Poulton Dawkins)

Portions of the house date back to the 1790s, making it one of Union's oldest surviving homes, existing during the time of George Washington’s and John Adams’ presidencies. So the Civil War is a relatively short period in its 200-plus years.

The 1850 Federal slave schedule indicates Thomas Dawkins owned about 30 enslaved persons before the war. It is unclear whether they were on more than one property.

Comer provided a synopsis of what’s been thus far:

-- Pickets on the front porch railing were removed and numbered for replacement to their exact position
-- Exterior bracing at front porch and side annex wall are complete.
-- Crawl space shoring with the metal jack posts.
-- Crawl space bracing walls are installed.
-- Plywood sheathing placed on the areas where the floors are weak.
-- Plaster removal has been completed where interior bracing walls will be erected.
-- First floor bracing walls are installed. Sheathing will be installed on these walls.
-- Bricks are being removed from chimneys down second-floor window seals, cement scraped off and stored for replacement.

Recent bracing in the front of the vacant dwelling (Preservation South Carolina)

Huss Construction of Charleston is leading the restoration work.

“Phase 1 will facilitate a subsequent Phase 2 stabilization to make the house strong and structurally sound so that the walls and floors can carry the weight loads required of their anticipated uses and to install the final, long-term roof. (Since the patient has been stabilized via Phase 1, we can perform precision surgery via Phase 2 to strengthen bones so that the patient can walk and run again.),” said Comer.

“Once Phase 2 has been completed, customization construction can begin to put the house in exactly the floor plans needed for its intended use (room design, and installation of bathrooms, HVAC, plumbing, electrical wiring, etc.).”

The first floor of the house will hold larger alumni and campus events. Between four and eight people will be able to work upstairs, officials said.  

William Waud depiction of the capture of Columbia, S.C., in 1865 (Library of Congress)

What lies ahead when funding arrives

PSC initially had $300,000 in state money and $10,000 each from Union and Union County to hire and engineering firm and do the stabilization.

But it will need between $800,000 and $1 million for Phase 2. Comer says the organization is trying to secure that funding. It is likely work will halt after stabilization until a substantial portion of that money is obtained from private and public sources.

“Phase 2 Stabilization will stabilize the House’s structure to the extent that the foundation is solid, floors are appropriately weight-bearing for their anticipated operating purposes, walls are tight and load bearing, and the roof is in its final long-term condition,” said PSC.

Once that is over, ownership will be turned over – perhaps in summer or fall 2026 -- to USC-Union, which will need to find the money to complete the restoration and customization of the space before opening it as the alumni center.

People in the community say the Dawkins House is an important landmark. “It anchors one end of Main Street and the courthouse anchors the other end,” said Comer.

Union County has a rich black history and has seen reconciliation after decades of racial violence during and following the Civil War. 

Comer believes the community is all in for restoring the home. 

Established in 1990, PSC is South Carolina’s only statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to historic preservation

Hurricane Helene did no favors to house that briefly served as South Carolina's Civil War capitol. The Dawkins House in Union is being stabilized for future use

More tarps had to be added to the house after Hurricane Helene (Preservation South Carolina)

A South Carolina preservation group is shoring up a deteriorated residence that briefly served as the Confederate state’s capitol during the waning weeks of the Civil War, with the aim of having it eventually serve as a university alumni center. 

The emergency stabilization of the long-vacant Dawkins House in Union is being hastened this month because of the effects of Hurricane Helene in late September.

“The hurricane did impact the building. The tarp covering the front right facade ripped and parts of the metal roof bent from the wind,” said Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina.

“We saw significant water intrusion in that area of the building. Thanks to the city, a larger tarp was installed immediately. We are proceeding expeditiously with emergency stabilization measures,” she said.

The Dawkins House, on North Church Street, is best known for several weeks in the spring of 1865. It was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Thomas Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins.

One of the remaining fireplaces in the house (Preservation South Carolina)

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Dawkins about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Rebel troops. Magrath apparently worked from an informal library near the drawing room. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath (below) and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Nearly 160 years later, the two-story clapboard structure is in rough shape and in need of a rescue. In November 2023, Preservation SC acquired rights to the Dawkins House at a property tax sale.

Preservation SC is working with $300,000 allocated by the Legislature for the stabilization. Officials expect the overall project cost to reach up to $1.5 million, with the goal of opening the house as an alumni center for the University of South Carolina Union in 2027. The group has yet to secure additional funding, Rothell told the Picket.

“We want to retain as much historic features of the house as possible,” she said. Those we have to replace we will replace in-kind.”

Portions of the house date back to the 1790s, making it one of Union's oldest surviving homes, existing during the time of George Washington’s and John Adams’ presidencies. The original 1790s structure still exists and has exposed beams with carved end fittings. The house still has quality features including, beaded and dovetail wood, joints and beams.

Bennett Preservation Engineering of Charleston studied the feasibility of restoring the home.

Officials hope the venue will provide an economic boost for Union and Union County, which is home to about 27,000 people. About 21% of residents live in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income lags well below the state average.

Annie Smith, USC Union marketing and development director, said an alumni association is being established to enhance recruiting efforts, develop a community between current, former and future students, and to provide outside funding and resources.

The small campus with about 1,400 students this year is celebrating its 60^th anniversary.

“This milestone year will feature the launch of a new Alumni Association, a Legacy Society to recognize donors, the introduction of the 10-year Campus Master Plan, a week-long celebration in April and more events throughout the year,” the school announced this week on social media.

Given the age of the house and wear, any college or community events will need to occur on the main floor. The upstairs won’t be able to handle large crowds, so it likely will be office space, according to Preservation SC.

South Carolina community gets into the game by helping to save Civil War home in Union, see that unbeaten streak of all-black high school is recognized

The Dawkins House exterior, interior (Preservation SC) and a news clipping on Sims High streak

After 40-plus years working in Charlotte, N.C., and Southern California, Bill Comer returned to his native South Carolina in June 2020, ready to lend passion and his services to causes that mattered to him and his hometown.

He helped lobby for the all-black Sims High School of Union to receive its due: Last year, the South Carolina High School League recognized the football squad’s 96-game unbeaten streak from 1946-1954 as the longest in state history. 

Comer, 69, a retired health care and finance executive, decided to get off the sidelines for a second endeavor in Union, a community between Spartanburg and Columbia.

Preservation South Carolina, working with state and local partners, is trying to save and restore the Dawkins House, which briefly served as the Confederate state’s capitol during the waning weeks of the Civil War. 

A view of the home's beauty and restoration challenges (Preservation South Carolina)

The deteriorated property was up for a 2023 property tax sale, and Comer thought of buying the site and fixing it up. “I just wanted to save it.” Instead, Preservation South Carolina bought the home and Comer, a board member and treasurer with the group, is project manager for the restoration.

His credo of “I’m always up for a challenge” and getting involved proved beneficial when observers lamented the appearance of the Dawkins House, which has been vacant for many years. 

“I heard so many people say they, ‘They should have done this. They should have done that.’ I don’t see any ’they’ around here,” said Comer, summarizing the attitude of many in this small community to get things done -- whether cementing the record of a football team or saving a building from further decay. (Sims High School closed many years ago. More about that campaign later in this post)

The Dawkins House is destined to become the alumni center for the University of South Carolina Union, a small campus in the heart of the city.

Officials hope the venue will provide an economic boost for Union and Union County, which is home to 27,000 people. About 21% of residents are in poverty, according to the Census Bureau. The median household income lags well below the state average.

The project comes at an opportune time for the campus (right), with enrollment reaching a record 1,378 students this spring. That upward trend will equate to more students, thus more alumni.

Annie Smith, USC Union marketing and development director, said an alumni association is being established to enhance recruiting efforts, develop a community between current, former and future students, and to provide outside funding and resources.

The Dawkins House will aid that effort as a space for campus, corporate and community events, she said.

“Bringing USCU alumni back to functions at the Dawkins House Alumni Center will not only benefit USCU but will serve as an economic engine for the city and county of Union bringing alumni dollars back to Union for visits and potential employment with local companies,” according to Preservation South Carolina.

'There is a lot of energy ... and optimism'

Comer travels about 70 miles once a week from Lexington, S.C., where he lives, to his hometown Union.

“Whenever you go to your hometown, you like to visit places that meant something,” Comer recently told the Picket. “Several (textile) mills have since disappeared. Most importantly, the high school I went to burned.” The gym is the local YMCA and one classroom remains. “You start to miss those things. Part of your heritage is gone.”

The home had additions built on in the 19th century (Preservation South Carolina)

So he wants something positive to happen with the Dawkins House.

Preservation South Carolina has about $300,000 in the bank and that will be eaten up just stabilizing the structure. Comer expects the overall project cost to reach up to $1.5 million, with the goal of opening in 2027.

People in the community say the Dawkins House is an important landmark. “It anchors one end of Main Street and the courthouse anchors the other end,” said Comer.

Union County has a rich black history and has seen reconciliation after decades of racial violence during and following the Civil War. The board member believes the community is all in for restoring the home. 

Local government officials and economic bright spots are encouraging. “There is a lot of energy and a lot of optimism," said Comer.

The city of Union and Union County thus far have provided about $10,000 in funding for an engineering and stabilization study.

“Union County stands ready to discuss and participate as deemed by the majority of council,” county Supervisor Phillip Russell said. “It is an important piece of history in Union County and we are happy to see all of the support to rehabilitate this house.”

Burning documents in the fireplaces

The Dawkins House is best known for several weeks in the spring of 1865. It was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Thomas Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins (right, Union County Historical Society).

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Dawkins about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Rebel troops. Magrath apparently worked from an informal library near the drawing room. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

Nearly 160 years later, the two-story clapboard structure is in pretty rough shape and in need of a rescue.

Andrew Kettler, an assistant professor of history at the Union campus, has amassed a lot of research about the town’s history and Judge Dawkins, a prominent political figure who came from a wealthy family. While a unionist before South Carolina seceded, the judge came to support the Confederacy.

One of several remaining fireplaces in the home (Preservation South Carolina)

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the home’s fireplaces. (The building served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Confederates burned documents for myriad reasons, Kettler said. 

“Generally, burning would be to avoid military secrets getting into the enemies hands,” the professor said. “But, at the late stages of the war, such secrets may have become secondary as Confederates may have also wanted to hide evidence of the original treason of the Confederacy in the first place, and any other actions that could have led to prosecutions and trials after the war.”

Quick! Hide the silver, and the documents

A few years before her death in 1906, Mary P. Dawkins wrote her recollections of England and life in Union. She recalled Magrath fleeing Union (he was later captured and held in captivity for several months).

“On parting Gov. Magrath put in my keeping an old-fashioned ladies hat box and a thick …. package as large as a tea-waiter, saying, ‘This is silver, and these papers (packed in package) would hang many a man.’”

The box and package were put away in the store room for safekeeping and placed by her maid Lizzie near a chimney. (Comer said a chimney will have to be taken apart and reassembled; it is uncertain whether this is the same one.)

In 1866, the Dawkinses traveled to Charleston, where the freed and newly married Magrath was working as a lawyer.

“We reached Charleston and stopped at Mills House. After dark Mr. and Mrs. Magrath came to the Mills house. Mr. Magrath worth a large circular cloak under which he hid the package and my husband took the box from the carriage to the door. Thus the Magrath silver got home.”

Mary Dawkins' writings are featured in the book "South Carolina's English Lady," compiled and edited by Sarah Porter Carroll.

Before the Civil War, Magrath had served as a federal judge, and made a ruling that most certainly made him unpopular with the North, as an article about him states.

“Although opposed to the trade personally, Magrath nevertheless handed slave-trade proponents a signal victory in 1860. In a decision associated with the cases surrounding the Echo and the Wanderer, ships seized for illegally transporting African slaves, Magrath stated that the 1820 federal statute on piracy did not apply to the slave trade.”

Thomas Dawkins' property is listed on two pages of the 1850 schedule (click to enlarge)

The 1850 Federal slave schedule (above) indicates Thomas Dawkins of Union County owned about 30 enslaved persons. It is unclear whether they were on more than one property.

Mary wrote that a few months after hostilities ended, "our servants (were) free and sought for by (Union) soldiers.” One book says she presented a paternalistic view of slavery.

Enslaved people had become a majority in Union County during the 1840s, and the area became a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity during Reconstruction.

Group documents racial violence, backs healing

Curtiss Hunter (right), tourism director for the county and a member of the Union County Community Remembrance Project (UCCRP), which documents racial violence and lynching and promotes healing through preservation, said the restoration of the Dawkins House will boost tourism and community engagement.

Hunter said its full history should be part of its interpretation. “I believe … the story of the Dawkins House should be told as authentic as there is history to prove the content. The integrity will stand on its own merit.”

Comer said the site will provide lessons from the past.

“Those who were slaves should be identified and recognized, just as much as the Dawkins family and their prominent guests. Going forward, people of all races and religions should pass through the Dawkins House's doors and occupy its spaces, to do good without discrimination and to learn.”

Hunter’s group in 2021 put up three marker detailing racial injustices in the county. Among them was Sax(e) Joiner, who was hanged by white men just before Union fell during the Civil War. He allegedly wrote an insulting letter to a white woman and was taken from the jail by a mob.

Timika M. Wilson, co-lead of the UCCRP, said Union County residents have generally embraced its work.

Leaders of the UCCRP take part in 2021 Juneteenth celebration (Photo: UCCRP)

“We acknowledged early on that this project was about ‘History, Not Division’ and the coalition achieved that perspective with open and honest discussion of the generational trauma that has been a part of the fabric of a segregated county in SC,” Wilson told the Picket in an email. “We have come very far, but there is more work to be done.”

The UCCRP supports the Dr. Lawrence W. Long Resource Center in Union and has partnered with it to educate students about the historical markers, the center and a hospital that served the black community for more than 40 years, said Wilson.

Backers notch win for black football team

Discrimination was the law of the land when Comer grew up in Union. School desegregation finally occurred in 1970 across South Carolina, the same year Sims High School closed.

Comer played football at Union High School, including on an integrated 1971 squad.

Sims High was a middle school for many years after it closed (Tom Bosse/HMdb.org)

The former businessman got involved last year in the campaign to recognize the Sims record (92-0-4). He and local archivist and historian Mary J. Gossett pored through records and news clippings.

A 1999 article in the Contra Costa Times in Northern California talked about such unbeaten streaks and included quotes from Paul Glenn, who played on the Sims team. (The football squad did not have state recognition at the time of the 1999 interview).

''It was a grand ride and it helped make men out of us,'' Glenn told the newspaper. ''We knew the whole county was pulling for us and we owed it to the whole county to try and win our games. It will die with all of us,'' he said of the streak.

Comer told the Union County News that the South Carolina high school association lost or did not receive records after desegregation. The Sims streak could not be validated without additional research.

Romanda Noble-Watson, director of communications with the South Carolina High School League, told the Picket she did not have any information about the records.

As Comer pointed out at the November 2023 meeting of the South Carolina High School League, the Sims streak has been recognized nationally.

That came with a 2004 publication of its record book, said Chris Boone, a spokesperson for the National Federation of State High School Associations. The NFHS recognizes Sims' mark as the third-longest in the country, behind De La Salle High School (151-0-0) in Concord, Calif., and Independence High School (113-0-0) in Charlotte, N.C.

Willie Jeffries, who played for Sims High School and is the legendary former coach of South Carolina State, also spoke in favor of the school streak being recognized, which the South Carolina HIgh School League's executive committee voted to accept.

You can see a video of that meeting on the Sims record here.

Bill Comer, Mary Gossett and former SC State coach Willie Jeffries (Bill Comer)

Gossett told the Union County News last year she spent more than a month on research.

“It was a challenge. I was trying to reconstruct the past from 1946 to 1954. Not a lot was written about Sims High School, which is why it became quite a challenge to gather the facts but I was able to find records and even understand enough to make use of it to support the winning streak. I just had to find it.”

The Picket has reached out to Gossett for comment. Comer said her “documentation was indisputable.”

The high school, meanwhile, has been added to the National Register of Historic Places and there are hopes the building, which has been empty for 15 years, may be reused, perhaps for a performing arts center. The building was a middle school from 1970-2009.

Breathing new life into an old residence

While Comer feels passionately about the Sims record, the Dawkins House is perhaps a bigger project, with uncertain future funding and questions about the home’s integrity. Preservation South Carolina hopes to get a report soon on the latter.

Given the age of the house and wear, any college or community events will need to occur on the main floor. The upstairs won’t be able to handle large crowds, so it likely will be office space, according to Comer.

Although many rooms look bad, the house still has quality features including, beaded and dovetail wood, joints and beams (photo left, Preservation South Carolina).

“We’re bucking the odds,” said Comer of the project. “The people in Preservation South Carolina are very determined.”

The retiree said his desire to give back stems from growing up in the community.

People are tired of familiar places disappearing.

“The more these landmarks fall away, there is less talk about them,” Comer said. And forget about throwing up your hands in despair when confronted with a daunting task.

The time to act, Comer says, is now.

After South Carolina's capital went up flames, state leaders burned papers in new capital 70 miles away. Now there is an effort to preserve that house in Union

The Thomas Dawkins House in Union dates to about 1845 (Photos: Preservation South Carolina)

It’s not every day you get an enticement this juicy while looking up a residential property on Zillow:

“In one of the home's eight fireplaces, papers were burned that would have hung many a Southerner if they had fallen into Union or Federal hands.”

The real estate overview of the Dawkins House at 117 N. Church St. in Union, S.C., included this and other nuggets about its history – notably service as the state’s capital for a few weeks toward the end of the Civil War.

Gov. Andrew Magrath, before fleeing Columbia as Federal troops closed in, got in touch with college chum Judge Thomas Dawkins about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in early March, Magrath tried to run the state from the Dawkins House as Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman sacked Columbia and moved on other cities, bent on destruction and submission of Confederate troops.

Judge Thomas Dawkins, Mary P. Dawkins and Gov. Magrath (Preservation SC)

Nearly 160 years later, the two-story clapboard is in pretty rough shape and in need of a rescue.

That’s happening now through the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina, working with supporters and $300,000 from the Legislature

Bennett Preservation Engineering of Charleston is studying the structure and the feasibility of its restoration, says Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for Preservation South Carolina. The group acquired the long-vacant property last year.

The hope is for the home – nicknamed “The Shrubs” by Dawkins and his wife Mary -- to once again be occupied, this time as an alumni and event center for nearby University of South Carolina-Union.

A need to hide evidence from the Yankees?

Extensive repairs, upgrades are needed in structure (Preservation South Carolina)

Andrew Kettler, an assistant professor of history at the small campus, has amassed a lot of research about the town’s history and Dawkins, a prominent political figure who came from a wealthy family. While a unionist before South Carolina seceded, he came to support the Confederacy.

His old pal Magrath was elected governor by the Legislature in December 1864. Before the Civil War, Magrath had served as a federal judge, and made a ruling that certainly made him unpopular with the North, as an article about him states.

“Although opposed to the trade personally, Magrath nevertheless handed slave-trade proponents a signal victory in 1860. In a decision associated with the cases surrounding the Echo and the Wanderer, ships seized for illegally transporting African slaves, Magrath stated that the 1820 federal statute on piracy did not apply to the slave trade.”

In his brief tenure as governor, Magrath knocked heads with the main Confederate government. At the Dawkins House and other places where he fled until his arrest in May 1865, he sent and received correspondence about military and economic challenges.

The University of South Carolina Libraries has a fascinating Feb. 27, 1865, published message from Magrath to South Carolinians. It was likely composed during his time in Union. (Public domain photo, left. Click to enlarge)

The governor describes Federal troops who took Columbia as exhibiting hate and causing wanton destruction as women and children suffered. He encouraged citizens to come to the aid of those left in the ravaged city.

“They are destitute, they are in want, they need food, give what you can, sell what you cannot give. Let your succor be promptly offered, for such suffering will not brook delay.”

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the Dawkins House fireplaces. (The home served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly is capital.)

Kettler told the Picket in an email nothing in accounts he has seen show anything about the contents of those papers.

Confederates burned documents for a lot of reasons, he said. Many went up in flames in Richmond, Va., as President Jefferson Davis fled.

“Generally, burning would be to avoid military secrets getting into the enemies hands,” Kettler said. “But, at the late stages of the war, such secrets may have become secondary as Confederates may have also wanted to hide evidence of the original treason of the Confederacy in the first place, and any other actions that could have led to prosecutions and trials after the war.”

When asked about the significance of preservation of the Dawkins House, Kettler said such buildings are retained for their importance to historical memory. (Photo, right, taken decades ago. Courtesy: Preservation South Carolina)

“The historical memory here is about those who committed treason against the Union finding their way to an escape house as fugitives and attempting to hide their treason through burning incriminating materials,” he wrote.

“Historical memory works to honor the past and critique its most problematic histories. This site is retained for those purposes and as a clear reference point from the community of Union that existed well before the Civil War and was important well after outside of those contexts," said Kettler.

What happened to the targeted town?

William Waud's illustration of Columbia's capture (Library of Congress)

Before Magrath traveled 70 miles to Union, South Carolina was the symbol of rebellion. 

Sherman and his troops entered the state from Georgia with an eye on a full prosecution of the war. While they are behind some fires that ravaged Columbia, others were caused by other parties.

Union was a community with a business district and nearby plantations. “Many Quakers left the county in the first few decades of the nineteenth century due to their general stance against the institution of slavery,” said Kettler. Enslaved people became a majority in Union County during the 1840s. (The area became a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity during Reconstruction.)

It’s evident that many papers associated with Magrath were not burned in Union or elsewhere.

The Wilson Special Collections Library at the University of North Carolina contains many letters sent to Magrath at Union and elsewhere. One, dated March 16, 1865, informed him of the total loss of state ordnance in Columbia. (Image: A.G.Magrath Papers, #467-z, Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, click to enlarge)

Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25 and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December. (Interestingly, President Davis stopped by Union in April 1865 after he fled Richmond.)

As for the town of Union’s fate?

It was spared burning, as the story goes, because the Broad River was flooded and Sherman turned away.

Group thinks house can be 'brought back to life'

Rothell, with Preservation South Carolina, said the short-term goal is to stabilize and prevent further deterioration of the Dawkins House while assessing how much can be saved.

“This is what the $300,000 from the state legislature is geared towards, though, that funding will likely not cover stabilization plans and work,” she told the Picket.

The group is looking at other legislative funding and grants, specifically from the South Department of Archives and History. And it is likely that local sources in Union will need to help pay for refurbishment.

The home's exterior in 2011 (Preservation South Carolina)

“While it seems that the task of renovating may be daunting, we have seen buildings in far worse condition brought back to life," said Rothell.

Kettler said the foundation and standard structural integrity appear to be solid. “Some of the bones of the house date to the late eighteenth century, which is partly why it was granted National Historic Register site status in 1973.”

Mary Dawkins lived in the home until 1906, and there has been a succession of owners since, including the Faucett family for many years.

Rothell said the goal is for the Dawkins House to be preserved and used by the community

“We are currently working closely with USC-Union, the city of Union, and the County of Union in developing a plan for its future. We hope that USC-Union will purchase it from us and use it as an alumni center, but we do not have an agreement with them yet,” she said.