Craftsman has a window to the history of a home where South Carolina's governor fled to avoid Yankees. Robert Schmitt is working on its windows while the Dawkins House in Union awaits more funding for restoration, campus use

Robert Schmitt at work on windows and sashes (provided photo), McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture rendering of completed alumni house; how the weathered Dawkins dwelling looks today (Preservation South Carolina)

Robert Schmitt appreciates the craftsmanship and materials that went into mid-19^th century homes across the Piedmont region of South Carolina. For years, as a restoration expert, he’s rolled up his sleeves and touched the results of what workers created generations ago.

Schmitt, 74, sank a lot of money, passion and knowledge into restoring the stately Nathaniel Gist Jr. house outside of Union (Gist was first cousin of Confederate Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist).

Now Schmitt is helping repair windows at Union’s Dawkins House, a residence at the center of an interesting chapter in Civil War history. Union briefly served as the capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865.

The nonprofit Preservation South Carolina is working with partners to restore the dilapidated dwelling into an alumni and corporate events center for the University of South Carolina-Union.

Schmitt is removing old glazing and replacing any rot (Preservation South Carolina)

Schmitt is taking out old window glass, removing rot and replacing weathered glazing.

“These old windows were put together with mortise and pins and wooden pegs. That makes them reasonably easy to work on,” he said in a recent interview. “I like to preserve as much as the original as I can.”

Not surprisingly, the windows are much more substantial than modern ones.

“Part of that reason is the material they were made of. You can’t get that type of lumber anymore,” said Schmitt, adding the old yellow pine was heavy because of high rosin content.

Schmitt is working in the house’s yard in a “between” stage of the Judge Thomas Dawkins house restoration. The $300,000 state-funded Phase 1 shored up the building.

This fall, Preservation South Carolina (PSC) and the campus will launch a campaign to raise up to $1 million for the next phase. No state or federal funds are currently available, officials said. “Credible interest has already been expressed by potential corporate sponsors to participate in the funding,” said PSC.

Bill Comer, a Union native and head of the PSC’s Dawkins House rehab project, said Schmitt is taking good care of the windows, which have Roman numerals (right) that the original carpenters used to number each sash.

“He thinks about all the people who have looked through that pane,” Comer said of Schmitt.

'Putting the bones back in' deteriorated house

PSC just featured an update on the project in its September newsletter, sharing a rendering of what the property will look like after restoration is complete. Those stopping by the house -- purchased by PSC in 2023 -- will note there is a long way to go, with support beams in place and the roof sagging. Hurricane Helene in September 2024 caused further damage.

Phase 2 will be much more extensive and expensive, enabling PSC to hand over the house to the university for finishing and customization. Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for PSC, said Phase 2 will include:

-- Installation of new piers on concrete footings in the crawlspace;

-- Strengthening of porch, first and second floor framings, the roof system and all walls;

-- Installation of the required framing for a new interior staircase where the original historic, spiral staircase was located in the central hall. This will entail strengthening the floors and walls in this area, including any necessary new footings in the crawlspace.

“We are putting the bones back in it where the bones should be,” said Comer.

Interestingly, the Gist home (left) where Schmitt lives features a floating spiral staircase similar to what once was present in the Dawkins House. “I can’t help believe but the same craftsmen were involved,” Schmitt said.

PSC said It will measure the Gist staircase for creating construction drawings.

When Judge Dawkins built his residence in 1845, he expanded upon a pre-existing, two-story structure,” the organization said in its newsletter.

“Further examination has revealed that the materials used in the construction of the older portion of the house dates closer to 1760, rather than the previously estimated 1800s.”

Governor had to run to keep from hiding

The Dawkins House, on North Church Street, was nicknamed “The Shrubs” and was occupied by Judge Dawkins and his English-born wife Mary Poulton Dawkins. The 1850 Federal slave schedule indicates they owned about 30 enslaved persons before the war. 

The property is best known for several weeks in spring 1865.

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.

South Carolina already was the symbol of the South’s rebellion. Maj. Gen. William T. 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 small business district and nearby plantations.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until sometime in March or early April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House. He apparently worked in an informal library near the drawing room. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

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

Comer said Magrath’s stint in Union is not well-known or covered in textbooks.

“Also, per a University of South Carolina Southern studies professor with whom I spoke recently, not many documents exist about that period … which I suspect is because most government documents were burned in the house’s eight fireplaces to avoid the identification of Confederate operatives who would be captured and tried for treason.”

Looking to Wofford for inspiration

Annie Smith, USC-Union marketing and development director, previously told the Picket an alumni association was 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.

Given the age of the Dawkins 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 PSC.

Looking for ideas and inspiration, a team of campus officials in July toured the alumni house (left) at Wofford College in nearby Spartanburg. The Kilgo-Clinkscales House previously was a dwelling for campus leaders at Wofford.

“The Wofford Alumni house was stunning and (has a) very similar layout to Dawkins,” said Smith. “The visit gave us a helpful look at how another institution transformed a historic residence into a vibrant and usable location. We came away with great ideas about how our space can serve multiple purposes -- welcoming alumni, community events, space for corporations to meet and more.”

Revisiting an old shirt and a very young Civil War soldier: Museum's Confederate and civil rights artifacts showcase the breadth of Alabama's history

Over this blog’s 15 years, I’ve written about myriad items belonging to Civil War soldiers and sailors – from swords, hats and frock coats to journals, letters and Bibles.

While each resonated in its own way, one item especially stands out to me. It’s the homespun, brown-and-white checked shirt made for a skinny teen boy from Demopolis, Alabama. 

The time and care that went into making it showed that Henry Winston Reese Jr. was dearly loved by his prosperous family. (Click photo to enlarge)

I researched Reese for a February 2016 post. I learned the University of Alabama student joined the Confederate army without his parents’ permission and died, barely 17, from wounds received two months earlier at the Battle of Champion Hill (Mississippi, May 1863).

Living historian and weaver Terre Hood Biederman and Ryan M. Blocker, a curator in the museum collection of the Alabama Archives, were among those who spoke with me about Reese and the shirt, a homemade product demonstrating Southern resolve.

I’ve since heard from a couple descendants, including one who said her family tries to keep the names Reese and Winston going.

The garment, along with Reese’s boots (below, both photos courtesy Alabama Archives), remain on display at the Alabama Voices gallery at the Museum of Alabama in Montgomery. A pouch, also donated by the family to the Alabama Department of Archives and History in 1978, has been kept in storage.

Alabama Voices cover’s the breadth of the state’s history, including the Civil War, industrialization, the world wars and civil rights (more about that later).

It’s a near certainty that Reese was not wearing the shirt -- which is likely made from cotton, rather than wool -- when he was mortally wounded while fighting with the 31st Alabama Infantry. But it somehow survived. Curators don’t know whether the shirt was made by a family member or an enslaved person.

Reese's father, a physician, had more than 100 slaves, according to the 1850 U.S. Census, and his growing family lived in a Gothic Revival home called Forest Hill on the outskirts of Demopolis.

Winston Reese was the first of a half dozen children born to the doctor and his wife, Julia, who died a year after the Civil War ended.

I recently reached out to Blocker to ask whether she has learned anything more about Reese or his family. She has not. (Incidentally, I have been unable to obtain an image of Reese.)

I asked Blocker about the significance of artifacts like the shirt.

“They help us understand and humanize, if you will, the people who lived long ago. A mother makes a shirt for her oldest child who is attending school away from home,” she replied in a recent email.

“Her son, an impulsive and idealistic teenager … goes against the wishes of his parents and joins the army," said Blocker. "Stories like this are played out time and time again, even in modern times. With this shirt, we get a glimpse of the lives of those who came before. In that glimpse, we realize that we are not that different.”

The shirt was likely made from cotton (Courtesy Terre Hood Biederman)

The shirt features rounded pockets, a French cut and purple and white glass buttons. Untold hours went into picking, washing and carding and spinning the dyed fiber. Then came the arduous tasks of weaving the fabric on a large loom and hand sewing the pieces.

While similar battle shirts worn by soldiers were commonly made of wool, this shirt reflects the concept of homespun as a patriotic statement, asserting that the South could stand alone in producing its needs, Biederman told me this week.

“It is fashionably cut, made for a teen living in the comfort of a college dormitory, not a soldier sleeping rough, and thus is likely made of cotton,” she wrote in an email. “The shirt has been on exhibit since this question was raised, and not available for analysis.”

Artifacts belonged to other Confederate soldiers

The gallery’s Civil War section contains numerous artifacts. Blocker said the story of an Alabama-made sword belonging to 1^st Sgt. Socrates Spigener is among those especially compelling. The soldier was born in 1844 in Coosa County and joined Hilliard’s Legion, which became the 59^th Alabama

Spigener was killed in Virginia days before the end of the Civil War.

“His sword was picked up from the battlefield and sent home to the family,” said Blocker. (Photos: Alabama Archives)

The family wrote a tribute and pasted it to the scabbard (click photo above to read): "This was the sword of Socrates Spigener, the baby child of Joel and Sylvia Spigener. He was Lieut. in the Confederate War of 1862. He fought bravely and was killed in battle near Petersburg, about the 6th of April 1865.”

Blocker said the archives also has a rare red artillery kepi and its original oil cloth cover.

The cap belonged to 1^st Lt. Maynard Hassell, State Artillery Company A, Garrity’s Battery. Hassell was born in 1831 in New York and moved to Lowndes County, Ala., at a young age. He enlisted in 1861.

The officer was killed by a cannonball at Lovejoy Station in Georgia in summer 1864. He was awarded the Confederate Roll of Honor for his “courage and good conduct on the field of battle.” 

Hassell's kepi and oil cloth cover (Alabama Archives)

The lieutenant's personal belongings were sent to the family after Hassell was killed in battle, Blocker said.

“The kepi was sent to us, along with a small journal, in 2013 as we were completing work on the Voices gallery,” said Blocker. “The gentleman that donated the material was a descendant of Hassell and wanted to make sure the material was returned to Alabama.”

The journal is not a daily notation of his personal experiences; rather, it has extensive notes about payments to soldiers, battles fought and munitions used during the battles.

The struggle for civil rights played out in Alabama

While Hassell, Reese and Spigener fought to keep the status quo of antebellum society, the Alabama Voices gallery includes artifacts that tell the story of the long struggle for equal rights among Black citizens.

Blocker said one of her favorite such items is a collection box from Hall Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. Founded in 1903, the church played an integral role in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott by purchasing a station wagon to transport members to and from work and other appointments.

Another standout is a chair and vanity stool from the Selma home of Jean Jackson and her husband, D. Sullivan Jackson, a dentist. (Collection box, chair and stool left, Alabama Archives)

“Dr. Martin Luther King stayed with the Jacksons and made their home his headquarters during his visits to Selma. Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy, used the chair and vanity to put on their shoes for the march to Montgomery. They were photographed seated in the Jackson’s living room in the Ebony magazine displayed on the stool,” said Blocker.

Other items in the gallery include a Billy club used by a Birmingham police officer, a Ku Klux Klan robe, shoes worn by Gov. George Wallace when he was shot in 1972 during his presidential campaign  and photographs of notable Alabamians, including entertainer Lionel Richie and professional athlete Bo Jackson.

The Alabama Voices Gallery is located on the second floor of the Alabama Department of Archives and History building in downtown Montgomery, 624 Washington Ave. The museum is open open Monday through Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. Here is a schedule of gallery closures for renovations.

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.

Ole Miss researcher to study African-American experience at Vicksburg

For the next two years, University of Mississippi history instructor Beth Kruse will live and work in Vicksburg, delving into the untold story of Black Americans in the tumultuous Civil War South.  The National Park Service Mellon Humanities Postdoctoral Fellowship has named 15 postdoctoral fellows to tell a more inclusive story of American history. Kruse will piece together the history of African Americans living in and around Vicksburg between the Civil War and Reconstruction. Kruse will examine widow and orphan pension letters and other documents from African American soldiers who died in the war and are buried in Vicksburg National Cemetery. She will also gather stories from families who are descendants. -- Article

School in court over Civil War sword

A federal judge on Friday ordered a Williamsburg, Va., artifact collector to safekeep a valuable Civil War-era sword and scabbard that Brown University contends was stolen from its collections more than 30 years ago. • Article

Ft. Sanders bigger than historians thought?

Now-retired University of Tennessee archaeologist Dr. Charles Faulkner and his wife, historian Terry Faulkner, have dug into the Knoxville fort's past. They say what they found changes 50 years of thought about where Fort Sanders sat in 1863 and adds information about its later expansion. • Article

Couple gives money to UGA for studies

Amanda and Henry D. “Greg” Gregory Jr. of Atlanta recently gave the University of Georgia history department $1 million to expand its Civil War era studies. • Article