Thanks to Ann Bartow for a pointer to this story from the South Carolina newspaper The State on the Hamburg, South Carolina massacre of 1876 and the monument that’s already there–as well as efforts at historical preservation in Hamburg. Here’s a taste of the story:
The town of Hamburg, a tiny community of freed slaves that existedafter the Civil War, has all but disappeared from South Carolina’shistory.
But the impact of the massacre that happened here in1876 along the Savannah River marked a turning point in S.C. racerelations for generations.
The Hamburg Massacre, where whitemilitia executed five black men without trial, launched a new beginningfor white supremacy in South Carolina. …
Today, expensive homes and an 18-hole golf course line the river bank where Hamburg once stood.
“It’sso eerie. Not only has the history of this place vanished, but thememory has vanished, too,” said historian Stephen Budiansky, whochronicles the Hamburg Massacre in his just-published book, ”The BloodyShirt.” “Even the physical remains are gone.”
ALB