Raynor HCA 2013-07
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/18/2013
Chamberlain, Daniel Henry (1835-1907) In 1862, he graduated with honors from Yale University, where he was a member of the Skull and Bones society.[1]:95 He then attended Harvard Law School, leaving in 1863 to serve as a second lieutenant in the United States Army with the Fifth Massachusetts Cavalry, a regiment of black troops. He was elected Republican governor on November 3, 1874. After a bitterly fought 1876 campaign, his second term hinged on disputed votes from Laurens and Edgefield counties, where the counts greatly exceeded the population, and overwhelmingly favored his opponent, ex-Confederate Wade Hampton III. President Grant declared Chamberlain governor and the State Supreme Court proclaimed Hampton the victor. Chamberlain left South Carolina in April 1877 when President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew Federal troops that had occupied the state since the Civil War. Chamberlain eventually became disillusioned with Reconstruction. Autograph Letter Signed “D.H. Chamberlain,” on official State of South Carolina lettersheet, Nov.2, 1876, 2pp., Fine. Written to General H.M. Black, Commanding Post, Columbia SC, in full, “Dear Sir: I am informed upon authority which I deem reliable that a body of armed men propose to visit the State House tonight to execute their reigns. I therefore respectfully request that you will place a guard of U.S. troops in or around the State House, sufficient to protect the building from the entrance of any persons not authorized to enter during the night. I will have a number of my official staff militia on duty with your office in your command...at the State House. Respectfully request, as no other effective force is avoidable in my house, that you will order the exclusion of such persons from the House and from participation in the business of the House of Representatives. Yours Very Respectfully, D. H. Chamberlain, Governor S.C." The months leading up to the election of 1876 in South Carolina were rife with tension. Violence was ever present and groups of armed men, calling themselves "rifle clubs," roamed the countryside. Supporters of the Democratic Party, they would often break up Republican meetings and intimidate Republican voters, both white and black. Black Republicans would often do the same toward black Democrats, Freedmen disillusioned with the corruption and broken promises of the Republican Party. Gen. Thomas Ruger was tasked with assisting Governor Daniel Chamberlain and the United States Marshals in keeping the peace.
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