Editing Kershaw County, South Carolina (section)

== History ==
Kershaw County was named for Col. Joseph Kershaw (1727–1791), an early settler considered as "the father of [[Camden, South Carolina|Camden]]". Originally part of Camden District, Kershaw County was formed in 1791 from parts of Claremont, [[Lancaster County, South Carolina|Lancaster]], [[Fairfield County, South Carolina|Fairfield]], and [[Richland County, South Carolina|Richland]] counties. The county seat is [[Camden, South Carolina|Camden]], the oldest inland city in [[South Carolina]]. This site was settled around 1732 by English traders and farmers who moved inland from [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]]. Welsh Baptists moved the area in large numbers in the 1740s and 1750s. At the time, in [[England]] and [[Wales]] Protestants who were not from the established [[Anglican]] church were politically disadvantaged in various ways, however, in South Carolina they could still practice freely (provided that they called their churches "meeting houses.") Baptists from [[Abergavenny]], [[Trap, Carmarthenshire]], [[Llanbedr, Crickhowell]], [[Vale of Grwyney]], [[Abertillery]], [[Griffithstown]] and [[Brecon]] arrived in what has since become Kershaw County between 1740 and 1760, primarily arriving as large family units. They were joined by a similar migration of English Baptists who came from [[Long Sutton, Lincolnshire]], [[Boston, Lincolnshire]], [[Coningsby]], [[Grantham]], as well as [[Christchurch, Dorset]] and [[Lymington]].<ref>William Screven: A Journey from English Separatism to the Founding of the First Baptist Church Charleston, South Carolina by Charles B. Aiken</ref><ref>The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry, 1736-1800 by George Lloyd Johnson - pg. 9, 16-19, 53, 141, 145, 165, 169</ref> From about 1800 until about 1867, the county was known as Kershaw District.<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3913k.cws00143/?r=0.032,0.057,0.885,0.411,0 Map of Kershaw District, South Carolina.] Authored by Robert Mills (1781–1855) and J. Boykin. Published 1825. Library of Congress, accessed March 2020.</ref>

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], the British occupied Camden from June 1780 to May 1781. Fourteen battles took place in the area, including the [[Battle of Camden]] in 1780 and the [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill]] in 1781.

After the state seceded from the Union, six men from Kershaw served in the [[American Civil War]] as [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] [[general]]s: [[James Cantey]] (1818–1873), [[James Chesnut]] (1815–1885), [[John Doby Kennedy]] (1840–1896), [[Joseph Brevard Kershaw]] (1822–1894), and [[John Bordenave Villepigue]] (1830–1862), [[Zachariah C. Deas]] (1819–1882). [[Richard Rowland Kirkland]], a Confederate soldier, was also from Kershaw County. He served under General Kershaw. In the last months of the war, [[Union Army|Union]] troops under Gen. [[William T. Sherman]] burned parts of Camden in February 1865, in their March to the Sea.

Under the [[Constitution of South Carolina|1868 South Carolina Constitution]], the Kershaw District became home rule Kershaw County with the state representatives also being county commissioners. During the [[Reconstruction era]], some freedmen and other men of color were elected to various political offices. Among them was [[Henry Cardozo]], who had been pastor of [[Bethel Methodist Church (Charleston, South Carolina)|Old Bethel Methodist Church]] in [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. He served in the state senate as a Republican from Kershaw County, from 1870 to 1874.<ref name="nrhpinv">{{Cite web | last = Dixon | first = Nenie |author2=Elias B. Bull | title = Bethel Methodist Church (Old Bethel United Methodist Church) | work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date = February 21, 1975 | url = http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/charleston/S10817710089/S10817710089.pdf | access-date = June 21, 2012}}</ref>  (February 1, 1836 – July 22, 1903) was an American clergyman, politician, and educator. When [[Francis Lewis Cardozo]] was elected in South Carolina as Secretary of State in 1868, he was the first [[African American]] to hold a statewide office in the [[United States]].

During [[World War I]], two Kershaw County men were awarded the [[Medal of Honor]] in two separate actions while fighting in [[France]] in October 1918. The first was [[Richmond H. Hilton|Richmond Hobson Hilton]], recognized for actions taking place on October 11, 1918, during which he lost an arm. The second was [[John C. Villepigue|John Canty Villepigue]] on October 15, 1918; he was wounded so severely in the action for which he was recognized that he died several months later from his injuries. Villepigue was a descendant of General John B. Villepigue noted above.

Statesman and financier [[Bernard M. Baruch]] (1870–1965), labor leader [[Lane Kirkland]], and baseball player [[Larry Doby]], the first [[African-American]] player in the [[American League]], were each born in Kershaw County. Former South Carolina Governor [[John C. West]] was also from Kershaw County.<ref>[http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/ South Carolina State Library Reference Room]</ref>