Editing Camden, South Carolina (section)

==History==

=== Colonial years ===
Camden is the oldest inland city and the fourth oldest city in South Carolina. It is near the center of the [[Cofitachequi]] chiefdom that existed in the 1500s.<ref name="Hudson1998">{{cite book|author=Charles Hudson|title=Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vWJnGjxjJk8C|access-date=February 16, 2012|date=September 1998|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-2062-5|pages=234–238}}</ref> In 1730, Camden became part of a township plan ordered by [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]]. Kershaw County's official website states, "Originally laid out in 1732 as the town of Fredericksburg in the [[Wateree River]] swamp (south of the present town) when King George II ordered eleven inland townships established along South Carolina's rivers, few of the area settlers chose to take lots surveyed in the town, choosing the higher ground to the north. The township soon disappeared." In 1758, Joseph Kershaw from [[Yorkshire]], England, came into the township, established a store, and renamed the town "Pine Tree Hill". Camden became the main inland trade center in the colony. Kershaw suggested that the town be renamed Camden, in honor of [[Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden|Lord Camden]], a champion of colonial rights in the British Parliament.<ref>{{cite book|author=Federal Writers' Project|author-link=Federal Writers' Project|title=Palmetto Place Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c056089075&view=1up&seq=5|year=1941|publisher=Sloane Printing Co.|page=31}}</ref> In the 1770s it was the site of an early American porcelain factory, established by [[John Bartlam]].

=== American Revolution and antebellum era ===
[[File:British empire flag in Camden, SC.png|thumb|[[Flag of Great Britain]] in Camden, representing the city's connection to the Revolutionary War period.]]
May 1780 brought the [[American Revolution]] to [[Charleston, South Carolina]], when it fell under the Crown's control. Lord Charles [[Cornwallis]] and 2,500 of his Loyalist and British troops marched to Camden and established there the main British supply post for the Southern campaign. The [[Battle of Camden]], the worst American defeat of the Revolution, was fought on August 16, 1780, near Camden, and on April 25, 1781, the [[Battle of Hobkirk's Hill]] was fought between about 1,400 troops led by General [[Nathanael Greene]] and 950 Loyalists and British soldiers led by Lord [[Francis Rawdon]]. The latter battle was a costly win for the British and forced them to leave Camden and retreat to the coast. 

After the Revolution, Camden's prominence and wealth grew as a major interior trading town with direct ties to Charleston and the world. Regional products, augmented with goods from the interior of [[North Carolina]] and far lands to the west were transported from Camden to Charleston on flat-bottom riverboats that plied the adjacent Wateree River before the railroad arrived in 1842. An Episcopal seminary opened in the town in 1857, but the campus burned during Sherman's invasion. The school did not reopen.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meriwether|first=Colyer|title=History of Higher Education in South Carolina|publisher=The Reprint Company|year=1972|isbn=0871520974|edition=Reprinted from original|location=Spartanburg, South Carolina|pages=54–55|orig-year=1889}}</ref>

=== American Civil War and later years ===
[[File:Camden, SC Revolutionary War reenactment.png|thumb|[[American Revolutionary War]] reenactment.]] 
Camden was the source of six [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] generals during the [[American Civil War]]. [[Richard Rowland Kirkland]] – "The Angel of Marye's Heights" – is interred in the [[Old Quaker Cemetery]]. At the end of the war, components of [[William Tecumseh Sherman|Sherman's]] army burned Confederate and nearby properties, including a full block of downtown buildings. The last Federal officer killed in the Civil War was 1st Lt E.L. Stevens of the [[54th Massachusetts]] Infantry who died in a skirmish 9 miles south of Camden at the [[Battle of Boykin's Mill]] on April 18, 1865.

Starting in the mid-1880s the Camden area became an increasingly popular destination for wealthy northern families to spend the winter. Eventually, three resort hotels provided winter tourism activities well into the 1930s and beyond. The town became associated with many equestrian activities and is now the home of the third oldest active [[polo]] field in America. In the winter, more than 1,500 [[thoroughbred]]s call the area home. According to Kershaw County's web site, "Horse-related activities became very popular. That interest in equine activities has continued and today the horse industry is a major part of the county's economy. For that reason, the city is known as the '[[Steeplechase (horse racing)|Steeplechase]] Capital of the World'."
[[File:Aerial view of Duponts "Orlon" Plant, Camden, S. C.jpg|thumb|Aerial view of the Orlon Plant in Camden.]]
In 1950, Dupont opened the Dupont May Plant in Camden which manufactured [[Orlon]]. The plant was located on five miles of land and employed over 2,000 people.<ref>"History of Orion, Details Of Camden Plant." ''The State.'' June 16, 1950. Received from https://dspace.ychistory.org/bitstream/handle/11030/71910/00000929.pdf?sequence=1</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=DuPont May Plant in Camden, South Carolina|url=https://digital.hagley.org/1972341_1433|access-date=2020-06-26|website=[[Hagley Digital Archives]]}}</ref> For many years it was the town's largest employer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Iritani |first=Evelyn |date=2005-07-31 |title=Fostering Goodwill With Jobs |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jul-31-fi-uschina31-story.html |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1977, DuPont notified the [[National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health]] of a study the company conducted which showed an "excessive incidence and cancer mortality" rate among a cohort of workers who worked at the plant from 1950 to 1955.<ref>{{Cite report|date=2018-10-16|title=Current intelligence bulletin 18 - acrylonitrile.|url=https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/78-127/78127_18.html|language=en-us|doi=10.26616/NIOSHPUB7812718}}</ref> The findings were liked to a major chemical component of Orlon, [[acrylonitrile]].<ref>{{Cite book|author=Colby, Gerard |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/10725106|title=Du Pont dynasty|date=1984|publisher=L. Stuart|others=Colby, Gerard, 1945-|isbn=0-8184-0352-7|location=Secaucus, N.J.|oclc=10725106}}</ref> Citing issues with foreign competition, Dupont ended the production of Orlon in 1990.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Du Pont plans to discontinue Orlon fiber|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/06/11/Du-Pont-plans-to-discontinue-Orlon-fiber/6377645076800/|access-date=2020-06-26|website=UPI|language=en}}</ref>  Since the closure of the Orlon plant, the town has attracted a number of manufacturing companies such as Hengst GmbH & Co. and [[Haier]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Haier Group — Camden, South Carolina {{!}} Trade and Industry Development |url=https://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/industry/manufacturing/haier-group-camden-south-carolina-2308 |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=www.tradeandindustrydev.com}}</ref> In 2003, Target opened an $85 million distribution center in the town.<ref name=":0" />


===Jewish community===
Camden has long had a Jewish community. Members of the community have included [[David Camden de Leon]], [[Mordecai M. Levy]], [[Chapman Levy]], and [[Bernard Baruch]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGslAAAAMAAJ | title=Historic Camden: Nineteenth century | last1=Kirkland | first1=Thomas J. | last2=Kennedy | first2=Robert Macmillan | year=1965 }}</ref>