Editing Columbus County, North Carolina (section)

=== Development===
[[File:Loading strawberries in Chadbourn, 1907.jpg|thumb|Farmers loading strawberries onto rail cars in Chadbourn {{circa|1907}}]]
At the time of its creation, Columbus County was sparsely populated.{{sfn|Justesen|2012|pp=4–5}} A new brick courthouse and jail were erected in 1852.{{sfn|Rogers|1946|p=13}} The construction of a railroad along the Bladen-Columbus border in the 1860s spurred growth. The laying of the [[Wilmington, Columbia and Augusta Railroad]] later in the decade connected Whiteville with Wilmington and supported the development of strong lumber and [[naval stores]] industries.{{sfn|Justesen|2012|pp=4–5}} The county also produced corn, wheat, cotton, and wool.{{sfn|Spruill|1990|p=1}}

Most white men in the county fought during the [[American Civil War]], while most free blacks and mulattoes were exempted from service. The county was spared direct fighting, but the war demands stressed the local labor and food markets, and severe rains in 1863 diminished grain yields. Most residents resorted to trade via the barter system. After [[Battle of Wilmington|Wilmington fell]] to Union troops in February 1865, Union marauders sacked Whiteville.{{sfn|Justesen|2012|p=12}} After the war Columbus' economy grew more heavily reliant on corn and cotton production.{{sfn|Spruill|1990|p=1}} In 1877, part of Brunswick County was annexed to Columbus.{{sfn|Corbitt|2000|p=73}}

In the post-Reconstruction period, after white Democrats regained dominance in politics, they emphasized white supremacy and classified all non-whites as black. For instance, Native Americans could not attend schools for white children. Toward the end of the century, the U.S. Census recorded common Waccamaw surnames among individuals in the small isolated communities of this area.<ref name="Powell, 1170">Powell, ''Encyclopedia of North Carolina'', 1170.</ref>

Tobacco was introduced as a crop in Columbus in 1896, and that year a tobacco warehouse was established in Fair Bluff. It remained a marginal crop until 1914, and at the conclusion of [[World War I]] overtook cotton as the county's major cash crop.{{sfn|Rogers|1946|pp=14–15}} The county's first bank was opened in 1903.{{sfn|Rogers|1946|p=14}} Strawberries were introduced at Chadbourn in 1895, and by 1907 Chadbourn had become one of the leading strawberry producers in the world.{{sfn|Rogers|1946|p=16}} Another courthouse and jail were built in 1914.{{sfn|Rogers|1946|p=13}}