George Alfred Trenholm (February 25, 1807 – December 9, 1876) was a South Carolina businessman, financier, politician, and slaveholding planter who owned several plantations and strongly supported the
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...
. He was appointed as its Secretary of the Treasury during the final year of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
[Downey, "George Alfred Trenholm"](_blank)
''South Carolina Encyclopedia''
His merchant firm was estimated to have made $9 million by blockade running with its 60 ships during the war. Although he was imprisoned briefly after the war and suffered some economic setbacks, Trenholm continued to prosper. In the postwar years, Trenholm acted as a major philanthropist, aiding both blacks and whites in South Carolina. He also served on railroad and bank boards, and was elected to state office again in 1874 and died in office.
Early and family life
George Alfred Trenholm was born on February 25, 1807, in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
to Elizabeth Irene (de Greffin) Trenholm and her merchant husband William Trenholm. His maternal grandfather, Comte de Greffin, was a major plantation owner in
Saint Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colonization of the Americas, French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the islan ...
(before the slave revolution; it is now
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
). His paternal grandfather, William Trenholm (1737-1822), was born in Yorkshire, England, but lived and worked in Charleston most of his adult life. He was forced to leave during the American Revolutionary War due to his Loyalist sympathies and business associations. He lived in New York, the Netherlands, and Santo Domingo, but returned to Charleston in 1785 shortly after the end of the war, and lived there for another 37 years. He introduced his son William (1772-1824) into the family business. When his father died, George Trenholm left school and went into business.
At age 21, George Alfred Trenholm married Anna Helen Holmes on April 3, 1828. Her father John Holmes owned a plantation on
Johns Island, South Carolina
Johns Island is an island in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States, and is the largest island in the state of South Carolina. Johns Island is bordered by the Wadmalaw Island, Wadmalaw, Seabrook Island, South Carolina, Seabrook, Kiawah I ...
outside Charleston. The couple had thirteen children; five (including their first four) died in infancy. In 1860, their daughters Emily (b. 1839), Anna (b. 1842), Eliza (b. 1848), Christiana (b. 1851) and sons Alfred (b. 1844), Frances (b. 1846), Edwin (b. 1850) were still living with their parents. Also in the household were their married eldest son William Trenholm (b. 1846), his wife, and their young sons; and Anna's mother.
Career
At the age of 16, George Trenholm had begun working for a major
cotton broker
In the Antebellum South, antebellum and Reconstruction era Southern United States, South, most cotton Planter (American South), planters relied on cotton factors (also known as cotton brokers) to sell their crops for them.
Description
The cotton ...
, John Fraser and Company in Charleston. He rose to become a partner, and by 1853, when he was 46, he led the company. Fraser died in 1854 and it became Fraser and Trenholm. By 1860 Trenholm had become one of the wealthiest men in the South (if not the United States), owning real estate worth $90,000 () and personal property (including
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
) valued at about $35,000 () . His financial investments included steamships, hotels, wharves,
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
and
plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
. About 39 enslaved persons lived with Trenholm's family as domestic staff in Charleston. Trenholm was also director of the Bank of Charleston and of a South Carolina railroad.
A member of the Democratic Party, Trenholm was elected to the South Carolina legislature in 1852 and served until 1856. After President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
's election in 1860, Trenholm strongly supported secession of the South, which was led by South Carolina among the top six of the major slaveholding states.
American Civil War
When the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
broke out, Trenholm immediately moved his company's head office from New York to the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
and
Bermuda
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, mapsize2 =
, map_caption2 =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name =
, e ...
. He was appointed to South Carolina's State Marine Battery Commission, where he oversaw construction of the Confederate
ironclad
An ironclad is a steam engine, steam-propelled warship protected by Wrought iron, iron or steel iron armor, armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships ...
''Chicora''. Trenholm personally financed construction of a twelve-vessel flotilla for Charleston's defense.
North Carolina Markers
![Nautilus House, Liverpool](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Nautilus_House%2C_Liverpool.jpg)
Trenholm's wealth increased as his 60 commercial ships ran the Union blockade. The ships carried cotton, tobacco and turpentine to England, and brought back coal, iron, salt, guns and ammunition.
Josiah Gorgas
Josiah Gorgas (July 1, 1818 – May 15, 1883) was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama.
As chief of ordnance during the American Civil War, Gorgas managed to keep the Confederate a ...
, the Confederate chief of ordnance, estimated that by March 1863, Trenholm's company had made $9 million (equivalent to $ million in ) by
blockade running
A blockade runner is a merchant vessel used for evading a naval blockade of a port or strait. It is usually light and fast, using stealth and speed rather than confronting the blockaders in order to break the blockade. Blockade runners usuall ...
. His company - now called Fraser, Trenholm and Company - became the Confederate government's overseas banker. The office in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
arranged cotton sales and financed its own fleet. The U.S. consul in Liverpool, Thomas Dudley, estimated Trenholm's fleet imported $4.5 million of cotton into Great Britain, although Confederate President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
vetoed Trenholm's suggestion that the Confederacy buy decommissioned
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
ships for $10 million.
[http://www.chab-belgium.com/pdf/english/Trenholm.pdf ]
Trenholm and his Liverpool-based partner
Charles K. Prioleau (son of a Charleston lawyer) worked with fellow American
James Dunwoody Bulloch
James Dunwoody Bulloch (June 25, 1823 – January 7, 1901) was the Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. Based in Liverpool, he operated blockade runners and commerce raiders that provided the Confed ...
as Confederate foreign agents in Britain to manage their arrangements, especially shipping munitions home. Britain depended on the South's cotton exports. Continuing cotton exports to Britain helped the Confederacy not only financially, but also shaped British public opinion toward the Confederate cause.
Trenholm served again in the South Carolina legislature from 1860 to 1863.
In 1863 he purchased the
Annandale Plantation
Annandale Plantation was a cotton plantation worked by enslaved laborers in what is now the Mannsdale neighborhood of Madison, Mississippi.
Its Italianate-style plantation house was designed and built for Margaret Louisa Thompson Johnstone, the ...
from
Andrew Johnstone
Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derived ...
; located south of Georgetown, it was a highly successful rice operation that had worked 230 slaves in the 1850s.
In January 1864, Trenholm's daughter Emily married William Miles Hazzard, a Confederate scout. Trenholm deeded the Annandale and Beneventum plantations to Hazzard shortly after the war's end, trying to protect them from potential confiscation by the United States government.
[Elizabeth Huntsinger Wolf, ''Georgetown Mysteries & Legends'', Blair, 2007 https://books.google.com/books?id=1GDs_XBHtT8C&pg=PT58&lpg=PT58&dq ]
Confederate Treasury Secretary
Christopher Memminger
Christopher Gustavus Memminger (german: link=no, Christoph Gustav Memminger, translit=Christopher Gustavus Memminger; January 9, 1803 – March 7, 1888) was a German-born American politician and a secessionist who participated in the format ...
, a fellow Charlestonian and friend, used Trenholm as an unofficial adviser for almost four years. When Memminger resigned on July 1, 1864 (due to public outcry after he issued millions of Confederate bank notes at one-third the value of the old ones), and moved back to
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, Trenholm succeeded him. He was formally appointed on July 18, 1864. Trenholm was a more charismatic figure than his predecessor. Together with his constant published updates he had better
press relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
and contact with the Confederate Congress. Trenholm had a "never give up the ship" personality, but could do little to stop the financial havoc as the rebel government grew insolvent and printing money caused inflation. Trenholm advocated direct taxation, reducing the circulation of paper currency, further public subscriptions for war bonds, and purchasing blockade runners (rather than continuing to rely on private shippers), but the Confederate Congress refused to pass those measures.
He signed off on payments for Southern spies, including operations in Canada and Washington, D.C., as well as for the defense of Richmond, Virginia. He moved to the Confederate capital after severing ties with his businesses in Charleston. Trenholm arranged for a large loan to the Confederate government from a French consortium, but the proceeds arrived too late to assist their war effort.
Trenholm's lavish entertaining in Richmond (at the house that later became the
Valentine Museum
The Valentine is a museum in Richmond, Virginia dedicated to collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond's history. Founded by Mann S. Valentine II 1898, it was the first museum in Richmond.
In the early 21st century, The Valentine offers ...
), and paying for a massive Christmas dinner (postponed until New Year's Day 1865) endeared him to Richmond's elite. On February 6, 1865, the Confederate Congress proposed to President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
that he fire his entire cabinet except for Trenholm. Davis declined, but Secretary of War
James A. Seddon
James Alexander Seddon (July 13, 1815 – August 19, 1880) was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a Representative in the U.S. Congress, as a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Confederate States Secretar ...
resigned and was replaced by General
John C. Breckinridge
John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...
.
Flight from Richmond
During the war's final days, Trenholm arranged for the Confederate treasury, archives, and bullion owned by it and Richmond banks, to be transported from the imperiled capital into North Carolina by a train guarded by Captain William Howard Parker and Confederate naval midshipmen. The bullion and specie was later estimated to be worth between a quarter to a half million dollars. The last published account of it reported $86,000 in specie hidden in the false bottom of a carriage and entrusted to James A. Semple, a Naval paymaster and son-in-law of ex-President
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president dire ...
. He was supposed to take it to
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
to pay Confederate accounts. Secretary of State
Judah Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin, QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to the United Kingdom at the end of the American Civil War, an English ba ...
used a $1,500 gold warrant signed by Trenholm to secure his passage on a boat to Britain.
Other accounts trace $40,000 used by Major Raphael J. Moses (General Longstreet's commissary officer) to assist Confederate veterans struggling to return to their homes. Some believe Trenholm ordered the bullion dumped off railroad bridges on the journey described below (noting his son William patented a
hydroscope
A hydroscope is any of several instruments related to water:
*One kind is an instrument for making observations below the surface of water, such as a long tube fitted with various lenses arranged so that objects lying at the bottom can be reflecte ...
for finding lost items in the water after the war), or had money smuggled to England by
Sylvester Mumford (who later returned to Georgia, where it became an endowment to educate orphans), or taken to Canada.
Trenholm sent his daughters out of Richmond on Friday, April 3, 1865, with First Lady
Varina Davis
Varina Anne Banks Howell Davis (May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was the only First Lady of the Confederate States of America, and the longtime second wife of President Jefferson Davis. She moved to a White House of the Confederacy, house in ...
by train, escorted by midshipman James Morris Morgan (who would later marry one of the Trenholm daughters). The women rode to
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
and then reached a rented house in
Abbeville, South Carolina
Abbeville is a city and county seat of Abbeville County, in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It is located west of Columbia and south of Greenville. Its population was 5,237 at the 2010 census. Settled by French Huguenot settlers, it was ...
, where they met their brother William Trenholm and his family. Though ill, George Trenholm (with his wife as his nurse, the only woman among 30 male officials) evacuated Richmond on Sunday night, April 5, 1865, bound for
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
, on the same train as the rest of the Confederate government. He was said to have self-medicated with peach brandy, shared with fellow travelers, and morphine.
Days later, Trenholm was transported by ambulance to another train, which carried the Confederate government into North Carolina, where they learned President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
had been assassinated on April 14. Eventually, the Confederate government, including Trenholm, reached
Fort Mill, South Carolina
Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. ...
. Upon hearing of General
Robert E. Lee's surrender at
Appomattox Court House, Virginia
Appomattox is a town in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,733 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Appomattox County.
Appomattox is part of the Lynchburg Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The town ...
on April 9, the local commander in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...
, General
John Echols
John Echols (March 20, 1823 – May 24, 1896) was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
Early and family life
John Echols was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. He joined the Virginia Military Institute in 1840 ...
, had offered his troops the choice of surrendering or continuing to fight. Half his cavalry and almost all infantry left for home, with only 1,000 men following General Echols to meet with President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
and the remaining Confederate cabinet members in Fort Mill. Trenholm asked President Davis to accept his resignation, citing his ill health, and Davis accepted with his thanks on April 27, 1865.
Imprisonment and parole
Trenholm had six rice plantations to manage in
Georgetown County, South Carolina
Georgetown County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 63,404. Its county seat is Georgetown. The county was founded in 1769. It is named for George III of the United Kingdom.
Geor ...
alone, having bought many in 1863 before assuming his public role. He traveled from Abbeville to
South Carolina College in
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
for the wedding on June 1, 1865, of his son Frank to Mary Elizabeth Burroughs in the house of the college president. Trenholm, his wife and daughters moved into their newly purchased estate, now named ''DeGreffin'', near Columbia, South Carolina. Union troops had burned it in a raid. They left the Abbeville house to William and his family.
Around June 12, a Union officer asked Trenholm to come to them in Charleston to answer questions. Escorted by his future son-in-law James M. Morgan (or by his son William, under alternate accounts) and carrying a bag of gold pieces, Trenholm drove to
Orangeburg, South Carolina
Orangeburg, also known as ''The Garden City'', is the principal city in and the county seat of Orangeburg County, South Carolina, United States. The population of the city was 13,964 according to the 2010 United States Census and declined to 12 ...
. He took the train to Charleston, where he was arrested at the depot and escorted to jail by
United States Colored Troops
The United States Colored Troops (USCT) were regiments in the United States Army composed primarily of African-American (colored) soldiers, although members of other minority groups also served within the units. They were first recruited during ...
on June 13. He was accused by the federal government of making off with millions in Confederate assets. He was soon joined in jail by Theodore Dehon Wagner, the manager of Trenholm, Fraser & Co.
Trenholm was briefly imprisoned at
Hilton Head, South Carolina
Hilton Head Island, sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and southwest of C ...
, but General
Quincy Gillmore
Quincy Adams Gillmore (February 28, 1825 – April 7, 1888) was an American civil engineer, author, and a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was noted for his actions in the Union victory at Fort Pulaski, where his mod ...
, who knew him and of his kindnesses toward Union prisoners during the war, and recognizing his physical disability, issued him a written parole on June 25 to allow him to return to his home and the corporate limits of
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...
. In July Gillmore was relieved of his command, and Trenholm was arrested again on July 12.
Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (December 19, 1814December 24, 1869) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stanton's management helped organize t ...
suspected him of involvement in President Lincoln's assassination.
Blockade runners Theodore Jervey and A.S. Johnson were also arrested in July. Trenholm was imprisoned at
Fort Pulaski
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
near
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...
.
He was allowed guests, who came to include many former high Confederate officials. Fellow prisoners included
James A. Seddon
James Alexander Seddon (July 13, 1815 – August 19, 1880) was an American lawyer and politician who served two terms as a Representative in the U.S. Congress, as a member of the Democratic Party. He was appointed Confederate States Secretar ...
,
David Yulee, R.M.T. Hunter, former Florida governor A. K. Allison, Charles Clark of Mississippi, A. G. Magrath, and assistant Secretary of War, James A. Campbell—all of whom were allowed liberty around the island after giving their parole of honor on August 21.
Postwar business, charity and politics
Pardoned by President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
and ordered released on October 11, 1865 (along with Clark, Campbell, Confederate Vice President
Alexander Stephens
Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was an American politician who served as the vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1 ...
, and Postmaster
John H. Reagan of Texas), Trenholm returned to his business. Manager James Welsman had been pardoned in August and on September 29, President Johnson had ordered property returned to Charleston firms, including Trenholm's, over the objection of Quartermaster General
Montgomery C. Meigs
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (; May 3, 1816 – January 2, 1892) was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer, who served as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War. Meigs strongly opposed sece ...
. U.S. lawyers filed suit in Britain against the firm's assets in order to recover funds, and against several principals, including T.D. Wagner and Charles Prioleau. The Federal Government sued Canada for reparations for damages caused by British firms acting on behalf of the Confederacy, but settled claims including $3 million for damages to U.S. shipping by the British-built ''CSS Alabama''.
Trenholm's son Fred sailed home from England to attend his sister Helen's wedding to James Morris Morgan. Trenholm also created trusts and deeded plantations to his children and their spouses. The federal government ultimately confiscated some of these properties based on the failure of the Trenholm firm to pay customs duties on the many items imported by blockade runners during the war.
Trenholm's cotton brokerage firm went bankrupt in 1867. It successfully reorganized as George A. Trenholm & Son, and shifted to take advantage of the state's postwar
phosphate
In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid .
The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...
mining boom. Trenhom was elected as a director of the
Blue Ridge Railroad in 1868; the railroad was planned to link Charleston and the American Midwest, but it reportedly went bankrupt due to embezzlement by an official who escaped to the North.
It was also likely to have been mismanaged, as the southern railroads were over-capitalized in this period.
In the postwar period, Trenholm became known for his philanthropy in the South Carolina Low County, to blacks as well as whites. He wrote in 1865 that emancipation of blacks was necessary, and argued for their uplift.
Many South Carolinians were unhappy with
Congressional Reconstruction
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the blood ...
and governor
Robert Kingston Scott
Robert Kingston Scott (July 8, 1826August 12, 1900) was an American Republican politician, the 74th governor of South Carolina, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. In 1891 he built a Queen Anne Italianate Victorian ho ...
. He led an effort to invest in public welfare and infrastructure, which resulted in a trebling of the state debt as there had been little public investment before the war. He survived an impeachment vote. Voters elected Trenholm to the South Carolina legislature in 1874, and he died in office.
The 1874 campaign season for governor was filled with violence as white Democrats worked to suppress the black Republican vote. The
paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
group
Red Shirts were armed and rode openly in groups; they were particularly militant and succeeded in intimidating many black voters. Despite the black Republican majority, Democrat
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton may refer to the following people:
People
*Wade Hampton I (1752–1835), American soldier in Revolutionary War and War of 1812 and U.S. congressman
*Wade Hampton II (1791–1858), American plantation owner and soldier in War of 1812
*W ...
, a former Confederate General, was elected governor, and white Democrats retained control of the state legislature for most of the following century.
Death and legacy
Trenholm died in Charleston on December 9, 1876, and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery. The
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
holds the Confederate Treasury's records, many created by Trenholm.
North Carolina erected a historical highway marker near his estate ''Solitude'', where he and Memminger spent summers during his final years.
Trenholm is the great-great-grandfather of Virginia politician
Charles S. "Chuck" Robb.
''Gone with the Wind''
Popular legend suggests that Trenholm and his exploits inspired
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell (November 8, 1900 – August 16, 1949) was an American novelist and journalist. Mitchell wrote only one novel, published during her lifetime, the American Civil War-era novel '' Gone with the Wind'', for which she wo ...
's character of
Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler (Born in 1828) is a fictional character in the 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' by Margaret Mitchell and in the 1939 film adaptation of the same name. It is one of Clark Gable's most recognizable and significant roles.
Role
Rhe ...
in her Civil War novel, ''
Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind most often refers to:
* Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell
* Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel
Gone with the Win ...
''.
See also
*
Blockade runners of the American Civil War
The blockade runners of the American Civil War were seagoing steam ships that were used to get through the Union blockade that extended some along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederate stat ...
*
James Dunwoody Bulloch
James Dunwoody Bulloch (June 25, 1823 – January 7, 1901) was the Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. Based in Liverpool, he operated blockade runners and commerce raiders that provided the Confed ...
References
External links
Listing of business records of Fraser, Trenholm & Company, 1860-1877
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trenholm, George
1807 births
1876 deaths
Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America
19th-century American politicians
Politicians from Charleston, South Carolina
Confederate States Department of the Treasury officials
American slave owners