Florence County

Bass gained his greatest professional fame as one of the nation’s leading scholars of the American Revolution in South Carolina.

By 1992 Columbia Farms had grown to become the largest poultry processor in the state and one of South Carolina’s ten largest privately held companies.

The progressive reputation of Florence earned it All-American status in 1966, and the population exceeded 25,000 by 1970.

Although the county’s economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, Florence was home to several industries as early as the 1890s.

Florence was chosen because of its proximity to three converging railroad lines. Neither the town nor the camp was ready for the sudden rush of Union prisoners.

What was initially a three-building, two-year regional campus of the University of South Carolina became Francis Marion College, accompanied by plans to build the only comprehensive college campus in the Pee Dee. Since its founding, the campus has expanded to include eighteen buildings on three hundred acres east of Florence.

Gaskins is considered to be one of South Carolina’s most notorious murderers and career criminals. His diminutive height—he was barely five feet tall—and small body frame, gained him the nickname “Pee Wee,” a moniker he retained to the end of his life.

The highway’s many nicknames are an indication that it was popular among tourists throughout the second quarter of the twentieth century. These names included: “Tobacco Trail,” “Highway of Southern Hospitality,” “Tourist Highway,” “Shortest Route from Maine to Florida,” and “The Washington-Florida Short Route.”

James gained his first military experience as a captain in the provincial militia during the Cherokee War (1759–1761).

Once in New York, Johnson took odd jobs before enrolling in 1921 at the National Academy of Design, where fees were modest and tuition was free.

Kilgo’s writing grew out of observations recorded in his private journals, from which developed his personal narrative style. Much of his early work consisted of reflections on the outdoor life and his hunting experiences.

By 1893 the Lake City population had grown to three hundred and the town flourished as the largest strawberry market in the state, shipping between five and seven thousand bushels to the northern markets annually.

Since beginning his coaching career at Summerville High School, McKissick’s teams have won thirteen lower state titles and ten state championships. He has compiled more than six hundred victories, which surpasses by far the victory totals of all other football coaches at any division or level.

The second African American in space, McNair made his first flight in February 1984 aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

Moore has also been involved with philanthropic projects over the years, most notably in education. In 1998 she donated $70 million to the University of South Carolina, and the university in response renamed its business school in her honor.

The publisher’s son, Jack O’Dowd, became editor in 1951 for a short-lived stay. A moderate on racial issues, he endorsed the U.S. Supreme Court’s desegregation decision, angering Klansmen and other conservatives.

Prince Frederick’s Parish stretched like an elongated triangle from the Santee River northward “to the utmost bounds of the Province,” encompassing all or part of modern Dillon, Marion, Florence, Horry, Georgetown, and Williamsburg Counties.

Reporters took an instant liking to the modest Purvis, and the mild-mannered G-man quickly became a national celebrity.

Rogers publicized his success in area newspapers and encouraged others to plant tobacco. He recruited young men from the North Carolina–Virginia tobacco belt to advise and instruct novice growers in cultivating and curing the new crop.

This Union campaign is one of the most controversial of the Civil War because of the damage it wrought to civilian property and the questions it raised about fair play in war.