Military

After the British shifted military operations to the South, Laurens proposed that South Carolina arm slaves and grant them freedom in return for their military service.

During his years in Savannah, LeConte wrote several scholarly articles, and in 1846 the University of Georgia appointed him as professor of natural philosophy (chemistry and physics).

Pleased with his situation in Columbia, LeConte endeared himself to his students, took an active part in the cultural affairs of the city, and published articles on topics in geology, religion, art, and education.

After relocating to Charleston, Lee began to practice law and went on to become one of the state’s most successful black lawyers.

Promoted to brigadier general, Lee was sent west to command artillery as the Confederacy attempted to stop the Federals from seizing control of the Mississippi River.

Barred by his race from receiving advanced medical training in South Carolina, Leevy was admitted to the University of Michigan Medical School.

Lever achieved his greatest success during World War I when he successfully pushed the Food and Fuel Control Act (also called the Lever Food Act) through Congress in 1917.

The opening of the Lexington Textile Mill in 1890 brought some 150 manufacturing jobs to the area, but the commerce of Lexington remained in the shadow of Columbia to the east and the twin towns of Leesville and Batesburg to the west. In 1894 and 1918 disastrous fires gutted Main Street.

The rapid expansion of the Columbia metropolitan area in the final decades of the twentieth century made Lexington one of the fastest-growing counties in the state. The county’s population more than tripled between 1960 and 2000, with most of the growth taking place in the Columbia suburbs of West Columbia, Cayce, and Irmo.

Lieber severed his association with Tuomey over perceived charges of plagiarism and turned his attention toward promoting (using the pen name “Metallicus”) a new survey of South Carolina.

Lincoln had the misfortune to preside over the single worst defeat of American forces during the Revolutionary War, the loss of Charleston.

On November 29, 1856, Longstreet was elected president of South Carolina College with the support of trustees James L. Petigru, Chancellor Francis H. Wardlaw, and Judge David L. Wardlaw, all fellow students of Waddel’s Academy.

Entering service as a brigadier general, he distinguished himself as a superb military tactician in several major battles, including First Manassas (July 21, 1861), after which he was promoted to major general.

The news of the Lowmans’ deaths stirred a firestorm of state and national outrage.

The precise extent of Loyalist strength in South Carolina will never be known because many people switched allegiances as circumstances dictated during the protracted war.

Early Lutherans in South Carolina were invariably of German descent. The first were a part of the Purrysburg settlement of mainly French Swiss immigrants in the 1730s along the Savannah River.

In 1864 Lynch journeyed to Rome as Confederate commissioner to the States of the Church (the Holy See), seeking papal recognition of the Confederacy and to turn European opinion in the South’s favor.

In 1880 the river was the site of the last duel ever fought in South Carolina. Ellerbe Cash killed William Shannon near the bridge crossing at U.S. Highway 15, which prompted the South Carolina General Assembly to outlaw dueling.

Lynching became so widespread that the years 1882 to 1930 have been termed the “lynching era.”

Lyttelton began his career as a colonial administrator when he was appointed governor of South Carolina in 1755.