Aiken, David Wyatt

For most of its history, agriculture virtually defined South Carolina, and no other single force has so profoundly influenced the state’s economy, history, demographics, and politics.

Cotton was the basis of the state’s agricultural economy at the end of the antebellum period, employing more than eighty percent of the slave labor force.

Robert Mills called Abbeville “the original seat of learning in the upper country,” and it quickly distinguished itself as the mother of some very famous Carolinians.

Although removed from the fighting during the Civil War, Abbeville nevertheless played a noteworthy role in the conflict.