h met at Columbia in 1895, there were only five
colored delegates and they were all from Beaufort County, a county
which has very few white persons in it. The delegates were W. J.
Whipper, Robert Smalls, Thomas E. Miller, James Wigg, and L. R. Reed.
Of these, W. J. Whipper and Robert Smalls were delegates to the
Constitutional Convention which met at Charleston in 1868.

As General Smalls died only about two or three years ago what a wealth
of information he could have furnished pertaining to the
Reconstruction Period had your request been sent out before his death.

Inclosure 2 contains the names of State Senators and the counties they
represented. In several cases of Senators and also of Members of the
House of Representatives I cannot recall their initials.

There were 32 senators, the majority being colored, of whom the
following were conspicuous for their activity on all important
legislation:

S. A. Swails, J. H. Rainey, R. H. Cain, W. H. Jones, W. B. Nash and H.
J. Maxwell.

Inclosure 3 contains names of members of the House of Representatives
at various times. Some served more than one term. The more prominent
were: R. B. Elliott, S.J. Lee, Dr. B.A. Bosemon, J. H. Rainey, R. C.
DeLarge, J. A. Bowley, W. J. Whipper, D. A. Straker, C. M. Wilder,
Prince Rivers, F. H. Frost, T. E. Miller, and W. H. Thomas.

The House of Representatives was composed of 124 members and colored
members were always in the majority.

Inclosure 4--Names of State Officers.

Inclosure 5--Names of Federal Office holders.

Inclosure 6--Names of Congressmen who represented South Carolina.

I shall never forget the scene in 1876 when Col. A. C. Haskell,
Chairman of the Democratic State Committee at the head of the
Democratic members of the legislature forced his way into the Hall of
the Representatives then occupied by the Republican members.
Pandemonium reigned for a time. There were two Houses, each having its
own officers trying to transact business at the same time. Finally the
U. S. soldiers were called upon and those Democrats who had no
certificate of election were ejected.

All of the Democratic members then withdrew and formed an organization
in another hall.

Three colored Republicans whose names I do not care to mention went
over to the Democrats, but the latter could do nothing without the
Senate which was admittedly Republican.

The struggle was kept up until Mr. Hayes was inaugurated President,
when he withdrew th