our parishes, St. Peter's, St.
Luke's, St. Helena, and Prince William, being fifty-eight miles long and
thirty-two broad, and containing 1,224,960 acres. St. Helena parish
includes the islands of St. Helena, Ladies, Port Royal, Paris, and a few
smaller islands, which, together with Hilton Head, make the district
occupied by our forces. The largest and most populous of these islands
is St. Helena, being fifteen miles long and six or seven broad,
containing fifty plantations and three thousand negroes, and perhaps
more since the evacuation of Edisto. Port Royal is two-thirds or
three-quarters the size of St. Helena, Ladies half as large, and Hilton
Head one-third as large. Paris, or Parry, has five plantations, and
Coosaw, Morgan, Cat, Cane, and Barnwell have each one or two. Beaufort
is the largest town in the district of that name, and the only one at
Port Royal in our possession. Its population, black and white, in time
of peace may have been between two and three thousand. The first lots
were granted in 1717. Its Episcopal church was built in 1720. Its
library was instituted in 1802, had increased in 1825 to six or eight
hundred volumes, and when our military occupation began contained about
thirty-five hundred.

The origin of the name Port Royal, given to a harbor at first and since
to an island, has already been noted. The name of St. Helena, applied to
a sound, a parish, and an island, originated probably with the
Spaniards, and was given by them in tribute to Saint Helena, the mother
of Constantine the Great, whose day in the calendar is August 18th.
Broad River is the equivalent of La Grande, which was given by Ribault.
Hilton Head may have been derived from Captain Hilton, who came from
Barbados. Coosaw is the name of a tribe of Indians. Beaufort is likely
to have been so called for Henry, Duke of Beauford, one of the lord
proprietors, while Carolina was a province of Great Britain.

The Beaufort District is not invested with any considerable
Revolutionary romance. In 1779, the British forces holding Savannah sent
two hundred troops with a howitzer and two field-pieces to Beaufort.
Four companies of militia from Charleston with two field-pieces,
reinforced by a few volunteers from Beaufort, repulsed and drove them
off. The British made marauding incursions from Charleston in 1782, and
are said to have levied a military contribution on St. Helena and Port
Royal Islands.

There are the remains of Indian mounds