Reenactors bring the Lowcountry’s past to life

Living history

Story by Carolyn Males

Stepping into the role of a historical character is more than putting on historically accurate clothing. Embodying a living reenactment requires being an actor-historian-scriptwriter and, in some cases, producer and scenic designer. Knowledge of the character’s background and place in history is a given. But reenactors also need to understand the beliefs and motivations of their characters and how those propel their actions in the mosaic of time, place and events they’ve lived through. That’s the historic part.

For the dramatic part, reenactors must puzzle out how to capture that person in gesture, tone of voice, nuances of speech and the era’s vocabulary. Unless it’s a totally scripted performance, they must also figure out what to say and how to say it while fielding comments and questions from onlookers. Moreover, reenacts must consider how their characters are perceived through 21st-century eyes. 

The Lowcountry abounds with reenactors who perform at historic sites, area events, schools, libraries, for community groups and even family reunions. We asked a few to give us a short overview of their character’s place in local history.

The character: Capt. Domingo Dominguez (b.1520) 

The local: Randolph Dominic Jr. 

As I portray him, Capt. Domingo (a fictitious character) is a follower of Pedro Menendez de Avilés, who lived at St. Elena, the first European city in what is now the United States. A law student in Spain who had to leave town after a falling out with his tutor, he took up with Don Pedro, becoming his second-in-command as they sailed to the New World. In 1566, on the Port Royal Sound, they founded the colony of La Florida, stretching from what is now Florida to Virginia, with Santa Elena as its capital. Don Pedro discovered the winds and the currents that would allow Spanish treasure ships to sail from Seville, where all voyages of explorations began, south to the Canary Islands, across the Atlantic with the prevailing winds to the Caribbean, following the Gulf Stream up to St. Elena and then back across the Atlantic to Spain.

From past to present: I’m a believer in experiential archeology, immersing oneself in a pivotal period of history. Looking at an era from the perspective of an ordinary person shows how events affect real people. It’s a way to bring a time and place alive. rpdominic@yahoo.com

The character: Capt. William Hilton (1617-75)

The local: Dwayne Pickett

Like many New England sea captains, Hilton, who gave Hilton Head its name, had a trade with Barbados. Wealthy sugar cane plantations had scarfed up the land on that small Caribbean island, so they needed to import food, cattle, horses and timber from other colonies in return for sugar and molasses. In 1663 Hilton was exploring this coastline area for a group of Barbadians who had been squeezed out of their local economy and were looking for a new land to settle. Port Royal Sound, Hilton found, was a great natural harbor. He wrote a detailed description of navigating the Sound, carefully measuring the depth, direction of the currents and where the shoals were. One of the navigation marks he used was a high bluff of land on an island at the entrance of the Sound, which he named Hilton Headlands so people could see it and navigate in safely.

From past to present: I admired his adventurousness and his skill, along with his ability to connect with people. I’ve written a book on him, Captain William Hilton and the Founding of Hilton Head Island. picketteducationalresources.com

The character: Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722-93)

The local: Peggy Pickett 

Eliza Lucas was born in Antigua. When she was 10, her father, George Lucas, a firm believer in education, sent her to boarding school in England for five years. In 1739, with his Antiguan sugar plantations now in the hands of creditors, Lucas moved his family to South Carolina, but when war broke out with Spain, he had to report to Antigua for military duties. He left 16-year-old Eliza in charge of his plantations here. Eliza had always been interested in plants, so he sent her different seeds to experiment with, hoping one of them would make a good second crop. She began experimenting with indigo, and after five years of trial and error, it proved a valuable commodity. She married Charles Pinckney In 1744. 

From past to present: Eliza had so many setbacks, but she was determined and kept at it. She was a woman with a foot in three worlds: The West Indies, where she was born; England, where she went to school; and the colonies.
picketteducationalresources.com

The character: Capt. Jack Stoney (1749-1821)

The local: Larry Stine

In 1774 Capt. Jack Stoney left Ireland for Charleston, where he became a licensed privateer, attacking Spanish vessels on his ship, Saucy Jack. He was allowed to keep 80 percent of the profit of whatever he stole, turning over 20 percent to the South Carolina government. With his earnings he bought acreage for an indigo plantation on Hilton Head at Broad Creek and moved there in 1776. But when war broke out, Stoney joined the Patriots, becoming a member of the Beaufort District Militia’s dragoon unit and head of the Muster House. Commanding Saucy Jack, he attacked British ships coming out of the Savannah Harbor. Meanwhile, he and his sons began growing Sea Island cotton, and in 1805 Stoney and his wife moved to a new tabby mansion on Braddock’s Point. He would take up arms once again during The War of 1812. 

From past to present: When I’m in character, I’m very aware he’s Irish, so I try to choose the right words for his period. I listened to YouTube videos of Irish people speaking and learned a few basic phrases. And I say goodbye with an Irish blessing.
419-708-5490

The character: Catherine Adelaide Scott Baynard (1812-54)

The local: Pat Fall

Catherine Scott was only 16 when she married 29-year-old William Baynard, one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina, who had Sea Island cotton plantations in Edisto, Hilton Head and Bluffton. In 1841 William bought the old Stoney plantation at Braddock’s Point from a Charleston bank after the Stoney family went into debt. Unlike most planters who didn’t live on their plantations here, the Baynards would make this their permanent home. Catherine had seven children, the last born after William died in 1849.

From past to present: Catherine and William had a good partnership. While he oversaw the plantations, she ran the household and educated the children. And because of William’s stature in South Carolina, they had to entertain business associates in both Savannah and Charleston. Upon her death at age 41, she was laid to rest in the Baynard Mausoleum at the Zion Chapel of Ease cemetery alongside William, who had designed their matching iron coffins with windows so they could look at each other through eternity. heritagelibrary.org

The character: Dr. Buzzard 

The local: Andy Tate

I chose my fictitious Dr. Buzzard to reflect the iconic Lowcountry legendary shaman known in the Gullah culture and African American folk traditions. The real Dr. Buzzard was a very revered figure. He was a master of herbal medicines, spiritual healing and conjuring. By my portraying and naming my character after him, I’m honoring his legacy. People in rural areas have limited access to modern medical care so they rely on folk traditions and medicines. Dr. Buzzard, in my reality, was trained by his mother. The women who carried the culture were powerful conjure women. The men could go out and circulate in the community and be more visible. 

From past to present: The name carries with it essential mystery, wisdom, and deep understanding of the natural and spiritual world. I want to bring alive the rich cultural tapestry of the Lowcountry  – to create something that younger people would latch onto to carry the culture forward. 646-734-9525

The character: Major Gen. Ormsby Mitchel (1810-62)

The local: John Eddy

Major Gen. Ormsby Mitchel was among the group of the people who came up with the plan and design of Mitchelville, the first self-governing town colony for freed slaves. He envisioned how to build it and make it a thriving structure. He cared about their living conditions, what would happen to them, where they would go and how they would live. It was a collaboration between him and Rufus Saxton, who was a general in Beaufort. He died at 52 from yellow fever, 38 days after he arrived on the island.

From past to present: Mitchel was a real Renaissance man. He went to West Point at the age of 15 and was in the same graduating class as Robert E. Lee. He tutored Jefferson Davis (who was one year ahead of him), and when he graduated at age 19, he became a professor of mathematics there. He was an astronomer who built the first observatory at the University of Cincinnati, and he helped build the first railroad from Cincinnati to Springfield, Ohio. heritagelibrary.org

The character: Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)

The local: Cora Miller

As the Civil War was cranking up, Harriet Tubman came to Beaufort, a stop on the Underground Railroad. Recruited by the Union Army, she became a spy on the Confederate line, working undercover as a nurse and laundress. At the same time, she was listening to what was going on –– their battle plans, where the ammunition was stored, where the food supplies were kept. The Confederates never suspected her because, to them, she was just “a little five-foot Black woman.” Later the Union Army asked Harriet if she would  help recruit enslaved Black men to fight for the Union Army and their freedom. She then was asked to raid the Combahee River, where she recruited 750 men. She was their Moses. They believed in her and trusted her word. Even if they would die, they chose to die for freedom rather than being killed by their owners.

From past to present: During Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, she would speak at town meetings where she’d tell of her struggles and those that others had to go through. I feel that I was born and blessed with her spirit and God uses me as a vessel to tell her story. It’s not me. It’s Harriet speaking. coramllr@gmail.com

The character: Clara Barton (1821-1912)

The local: Rosemary Staples 

Clara Barton was revered as “The Angle of the Battlefield” and came to Hilton Head during the Civil War to treat soldiers after battle. At a time when battlefield medicine was still barbaric, with surgeons sawing off limbs to treat broken bones, nurses followed Florence Nightingale’s “Care, Clean, and Comfort.” Clara went out in the field to help survivors and assist the dying at the Second Battle of Fort Wagner at Charleston in 1863 where the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry composed of Black soldiers, along with other Union troops, sustained heavy casualties. As the war raged, Clara had been at some of the worst battles like Antietam and, while caring for the wounded, had also been notifying soldiers’ families of their deaths. Two years later President Lincoln asked her to head  The Missing Soldier’s Office, which located twenty-two thousand of the missing. She founded The American Red Cross in 1881, serving as its president for 25 years. Then, when the Sea Island hurricane of 1893 swamped the Lowcountry, she came to Beaufort to aid its victims. 

From past to present: Clara kept diaries. On Hilton Head she was good friends with the Quartermaster and lived in a house “twenty rods from the sea.” She wrote about feeling guilt while dining on luxurious food “while my boys back in Virginia are eating stale crackers and moldy pork.” My place, she said, “is with the sick and suffering.” heritagelibrary.org

The character: Frances Gage (1808-1884)

The local: Kathy Smith

Frances Gage was an abolitionist and a suffragist from an early age, speaking out against slavery and advocating for both slaves’ and women’s rights. During the war she worked as a nurse for the Western Sanitary Commission, caring for the injured in Vicksburg, Natchez and Memphis. In 1863 she was appointed superintendent of Parris Island for the Department of the South, in charge of education. There she became best friends with Clara Barton and taught at Mitchelville. 

From past to present: Frances was a journalist and lecturer on abolition, women’s rights and temperance. She wrote children’s books under the pseudonym Aunt Fanny. Despite her prominent role in expanding the vote, she wasn’t as flamboyant as Susan B. Anthony or Elizabeth Cady Stanton, so her place in history gets lost in the shuffle. I want people to remember her. heritagelibrary.org