The Real Story Behind The Old Sheldon Church Ruins in South Carolina Remains A Mystery

What’s up with this new version of what really happened to Sheldon Church near Yemassee? Is ANY of it true?

After a comment about Old Sheldon Church appeared from a loyal reader on a recent article, we decided to chase down some more information. I visited in person, wandering through the ruins and wondering about the comment our reader had made. The images below are from my visit last week to Old Sheldon Church near Yemassee, SC.

First, a little background.

Robin Jarvis

Sheldon Church was first completed in 1753 and was then known as Prince William's Parish Church.

On the nomination form submitted in 1990 to the obtain a placement in the National Register of Historic Places there is a "suggestion" that Prince William's Parish Church was the first known attempt in America to imitate a Greek temple (architecturally). However the application contained no corroborating evidence to support that "suggestion." But given the architecture, it stands to reason that at the very least it was an attempt at imitation.

Robin Jarvis

Robin Jarvis

During the Revolutionary War, Prince William's Parish Church was used as a strategic political and military site. As if that wasn't enough to make it a target, the Bull family vault was used to hide arms and ammunition. Consequently, the church was burned by the British in 1779.

Robin Jarvis

It would lay in ruin for the next 40+ years before it was rebuilt and opened again in 1826. Now called "Sheldon Church," the new structure was patterned after the old and reconstructed around the original remaining 3-foot-thick brick walls.

Robin Jarvis

Sheldon Church was named as such to sync up with a local plantation named "Sheldon Hall." Both of these were named after the Bull family home, also called "Sheldon Hall," in Warwickshire, England.

Robin Jarvis

For most of the last 150 years, the commonly held belief about Sheldon Church has been that Sherman marched across the border from Savannah in February of 1865 and burned Sheldon to the ground...well, to the brick, anyway.

Robin Jarvis

But was it all just war propaganda? Could the North have grossly overstated the triumph of that particular event either to intimidate or to look good in reports? Or perhaps Sherman wanted to be sure it looked like he was following orders so maybe he stretched the truth accordingly?

Robin Jarvis

An alternative account of what happened was recently recovered in earnest family correspondence suggests this might be the case. In 2001, the South Carolina Press released a book of edited letters sent between family members of a prominent Beaufort, SC family. The letters were written to and from family members between 1851 and 1868. The family was based in Beaufort and had a home on Bay Street. What's more, the patriarch of the family, the Reverend Charles Leverett, served at Sheldon Church until he retired in 1859. After the start of the war, Rev. Leverett and his wife fled to property they had in Columbia.

Robin Jarvis

The Leveretts' son, Milton Leverett, was running the family plantation near Beaufort. His parents remained on their property in Columbia until after the war. Thus, there was extensive correspondence among the now-separated family members.

Robin Jarvis

And this is where the waters either get very muddy, or super clear. The website, Reconstructing Reconstruction reports that in the book, The Leverett Letters: Correspondence of a South Carolina Family, 1851-1868", Milton wrote a letter to his mother dated February 1866. This was a year after Sherman claimed to have burned Sheldon Church.

Robin Jarvis

According to the website's account of the published letters, Milton specifically tells his mother that Sheldon Church was not burned, but just all torn up on the inside and that it could be repaired. In further correspondence he also relates to his mother that the newly freed people are having to find - or make - places to live and that he is "seeing parts of Sheldon Church all over Beaufort."

Robin Jarvis

So, was Sheldon Church relatively OKAY after the War of Northern Aggression? Did Sherman exaggerate the damages? The correspondence of a local area resident who actually saw the church after Sherman claimed to have burned it certainly points to the possibility.

Robin Jarvis

Milton Leverett's letter to his mother explicitly says the church was not burned and that the damage could be repaired. Later correspondence says he's seeing parts of Sheldon all over Beaufort. Was our beloved Old Sheldon Church stripped of reusable wares and reused by the locals for repairs or buildings of their own?

Robin Jarvis

Perhaps this may be one mystery that will remain...a mystery.

What do you think happened? Do you believe it was burned the second time or do you think it was stripped of reuseable parts that were repurposed in the buildings throughout Beaufort? We’d love to hear your opinion, so tell us in our comments on our Facebook page!