Edward McCrady, Jr.

After graduating from the College of Charleston he read the law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1855. In 1854 he was elected Major of the Charleston Rifle Battalion, a local militia unit. He resigned that commission in 1860 to Captain a Guards company and was in State service at the start of the war.

He enrolled for Confederate service in Charleston on 25 June 1861 as Captain, Company K - the "Irish Volunteers" - First South Carolina Infantry and was appointed Major of the regiment on 14 December 1861. He was wounded in action at Second Manassas in August 1862 while in command as senior officer present.

He led the regiment in Maryland until Colonel Hamilton rejoined it in Frederick about 9 September and he commanded the right wing of the regiment in action at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in October (to date from 1 July 1862) and was in action again at Fredericksburg, VA in December 1862. He was injured there or in early 1863 and furloughed home. He resigned his commission for disability on 4 January 1864 and commanded the camp of instruction at Madison, FL later that year.

He returned to his law practice in Charleston and became prominent representing banks and railroads. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1880 to 1890; noted for writing the Eight Box Law of 1882 which effectively disenfranchised African-American citizens in South Carolina. He was also appointed Major General of South Carolina Militia in 1882.

Although not a trained historian, he wrote a 4 volume history of South Carolina (1890-1902) and books of local history, was elected president of the South Carolina Historical Society in 1899, and was Vice President of the American Historical Association in 1902. He was also Senior Warden of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Charleston by 1897.

His service from Salley1 and Caldwell.2 His role at Sharpsburg from Colonel Hamilton's Report. Personal details from a bio sketch in the South Carolina Encyclopedia online from the University of South Carolina, his obituary in the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine (January 1904), and from family genealogists. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Mary Fraser Davie (1840-1924) in 1863.

Some genealogies have his birth name as Edward Johnson McCrady, Jr., though he doesn't seem to have ever used a middle name. His father Edward, Sr. (1802-1892) was raised by his grandfather William Johnson (1741-1818).

More about McCrady's Eight Box Law is online from the South Carolina Encyclopedia.

His papers are in the collection of the South Carolina Historical Society, Charleston [finding aid].

04/08/1833; Charleston, SC

11/01/1903; Charleston, SC; burial in Saint Philip's Episcopal Church Cemetery, Charleston, SC