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On Saturday morning, Bluffton resident Larry Hughes will try to capture a bit of that historic moment.
The anniversary of that speech will be commemorated, as the owners of the Stock Farm development will invite the community to come view what's now known as the Secession Oak. Hughes, a former president of the Bluffton Historical Preservation Society, will portray Rhett in full dress during the event.
Hughes describes why some called Rhett the Father of Secession.
Question. Rhett originally is from Beaufort, correct?
Answer. He was born in Beaufort. He was a son of a plantation owner. He really learned to read and write on the plantation from his grandmother. Like a lot of plantation families that weren't truly wealthy, it was a fairly marginal existence as to whether they made or lost money. He didn't have enough money to finish college, but somehow he was able to start a law firm with a cousin. Shortly thereafter he was elected to the South Carolina legislature. After four years he was starting to talk about seditionist acts, according to some. It was early on. He was first and foremost outspoken.
Q. How did it come about that this speech happened in Bluffton?
A. He was the leader of a loose coalition of secessionist-oriented young men. This was a meeting place. The group became tagged as the Bluffton Boys. It was some entitled middle-class plantation folk as well as folks like himself who were mid-range, who didn't come from a lot of money but were trying to emulate aristocracy. He was actually born Robert Barnwell Smith, but changed his last name to Rhett because it sounded more aristocratic.
Q. Sounds like a bit of a character.
A. He is. He is a fascinating guy. ... This was a guy who was born in 1800. About 26 years later he goes to the state legislature, he has no college education. Ten years after that he's elected to Congress. He was no dummy.
Q. What became of him?
A. He had a meteoric rise and a meteoric fall. Really I would say that his address under the Secession Oak was really the ignition phase of his career. At that point he had been in Congress, he had stature. But as he got into the 1850s he began to go down. He tried to start something called the Southern National Party and it was short-lived. He began making some inflammatory comments about North Carolina being ruled by the North, abolitionists degrading Southerners' dignity -- lots of strong talk. At some point he was tagged as a fire-eater. And as you know, if you play with fire you might get burned. He faced some personal problems and the times sort of moved away from him and he sort of moved away from the political process.
He died of cancer in 1876. From what I've read, he's in an unmarked grave somewhere in Charleston.
Q. Is this the first time you've portrayed Rhett?
A. We've talked about it when I was president of the historical society. I'm glad they're trying to give more prominence to the Secession Oak. Maybe we can help give people a sense of what this Bluffton place is all about.
