"C" is for Cainhoy Riot (October 16, 1876)

"C" is for Cainhoy Riot (October 16, 1876). The Cainhoy Riot was one of many deadly frays that erupted during the state’s 1876 gubernatorial campaign. As with other outbreaks of racial violence in 1876, it involved white gun clubs and the African American militia.  But, Cainhoy ended with a difference: when it was over more whites lay dead than blacks. A Republican political meeting was scheduled for October 16^th at the Brick House, some thirty miles up the Cooper River from Charleston. Hundreds of black militiamen attended the gathering. When a white Charleston County Democratic gun club began heckling the speakers, a scuffle ensued and shots rang out. The affair at Cainhoy finally prompted federal action. President Grant sent 1,200 soldiers to South Carolina but they could not quell all disturbances or protect all Republicans.