“R” is for Rivers, Prince (ca. 1824-1887)

“R” is for Rivers, Prince (ca. 1824-1887). Soldier, statesman. Born an enslaved person in Beaufort, Rivers learned to read and write despite the legal and customary barriers. During the occupation of Beaufort by United States forces, Rivers joined the First South Carolina Volunteers, one of the first African American Union regiments, reorganized later as the Thirty-third U.S. Colored troops. After the war, Rivers resided in Edgefield and the new county of Aiken. He was a representative to the 1868 constitutional convention and represented Edgefield County (1868-1872) and Aiken County (1872-1874) in the South Carolina House of Representatives. While serving as a trial justice in Aiken, Prince Rivers tried unsuccessfully to mediate a dispute between Black militia and White Red Shirts about an incident in Hamburg—and the tragic result was the infamous Hamburg Massacre.