Exhibits

Appomattox

April 9, 1865

One of the best of the Civil War sketch artists, Alfred R. Waud (1828 - 1891) was born in London, England. He migrated to the U.S. in the 1850s. During the first months of the Civil War, he joined Harper's Weekly as a "Special Artist".

At the time of the Civil War, photography was a slow, cumbersome process involving chemicals and long exposure times. Battlefield action was recorded by sketch artists with pencil and paper.

Today Waud's original drawings are housed at the Library of Congress, donated in 1918 as part of the J. Pierpont Morgan Collection. His sketch, "Custer receiving the flag of Truce Appomatox -- 1865", is among them.

Robert Moorman Sims

"Columbia, Dec. 10--Col. R.M. Sims died at his residence in Shandon yesterday after an illness of a fortnight.

"Robert Moorman Sims was born December 8th, 1836, and was reared in Lancaster county, and graduated at the South Carolina Military Academy in 1856. He had scarcely settled in business when the outbreak of the war gave the signal for him to rally in defense of his State. He volunteered as private in Capt. John D. Wylie's company of the Ninth South Carolina volunteer regiment, commanded by James D. Blanding. It was not long before he was appointed adjutant and inspector general of Bratton's brigade, and in that capacity he saw hard fighting and bore his full share of it. He was of that cool unobtrusive courage that stops not to think of ostentation in the performance of duty, but seems simply to ignore danger. After passing through several desperate campaigns, Col. Sims rose by promotion to the adjutant generalcy of regiment's corps. He was several times wounded. In the trenches around Richmond he saw the corps gradually dwindle away under the hammer strokes of overwhelming numbers, and it was his sad duty to bear the flag of truce at Appomatox that led to the capitulation of Lee's shattered columns. This flag, a simple towel, was borrowed by a Federal officer on the field and was not returned. It is now in the possession of Mrs. Gen. Custer, who preserves it as a precious souvenir.

"Returning home, Col. Sims was elected to the State Senate by the Democrats of Lancaster, at a time when the Legislature was overwhelmingly Republican. Finding that he was powerless he refused to serve longer.

"He was engaged in business in Rock Hill when the year 1876 opened in the midst of a political storm.

"Col. R.M. Sims was nominated for Secretary of State. He served as Secretary of State for three terms and voluntarily declined re-election, although a re-nomination was reasonably assured.

"During Cleveland's first administration Col. Sims was boarding officer of the port of Charleston. Since then he has been in private life.

"Col. Sims was a brave man, an honest man, a true man, a Christian. Duty with him was love, he never shirked it. When in the storm of battle, the vicissitudes of politics, or the trials and temptations of private life. His pleasant, genial, unaffected manners made him friends everywhere. In him pass away another of the Old Guard--valiant in arms, patient and courteous in peace.

"Col. Sims was first married to Miss Catherine C. Lucky, of Mecklenburg, N.C., who bore him two sons and died in 1867. In 1869 he married Miss Ada Sims of Columbia, who with several children survive him."

Obituary from the Lancaster Ledger
December 14, 1898

Notes:

John Dunovant Wylie (1833 - 1894) was Captain of the Lancaster Greys.

George Armstrong Custer (1839 - 1876) was the federal officer who borrowed the towel used by Sims as the flag of truce. The towel is now in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution.

Sims' first wife, Catherine (Lucky) Sims (1835 - 1867) is buried at Six Mile Presbyterian Church, in Lancaster County, SC. Robert Moorman Sims and his second wife, Ada Walton Sims (1847 - 1929) are buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Columbia, SC.