The Baptist Church of Beaufort descended from Euhaw Baptist Church on Edisto Island. The first meeting house on this site was built in 1794, and in 1795 Henry Holcombe moved to Beaufort and became the first mission pastor. The church was formally constituted as an independent church in 1804, and the first burial took place in 1809. Before the Civil War, 3,557 of its 3,723 members were enslaved people. The current Greek Revival building dates to 1844 and was constructed under the pastorate of Richard Fuller, who served from 1833 to 1847. During the Civil War, the church served as a Union Army hospital for black troops. In December 1862, Rev. Solomon Peck read the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation from the pulpit to an audience of escaped slaves and black soldiers. After the war, nearly all black members left to join newly formed black churches.