History
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Prior to the Civil War, Beaufort was home to some of South Carolina's wealthiest citizens, who had grown rich from Sea Island cotton harvested by the people they enslaved. In 1863, after more than a year of U.S. military occupation, the prewar planters' homes and properties were auctioned for unpaid taxes. Some formerly enslaved people purchased the mansions owned by antebellum planters, and by 1866 downtown Beaufort was a thriving African American community.
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Beaufort, South Carolina · United States
