Captain Richard T. Morrison II (1816–1910) was an American secessionist, settler, military officer, politician, and farmer who was one of the founders Where in the World Is McClellanville?: The Story of a favored place in old St. James, Santee Parish, by Walter Bonner, pp. 1–15 of McClellanville, South Carolina. Origins Volume Two, May 2006, September 2017, Edited by Selden B. Hill, pp. 5-15 He served as a state representative for South Carolina between 1860 and 1861 where he voted for secession from the United States, thus directly causing the start of the American Civil War. In this time, he was serving the South Carolina government, through its secession, into its month or so long independence by itself, and then its joining with the Confederacy, and the start of the Civil War. He fought in the American Civil War and served as an officer, seeing action at many major battles. He survived the war, alongside his sons and returned back to South Carolina. McClellanville and the St. James, Santee Parish (SC) (Images of America), by Susan Hoffner McMillan, Selden Baker "Bud" Hill., pp. 20-42 Home in the Village: McClellanville in Old St. James Santee Parish, by Walter Bonner, 2002, pp. 15-25
Early life Richard Tillia Morrison II was born on March 21, 1816, to Richard Tillia Morrison I Tracing the Morrison Family: From Laurel Hill Plantation to Scotland, by Edwin F. Holcombe Jr., pp. 5-20 and Elizabeth Toomer Legare. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970: Volume: 300 He married his wife Elizabeth Ann Venning around 1837 French Santee, A Huguenot Settlement in Colonial South Carolina, by Susan Baldwin Bates and Harriott Cheves Leland and he married his second wife Eliza circa. 1860. Between his two wives, he had a total of 17 children. St. James Santee Plantation Parish, History and Records, 1685-1925, by Anne Baker Leland Bridges and Roy Williams III, pp. 10-50 Morrison was a 3rd great-grandson of John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675–1732), who was a leader of the Jacobite rising of 1715. He was also a 2nd great-grandson of Daniel Legare, a representative to the South Carolina Provincial Congress.
Political career State Representative Richard Morrison served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1860 to 1861.https://www.carolana.com/SC/1800s/antebellum/sc_antebellum_44th_general_assembly_members.html? In this time the South Carolina House of Representatives voted on secession and created the short lived South Carolina Republic, which existed until it was joined in secession by the other states of the Southern United States in the creation of the Confederate States of America.
Military service Morrison joined the Confederate Army as soon as the war broke out, joining in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861 with his sons, Richard III, Robert, and James. https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=6C74BCBC-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A He brought his own horse and served as an officer in Hampton's Legion, seeing action at many of the wars major battles. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia as a cavalryman until his unit was moved into North Carolina as part of the Carolina Campaign.Library of Virginia, Confederate Military Records Hampton Legion Muster book, 1861-1864, University South Caroliniana Society Program, 1991, p. 50 The Gilder Lehrman Institute, Charles Huston Letter, June 18, 1862, p. 6.Confederate Rolls of South Carolina, Hampton's Legion
Later life and death After returning home to his plantation around Jeremy Creek Origins Volume One, July 2000-March 2005, edited by Selden B. Hill and the Santee River, Traditions & Reminiscences of St. James, Santee Parish, By David Doar & Selden B. Hill, The Agricultural Society of St. James Santee, July 4, 1907. he and another local land owner named A.J. McClellan sold off some of their land after the war to create the town of McClellanville."United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (December 12, 2017), R T Morrison, 1860. This was a place where people would go to get away from the Mosquitos and the summer fevers that plagues many of the surrounding lowlands. Soon after its founding in the 1860s, the village became the social and economic center for a wide area that produced timber, rice, cotton, naval stores, and seafoods. The Village I Remember, by Henry Toomer Morrison, compiled and edited by Selden B. Hill Richard Morrison lived on his plantation until his death in 1910 at the age of 94."South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965", database with images, FamilySearch (April 5, 2018), Richard Morrison in entry for Minnie Lofton, 8 Nov 1920; citing , Lofton, Minnie, 1920, Department of Archives and History, State Records Center, Columbia; FHL microfilm 1,913,594.
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