Henry Shultz: Difference between revisions
m →References: clean up; http->https (see this RfC) using AWB |
Complete rewrite, added Early Life from Voight-Lassen article |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{for|the economist|Henry Schultz}} |
{{for|the economist|Henry Schultz}} |
||
{{Infobox person |
|||
'''Henry Shultz''' was an eccentric entrepreneur in the antebellum American South. Born in [[Hamburg, Germany]], he came to [[Augusta, Georgia]] in 1806, built an admirable bridge across the [[Savannah River]], and founded the town of [[Hamburg, South Carolina]]. He died in poverty October 13, 1851 after a colorful career. |
|||
| name = Henry Shultz |
|||
| image = |
|||
| alt = |
|||
| caption = |
|||
| birth_name = Klaus Hinrich Klahn |
|||
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1776|10|10}} |
|||
| birth_place = Dahme, Duchy of Holstein |
|||
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1851|10|13|1776|10|10}} |
|||
| death_place = Hamburg, South Carolina, USA |
|||
| nationality = Danish |
|||
| other_names = |
|||
| occupation = Developer, entrepreneur |
|||
| years_active = |
|||
| known_for = Founder of Hamburg, S.C. |
|||
| notable_works = |
|||
| signature = |
|||
}} |
|||
Henry Shultz (October 10, 1776{{spaced ndash}}October 13, 1851) was a colorful entrepreneur in Europe and the American South. He built an important bridge across the [[Savannah River]] at [[Augusta, Georgia]], and founded the town of [[Hamburg, South Carolina]]. |
|||
The following passage is sufficiently comprehensive, and written with interesting style. Coming from a hard-to-find source, this history merits reproduction in its entirety. |
|||
== Early Life == |
|||
{{Quotation|align=center|. . . . But before giving my recollections of Columbia and Lexington, I must devote some time to that extraordinary mechanical genius and practical engineer and financier, Henry Shultz, whose character and career were too strange and remarkable to be passed over without notice in a paper of this kind, although it may occupy considerable space. |
|||
Shultz was born Klaus Hinrich Klahn in the village of Dahme on the Baltic coast of [[Holstein]], at the time a duchy in personal union with the kingdom of [[Denmark]]. He left Dahme for the port city of [[Lübeck]] at age 16, in time becoming a wealthy trader there and in nearby [[Wismar]]. Economic dislocation during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] pushed Klahn’s business into failure. He changed his name, escaped his debtors to [[Altona, Hamburg | Altona]], near [[Hamburg, Germany]], and finally stowed away on a ship bound for America.<ref>Voigt-Lassen 1965</ref> |
|||
== Career == |
|||
On returning from Augusta I passed through Hamburg, which Shultz had just fairly started to build in the midst of a hideous swamp which he had ditched and drained, opposite to Augusta, with the view of rivalling that city, by |
|||
Shultz came to Augusta, Georgia in 1806 and took up as a laborer on the Savannah River [[Pole boat | pole boats]]. These carried upcountry produce such as tobacco (and later, cotton) to [[Savannah, Georgia]], and returned with manufactured items such as metal goods, paper, and cloth. In 1809 he purchased his own boat.<ref>Cordle 1940, 79</ref> |
|||
intercepting the large quantity of cotton and other produce that went there every year from our side of the river. [Shultz founded Hamburg, SC July 2, 1821. Cashin 1980:72.] |
|||
In 1814 he engaged the support of a 'mechanic' named Lewis Cooper, secured financing, and drove the construction of a Savannah River bridge at Augusta. Two previous bridges had been swept away by floods, but his bridge proved remarkably successful and served the city well until 1888.<ref>Cordle 1940, 79-80</ref> |
|||
Originally from the ancient free city of Hamburg, on the Elbe, he had come to Augusta some ten years previously with no capital but his head and his hands. [Shultz arrived in Augusta in 1806. Cordle 1940:79.] Engaging as a day laborer on a pole boat, he soon began to build and run his own boats to and from Savannah. Then he erected the Augusta Bridge, on a plan of his own, which stood for fifty years or more, uninjured by freshets that swept away others constructed by professional architects according to the most approved scientific principles. [Completed in 1814, the bridge served for 75 years until destroyed in 1888. ''Augusta Chronicle'', 12 Sept 1888, p 1 col 6.] In connection with his partner, John McKinne, he established the Bridge Bank of Augusta, and issued bills that, by their prompt redemption, obtained a wide circulation in the Southern States and were preferred by many people to all others. His banking house stood at the Augusta end of the bridge, on the north side of the street leading from it to and across Broad street, and at one time he owned a number of other houses on the same range. But difficulties arose between him and some of the other Augusta banks, and, after a long struggle, in which each by turns had the advantage, they managed to present more of his bills than he could meet, had them protested, sued on, and by a summary process, which he tried to resist, levied on, sold and bought in the bridge and all his other property in Augusta. He struggled to the last, refusing to vacate the premises till dispossessed by main force, under an order of the Court, and then resorted to the expedient of erecting a toll gate at the other end of the bridge, where he exacted payment from all passengers, until prohibited by an injunction from the United States Court, after prolonged and extensive litigation, in which [[Andrew Pickens Butler| Judge [Andrew Pickens] Butler]], of Edgefield, and [[Richard H. Wilde]], of Augusta, were opposing counsel. |
|||
Shultz took advantage of the great success of his bridge, using it to capitalize the Bridge Company of Augusta, complete with currency known as 'Bridge Bills' that circulated widely.<ref>Cordle 1940, 80</ref> |
|||
[[Image:AugustaBridgeCompany5.jpg|thumb|400px|"Bridge Bill"]] |
[[Image:AugustaBridgeCompany5.jpg|thumb|400px|"Bridge Bill"]] |
||
All of this came to an end during the [[Panic of 1819]]. The Bridge Company failed, the Bridge Bills became worthless, and the bridge itself fell into the hands of a creditor. The enraged Shultz concluded that the citizens of Augusta conspired against him to take away his bridge.<ref>Cordle 1940, 80-81</ref> Driven to desperation, Shultz attempted suicide with a pistol in his mouth, but survived.<ref>Scott 1884, 27</ref> |
|||
In a fit of desperation, on the day when this injunction was enforced, he attempted to commit suicide by discharging a loaded pistol in his mouth, but it happened to range upwards and outwards, so that the load came out between his eyes, frightfully mutilating him for the time, and leaving indelible marks of the powder in his face, yet, strange to say, he recovered, with his eyesight unimpaired. His Hamburg project proved measurably successful; the town grew and prospered for several years, enjoying an extensive trade, to the serious detriment of Augusta. The Legislature incorporated the place, Shultz being Mayor, and chartered the Bank of Hamburg, of which Wyatt W. Starke (Father of William Pinckney Starke, Esq.) was first President, and Hiram Hutchinson, Cashier. [This was the second Bank of Hamburg. Notes of the first, announced 1824, were signed by J. M. Tillman and Henry Shultz. Cordle 1940:90.] But a fatality, caused apparently by Shultz's violent temper, baffled all his efforts. A trunk was stolen from a wagon yard in the town, and he, as Mayor, had a young man from the country arrested on suspicion of having committed the theft. To make him confess, the Mayor ordered him to be severely whipped, in consequence thereof he died, and Shultz was indicted for murder, imprisoned many months at [[Edgefield, South Carolina|Edgefield]], and narrowly escaped ending his turbulent and eventful life on the gallows. [Shultz was convicted of manslaughter in October 1827, and received the not-unusual sentence of six months imprisonment. Cordle 1940:93.] |
|||
As revenge, Shultz enlisted the support of property owners on the opposite side of the river, and in 1821 founded the town of Hamburg, South Carolina. The town grew quickly and by the end of 1821 had 84 houses and 200 inhabitants, directly competing with Augusta in its role as an upriver trading point. Shultz basically ruled the town as its 'Proprieter' and worked continuously to improve it by constructing improvements, increasing its water and road connections, and encouraging the opening of a bank.<ref>Cordle 1940, 82</ref> |
|||
I saw him frequently while Autocrat of Hamburg, and long after when he haunted the halls of the Legislature vainly seeking redress or revenge for his losses in Augusta. A tall, erect old man, wearing a heavy Waterloo coat that reached his heels, and bearing, as it were, the brand of Cain on his forehead. |
|||
Shultz relentlessly and flamboyantly promoted his town. He used the newspapers to brag about Hamburg's success and deride the hated Augusta. Playing on the theme of retaining South Carolina commerce within the State, he successfully appealed to the legislature for tax exemptions and loans, that he used to buy a steamboat and construct buildings. He founded a Mechanics Society, and conducted a Mechanics Festival that amounted to an annual pep rally for his town.<ref>Cordle 1940, 83-85</ref> |
|||
"At Shultz's death he left a will bequeathing all his right, title and interest in the bridge to his friends Jones and Kennedy. They employed Carroll & Bacon of Edgefield to look into the matter and were advised by their counsel to invoke from the Legislature the right of eminent domain on the part of this State in one-half of the Savannah River, and to grant them the privilege of erecting a toll gate at the South Carolina end of the bridge. This was done, and when the President of the bridge company in Augusta threatened to demolish the South Carolina toll gate by firing a cannon at it, Jones replied that two could play at that game, reminding him that Shultz had left a couple of old cannon on the |
|||
hill in Hamburg, which was six hundred feet above Augusta, and that he would certainly return the fire. Finally the case was compromised by the Augusta owners paying ten thousand dollars to Shultz's heirs under the will. His famous anti-climax toast, given when we were trying non-intercourse as a remedy for the [[Tariff of 1828|tariff]], was: 'Freemen's rights and ''homespun''.' . . . |Edwin J. Scott|Random Recollections of a Long Life pp. 25-28}} |
|||
Hamburg grew quickly until Shultz was derailed by a series of mishaps. A suspect in Shultz's custody died during the investigation of a trunk stolen from a wagon. Shultz was confined in the district jail at [[Edgefield, South Carolina|Edgefield]], and in a widely reported trial was convicted of manslaughter. He was sentenced to six months confinement, and then to be branded on the hand with the letter 'M'. Shultz obtained a pardon from the governor, and apparently escaped the branding.<ref>Stokes 1951, 249</ref> But in the meantime, half of Hamburg was sold away in a Sheriff's sale.<ref>Cordle 1940, 91</ref> |
|||
In 1828 Shultz found himself in jail again, this time for bankruptcy. While Hamburg itself had been a measured success, Shultz had difficulty getting paid for rents and for the sale of lots. Shultz was forced to turn his remaining assets over to his creditors, which included the State of South Carolina.<ref>Cordle 1940, 91-92</ref> In the following years he was able to obtain some forgiveness and renewed support from the state, and despite his diminished role, continued to govern and support what he continued to call 'his' town.<ref>Hughes, 2010</ref> |
|||
== Death and Legacy == |
|||
Shultz was continually forced to sell off properties in order to maintain himself. He died intestate and in poverty on October 13, 1851 at the age of 75 in Hamburg, S.C. To his death he maintained his alias and was generally believed to have been born in 'Hamburg on the Elbe'.<ref>Hughes, 2010</ref> |
|||
Whether coincidence or not, Hamburg quickly declined during the 1850s, and by the time of the War was a ghost town.<ref>Chapman 1897, 20</ref> The town enjoyed a resurgence during Reconstruction as a home for displaced freedmen, but in 1876 was the site of the [[Hamburg Massacre]].<ref>Budiansky 2008, 221-254</ref> Hamburg once again dwindled until its final destruction in a Savannah River flood in 1929. |
|||
Shultz Township in present-day Aiken County is named in his honor. |
|||
== Notes == |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
== References == |
== References == |
||
*{{cite book | last = |
*{{cite book | last = Budiansky | first = Stephen | author-link = Stephen Budiansky | title = The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox | year = 2008 | publisher = Viking Penguin | isbn = 0-670-01840-6}} Section VI - pages 221-254. |
||
* {{cite book | last = Chapman | first = John A. | title = History of Edgefield County, South Carolina | year = 1897 | publisher = Various Reprints | isbn = 0-8063-4696-5}} pp. 20 and 236-243 |
|||
*{{cite book | last = Cordle | first = Charles G. | title = Henry Shultz and the Founding of Hamburg, South Carolina. Studies in Georgia History and Government | year = 1940 | publisher = University of Georgia | oclc = 794924 }} 79-93 and 257-263 |
*{{cite book | last = Cordle | first = Charles G. | title = Henry Shultz and the Founding of Hamburg, South Carolina. Studies in Georgia History and Government | year = 1940 | publisher = University of Georgia | oclc = 794924 }} 79-93 and 257-263 |
||
*{{cite book | last = Hughes | first = Peter | title = The Sixth Hamburg Mechanic's Festival. The Carolina Herald and Newsletter, Vol. XXXVIII No. 2 (April, May, June 2010). | year = 2010 | publisher = South Carolina Genealogical Society}} |
|||
*{{cite book | last = Scott | first = Edwin J. | title = Random Recollections of a Long Life, 1806 to 1876 | origyear = 1884 | year = 1969 | publisher = Charles A. Calvo, reprinted by R. L. Bryan Co. | oclc = 5952211 | isbn = 0-8371-1537-X | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bz4VAAAAYAAJ}} pp. 25–28 |
*{{cite book | last = Scott | first = Edwin J. | title = Random Recollections of a Long Life, 1806 to 1876 | origyear = 1884 | year = 1969 | publisher = Charles A. Calvo, reprinted by R. L. Bryan Co. | oclc = 5952211 | isbn = 0-8371-1537-X | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bz4VAAAAYAAJ}} pp. 25–28 |
||
* {{cite book | last = Stokes | first = Thomas L | title = The Savannah | year = 1951 | publisher = University of Georgia Press | isbn = 0-8203-0621-5}} pp. 244-251 |
|||
* {{cite book | last = Voigt-Lassen | first = Irene | title = Ein Dahmer wurde Städtebauer an der Savannah | year = 1965 | publisher = Jahrbuch für Heimatkunde im Kreis Oldenburg/Holstein, 9. Jahrgang}} pp. 245-249 |
|||
== External links == |
== External links == |
||
* [http://henryshultz.wordpress.com/ Henry Shultz and his Town of Hamburg, SC] Accessed |
* [http://henryshultz.wordpress.com/ Henry Shultz and his Town of Hamburg, SC] Accessed December, 2016 |
||
*[http://thewillingtonstudio.com/exhibitions/Augusta%20Historical%20with%20watermark/Enterprise%20on%20the%20Savanna,%2090PPI,%20Oil%20on%20Canvas,%2011-01-05.jpg First Steamboat in Augusta] - Henry Shultz's bridge in the background, accessed |
*[http://thewillingtonstudio.com/exhibitions/Augusta%20Historical%20with%20watermark/Enterprise%20on%20the%20Savanna,%2090PPI,%20Oil%20on%20Canvas,%2011-01-05.jpg First Steamboat in Augusta] - Henry Shultz's bridge in the background, accessed December, 2016 |
||
<!--spacing--> |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shultz, Henry}} |
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shultz, Henry}} |
||
[[Category:People from |
[[Category:People from Holstein]] |
||
[[Category:People from Augusta, Georgia]] |
[[Category:People from Augusta, Georgia]] |
||
| ⚫ | |||
[[Category:1776 births]] |
[[Category:1776 births]] |
||
| ⚫ | |||
Revision as of 22:42, 18 December 2016
Henry Shultz | |
|---|---|
| Born | Klaus Hinrich Klahn October 10, 1776 Dahme, Duchy of Holstein |
| Died | October 13, 1851 (aged 75) Hamburg, South Carolina, USA |
| Nationality | Danish |
| Occupation(s) | Developer, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of Hamburg, S.C. |
Henry Shultz (October 10, 1776 – October 13, 1851) was a colorful entrepreneur in Europe and the American South. He built an important bridge across the Savannah River at Augusta, Georgia, and founded the town of Hamburg, South Carolina.
Early Life
Shultz was born Klaus Hinrich Klahn in the village of Dahme on the Baltic coast of Holstein, at the time a duchy in personal union with the kingdom of Denmark. He left Dahme for the port city of Lübeck at age 16, in time becoming a wealthy trader there and in nearby Wismar. Economic dislocation during the Napoleonic Wars pushed Klahn’s business into failure. He changed his name, escaped his debtors to Altona, near Hamburg, Germany, and finally stowed away on a ship bound for America.[1]
Career
Shultz came to Augusta, Georgia in 1806 and took up as a laborer on the Savannah River pole boats. These carried upcountry produce such as tobacco (and later, cotton) to Savannah, Georgia, and returned with manufactured items such as metal goods, paper, and cloth. In 1809 he purchased his own boat.[2]
In 1814 he engaged the support of a 'mechanic' named Lewis Cooper, secured financing, and drove the construction of a Savannah River bridge at Augusta. Two previous bridges had been swept away by floods, but his bridge proved remarkably successful and served the city well until 1888.[3]
Shultz took advantage of the great success of his bridge, using it to capitalize the Bridge Company of Augusta, complete with currency known as 'Bridge Bills' that circulated widely.[4]
All of this came to an end during the Panic of 1819. The Bridge Company failed, the Bridge Bills became worthless, and the bridge itself fell into the hands of a creditor. The enraged Shultz concluded that the citizens of Augusta conspired against him to take away his bridge.[5] Driven to desperation, Shultz attempted suicide with a pistol in his mouth, but survived.[6]
As revenge, Shultz enlisted the support of property owners on the opposite side of the river, and in 1821 founded the town of Hamburg, South Carolina. The town grew quickly and by the end of 1821 had 84 houses and 200 inhabitants, directly competing with Augusta in its role as an upriver trading point. Shultz basically ruled the town as its 'Proprieter' and worked continuously to improve it by constructing improvements, increasing its water and road connections, and encouraging the opening of a bank.[7]
Shultz relentlessly and flamboyantly promoted his town. He used the newspapers to brag about Hamburg's success and deride the hated Augusta. Playing on the theme of retaining South Carolina commerce within the State, he successfully appealed to the legislature for tax exemptions and loans, that he used to buy a steamboat and construct buildings. He founded a Mechanics Society, and conducted a Mechanics Festival that amounted to an annual pep rally for his town.[8]
Hamburg grew quickly until Shultz was derailed by a series of mishaps. A suspect in Shultz's custody died during the investigation of a trunk stolen from a wagon. Shultz was confined in the district jail at Edgefield, and in a widely reported trial was convicted of manslaughter. He was sentenced to six months confinement, and then to be branded on the hand with the letter 'M'. Shultz obtained a pardon from the governor, and apparently escaped the branding.[9] But in the meantime, half of Hamburg was sold away in a Sheriff's sale.[10]
In 1828 Shultz found himself in jail again, this time for bankruptcy. While Hamburg itself had been a measured success, Shultz had difficulty getting paid for rents and for the sale of lots. Shultz was forced to turn his remaining assets over to his creditors, which included the State of South Carolina.[11] In the following years he was able to obtain some forgiveness and renewed support from the state, and despite his diminished role, continued to govern and support what he continued to call 'his' town.[12]
Death and Legacy
Shultz was continually forced to sell off properties in order to maintain himself. He died intestate and in poverty on October 13, 1851 at the age of 75 in Hamburg, S.C. To his death he maintained his alias and was generally believed to have been born in 'Hamburg on the Elbe'.[13]
Whether coincidence or not, Hamburg quickly declined during the 1850s, and by the time of the War was a ghost town.[14] The town enjoyed a resurgence during Reconstruction as a home for displaced freedmen, but in 1876 was the site of the Hamburg Massacre.[15] Hamburg once again dwindled until its final destruction in a Savannah River flood in 1929.
Shultz Township in present-day Aiken County is named in his honor.
Notes
References
- Budiansky, Stephen (2008). The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox. Viking Penguin. ISBN 0-670-01840-6. Section VI - pages 221-254.
- Chapman, John A. (1897). History of Edgefield County, South Carolina. Various Reprints. ISBN 0-8063-4696-5. pp. 20 and 236-243
- Cordle, Charles G. (1940). Henry Shultz and the Founding of Hamburg, South Carolina. Studies in Georgia History and Government. University of Georgia. OCLC 794924. 79-93 and 257-263
- Hughes, Peter (2010). The Sixth Hamburg Mechanic's Festival. The Carolina Herald and Newsletter, Vol. XXXVIII No. 2 (April, May, June 2010). South Carolina Genealogical Society.
- Scott, Edwin J. (1969) [1884]. Random Recollections of a Long Life, 1806 to 1876. Charles A. Calvo, reprinted by R. L. Bryan Co. ISBN 0-8371-1537-X. OCLC 5952211. pp. 25–28
- Stokes, Thomas L (1951). The Savannah. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0-8203-0621-5. pp. 244-251
- Voigt-Lassen, Irene (1965). Ein Dahmer wurde Städtebauer an der Savannah. Jahrbuch für Heimatkunde im Kreis Oldenburg/Holstein, 9. Jahrgang. pp. 245-249
External links
- Henry Shultz and his Town of Hamburg, SC Accessed December, 2016
- First Steamboat in Augusta - Henry Shultz's bridge in the background, accessed December, 2016
