One bright spot for the prisoners at the Florence stockade came during the 1864 presidential election between Abraham Lincoln and George McClellan. Quite magnanimously the Confederate authorities at Florence allowed the prisoners in the stockade to vote for either candidate in order “to test the sentiments of the prisoners,” and thus form some estimate of the manner the states would go in the pending election. Two bags were placed within the stockade and prisoners were asked to place a black bean in one bag for Lincoln or a white bean in another for McClellan. In the Florence stockade balloting Lincoln soundly defeated McClellan by six thousand to fifteen hundred votes.
Village to City: Florence, South Carolina 1853-1893
Eugene N. Zeigler Jr.
Florence Citizens Committee Plans March Mass Meeting
BROOME, I
New Journal and Guide (1916-2003); Mar 3, 1951;
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Black Newspaper Collection
pg. B9
The Florence Stockade
drawn by Robert Knox Sneden
The Florence Stockade
drawn by Robert Knox Sneden
