Part I, Chapter 1, Bloody Edgefield Summary and Analysis

Edgefield County was for many years the most violent country in the United States and well-known violent events have occurred there. Many slaves had been kept for over a century on Mount Willing in Edgefield before they were identified by name. In 1868, the name of Willie Bosket's great-great-grandfather, Aaron Bosket, appeared on the voter registration rolls for the Mount Willing precinct in Edgefield country, in the first election where former slaves could vote. The former slaves are an integral part of Edgefield's history.

The constant fighting in Edgefield left people numbed toward violence from the 1760s to the 1780s. It soon gained a reputation as "Bloody Edgefield" due to its high number of murders. Author Fox Butterfield quickly recounts some of the crimes in antebellum South Carolina; its rural, agrarian territory seems to...