Abbeville, South Carolina
Abbeville is a city in Abbeville County, South Carolina, 86 miles (138 km) west of Columbia. The population was 5,840 at the 2000 census, and center of a total urban cluster population of 6,038. It is the county seat of Abbeville CountyTemplate:GR.
Geography
Abbeville is located at 34°10′43″N 82°22′45″W / 34.17861°N 82.37917°WInvalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (34.178572, -82.379200)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.2 km² (5.9 mi²), all land.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 5,840 people, 2,396 households, and 1,574 families residing in the city. The population density was 384.1/km² (995.2/mi²). There were 2,654 housing units at an average density of 174.6/km² (452.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 50.46% White, 48.48% African American, 0.12% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.19% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.75% of the population.
There were 2,396 households out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were married couples living together, 23.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.97.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.2% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 80.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $25,756, and the median income for a family was $30,040. Males had a median income of $28,339 versus $21,824 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,274. About 16.3% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.2% of those under age 18 and 20.9% of those age 65 or over.
Abbeville is the center of a small urban cluster with a total population of 6,038 (2000 census).
Abbeville and the Civil War
Abbeville has the unique distinction of being both the birthplace and the deathbed of the Confederacy. On November 22, 1860, a meeting was held at Abbeville, at a site since dubbed "Secession Hill", to launch South Carolina's secession from the Union; one month later, the state of South Carolina became the first state to secede.
It was also the birthplace of noted states rights advocate John C. Calhoun.
At the end of the Civil War, with the Confederacy in shambles, Confederate President Jefferson Davis fled Richmond, Virginia and headed south, stopping for a night in Abbeville at the home of his friend Armistead Burt. It was on May 2, 1865, in the front parlor of what is now known as the Burt-Stark Mansion that Jefferson Davis officially acknowledged the dissolution of the Confederate government.
The Abbeville Horror
Greater Abbeville has recently become an area favored by people who refuse to recognize government authority and actually seek to disrupt the normal operation of the government by filing numerous lawsuits thus tying up court dockets, disobeying lawful claims to land rights-of-way, and threatening government officials or law enforcement agents trying to thwart such behavior.
On December 8, 2003, extremists and so-called "sovereign citizens" Steven, Rita, and Arthur Bixby of 4 Union Church Road, West Abbeville, who stood to lose land due to the state's need to expand its right-of-way along South Carolina Highway 72 (an expansion already provided for by the South Carolina Department of Transportation's 1960 purchase of the land in question), became entangled in a 14-hour standoff with the authorities, after brutally murdering Abbeville Deputy Sheriff Daniel Wilson, who had approached the Bixbys' home to ask them to cease and desist disrupting the highway widening project. Constable Donnie Ouzts, who responded to the scene upon failing to hear anything from Wilson, was shot by Arthur Bixby in the back as he exited his patrol vehicle.
The gun battle that ensued during the standoff between Abbeville police, South Carolina state troopers, and the Bixbys became so violent that the police had to replenish their ammunition supply several times. Barrages of more than 100 shots were common from the police, in order to protect themselves from the Bixbys and their arsenal of weapons, which included the 7mm handgun used to kill Wilson. The Bixby home was completely destroyed by the gunfire from both sides. Media estimates have pegged the total number of rounds fired by both sides at around 3500.
In the evening of December 8, the Bixbys surrendered to Abbeville police (only after tear gas and high-intensity 5X pepper spray were sprayed into the house for about an hour). Arthur and Rita Bixby are currently in jail in Abbeville County. Steven Bixby was moved to the Lexington County jail in April, due to confidentiality breaches regarding expert witnesses. Steven will be the first to be tried; his trial is slated to begin in Abbeville County on October 2, 2006, before a jury chosen from Chesterfield County. All three Bixbys face the death penalty.
The events of December 8, 2003 in Abbeville are sometimes referred to as the "Abbeville horror" and are often compared, both by the government and extremist citizens, to the tragedies at Waco and Ruby Ridge. This horror is magnified by the fact that Abbeville is a small, close-knit town where violent crime of this nature is essentially unheard of.
External links
- [1] GABBIN About Abbeville: The Greater Abbeville Information Network, Abbeville's home page
- [2] Abbeville Opera House home page
- [3] "The Abbeville Horror" from the Southern Poverty Law Center. A full account of the history of the Bixby family as well as the massacre of December 8, 2003.