January 1
1863: Lowcountry planter-turned-abolitionist William Henry Brisbane reads the Emancipation Proclamation aloud at a celebration at the former Smith Plantation in Beaufort. It was the first public reading of the document in the South.
1866: Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, commander of the Military Department of South Carolina, declares the “Black Codes,” under the S.C. Constitution of 1865, void.
1909: Lt. Col. Eli Cole assumes command of the newly created Marine Officers’ School, U.S. Naval Station, Port Royal.
2009: Friends of Hunting Island holds the first Pelican Plunge on the beach on Hunting Island.
2024: The inaugural Port Royal Pirate Plunge is held on The Sands Beach in Port Royal.
2024: Fourteen-year-old Battery Creek High School freshman Jerriemie “L.J.” Jermaine Washington Jr. is killed in a drive-by-shooting at his home in Burton while playing video games in his living room.
January 2
2024: Beaufort’s Theresa McDonald is injured when the plane she is flying crashes in rural Colleton County just after taking off from Beaufort Executive Airport on Lady’s Island. According to the FAA, McDonald was experiencing engine troubles and was attempting to return to the airport at the time of the crash.
2025: Alice Howard (District 4) is elected Chair of the Beaufort County Council. Howard unseated former Chairman Joe Passiment by a vote of 6-5. Anna Maria Tabernick (District 6) was voted the Vice Chair, marking the first time two women had held the top two positions on the Beaufort County Council.
January 3
2025: Former Mayor of the Town of Port Royal, Henry “Luck” Robinson, dies at Beaufort Memorial Hospital at 88 years old. He served as Mayor for 18 years from 1977 to 1995. He also served on Port Royal’s Town Council from 1969 to 1977, and again from 1999 to 2011. He was the first Black man to run for and serve as a Town Councilman and Mayor in Port Royal.
January 4
2021: Joe Passiment (District 6) is re-elected County Council Chairman.
2023: John M. Trask, Jr. dies at age 87 at his home on St. Helena Island. During his lifetime, he worked in the family farming business on St. Helena Island, chartered First Carolina Bank and served as Associate Administrator for Finance and Investment in the Small Business Administration in the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1979. In 1971, he partnered with Marguerite Broz and Betty Waskiewicz to form the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.
January 6
1925: Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Benjamin Paul Cardin is shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant in Seabrook.
— Compiled by Mike McCombs
