Thomas Jefferson Withers (1804 – November 7, 1865) was an American politician from

South Carolina )'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

who served in the

Confederate States Congress The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly of the Confederate States of America that existed from 1861 to 1865. Its actions were for the most part concerned with measures to establish a new nat ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

Biography

Withers was born in

York County, South Carolina York County is a county in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,090, making it the seventh most populous county in the state. Its county seat is the city of York, and its largest city is Rock Hill. The ...

, and was elected as a state court judge in 1846, to fill the vacancy left by the election of Andrew Butler to the US Senate. He represented the state in the Provisional Confederate Congress in 1861 and signed the Confederate States Constitution although it was reported that when taking the oath to the new constitution, he refused to kiss the Bible. Withers is also notable for the sexually explicit letters he wrote in 1826 to a college friend, future governor

James Henry Hammond James Henry Hammond (November 15, 1807 – November 13, 1864) was an attorney, politician, and planter from South Carolina. He served as a United States representative from 1835 to 1836, the 60th Governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844, and ...

, with whom Withers had a homosexual relationship. The letters, which are housed among the Hammond Papers at the South Caroliniana Library, were first published by researcher Martin Duberman in 1981, and are remarkable for being rare documentary evidence of same-sex relationships in the

antebellum United States In the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit= before the war) spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by ...

.Duberman, Martin Bauml. "'Writhing Bedfellows': 1826." ''Journal of Homosexuality'' 6, no. 1 (1981): 85-101.
Reprinted in ''The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays''. Eds. Salvatore J. Licata, and Robert P. Petersen. New York: Haworth Press, 1981. Withers married a Miss Boykin (sister-in-law of Stephen Decatur Miller, governor of South Carolina), with whom he had several children. Withers died at Camden in

Kershaw County, South Carolina Kershaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 65,403. The county seat and largest city is Camden. The county was created in 1791 from parts of Claremont, Lancaster, Fairfie ...

, and was interred at the Quaker Cemetery in the same city.

References

External links

Political Graveyard
* 1804 births 1865 deaths 19th-century American politicians LGBT people from South Carolina Bisexual politicians Burials in South Carolina Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States People from York County, South Carolina People of South Carolina in the American Civil War Signers of the Confederate States Constitution Signers of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States South Carolina Democrats South Carolina lawyers Bisexual men 19th-century American lawyers {{SouthCarolina-politician-stub