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

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

who served in the

Confederate States Congress The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly/legislature of the Confederate States of America that existed from February 1861 to April/June 1865, during the American Civil War. Its actions were, ...

during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

Biography

Withers was born in

York County, South Carolina York County is a county on the north central border 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 ...

. In his youth he was a protege of U.S. Senator William Smith and studied at South Carolina College. He was elected as a state court judge in 1846, to fill the vacancy left by the election of

Andrew Butler Andrew Pickens Butler (November 18, 1796May 25, 1857) was an American lawyer, slaveholder, and United States senator from South Carolina who authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois. Database at In 1856, abo ...

to the US Senate. He represented the state in the

Provisional Confederate Congress The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, fully the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America, was a unicameral congress of deputies and delegates called together from the Southern States which became the governing ...

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 South Carolina governor

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

, with whom Withers had a homosexual relationship. The letters, which are housed among the Hammond Papers at the South Carolina Library, were first published by researcher Martin Duberman in 1981, and are notable for being rare evidence of same-sex relationships in the antebellum United States.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 community is Camden. The county was created in 1791 from parts of Claremont, Lancaster, F ...

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

References

External links

Political Graveyard
* 1804 births 1865 deaths LGBTQ people from South Carolina American bisexual men American bisexual politicians Bisexual male politicians 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 19th-century American lawyers {{SouthCarolina-politician-stub