Hon. Stephen A. Swails (USA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Atkins_Swails

Stephen Atkins Swails (23 February 1832 – 17 May 1900) was a soldier in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Although originally enlisting as a private, he was the first African-American soldier promoted to commissioned rank, as a line officer, in that conflict, as evidenced by the U.S. War Department's initial refusal of that promotion due to his "African descent."[1]

Swails was a State Senator of South Carolina ~• per mother's obit. see her findagrave

Swails was a free black who was so light in coloring that he was often mistaken as white.[1] He was single and employed mostly as a waiter in Cooperstown, New York at the start of the Civil War, and although he fathered several children by Sarah Thompson, he never married her.[2] His enlistment papers state he was employed as a boatman in Elmira, New York when he joined the army.[3] His father, Peter, was a boatman in Elmira as well.In 1863, he answered Frederick Douglass' call to arms and joined the 54th Massachusetts when it began forming, and served in that regiment, eventually being commissioned as an officer, until the end of the war. After the war, he settled in South Carolina and later Washington, D.C., becoming a lawyer and politician.
(snip)
"In May 1864, while the regiment was posted on Morris Island, South Carolina, during the siege of Charleston, Swails' application to muster as a 2nd lieutenant with the regiment was refused by the War Department. The reason given was "Lieutenant Swails' African descent." Colonel William Gurney, the post commander, ordered Swails to remove his officer's uniform and reassume duties as an enlisted man. However, Colonel Hallowell obtained a furlough for Swails and sent him, along with all the necessary paperwork, to Major General John Foster, commander of the Department of the South. Once there, Lieutenant Swails presented his case, and received General Foster's recommendation, which was forwarded to higher authority.[1] Lieutenant Swails then returned to duty with the regiment. In addition to correspondence between the Department of the South, Governor Andrew and the War Department, Lieutenant Swails also received a furlough to travel to Washington to present his own case. He then returned to duty. Finally, on 17 January 1865, orders were received from the War Department, authorizing Stephen Swails to muster as a 2nd lieutenant with the regiment, ending almost a year-long struggle on his behalf by Colonel Hallowell, Governor Andrew and the officers of the 54th. During this period, Swails continued to perform his duties as a line officer in Company D and participated in numerous actions."

After the war, Swails worked as an agent for the Freedmen's Bureau, practiced law in the South, and became active in the political life of South Carolina. He married Susan Aspinall, a mixed-race Charlestonian, who bore him three children, Irene, Stephen Jr. and Florine. (Because Sarah Thompson bore him a son named Stephen Jr., he had two children with that name.) He was the mayor of Kingstree, where he lived from 1868 to 1879. He served as a state senator for ten years (1868–1878), including three terms as president pro tem.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10515871

curator note: The early life of Stephen Swails in Columbia, Pennsylvania was marked by the race riots of 1834

newspaper articles mentioning Swails in SC after the war

: 24 Matches · "Senator Swails" in South Carolina
https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/73825106/?terms=%22Senator%...

of particular interest: The News and Herald (Winnsboro, South Carolina)19 Nov 1878, TuePage 1 = https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/83500165/?terms=%22Senator%...

lead article of that edition concerning suffrage and Pres. Rutherford Hayes who was a staunch abolitionist but who, in his victory vs. Tilden, campaigned on a platform of ending Reconstruction, evidently in order to garner support in anti-black southern states. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109642935/south-caroline-state-sen-...

Genealogical Interest

(from wikipedia)
Family
Because of his complicated private life, Stephen Swails' descendants are plentiful, and live in Toronto, upstate New York, Philadelphia, and Atlanta.

One of his surviving grandchildren was James Swails Sr., of Rochester, New York, who died in 2004. His granddaughter, Carolyn Janet Rollins, and another grandson, Robert Swails, are also deceased. Caroline Janet Rollins was a counselor in New Jersey. She married Joseph Tyler Jefferson. They have eight surviving children. Robert Swails Rollins was a Doctor of Internal Medicine, graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He had two sons and a daughters and lived on Long Island, New York. Dr. Robert Swails Rollins was a flight surgeon in the United States Air Force and, after military service, had a practice on Long Island, New York.

Compendium of Newspaper articles

• Oct 1878 DA investigates Swails case https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109696490/inquirer-lists-arrests-in... (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Oct 1878 "a sad thing for South Carolina" https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/52213052/?terms=%22Swails%2... Philadelphia Times abjures Swails
• Jan 1879 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109695577/teller-committee-jan-1879...
• July 1879 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109695337/philadelphia-times-accuse...
• Aug 1880 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109695756/philadelphia-times-lambas...