“M” is for Memminger, Christopher Gustavus [1803-1888]. Lawyer, politician. A native of Germany, Memminger’s family immigrated to Charleston, where after the death of his mother he was placed in the Charleston Orphan House. He remained there for seven years until adopted by future Governor Thomas Bennett. After graduating from the South Carolina College, he practiced law in Charleston. During the 1850s he was instrumental in the creation of the state’s truly public school system. In 1836 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, serving almost continuously until 1860., He helped draft the Confederacy’s provisional constitution. Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him Secretary of the Treasury. His tenure was difficult. In 1864, with inflation spiraling out of control in the Confederacy, Christopher Gustavus Memminger resigned as Secretary of the Treasury and retired to his home in Flat Rock.
Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.