{{Short description|American secessionist, politician, and veteran of The American Civil War}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Capt. Richard Morrison II | image = Richard T. Morrison II.png | caption = Capt. Richard Morrison II {{circa}} 1850 | office3 = Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Charleston County, USA | term_start3 = 5 November 1860 | term_end3 = 20 December 1860 | predecessor3 = Archibald J. McClellan | successor3 = position abolished | office2 = Member of the South Carolina Republic House of Representatives from Charleston County | term_start2 = 20 December 1860 | term_end2 = 4 February 1861 | predecessor2 = position established | successor2 = position abolished | office1 = Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Charleston County, CSA | term_start1 = 4 February 1861 | term_end1 = 6 November 1861 | predecessor1 = position established | successor1 = Alexander Mazyck | party = Democratic Party | citizenship = United States <br/> South Carolina Republic<br/> Confederate States of America | birth_date = 21 March 1816 | birth_place = Charleston, South Carolina, United States | death_date = 15 July 1910 | death_place = McClellanville, South Carolina, United States | resting_place = McClellanville Methodist Church Cemetary, McClellanville, South Carolina | allegiance = Confederate States of America * South Carolina | branch = Confederate States Army | service_years = 1861–1865 | rank = Captain <br> Second Lieutenant<ref>https://sparedshared14.wordpress.com/2017/01/10/1864-ephraim-alexander-mcaulay-to-nancy-d-alexander-mcaulay/?</ref> | unit = Hampton's Legion <br> 4th South Carolina Cavalry Regiment, Cavalry Corps, Army of Northern Virginia | spouse = {{ubl|Elizabeth Ann Venning|Eliza Toomer}} | children = 17, including James B. Morrison | occupation = {{Hlist|Military Officer|Settler|Farmer|Politician}} | battles = * American Civil War ** Raid at Combahee Ferry ** Battle of Grimball's Landing ** Battle of the Wilderness ** Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ** Battle of North Anna ** Battle of Haw's Shop ** Battle of Matadequin Creek ** Battle of Cold Harbor ** Battle of Trevilian Station ** Siege of Petersburg ** Beefsteak Raid ** Battle of Vaughan Road ** Battle of Boydton Plank Road ** Carolinas campaign **Capture of Columbia ** Battle of Monroe's Crossroads ** Battle of Bentonville ** Battle of Morrisville ** Bennett Place }} Captain '''Richard T. Morrison II''' was an American secessionist, settler, military officer, politician, and farmer who was one of the founders<ref> Where in the World Is McClellanville?: The Story of a favored place in old St. James, Santee Parish, by Walter Bonner, pg. 1-15 </ref> of McClellanville, South Carolina.<ref name="HMDb">{{cite web | title=Richard Tillia Morrison Historical Marker | website=The Historical Marker Database | date=16 June 2016 | url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=54989|language=en-US|location=Columbus OH|archive-date=29 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329061527/https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=54989|url-status=live | access-date=5 February 2026}}</ref><ref> Origins Volume Two, May 2006, September 2017, Edited by Selden B. Hill, pg. 5-15 </ref> He served as a state representative for South Carolina between 1860 and 1861 where he voted for secession from the United States, thus directly causing the start of the American Civil War. In this time, he was serving the South Carolina government, through its secession, into its month or so long independence by itself, and then its joining with the Confederacy, and the start of the Civil War. He fought in the American Civil War and served as an officer, seeing action at many major battles. He survived the war, alongside his sons and returned back to South Carolina.<ref> McClellanville and the St. James, Santee Parish (SC) (Images of America), by Susan Hoffner McMillan, Selden Baker "Bud" Hill., pg. 20-42 </ref><ref> Home in the Village: McClellanville in Old St. James Santee Parish, by Walter Bonner, 2002, pg. 15-25 </ref>

== Early life == Richard Tillia Morrison II was born on March 21, 1816, to Richard Tillia Morrison I<ref> Tracing the Morrison Family: From Laurel Hill Plantation to Scotland, by Edwin F. Holcombe Jr., pg. 5-20 </ref> and Elizabeth Toomer Legare.<ref> U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970: Volume: 300 </ref> He married his wife Elizabeth Ann Venning around 1837<ref> French Santee, A Huguenot Settlement in Colonial South Carolina, by Susan Baldwin Bates and Harriott Cheves Leland </ref>and he married his second wife Eliza circa. 1860. Between his two wives, he had a total of 17 children.<ref> St. James Santee Plantation Parish, History and Records, 1685-1925, by Anne Baker Leland Bridges and Roy Williams III, pg. 10-50 </ref> Morrison was a 3rd great-grandson of John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675–1732), who was a leader of the Jacobite rising of 1715. He was also a 2nd great-grandson of Daniel Legare, a representative to the South Carolina Provincial Congress.

== Political career == === State Representative === Richard Morrison served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1860 to 1861.<ref>https://www.carolana.com/SC/1800s/antebellum/sc_antebellum_44th_general_assembly_members.html?</ref> In this time the South Carolina House of Representatives voted on secession and created the short lived South Carolina Republic, which existed until it was joined in secession by the other states of the Southern United States in the creation of the Confederate States of America.

== Military service == Morrison joined the Confederate Army as soon as the war broke out, joining in Charleston, South Carolina in 1861 with his sons, Richard III, Robert, and James. <ref> https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=6C74BCBC-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A </ref> He brought his own horse and served as an officer in Hampton's Legion, seeing action at many of the wars major battles. He served in the Army of Northern Virginia as a cavalryman until his unit was moved into North Carolina as part of the Carolina Campaign.<ref> Library of Virginia, Confederate Military Records, https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva%2Fvi00151.xml </ref><ref> Hampton Legion Muster book, 1861-1864, University South Caroliniana Society Program, 1991, pg. 50 </ref><ref> The Gilder Lehrman Institute, Charles Huston Letter, 18 June 1862, pg. 6. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc0816547? </ref><ref> Confederate Rolls of South Carolina, Hampton's Legion, https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/rcpl/id/2499/? </ref>

== Later life and death == After returning home to his plantation around Jeremy Creek<ref> Origins Volume One, July 2000-March 2005, edited by Selden B. Hill </ref> and the Santee River,<ref> Traditions & Reminiscences of St. James, Santee Parish, By David Doar & Selden B. Hill, The Agricultural Society of St. James Santee, 4th July 1907. </ref> he and another local land owner named A.J. McClellan sold off some of their land after the war to create the town of McClellanville.<ref name="SCP">{{cite web | title=Laurel Hill Plantation: McClellanville, Charleston County, South Carolina SC | website=South Carolina Plantations | date=21 September 1989 | url=https://south-carolina-plantations.com/charleston/laurel-hill-mcclellanville.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250523105237/https://south-carolina-plantations.com/charleston/laurel-hill-mcclellanville.html |archive-date=23 May 2025|url-status=live| access-date=5 February 2026}}</ref><ref> "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZT4-KVR : 12 December 2017), R T Morrison, 1860. </ref> This was a place where people would go to get away from the Mosquitos and the summer fevers that plagues many of the surrounding lowlands. Soon after its founding in the 1860s, the village became the social and economic center for a wide area that produced timber, rice, cotton, naval stores, and seafoods.<ref> The Village I Remember, by Henry Toomer Morrison, compiled and edited by Selden B. Hill </ref> Richard Morrison lived on his plantation until his death in 1910 at the age of 94.<ref> "South Carolina Deaths, 1915-1965," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N98C-R53 : 5 April 2018), Richard Morrison in entry for Minnie Lofton, 8 Nov 1920; citing , Lofton, Minnie, 1920, Department of Archives and History, State Records Center, Columbia; FHL microfilm 1,913,594. </ref>

== References == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Richard II}} Category:1816 births Category:1910 deaths Category:People of South Carolina in the American Civil War Category:Confederate States Army officers Category:19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly Category:Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives Category:American city founders Category:Founders of populated places in South Carolina