View source for Stephen Atkins Swails

{{Expand|date=April 2007}}
[[Image:Stephen Atkins Swails.jpg|Stephen Atkins Swails|thumb|200px|right]]
'''Stephen Atkins Swails''' (1832 &ndash; 1900) was a black soldier in [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War]] and later a lawyer and politician.

[[First Lieutenant|First Lt.]] Swails was a member of the [[54th Massachusetts Regiment]]; enlisting and rising through the ranks to receive a commission.

After the war, he worked as an agent for the [[Freedman's Bureau]], became a lawyer and stayed in the South, becoming active in the political life of [[South Carolina]], where he had fought during the war.  He became the mayor of [[Kingstree]], a state senator (1868–1878), and a member of the U.S. [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]].  He also edited a newspaper, the ''Williamsburg Republican''.

==See also==
{{Portal box|United States Army|American Civil War}}

==References==
*[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6417951 Black Civil-War Soldier Gets Overdue Honors].
* http://www.state.sc.us/scdah/aframsites.pdf .

==External links==
*[http://members.aol.com/AASCRoom4/SC1868LegislatureR7.htm Radical members of the 1868 Legislature (photo)]

{{Persondata
|NAME= Swails, Stephen Atkins
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] [[Union Army|Army]] officer
|DATE OF BIRTH= 1832
|PLACE OF BIRTH= 
|DATE OF DEATH= 1900
|PLACE OF DEATH= 
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swails, Stephen Atkins}}
[[Category:African Americans in the Civil War]]
[[Category:Union Army officers]]
[[Category:1832 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]