Charles Baxley Death – Unfortunately, we must inform you that Charles Baxley, Chairman of the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission, has passed away. Our hearts are filled with sorrow as we share this news. On Saturday, he passed away in his residence, along with his wife Judy and daughter Caroline. He was surrounded by his family. A judge for fifteen years, Charles just retired from his position as a judge at Baxley, Wells & Benson, P. A. in Lugoff, South Carolina, where he had been practicing law previously.
One of the many ways in which he contributed to the community was by serving on the Kershaw County School Board for a considerable amount of time. In addition to that, he worked his way up through the ranks of the United States Air Force, eventually becoming a Captain. Charles’s primary personal interests, in addition to his devotion to his family and his enjoyment of aviation, were with the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. He completed multiple research initiatives both on his own and in collaboration with a wide variety of other organizations, such as the South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust and the American Battlefield Trust.
Within the Carolinas and Georgia, there were very few nooks and crannies that were involved with the American Revolution that he was not familiar with, and in many cases, he was familiar with them on an intimate level. Charles was the “dean” of scholarly research on the Revolution in the South, and he was the person to whom renowned authors and historians came first when they were investigating topics for books, journal articles, archeological projects, and other similar endeavors. Charles was asked to chair the South Carolina American Revolution Sestercentennial Commission (South Carolina 250) from the very beginning of its existence.
He did so with an incredible amount of spirit and passion, relying in no small part on the numerous South Carolinians with whom he had longstanding relationships and who were in a position to support the endeavor. Recognizing that Charleston was the epicenter of a great deal of accomplishment, it is evident that he was driven by the desire to see the achievements of South Carolinians toward the achievement of our nation’s independence more widely acknowledged and celebrated within the community
