Abbeville, South Carolina was a center of Revolutionary action and often saw heated battles between the Patriots and the Loyalists who tried to regain the large village for England. Amongst the settlers were Captain Thomas Weems and his wife Elizabeth Redfearn. They owned many slaves, brought to the marriage from the Redfearn plantation in Virginia, and had a large family to run their large plantation south of the village. Today the name of Weems has spread across the southern states and is well known for both white and black farmers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and soldiers. The Weems treated their slaves well and built a school to teach them; a rarity amongst slave owners. When the Civil War was over, many stayed in Abbeville and the surrounding others, while others went to Georgia, Alabama and points west.