Elected, 1863, as mayor of Columbia, S.C., during American Civil War; on 16 Feb. 1865, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 26, commanding his troops to occupy the city of Columbia, S.C. The following morning, as Sherman's forces were poised to enter the city and the remaining Confederate troops abandoned their last-ditch skirmishes and headed north toward Winnsboro (Fairfield County, S.C.), Mayor T.J. Goodwyn prepared to surrender his city. As he and aldermen John Stork, Orlando Z. Bates, and John McKenzie rode out under a flag of truce to Union troops, they were met by Col. George A. Stone of the 25th Iowa Infantry Regiment, whose only offer was unconditional surrender. Goodwyn presented his letter of surrender to Col. Stone, who in turn sent the letter back to Sherman. Following the Civil War and the destruction of his Columbia home, Goodwyn and his family lived in Fort Motte, S.C.
A native of St. Matthews Parish (Calhoun County, S.C.), Goodwyn graduated from South Carolina College in 1820, after which he studied medicine in New York and Philadelphia; in 1826, he married Eliza Elliot Darby; in addition to his medical practice and management of his plantation near Fort Motte, S.C., during the 1830s and 1840s Goodwyn served in various political positions: S.C. State Senator, delegate to the nullification convention; moved to Columbia in 1854, and served as one of the commissioners for construction of the new State House; served as a delegate to the secession convention, 1860-1862, and during Reconstruction, as a delegate to the Taxpayers' Convention of 1871.
From the description of Thomas Jefferson Goodwyn papers, 1865 Feb. 17 - 1930 Sept. 7. (University of South Carolina). WorldCat record id: 535721834
