[4] Also in 1867, the United States military oversaw the registering of voters in the county in preparation for the election of a new "reconstruction" government.

"[8] In 1868, an election was held in which all men older than 21 years of age who had never been convicted of committing a felony nor were "prohibited on account of service under Confederate Government" were allowed to vote.

This was a form of direct democratic election which had been set up by the reconstruction government of South Carolina.

Stephen A. Swails was an educated black man from Pennsylvania who had fought in the U.S. military in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the civil war, and who was elected to represent Williamsburg County in the South Carolina State Senate.

Cooper was a white abolitionist Quaker from Pennsylvania who was elected to be the clerk of the court of Williamsburg County and C.H.

Pettingil, a Union Army officer from Boston, Massachusetts and former member of the Massachusetts Abolition Society who was elected as Williamsburg County's state constable representing the county in South Carolina's state government.

In all of these elections local whites from South Carolina who had, by coincidence, not fought in the confederate military did run, however every single one of them lost.

While mayor, Swails published and edited a newspaper called the Williamsburg Republican, he also started a law firm.

Swails became the most prominent member of the South Carolina senate, the president pro tempore, placing him in control of all bills that passed through the state legislature.

[12] On September 17, 2023, a Marine Corps F-35 stealth fighter jet crashed in rural Williamsburg County after the plane malfunctioned and the pilot ejected and parachuted to safety.

In 2015, Sheriff Michael Johnson was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and sentenced to 30 months imprisonment.

Johnson, with a co-conspirator, filed false reports of identity theft in order to raise individuals' credit scores, in exchange for up to a thousand dollars in payment.

The twenty years from 1948 to 1968 were a highly transitional time for the politics of South Carolina & Williamsburg County, largely in part due to the Democratic Party's increasing support for African-American civil rights & enfranchisement.

[31] As of April 2024, some of the top employers of the county include United States Department of Justice, Food Lion, Tupperware, and Williamsburg Technical College.