Edgefield County, South Carolina - The whole text, 1897 (part 5 of 11)

Was born near Augusta, Ga. , April i8th, 1788, of Virginia extraction - read law at Edgefield under Edmund Bacon, and was admitted to practice in 1 8 1 1 . Previous to his admission to practice law he married in 18 10 Miss Eliza Simkins, daughter of John Simkins, Esq. He was a member of the House of Representatives - elected first in 1820 and again in 1822. At the time of his death in 1822, he was State Senator and Major General of the First Division of South Carolina Militia. He was very successful as a lawyer, and was a very genial and popular man. His death was caused by a wound through the hand from the accidental discharge of a gun while hunting game. This produced lockjaw, which resulted in death. He was an ardent lover of field sports and of the fox chase. Dr. Eaborde says of him that "he rode the noblest horse in the upper country, and his large pack of fox dogs would excite the envy of an English nobleman." Dr. Eaborde says he saw him die - "he was dying of lockjaw and his lovely wife was near by in the last stage of consumption. Their weeping little ones were around them, and it was apparent that in a few short daj'S of fleeting hours both parents were to be committed to the tomb and their happy home made desolate. And so it was. They died within the same week, and their bodies were buried in the Baptist Church yard of the village. The house passed into the hands of strangers, the children were distributed among their relations, and he who but a short time before, filled so large a space in the community of that intelligent district, like the whole family of the dead, (with fewest exceptions) soon ceased to be remembered."

Nathan Lipscomb Griffin

Though not a native of Edgefield, yet Mr. Griffin lived at the Court House all his active business life, and was identified with the growth and prosperity of the town and county. He was born in Abbeville County, near White Hall, February 9th, 1803. He began the reading of law in the office of Judge Whitner at Ninety-Six, but in 1823 he removed to Edgefield and completed his studies with A. P. Butler. He was admitted to practice in the fall of 1824, and immediately opened an office at Edgefield. In May, 1825, he was married to Miss Anna Butler, daughter of Stanmore Butler, Esq. In 1826 he became a partner of A. P. Butler, and continued with him until Mr. Butler was elected one of the Law Judges of the State. He soon afterwards formed a partnership with Mr. Armisted Burt, which partnership was discontinued by Mr. Burt's election to the Congress of the United States. This was the last of his partnerships. Ever afterwards he practiced alone, and became an eminently successful lawyer. Never remarkable for eloquence or brilliance of elocution, he was a hardworking, studious, and industrious lawyer. In 1838 he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 1846 he was elected Senator, and in 1850 he was re-elected. He united with the Baptist Church in 1S31; and was an earnest Christian and ardent teetotaller for many years. He was a man of whom it may be truthfully said that he faithfully discharged every duty of life in every sphere to which he was called.

This great man was a native of Georgia. His father was John McDuffie, a poor, hard working man, and a blacksmith by trade and occupation. The date of Mr. McDuffie's birth I am not able to give, but it was about or sometime during the year 1788. He first started in life as a clerk in the store of Mr. James Calhoun, in Augusta, Ga. This gentleman soon noticed that he was a lad of remarkable ability, and he mentioned the fact to his brother, William Calhoun, of Abbeville. Mr. William Calhoun soon afterwards proposed to board and educate him at the then celebrated school at Willington, kept by Dr. Waddell. He accordingly took him into his own family and sent him to the school, in the near neighborhood of which he lived. At this school McDuffie soon went ahead of all competition, and was quickly prepared for college. He entered the Junior Class of the South Carolina College in December, 18 11, and was very soon recognized as the first man in it.

After his graduation he read law from December, 18 13, to May, 1 8 14, when he w'as admitted to practice in both law and equity. A very short course of reading truly; and there is little wonder that he did nothing at Pendleton, at which place he first settled. In December, 18 14, he was a candidate for Solicitor of the Western Circuit, but he was not elected. Soon after this he became a partner of Eldred Simkins, Esq., at Edgefield Court House. Mr. Simkins had a large practice and a good library. By this fortunate connection, McDuffie's rise was rapid, so rapid. as to be without parallel. By Mr. Simkins he was introduced into the best society. In a celebrated case at Abbeville, called the James Land case, he was successful, and in the Court of Appeals he showed that he was able to grasp and understand the most involved intricacies of law. The people of Edgefield elected him to the Legislature in October, 18 18, and in that sphere of action he showed his great abilities, both as an orator and as a man of business. The same year he was elected one of the trustees of the South Carolina College. In October, 1820, the people of Edgefield and Abbeville elected him as their Representative in Congress. Here he showed his great abilities as an orator and debater. During nearly the whole time of his service as a member of Congress the protective tariff w^as the great subject of debate, and convulsed not only the halls of Congress, but the whole country from end to end. Mr. McDufiQe was an ardent nuUifier, and threw himself into the thick of the fight with his whole soul. He favored the Ordinance of Nullification as passed by the Convention of South Carolina. The storm was lulled after awhile by the introduction of Mr. Clay's compromise measures, to which McDuffie gave a reluctant assent.

In December, 1834, he was elected Governor of the State, and while Governor, as President of the Board of Trustees of the South Carolina College, he did much to raise that institution from a languishing to a prosperous condition. At the expiration of his term as Governar he retired to private life, which retirement he was permitted to enjoy for about six years. He was then, in 1842, elected to the Senate of the United States. At this time his health was veryfeeble, but he was still able to do good service as Senator, especially in the advocacy of the annexation of Texas. At the close of the session of 1846 he resigned his seat, feeling that his health was too bad for him to try to serve any longer. He lingered a few years, until the spring of 1851, when he passed away.

Mr. McDuffie married, in 1829, Miss Singleton, who left him a widower with one child, a daughter, in 1830. This daughter afterwards became the wife of Wade Hampton.

About the' year 1820, Mr; McD'uflie unfortunately became involved in a duel with Colonel Gumming, in which he was wounded, and from which wound he never entirely recovered, though he lived for thirty years after it was received.

The protective tariff, for the suppression of which he fought so long and well, still rules the country, in spite of its unconstitutionality; in spite of the fact that it is a great wrong to the cultivators of the soil; and in spite of the fact that it is robbery to tax one industry and make it pay for the support of another. The great American system is one of the strongest evidences possible to be produced of the corrupting and debasing influence of money. The love of money is the root of all evil.

History Op Edgefield. 1 87 Thomas H. Pope

Mr. Pope was born in Edgefield, but passed the latter part of his life and the most active business part in the County of Newberry, though he never entirely deserted Edgefield. He was the eldest son of Sampson Pope and his wife, Sarah Strother, Virginians by family descent, and was born November 1 2th, 1803. He was educated mainly in his native county, but, for a short time, was in Yale Colle.vre. He read law with Judge O'Neall; was admitted to practice in 1825, and first settled at Edgefield Court House. In January, 1830, he was married to Miss Harrington, the second daughter of Young John Harrington, of Newberry, and in 1832 he moved to that place.

He was very successful as a lawyer and had a large and lucrative practice. He never neglected the business interests of a client, but made a client's business his own.

He was elected Commissioner in Equity in 1836. He served until 1840, when he resigned. In 1840 he was elected to the Legislature as Representative - served two years. He was opposed to the Bank of the State; was a warm and earnest friend of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, the charter of which he did much to secure. His life was very busy, active, and useful. He died of typhoid pneumonia on February 4th, 1851, in his 48th year. He left surviving him several sons and one daughter. Of his sons three are now living - Young John, -^^ an eminent lawyer and Attorney General of the State - Associate Justice, has been State -Senator; Sampson, practicing physician at Newberry and Clerk of the Senate; David Strother, physician at the Penitentiary. The daughter is still living (1891).

It would make this work too large, were I to say all that might be said, and all that I would be glad to say of the many worthy men and women that must be mentioned. Sometimes it is very difiicult to condense, and to give at the same time, a vivid and life-like picture of persons, places, and events. Let the reader, then, accept this apology once for all, for any meagerness he may find in any sketches in this book. Many persons of whom I write and shall write are friends, relatives, and connections. Many, in both Edgefield and Newberry, are relations and connections, and all are friends, I hope.

Eldred Simkins

There are few names that shine with a purer and better lustre; and few more deserving of honor by the people of Edgefield and of the State than that of Simkins.

Arthur Simkins, the father of Eldred, was one of the earliest settlers in. Edgefield District. He came from the Eastern Shore of Virginia and first went to the region of the Santee, but becoming dissatisfied in a short time with that region, he went on to the less frequented forest of the Savannah side of the State. After several years of observation he settled on IvOg Creek. The place he settled was known for a long time, and may be still remembered by some older person as the "Cedar Fields." The writer of this has a feeling that many years ago he heard the place spoken of by that name. It was at the Cedar Fields that Arthur Simkins lived and died. He was County Judge under the old system and was regarded by all who knew him as a man of sterling worth, and as a model of honesty and uprightness.

When the Revolution broke out and the war for Independence began he took the side of Independence, and at an early period of the war the Tories burned his dwelling house, then one of the few large houses in the up-country, besides harrowing and harrassing him in every other way incident to a state of civil war.

After the war he was a member of the General Assembly and of the Convention which had been called to coTisider the adoption of the Constitution of the United States. He voted against the adoption, as did nearly all the delegates from Ninety-Six District. The Act passed by the Eegislature for calling the Convention to consider the adoption of the Constitution of the United States was very nearly defeated. General Sumter and General Pickens were both opposed to the Constitution on the ground that it took too much power from the State and made the General Government too consolidated. Arthur Simkins agreed with them.

Mr. Sirakins remained a member of the General Assembly for many years. He died in 1826, wealthy, honored, and respected, having done his duty as a man and citizen.

Eldred Simkins was the 5^oungest son of Arthur, and was born during the Revolutionary war, August 29th, 1779. It is said that he was sent at an early age to the famous Academy of Dr. Moses Waddell, at Willington in the County or District of Abbeville, where he was thoroughly taught in all the fundamental branches of education and became a proficient in studies of a higher grade, especially Latin; that then he was sent to the I^aw School at lyitchfield, Connecticut, where he remained more than three years; afterwards read law under Chancellor DeSaussure in Charleston, and was admitted to practice law in Charleston, May 7th, 1805. There is surely an error, or errors, in these statements somewhere. The school at Willington was not established until the year 1804. Dr. Waddell had been a teacher for some years, and had acquired a great reputation as a teacher at Appling, in the State of Georgia, and also at Vienna in Abbeville County, before the establishment of the school at Willington, and it must have been at one of these places that Mr. Simkins was his pupil, for that he was the pupil of Dr. Waddell is, I suppose, a well established fact.

Soon after his admission to the Bar he began his professional life at Edgefield. His practice soon became large and valuable, as he prepared his cases with great care and was a thorough practical business man.

In April, 1807, he married Eliza Hannah Smith, daughter of Benijah Smith, and grand-daughter of Elijah Clarke, so celebrated during the Revolutionary war. Colonel Pickens describes her as a "beautiful woman, the sweetest and most intertaining lady I ever saw in any societ3\" Eldred Simkins was more than once sent to the Eegislaiure from Edgefield.

In 1816, when Mr. Calhoun became a member of President Monroe's Cabinet, Mr. Simkins was elected to Congress. Mr. Edmund Bacon and General W^illiam Butler were also candidates for Congress at the same election. Mr. Simkins was in Congress four years; was an active and useful member, and, especially distinguished himself in a speech he made on the Missouri Compromise bill. At the end of four years' service he declined a re-election in. favor of his friend and law partner, George McDuffie. After -the- election . of Mr. .McDaiffie to Congress Mr. Simkins took as his law partner Mr. Ford, who, after a while, abandoned the law, became an Episcopal minister and pastor of a church in Augusta, Ga. In 1830 Mr. Simkins formed a partnership with Colonel F. W. Pickens, from which time he no longer attended closely to the business of his profession. He died in 1832. In 1859 his daughters were all dead, none leaving children except Mrs. Pickens. Three sons were then living, but they, too, have long since passed away. Arthur was for many years the genial and popular editor of the Edgefield Advertiser. Clarke this writer knew for a little while at Mount Enou Academy, as far back as the year 1835, with many other Edgefield youths. John, Lieutenant Colonel of his Regiment, died a heroic death at Battery Wagner, on Morris Island, on the night of July 18th, 1863. At about 9 o'clock he fell, pierced by a minnie ball through the right lung. His name with a brief sketch appears in the Annals of Newberry.

Lieutenant Colonel John C. Simkins

Whose name appears upon the Monument at Newberry, as one of the fallen soldiers of that county, was a son of Honorable Eldred Simkins, and was born at Edgefield Court House on the nth day of March, 1827. He attended school at Edgefield and at Greenwood, S. C. He was not a graduate of any college or university; but, instead of continuing his studies at school, though only about eighteen years of age at the commencement of the Mexican War, he volunteered as a private in Captain Brooks' Company "D," of the Palmetto Regiment. During the campaign he was transferred to the Twelfth United States Regular Infantry, and, as captain in that regiment, distinguished himself at the battle of Churubusco, where he received two wounds. He was recommended to the government for a brevet "for gallant and meritorious conduct." At the close of the Mexican War he returned to civil life, that of a planter. In 1850 he married Rosalie, daughter of Judge Wardlaw, of Abbeville, and continued to live in Edgefield

Distriet until about a year before the war between the States, when he bought from the Chappells a plantation in Newberry District on the Saluda River, about a mile above Chappells Depot. This plantation is part of what is known as Maxwell's Neck.

As soon as the State seceded and it was known that war was inevitable, he was amongst the first to offer his services to Governor Pickens. He was immediately appointed Captain in the First South Carolina Regular Infantry. His regiment was employed largely as artillery. As commander of Battery Bee, on Sullivan's Island, he did good service in the repulse of the iron-clads in the naval attack on Charleston, April 7th, 1863, when the Keokuk was sunk.

By successive promotions, he became Lieutenant Colonel of his regiment. On the i6th of July, 1863, he, with three companies of the regiment. Captains Haskell, Adams, and Tatum, was ordered to Battery Wagner, our advance post on Morris Island. Here he acted as Chief of Artillery, and he and his devoted little band, without rest or sleep, stood under a terrific bombardment until the night of July i8th, 1863, when the enemy, in overwhelming numbers, landed and assaulted the works. They were repulsed with heavy loss. In that night assault, at about 9 o'clock. Colonel Simkins fell pierced through the right lung by a minnie ball. Captains Haskell and Tatum were also killed during that engagement, and Captain Adams was severely wounded. Colonel Simkins was 36 years old at the time of his death, and left a widow, four sons, and a daughter surviving. His widow died in 1891.

In his official relation. Colonel Simkins was strict, but just. A born soldier, he was devoted to his profession. Although a good disciplinarian, he was respected and beloved by his comrades. He was very modest and retiring, but warm-hearted, frank, and true. His purity of heart was shown in his exceeding fondness for children, whose company he would seek.

Charles Martin Gray

The following instructive biography has been placed in my hands as good material for the history of Edgefield. I do not think any reader will be sorry to find it here. I have been informed that it was written by Joseph Abney, Esq. :

Charles Martin Gray was born at Edgefield Court House, South Carolina, on the 3rd of December, A. D. 1800, and was named after Charles Martin, a chivalrous and distinguished lawyer of his day. He was the son of John Gray, Jr., for many years a merchant at that place, and of Ridley M. Mims, daughter of Drury Mims, who was supposed to be well tinctured with native American blood, his father having been descended from that stock, and his mother from the English. Drury Mims, during the War of the Revolution, was an ardent Whig and a daring soldier. John Gray, Jr., the father of Charles M. Gray, was a Scotchman of full blood, born in Edinburg, but immigrated to this country with his father, John Gray, Sr. , when a small boy. He had a large family by his marriage with Ridley M. Mims, no less than eleven in number, and of those who lived to the years of maturity, only three were boys. All of his daughters had the happiness to contract marriage with industrious, honorable, and thrifty men - one of them, Elizabeth, marrying Dr. Chamberlain H. Goodwin, the son of Charles Goodwin, a lawj'er of eminence at Old Cambridge, and the grandson, on the mother's side, of General Williamson, of Revolutionary fame.

Charles M. Gray was bound out at the age of thirteen years to one Mr. Pugh, of Augusta, Georgia, for seven years, as an apprentice at the trade of Fancy and Windsor Chair-making. But the war having broken out between Great Britain and America about this time, and the }^oung apprentice having the keenest military propensities, and the most ardent thirst for distinction as a soldier, as well as a natural love for the exciting adventures of a soldier's life, while one Captain Musgrove was raising a volunteer company in the city of Augusta to march to the defence of Savannah, bade adieu as he supposed forever to fancy chair-making, attached himself to the command of the gallant captain, and hastened off to rekindle his military zeal and his love for glory, at the grave of Greene, and at the Monument of Pulaski. But avarice in some is stronger than the love of renown, or even the love of countr3^ Mr. Pugh went in pursuit of this strippling warrior, and overtaking him at the Oglethorpe Barracks, reclaimed him as his propert}', and carried him back dejected and crest-fallen to Augusta, where he remained busil}'' plying his trade, until his master, about a year afterwards, having failed in business, he was set at large, and permitted to control his own actions. In obedience to his natural proclivities, he again enlisted in the army, but this time in the regular army, under Major James E. Dinkins. His father hearing of it, hastened to the city, and, by virtue of his parental authority, recognized by the United States, sued out a writ of habeas corpus against Dinkins, and having returned his enlistment bounty, demanded and obtained his truant son, on the ground that he was a minor and under the proper military age. His father then took him home and entered him at school to Mr. Armstrong, famous in his day as a teacher, and then employed as Principal of the Edgefield Male Academy. But all the aspirations of our hero were for the arm}', and the din of nuiskelry was more pleasing to his imagination than the noise and clatter of the school room. His father having become perfectly aware of the bent of his son's mind, on the 24th day of April, A. D. 1819, suffered him to re-enlist under Brevet Major David E. Twiggs, who was then in Augusta on recruiting service. He was assigned to Company A, Seventh Regiment, United States Army, and continued a member, first and last, ten years. The term of second enlistment of five years having expired, he was honorably discharged, and made his way home on foot, which he reached after traveling alone, camping out at night and cooking his own meals, for thirty-four days, in which time he walked a distance of nine hundred miles.

Long j-ears of service in the army utterly unfitted him for the life of a civilian, and for many years he was too much addicted to indulgence in artificial stimulants to be prosperous. This bad habit too freely indulged during his enlistment, most likely deprived him of all chance of promotion. Man}- amusing instances might be related in illustrating the ingenuity displayed in procuring the desired stimulant, did space permit. But one or two, as related by the old soldier himself, will suffice: "On one occasion Major Twiggs commanded a party of twenty-four men, who were borne in the gallant vessel called the 'Support;' but it happened that myself constituted One of the number. Before starting out on my journey, I had been well schooled by my chum, George Riley, and among other commands was enjoined to procure for my mess a boun- tiful supply of good liquor from John Cosby, the famous sutler of Fort Gadsdeu. But 1 lacked that great desideratum, the money, which was the 'sine qua non' with a soldier of our command, who was to procure supplies and luxuries from the sutler of a different corps. Genius then must supply the place of gold and silver; and George Riley and myself, his hopeful pupil, had no lack of that. The latter was dressed in the ordinary uniform of a soldier, and had an overcoat supplied with several more than the usual number of pockets. In each of these was deposited a trusty 'big bellied bottle'. One of them was filled with water, and another of the exact form and dimensions was entirely empty. When the gallant vessel arrives at Fort Gadsden, I approached the sutler, handed him the empty bottle, and requested him to fill it, which was done in a trice. It is then carefully stowed away in my pocket; but poor soldier as I was, I had no mone}', and beg for a little credit. The hard-hearted sutler, having had many such applications made to him before, peremptorily refused to credit, and demanded the bottle of whiskey to be returned. Without a moment's hesitation, it is done to all appearances, and with an indignant imprecation; but, by an easy slight of hand, the vessel containing the water is handed to the incorrigible John C. , Esq. It is emptied into the cask and returned to me to my apparent disappointment and chagrin. But the trick was too good not to be improved, and the same good bottles were passed again and again to" different members of the detail, who all rejoiced in their own success as often as they tried the experiment, until we had obtained excellent whiskey enough to sustain m}^ mess and colleagues in a royal spree.

"Major Twiggs, who was then opposed to drinking in his command, observing me on my return from the direction of the sutler's, called me to him and ordered me to display my bottle. With an air of innocence I handed him the empty bottle, when he immediately excused me, uttering at the same time the direst imprecations of what he had done, had it contained whiskey.

"Not long after the return of this party from the bay to Fort Scott I approached my commanding officer, Major Twiggs, for permission to purchase of the sutler a bottle of whiskey, without stating the size. The application was granted, and the needful order countersigned. On the faith thereof I hastened to the sutler's with a bottle I had previously obtained from the Surgeon or Apotllecar3^ which, having been used to hold acids and medicines in large quantities, was capable of containing at least one or more gallons of liquor. It was, at any rate, bottle-shaped, and I had so thoroughly studied my superior that I well knew no punishment would result from the kind of prank I w^as about to practice. When I had procured the liquor, therefore, I made no secret of it, but slinging the huge vessel on my shoulder, passed directly by th; quarters of Major Twiggs. When the latter beheld me as he walked to and fro along his little piazza he called me to him and demanded of me the authority I had for purchasing so much whiskey, and received the answer that it was derived directly from him, as could be attested by the wTitten order itself. He then turned to lyieutenant Pierce M. Butler, who was promenading with him and inquired if Edgefield was composed of such men as Charles Martin Gray. R.eceiving an affirmative reply, he good humoredly said that he knew the devil must have his headquarters there, and beckoned me to go on."

Charles M. Graj' was happil}' married to Ann Green on the 3rd of September, 1841. He had previously foresworn his favorite beverage and had become an industrious and temperate citizen. He had as much business as he could attend to as Deputy Sheriff and as constable for one or more Magistrates, and earned not only money enough to subsist his family, but to pay all of his debts. He was elected door-keeper of the House of Representatives, and held the position until the inauguration of negro rule, a period of pbout twelve years.

There was one incident in the married life of the old soldier, which we think proper to allow him to relate: "A great chicken fight was to take place in Augusta - the Edgefield bo5's were pitted against those of Augusta, and I had an invincible disposition to take part in the sport - it suited my mind and temper. I was fond of game chickens and my wife had assisted me in raising a beautiful flock. My better half disapproved of my designs, but seemed to have a promonition that I would not be a gainer, I determined, though, to carry out my own purposes. I had in my pocket one hundred and fifty dollars. 1 went to the cock fight and lost it all. Returning home late at night I found madam discontented indeed, and indisposed even to give me a word of welcome. The old soldier returned in me at once. I had reserved from the wreck three silver dollars. I therefore went to the sideboard and counted these three dollars over and over again, with my back to my spouse until they amounted to the sum of three hundred and fift}^ dollars. Madam hearing all this could not be insensible to the claims of one, who, in the conflicts with fortune, had been so happy as to secure so much for her comfort. She then, for the first time, moved herself in the bed and called out to her dear husband that the old blue hen he had left setting had hatched twelve of the prettiest chickens he beheld. Upon this she rose from her bed and by sunrise procured for me one of the best breakfasts I had ever tasted before."

Charles M. Gray, by his marriage with Ann Green, had four sons and three daughters. One of his sons entered the Confederate Army at the age of 14 years and died of a disease contracted in service. Two others received desperate wounds in sustaining the "Lost Cause." Charles J.I. Gray, Jr., better known as Scout Gray, of Longst/eet's Corps, was wounded seven times in battle, still lives at Edgefield Court House. He bears great resemblance to "Buffalo Bill."

Before we conclude this memoirs it is proper to remark that Charles M. Gray enlisted in the 7th Regiment from South Carolina in the war between the States - was made colorbear^r and bore the Southern Cross throughout the whole of those desperate, bloody, and glorious combats, beginning at Ball Run and culminating at Manassas. But age and imfirmities admonished him that he must quit the service forever and bid farewell to "the drum, the shrill-sounding fife, and all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war," and receiving accordingly an honorable discharge, he retired to the bosom of his family.

There are other Biographical sketches to be given, and which must be given to make the records co!iiplete, but we will desist for the present and resume the more direct historical narrative for a little while. Histor}' and Biography, however, are so interblended that they cannot be completely separated. The only difference is that in Biography the individual is made prominent and events becorae subordinate: while in history the cases are reversed.

Perhaps enough has already been said, incidentally, of the war of 1812, in the Biographical sketches of prominent men. General William Butler, Samuel Mays, and Colonel George Butler were most prominent. Thornton Coleman, an elder brother of Rev. Jones W. Coleman, held a Captain's connnission in that war. The reader, however, under.stan.ds that though troops were called out, that is the militia, and stationed on the coast, yet they were never actually engaged in battle. John, Joseph, and Jesse Edwards were in that v.-ar, and John Bledsoe, Henry Trotter, William Riley, and Isaac Riley.

Incidentally, too, enough has already been written of the stormy period of nullification and of the prominent actors of that time. Edgefield was a nullifier and was in hearty sympathy with the Act of the Convention nullif^'ing tlie unjust tariff laws of Congress.

To the v.-ar against the Seminole Indians in Florida, three companies of infantry and one of cavalry volunteered from Edgefield. I ma}^ be able to give in the conclusion of this work a list of all the volunteers to Florida, as well as of those who served in the war with Mexico, and also in the late war of Secession, with the casualties incident to each individual. At present I can recall the name of James Edwards, a n:eruber of the company commanded by Captain David Denny, v»-hicli went from the Tenth South Carolina Militia. There was also William Abney, who had vowed to whip, on sight, Charles K. Johnson, who, he supposed had wrongfully treated his son.

Henderson, at Mount Enon School, when he was a pupil of Mr. Johnson. After the threshing Mr. Abney and Mr. Johnson had never met until they met in Florida as soldiers and comrades in the same army. So far from threshing Mr. Johnson, Abney, when he came to know him, fell in love with him and was ever afterwards one of his wa'-mest friends and admirers.

The company from the Seventh Militia Regiment was commanded by Captain James Jones, wdio was after^vards a General in the Militia. Milledge I^. Bonham was Orderly Sergeant in Jones' company. The company from the Ninth Regiment was commanded by Captain Jefferson Hibler. Captain Hibler was afterw^ards Colonel in the Militia. Hibler Township, in the upper part of Edgefield, as I have been informed, was named in his honor. The company of cavalry was commanded by Captain Sibley, who, I think, was of Hamburg, as the members of the company were mostly from Hamburg and vicinity.

The following episode of the Seminole war I condense from an article by Rev. Wm. M. Wood in the Southern Christian Advocate of November 20th, 1890.

Mr. Peurifoy's father was from North Carolina. He moved to Putnam County, Georgia, where Tilman Dixon Peurifoy was born, Januarj' 21st, 1809. At nineteen years of age he was admitted to the Georgia Conference, having been converted at the age of fifteen. He was married when a young man to Miss Louisa Ann Bird, daughter of Captain Daniel Bird, of EdgeHeld, S. C. After a few years he moved to Florida and settled in Jefferson County in 1833. The war with the Seminoles was then going on, but from the place of his settlement the nearest Indians were a hundred miles distant, and no apprehensions of danger were felt by him or by any one in that section. Mr. Peurifoy was frequently absent for a long time attending to his preaching appointments. It was during one of these absences, and he was sixty miles distant attending Quartely Conference, when the attack, so disastrous and terrible, was made upon his home. It was on Sunday, April ist, 1836; Mrs. Peurifoy was lying quietly and happily upon her bed reading that comforting book, "Heavenly Recognition," when the door was suddenly opened almost without noise, and a tall Indian, in feathers and war paint, quietlyentered the room. The house, which was a double log cabin, with a wide passage between, had been surrounded quietly by a party of fifty or sixty Indians. A negro girl about twelve years of age, who was in the room with Mrs. Peurifoy, quickly understood the situation and tried to make her escape. She immediately darted out of the room between the Indian's legs as he stood for a moment in the door. She made her escape, but was fearfully wounded in the effort. She was still living near Augusta at the close of the year 1890, and may be living even now, 1891.

Before Mrs. Peurifoy swooned away she remembered seeing the savage kill her daughter, Elisabeth. The fate of her little boy she did not know. When she revived and came to herself she found the room full of Indians, and they were hurriedly eating the ham and potatoes and what other food they were able to find. Hoping that she would not be observed she made a great effort to escape. She was able to get out of the house and had reached the ground when she was shot and the bullet pierced her shoulder blade. Almost at the same time another bullet struck her thigh and she fell forward on her face. The savages then surrounded her, stabbed her in the back and cut her person fearfully. They cut her throat, but a shawl or handkerchief about her neck and shoulders saved her from death. They then beat her over the head with a lightwood knot, but unconsciously she raised her right arm to protect her head, and that was terribl}^ bruised and broken. They did not scalp her. She became unconscious, and they left her for dead. When she came to herself again the savages were plundering the house and setting it on fire. She then crawled towards the kitchen, hoping that her cook, who had nursed her when she was a baby, might be able to help her. The cook herself was dying from wounds she had received, and could only spread her handkerchief on the ground for her mistress to lie on, when she quietly passed away.

After this, suffering from intolerable thirst, Mrs. Peurifoy dragged herself to a swamp or pond three quarters of a mile distant, where she was able to get some water to assuage her thirst. Here she lay that night, and until sunset next day, when she was found by the searching parties. Her father, who lived only a few miles distant, was with the searchers; and he, it seems, had a presentiment that she was still living, and would be found alive. The charred remains of the two children, Elisabeth and Lovick Pierce, were found in the ruins of the building. Mr. Peurifoy, on his return from Conference, was within twenty miles of home before he received any intimation of the terrible disaster. Upon sheets Mrs. Peurifoy was carried to her father's, near Monticello, Florida. For many weeks she breathed through several of her wounds, and for months she could onlj' be moved and turned upon .sheets. After these terrible events they removed to Georgia, and in 1849, came to Edgefield Count}' an.' .settled near Butler Church, where Mr. Peurifoy died June 3rd, 1872, and Mrs. Peurifoy, July 5th, 1878.

Three negroes, besides the cook already mentioned were killed in a house which was used for a church. One woman, who fought them to the last, was killed by having her head beaten to pieces with a liglitwood knot. Her bal))' was saved by the door being thrown down in the scuffle and falling over the cradle in which the baby lay. This child was alive in iSyo.

Mr. and Mrs. Peurifoy left .several children; Eliza, who married Mr. Yarbrough, and Hon. D. B. Peurifoy, named after his grandfather. Captain David Bird. D. B. Peurifoy, familiarly called "Dan," by' his friends, has been a member of the Legislature, but declined to be a candidate in 1890.

Thomas Bird, whom I knew at school, and who, I thought was a young man of very* lovel.v character, was, if I mistake not, a son of Captain David Bird, and brother to l^Irs. T. D. Peurifoy.

In making the statement that Pierce M. Butler was a Brigadier General during the Seminole war, I write from the recollection of my readings of histor}-, without having books or any authorities to refer to just at this moment. But, whether he was Brigadier General or not at any time while that war lasted, he was inaugurated Governor of South Carolina, November, 1836, and was Governor two years; and a few years thereafter served with distinction in the war with Mexico, as Colonel of the Palmetto Regiment, and was killed at the battle of Churubusco.

In that war with Mexico, which was brought about by the annexation of Texas to the United States, Mexico never having acknowledged the independence of that State, but instead, had always claimed it as an integral portion of the territory of itself, the company from Edgefield, known as the Ninety-Six Boys, was commanded by Preston S. Brooks as Captain, having for Lieutenants W. C. Moragne and Joseph Abney; and was Joseph Culbreath also one, or was he First Sergeant? Milledge L,. Bonham was a Colonel in this war, but in another regiment. Joseph Culbreath went as a private in Captain Williams' Company from Newberry - returned as L,ieutenant.

Giles Chapman, the elder brother of the writer, was living in Indiana when the war with Mexico came on, and in that State he volunteered and was a member of the Second Indiana Regiment, under General Zachary Taylor. He was killed in the battle of Buena Vista, where General Taylor gained his great victory which made him President of the United States. In .some movements of that part of the army, the retreat of the Second Regiment from the field, a wounded comrade of ni}^ brother, unable to keep up with his company, had been left behind. The Mexican lancers were .scouring the field, killing all the wounded and .stragglers, though at the time they were at some distance from that part of the field. Giles and another .soldier determined to return and bring oft their wounded comrade, if po.ssible. They were warned against making the attempt, tliat it would be going to meet almost certain death without accomplishing their purpose. Their reply was that they would make the attempt even if they lost their own lives - that they could not see a comrade butchered before their own e3'es without, at lea.st, trying to save him; and if they could not save him, they would die with him. They went; the}- tried to save their friend, but failed, and all three were killed. Giles Chapman was a native of Edgefield. His name does not appear on the roll of the Palmetto Regiment, nor has it ever appeared in the Records of Edgefield County. It appears in the Hi.story of the Mexican War as a member of a regiment of another State, but he was of Edgefield, S. C, and as brave and fearless on the field of battle, and everywhere else, as ever human nature grows to be.

Before this book is closed and finally dismissed from the hands of the writer, it is his purpose to give a list of all the men engaged in these wars, with the ranks, casualties, &c. ; so we will proceed with the general narrative of events as fully as we can, without making the work too large, which I fear will be done.

The Tillman Family

We have seen that Captain James Ryan came from Virginia and was one of the earliest settlers of Edgefield; and we might suppose from the name he bears that Benjamin Ryan Tillman, at this time Governor of South Carolina, was a relative or connection of the Ryan family. But such is not the case. The Tillmans came from Maryland or Delaware and settled on the southern side of Edgefield towards Hamburg. The father of the Governor once lived on the road leading from the Pin a House to Hamburg, nine miles from the latter place. Benjamin Ryan was born thirteen miles north of Augusta in Merriwether Township. The name Benjamin Ryan was given to him through the great respect his father had to the Ryan family, and not from any blood relationship or connection with that family.

When George D. Tillman first went to Edgefield Court House to live and to practice law, he made himself very unpopular in the town, whatever he may be now, and had many enemies. What he was, or is, I know not, for my acquaintance with him personall}' is nothing. When the quarrel occurred, that is its date, I do not know, but he once had a serious difficulty with General John R. Wever and gave him a dangerous pistol wound in the side. Some time after that he killed a man named Henry Christian. Pie fled the country and went to Central America, where he joined General W^alker, of Filibuster fame,, was wounded, and taken prisoner, but was released after promising not to meddle any more with the institutions or government of that country. He then returned home, was tried at Edgefield for murder, found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to two 3'ears imprisonment in the District Jail, which penalty he suffered. After the War of Secession he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, which met in Columbia in 1865. In a book, "The South Since the War," published in 1866, the writer of that book thus speaks of Mr. Tillman as he appeared in that convention: siderable abilities, genial and offhand, who has lived in South America and California, and now hails from Edgefield District, who has served six j'ears in the State lyCgislature for honor, and two j-ears in the State Penitentiary for manslaughter, (South Carolina had no Penitentiary at that time,) who quotes philosophy from DeTocqueville, and historical maxims from Gibbon - the man who makes friends with everybody, and at whom, the gentlemen, so called, of the low country, affect to sneer, is a genuine Red Republican in his disregard of what is called ancient rights and privileges. Sitting with great bluegray ej'es, that seem always half asleep, he is always alert and wide awake, slouching along with a rolling gait, he is careful and earnest; utterly wanting in the power of oratory or rhetoric, he has made more points than any other member of the Convention, and has carried all of them but one, and that of minor importance. Jie is the leader of the advance line of the up-countr}', delegated, not so much by any election as by the inherent force of necessity, for he fights independent!}', and leaves them no choice but to follow. He is fairly entitled to the honors of the day in the open field fight against the Conner resolution; and has been from the first the restless and untiring and self-possessed and good humored enemy of the parish system, or to use his own phrase, the Chinese conservatism of Charleston. His object has been, and still is, to cripple the power of the low-country in every possible way. He will take no bond of fate, but builds his walls of offence and defence in the constitution itself.

"On the tenth day Tillman smote the routed enemy once more; he called it reaping the 'first fruits of victory.' His blow came in the form of an amendment to the Constitution, providing tliat after i86g no district in the State shall have more than twelve Representatives. This was aimed at the city of Charleston, which now has twent3^ The low country was exhausted and the amendment was adopted after a brief debate by 6i to 43."

Another estimate of Honorable G. D. Tillman, written twenty-five years after the publication of the 'South vSince the War.' This, txio, is the estimate of a Northern man, Amos J. Cumraings. At the time of the writing Mr. Tillman was Chairman of the Committee on Patents, and the writer says of him:

"He is quaint and honest and makes speeches that touch the marrow. In appearance he somewhat resembles Horace Greeley. But there is a manly ring to his voice, as well as virility in his arguments. Once convinced that he is right, neither persuasion nor force can drive him from his position. He is a brother of the Governor of the Palmetto State, and has all his brother's characteristics. No man uses the Southern dialect more penetratingly. Detecting jobbery in legislation, he flies at it like a bulldog, and there is nothing left of it when he gets through with it.

"Mr. Tillman was 65 years old last August, (1891). Born in South Carolina, he received an academical education in Georgia. He afterward entered Harvard, but did not graduate. He studied law, and was admitted to the Bar in 184S.

and in the Second Regiment of Artillery. After the war he became a cotton planter. In the ante-bellum days he had been a member of the State Legislature. He was elected to the State Constitutional Convention under the reconstruction proclamation of President Johnson. Afterward he became State Senator under the new Constitution. He was a candidate for the Forty-fifth Congress, and unsuccessfully contested the seat of Robert Smalls. The Committee on Elections reported in favor of vacating the election, but the House failed to act on the report.

"This is Mr. Tillman's seventh term. In the Forty-seventh Congress he first took his seat. J. Warren Keifer was elected Speaker and Mr. Tillman was ousted to make room again for General Smalls. Mr. Tillman was a member of the Committee on Patents in the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Congress. It is safe to say that no patent will ever be renewed while he is Chairman of that Committee. He usually makes two or three speeches each session, and they are speeches that command, not only the attention, but the admiration of the House. He belongs to the old school of statesmen, now almost extinct. "South Carolina may well be proud of him." He was a candidate for re-election in 1892 and was beaten by W. J. Talbert, a native and citizen of his own county > Edgefield. This generation is retiring all its old sevrants, whether

The progress of events recently has made it necessarj^ to write more fully of B. R. Tillman. In 1890 he was elected Governor of the State; in 1892 he was re-elected; in 1894 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to succeed General M. C. Butler, who was retired to private life.

Whatever may be said of B. A. Tillman for or against, he is certainly one of the most remarkable men the County of Edgefield - I might say the State has ever produced. Without any preliminary political training whatever, never even having held any office except that of Captain of a cavalry company to which he was elected in 18S2, he passed at one bound to the position of Governor of the State. From Governor he was elected to the United States Senate. By the Democratic Convention which was held in Columbia in May, 1896, he was endorsed as a candidate for President of the United States, that is for his name to go before the General Democratic Convention to be held in Chicago. He stands squarely for the free coinage of silv^er, according to the old standard of value of 16 to I, as compared with gold.

Mr. Tillman has the great power of binding his friends to him as with hooks of steel, and of making his enemies hate him. He seems to be fond of political battles and wants no one to be indifferent.

W. B. Dorn

Mr. William B. Dorn was once a noted man of this section. He discovered a gold mine, which, for a number of years, was very productive. If ever mortal man had the gold fever, mania it might well be called in his case, he was one. For years and years before he made any discoveries worth notice, he was a patient and untiring seeker, sinking money all the time in fruitless and unprofitable digging. At last his labors were crowned with success, and he became a wealthy man. The first year's work that paid produced about ten thousand dollars. I heard his partner, Mr. Bell, I think his name was, describe how it was that they came to sink the first paying shaft. He said that they were heart- weary; had been digging and prospecting and finding not enough to make it pay, and had about come to the conclusion to give it up and dig no more, but thought they would make one more effort and dig wherever the axe, which Mr, Bell carried in his hand, might fall after throwing; and if that digging failed they would try no more. Taking the axe by the end of the handle Mr. Bell whirled it around his head two or three times and let it fly with all his might. They dug where it struck the ground and their success was assured.

Mr. Dorn became very wealthy, worth, perhaps, a million dollars; married a beautiful young wite and was elected to the Legislature. He died about ten 57ears after the war at about eighty years of age. At the time of his death he was not rich.

Joseph Edwards, the great-grandfather of J. C. Edwaids, was a native of Wales and emigrated to Maryland and lived in the old town of Benedict at the mouth of the Patuxent River.

His son, Jared Edwards, first married Susan Porter, of Virgiuia, who bore him four sons, John, Joseph, Jesse, and Stephen, who, all removed to Alabama soon after the war of 181 2. Jared Edwards, the grand-father of J. C, came to Edgefield in 1805, and there married for his second wife Rebecca Bell, who, also bore him four sons, William, Benjamin, James, and Isaac. James never married. Jared Edwards was born in the year 1746 and died January 31st, 1832. John Crowder Edwards, who gives me this information, is the third son of Benjamin Edwards.

Rev. Zedekiah Watkins, whose name has already been mentioned, was born October 15th, 1791, and died September 25th, 1S67. He was converted at the age of 15, and was ordained by John Eandrum and Carson Howell, October 15th, 1826.

Kansas Troubles-Secession

Having brought this history down to a period immediately preceding Secession and the war following, it becomes necessary to write of the events leading to that decisive act, an act the most momentous in the history of the world since the advent of Christ.

The student of United States history does not need to be informed that from the very beginning the union between the States was not altogether as cordial as it might have been. Absolute cordiality was wanting long before the Republican- Abolition party came into being, long before the lawfulness of the institution of slavery was called in question by any person in an}- part of the country. There were extreme State Rights men at the first before the Constitution was adopted and the Union formed. Of these the leaders were Jefferson and Patrick Henry in Virginia, and we have already seen that some of the ablest men in South Carolina voted against the adoption of the Constitution, because it took away from the States and gave to the central government too much power. There were also extreme Centralists, or Federalists, as they were then called, at the first. Conspicuous amongst these w^ere Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. Washington, himself, belonged to that party. These conflicting views resulted in a compromise out of which was born the Federal Constitution, as it was when it became part of the organic law of the States. Union of some sort, and a closer union than was made by the old Articles of Confederation, was found to be absolutely necessary, if the States continued to live under one general government. So the Constitution was adopted as a compromise between conflicting views and opinions. It never was entirely satisfactory to anybody. But something had to be done, or chaos would come again. It is due to truth to say that this great instrument, the result of the deliberations of the wisest men of the country and of the age, was only a compromise of conflicting views and wishes to prevent other and greater evils. And like all other compromises, it was not able to stand the day of extreme trial and pressure. Long ago a writer in Harper's Monthly or Weekly said that all written constitutions become mere waste paper when they stand in the way of the advance or evolution of great ideas. In our country the seedsof discord existed in the minds, habits, and modes of thought and life of the people of the different sections, even from the first. Owing to a difference of the produce of the lands, and the means by which those lands were cultivated, the men of the South were naturally more baronial and lordly in their manner and habits. They were also better statesmen, arvd their influence predominated for many years in the councils of the nation, during the War of the Revolution, before the adoption of the Constitution, and for many years following the adoption. Mr. Jefferson, the greatest statesman this country has ever produced, seemed to care but little for the nation, but took great pride and glory in the freedom and independence of the States. His policy ruled for many years, and the influence of Southern statesmen was paramount, until, I am forced to believe, a deep-seated feeling of hatred for the South and the Southern people grew out of, supplanted, and took the place of that of jealousy, which had existed from the first in the minds of the leaders of Northern thought. The dislike found full expression and hearty satisfaction in the formation of the Abolition and Free Soil parties.

The Abolition party, pure and simple, was almost a dead failure. Its leaders were not wise. They aimed at that v.-hich, it was too plainly manifest, was entirely beyond their jurisdiction to meddle with, and out of their power to accomplish in a direct mode of attack. The feeling of the Abolition party at last became embodied in, and found triumphant expression through the Free Soil part3% The life and animating .spirit of that party was to prevent the admission of aii}^ more States holding .slaves into the Union. This, it was very easy to persuade themselves, that they had a right to do legally under the Constitution. Their standpoint was that all the territorial soil then belonging to the United States, or henceforth to be acquired by them, shall be owned by free men, and shall be cultivated by free men only. No more extension of slavery into the free territory of the United States. No more slave States.

The hatred and bitter feehng engendered and fostered by the discussion of this subject, in and out of Congress, continued for many 3^ears, and grew and increased in intensity, until at last they were quenched in blood - if they have been quenched. After many years of weary and bitter agitation the so-called compromise measures on the admission of Missouri were introduced and passed. Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, aided by his great influence in having Missouri admitted as a slave State, but with the proviso that thereafter no State holding slaves should be admitted North of 36° 30', which was the Northern boundar}' of that State. Missouri was admitted in the year 1821.

For 3'ears the discussion on the restriction of slavery had been very bitter. The Missouri Compromise did not stop the discussion nor the strife, though the tariff question for a time held the attention of the people and kept their feelings at white heat. That agitation reached its climax in South Carolina when the Convention of the People of the State, on the 17th of December, 1832, passed an ordinance nullifying the tariff laws of Congress. Again compromise measures were resorted to which stilled the agitation and averted a conflict. Jackson was then President and would have made short work with the job of suppressing nullification in South Carolina, if Congress had not taken speed}^ action.

In the meantime the discussion of the slavery question never ceased. This writer is no longer a young man, having been born in 1821, the year of the admission of Missouri into the Union; and, looking back over a somewhat long life, he does not remember the time when the country had a calm and settled peace vAth any prospect of long continuance. Nullification, the Seminole War, the threatened War with France about the same time, the War with Mexico, the continued agitation of the slavery question. Secession, the War of Secession, the terrible period of reconstruction, and now the great danger of plutocracy grasping and swallowing into its voracious and capacious maw all the liberties and possessions of the toiling people, through the operation of the tariff and land monopolies, with the discussions of other great questions, all show that the end is not yet, and that a calm and enduring peace is not to be found in a world where moral evil has its fixed seat

The compromise on the tariff settled nothing. The protective tariff continued and became the settled policy of the countr)', in spite of the fact that in its very nature it is robbery. The agitation of the slavery question contintied, and was intensified whenever a new State applied for admission. By the War with Mexico, to which Mr. Calhoun was opposed, because he saw with clear vision that territorj- would be acquired, and that the States would quarrel over it, like a parcel of hungry dogs over a bone, a large quantit)' of territory, many millions of miles in extent, was added to the landed domain of the Union, and the question immediately arose whether an)^ of that territory should be made into .slave States. A few 3'ears after the close of that war the act of 1850 was passed, by which the Missouri Compromise of 1S20 was repealed, and the whole territorial domain of the United States was thrown open to settlers from all the States; and they were permitted to carr}' their propert}^ of all kinds, slaves as well as other, into any territory wherever they might choose to go or settle; and when the time arrived for the formation of State Constitutions the people might allow or prohibit slavery as they chose. This was a measure of Mr. Clay's, and it made him more popular than he ever had been before. It was thought to have been the crowning and most glorious act of his life. He hoped, the people hoped, and the whole countr}' hoped for a long-continued peace, and that an era of good feeling and of good will had come to stay. Mr. Clay did not live long enough to see the dissipation of these hopes. He died in the fullness of his fame, and content.

For a little while, a very little while, these hopes seemed likely to be realized. They were soon di.spelled. They vrere, indeed, a dream baseless and insubstantial. The very fact that all the territories. North and South, without regard to degrees of latitude, were open to all settlers alike, very soon roused in the minds of the people of the different parties, pro and anti slavery, the intense and inextinguishable desire to fill up the new domains, each with settlers of its own sort. The fires of .sectional strife soon raged hotter and fiercer than ever. Emigrant aid societies were formed North, in which Bibles and rifles played a prominent part. They were also formed in the South, in which pistols, perhaps, played a more prominent part than either Bibles or rifles.

Kansas became the first battle ground for settlers from the opposing parties. Indeed it was there that the great Civil War began. It was there that the celebrated John Brown, who was afterwards hanged for his armed invasion of Virginia and his attempt to excite an insurrection in that State, first became conspicuous as a public character, and whose soul is said to be still marching on. May God in His mercy soon give it rest.i Kansas became the first battle ground, because it was the iirst territory to apply for admission as a State under the new order of things. Emigration societies were formed all over the Union for the purpose of aiding settlers to gain a foothold ill that new region in order to shape its future character and destiny as a pro or anti slaverj^ State.

Bdgefield was not backward in this work. Edgefield is i?e'rer backward when live men are wanted to push on any work. The District did its part, but how many went to Kansas, and how many, if any, became actual settlers, my information on this point is too defective to allow me to speak w^ith certainty. It was in Kansas that the great Civil War began, but that territory was not admitted as a State until after Secession was an accomplished fact.

The two great parties that then divided the people of the United States, as they yet divide them, were known as the Democratic and the Republican; the one State rights, believing iri the Strict construction of the Constitution; the other national in character, in all its proclivities, doctrines, and tendencies. By a stran^^e infatuation, which can in no otherwise lue accounted for than by the old saying that whom the gods v/ish to destroy they first make mad, the Democratic party, v/hich had a majority, both of the people and the States, instead of uniting their forces upon one man for President and one for Vice-President, had three .sets of candidates in the field at tlie eleciion in iS6o, and tlie result of the contest was, of course, the election of Mr. Lincoln, the Republican candidate. But, even had the Democratic party at that election succeeded in electing, both President and Vice-President, as tliey might have done if they had had only one set of candi-

It appears to have been the fixed determination of the people of South Carolina, whatever it may have been in other Southern States, to withdraw from the Union should the Republican party succeed in electing the President, and get control of the government of the United States. Under the dominion of the Republican party we had no hopes of being able to preserve our equality in the Uuion for any length of time and thought it better to part company and go our own way and let them go theirs. Acting according to this resolution, without waiting even to try Mr. Lincoln and see whether lie would be false or true to his oath of office, a convention of the people was called soon after the result of the election was known. The Act of the Legislature calling the convention was ratified on the 13th day of November, i860, and the delegates from the several election Districts of the State assembled in the Baptist Church, in the town of Columbia, at tw^elve o'clock m., on the 17th day of December, i860. The day was Monday.

The delegates from Edgefield were Francis Hugh Wardlaw, R. G. M. Dunovant, James Parsons Carroll, William Gregg, Andrew J. Hammond, James Tomkins, James C. Smyley.

The convention having assembled on motion of Mr. James H. Adams, of Richland, Mr. D. F. Jameson, from Barnwell, was called to the Chair. Mr. Jameson was afterwards elected permanent President of the Convention. As part of the history of that momentous time I deem it but proper to give the address of Mr. Jameson when called to the Chair.

He said: "Gentleman, we have met here under circumstances more solemn than any of us ha\-e e\'er been placed in before. No one, it seems to me, is duly impressed with the magnitude, who does not, at the same time, feel, that he is about to enter upon the gravest and most solemn act which has fallen to the lot of this generation to accomplish. It is no less than our fixed determination to throw off a government to which we have been accustomed, and to provide new safeguards for our future security. If anything has been decided by tlie elections which sent us here, it is that South Carolina must dis- .solve her connection with the confederacy as speedily as possible.

"In the progress of this movement we have two great dangers to fear - overtures from without and precipitation within. I trust the door is now forever closed to all further connection with our northern confederates; for, what guarantees can they offer us more strictly guarded, or under higher sanctions, than the present written compact between us. And did that sacred instrument protect us from the jealousy and aggressions of the North, commenced forty years ago, which resulted in the Missouri Compromise?

"Did the Constitution protect us from the cupidity of the Northern people, who, for thirty-five years, have imposed the burden of supporting the General Government chiefly on the industry of the South? Did it save us from abolition petitions designed to annoy and insult us, in the very halls of our Federal Congress? Did it enable us to obtain a single foot of the soil acquired in the war with Mexico, where the South furnished three-fourths of the money, two-thirds of the men, and four- fifths of the graves? Did it oppose any obstacle to the erection of California into a free-soil state v/ithout any previous territorial existence; without any defined boundaries, or an}' census of her population? Did it throw any protection around the Southern settlers of Kansas, when the soil of that territory was invaded b}' emissaries of Emigrant Aid Societies in a crusade preached from Northern pulpits, when church men and women contributed Sharp's Rifles and Colt's Revolvers to swell the butchery of Southern men? And has not that Constitution been trodden under foot by almost every Northern State in their ordnances nullifying all laws made for the recovery of fugitive slaves, by which untold millions of property have been lost to the South?

"lyCt us be no longer duped b)" paper securities. Written constitutions are worthless, unless they are written at the same time, in the hearts, and founded on the interests of a people; and as there is no common bond of sympathy or interest between the North and the South, all eflforts to preserve this Union, will not only be fruitless, but fatal to the less numerous section. The other danger to which I referred may arise from too great impatience on the part of our people to precipitate the issue, in not waiting until they can strike with the authority of law.

"At the moment of inaugurating a great movement, like the present, I trust that we will go forward and not be diverted from our purpose by influences from without. In the outset of this movement I can offer you no other motto than Danton's at the commencement of the P'rench Revolution: To dare! and again to dare! and without end to dare!"

Three days thereafter on the 20th of December, i860, the Ordinance of Secession was passed by the Convention without a single dissenting voice. The Ordinance was as follows:

An Ordinance

' 'To dissolve the Union betw^een the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America.'

"That the Ordinance adopted by us in Convention, on the twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State, ratifying amendments of the said Constitution, are hereby repealed; and that the Union now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved."

So the great and decisive act of Secession was accomplished; that act which brought a terrible and bloody war of four years' duration; hastened that end from which we had so long shrunk; completely changed our institutions; paved the way for other changes, which are now in rapid process of development, and the end of which no man can see. The position in which we, the people of Edgefield and of the State, find ourselves to-day is one which would have been utterly impossible under the old order of things. Whether the changes which are now so rapidly moving on, not only in South Carolina, but in the whole country, are to bring about a better state of things, or whether they will ultimately end in disastrous wreck and ruin to the whole country, it is impossible for the wisest statesman to foresee and predict with certaint5^ Whatever the end may be, this we know that men in their selfish and evil blindness are sure to bring disasters upon themselves as they are, because they do not aim at what is right, but at that which they think will be gainful to themselves, Avhether right or wrong. Little did the Convention of i860 dream of the events of the next four years! They thought the people of the North would not fight; that they loved money too well to think of going to war to make a coercive union, and that the experiment would be entirely too costly. Or, even supposing that they should resort to arms to preserve the Union, we felt that we could whip them, and that after a few \vell-fought battles, in which they w^ould be sure to get the worst of it, they would be glad to make peace, and to let us go our own separate ways without further molestation.

There was no opposition in Edgefield to the action of the Convention, and the vote of their delegates was heartily endorsed by almost everybody. When the act of Secession was consummated great enthusiasm was felt and manifested everywhere, and preparations for war began to be made in all parts of the district. We have already briefly noticed the enthusiasm manifested at Mount Willing. As it was there, so it was in all parts of the county. The war drums beat and volunteer campanies began to be formed at an early day. Meantime, however, efforts were made by South Carolina and b}' the Confederate government, which was soon formed by the Secession of other States from the old Union, to make a peaceful solution of the existing difficulties without resorting to the terrible arbitrament of arms. These efforts were all in vaiit, Mr. Buchanan and the authorities of the United States government could not receive the commissioners sent on to Washington in any other manner than as private gentlemen. They had no power nor authority to treat with them, or to make any arrangement looking to or recognizing the fact of the dissolution of the existing Union. Our connnissioners effected nothing; and preparations for war went on all over the State. Companies were formed and moved to Charleston. Fort Sumter was invested and batteries were erected on Morris

Island, manned by cadets from the South Carolina Military Academy and commanded by Major P. F. Stevens. Fort Sumter was thus invested to prevent re-enforcements, or supplies of any kind from being sent to Major Anderson, who commanded there, and not for the purpose, as yet, of making an attack upon the fort. On the 9th of January, 1861, just twenty-nine days after the passage of the Ordinance of Secession, the Star of the West, a light ocean steamer, made an effort to pass the batteries with supplies for Fort Sumter. She was fired into, when she retired and did not again try to pass.

All efforts at negotiation having failed, and at this time it being well known to the Confederate authorities that it was the fixed purpose of the United States government to re-enforce Fort Sumter, an attack was determined on. Accordingly, General Beauregard, who then had command of the Confederate forces at Charleston, was instructed to demand its surrender, and if the demand was not complied with, to proceed at once to attack. On the nth of April, 1861, he made the demand. The demand was replied to in the negative, and at half past four A. M. on the next day, the firing began. The bombardment of the fort continued steadily for thirty-two hours, when Major Anderson surrendered. No one was killed on either side in this memorable contest. At this time General Beauregard had under his command about six thousand Confederate troops, a part of whom, one regiment, commanded by Colonel Maxcy Gregg, of Columbia, was from South Carolina. There were two companies from Edgefield, one led by Cicero Adams and the other by Captain Robert Merriwetlier.

The larger number of volunteers from Edgefield were embodied in the Seventh and Nineteenth Regiments. The Seventh South Carolina was organized at Camp Butler, on the 15th of April, 1 86 1, to serve for twelve months. Thomas G. Bacon was elected Colonel; Robert Fair, lyieutenant Colonel; and Emmet Seibles, Major. This regiment was among the first to go to Virginia. It was formed into a br gade with the Second, Third, and Eighth South Carolina, and placed under General Bonham as Brigadier, and always occupied the advanced position of our army around Centreville. In the movement from Fairfax to Bull Run, and before the battles of the 1 8th and 21st of July, this brigade covered the rear. During these battles the Seventh and Third were not engaged, though under artillery fire. The Second and Eighth were engaged. Soon after this General Bonham resigned, having been elected to the Confederate Congress, and J. B. Kershaw was appointed Brigadier, a position he honorably filled to the close of the war. At the expiration of the twelve months for which the Seventh had enlisted, a reorganization became necessary - a reorganization and enlistment for the war.

On the 12th of May, 1862, the reorganization was effected and D. Wyatt Aiken, of Abbeville, was elected Colonel; Dr. Elbert Bland, of Edgefield, Eieutenmt Colonel; and White, Major. At the battle of Sharpsburg, Colonel Aiken was shot through the lungs and disabled for the war, when the command devolved upon Lieutenant Colonel Bland; and by the death of Major White, John S. Hard, of Graniteville, senior Captain, became Major. Colonel Bland and Major Hard were both killed at the battle of Chickamauga. Colonel Bland had served as Assistant Surgeon during the Mexican War. Although Major Hard was the senior Captain of the regiment, was a married man and had left at home several children, yet such was his youthful appearance that he w^as known as the boy soldier of the regiment. Captain William Clark, of Saluda, near Chappell's Ferry; Captain John W. Kemp, of Mountain Creek, and Lieutenant A. T. Traylor, of Liberty

Hill, were all officers of merit in the Seventh Regiment, and were all killed in battle. Lieutenants J. B. Bouhnight, W. J. Denny, J. M. Daniel, and W. A. Rutland were also members of this regiment.

The Nineteenth Regiment was never sent to Virginia, but was attached to the Western Army, and all its service was under Bragg, Johnston, and Hood, and other generals commanding in that department. William C. Moragne, a lawyer from Edgefield, who had served as Lieutenant in the Palmetto Regiment during the War with Mexico, was first Colonel of the Nineteenth, but he died soon after the war began, and was succeeded by A. J. Lythgoe, of Abbeville. Colonel Lythgoe and Major John A. Crowder, of this regiment, were both killed in battle. After Colonel Lythgoe' s death Lieutenant Colonel John P. Shaw had command until he was wounded and taken prisoner at Franklin, Tennessee; that "dearest victory of the war," as Mr. Caldwell, in his Plistory of McGowan's Brigade, well calls it. Colonel Shaw was succeeded in command by Captain Thomas W. Getsen. Captain W. S. Peterson, of Big Creek, who was killed at Atlanta; Captain William Norris, from near Batesburg; and Captain John C. Shaw, of Curry ton, all belonged to the Nineteenth Regiment; as also Sergeant Thomas Chapman, (mortally wounded at Atlanta) Levi Croucli, Hiram Holstein, Lieutenants; and Lieutenant John C. Wheeler, Color-Bearer, killed at Atlanta. At the close of the war Robert Merri wether was Major, and he, v.'ith some others, shamed and disgusted with the conclusion of the struggle, and being rather liopeless of the future of our part of the country, emigrated to Brazil.

Major John Blocker, of Blocker Township, and Captain R. W. Tomkins, of the Llampton Legion, were killed during the war. Colonel Twiggs, afterwards killed by Mr. Robert Butler, and Colonel Thomas G. Lamar, were quite prominen':, active and dfficient soldiers and officers. Captain James Tillman, brother of B. R. Tillman; Captain W. F. Trescott, Captain James J. Gregg, of Graniteville, and Major B. E. Nicholson, all good soldiers, have died since the war. The .''oregoing names will all appear again with many others, all that can be obtained, in the rolls to be inserted at the close of the book.

teenth Regiment that this writer became a member of it, in Captain W. S. Peterson's company. Captain Peterson was at home at the time on recruiting service, his company having been, temporarily, consolidated with that of Captain Chatham, who was left in command. This was while the army was in winter quarters at Dalton, Georgia, in command of which General Joseph E. Johnston had been recently placed. A six months term of service had just expired of the Second Regiment of State troops under Colonel William Fort, stationed at Pocotaligo and forming part of the brigade of Brigadier General Walker, who had been promoted from Colonel to Brigadier for his skillful defence of the place and successful repulse of the enemy at that point. At Pocotaligo I saw many men from Edgefield, some of whom had seen a good, deal of service before. Captain Ira Cromley, Geo. D. Huiett, C. L. Refo, Lemuel Salter, who had been through the Kentucky campaign under Bragg - and others. I afterwards met Salter at Dalton, and after the campaign opened, one Friday night a short time before I was wounded, we stood, or rather lay all night together on picket dutj', where we were fired at all night long by a picket on the other side. There is no danger of being shot now for sleeping on post then, but I slept some that night and was asleep when the officer of the day, or rather night, passed. My companion was awake and did not even nod the whole night.

It was very pleasant to leave the low-country about Pocotaligo, the low-lands all flooded with water, and go to the hilly uplands above Dalton in the neighborhood of the mountains. It was while we were in winter quarters at this place that I joined in the last game of snow-balling I have ever had. When the snow-balling began I had no thought of taking any part - only wanted to look on a while. It was brigade against brigade, division against division, I do not remember which, but I think division against division, as there seemed to be many thousands engaged. It was a fine spectacle and fine ^fun to the participants. This writer got the worst of the fight, just as he has got the worst of it in all the battles of life. But when overcome he was kindly treated by his captors and sent back to his temporary home without having suffered any detriment.

Shortly before the opening of the campaign of 1864, that is before active operations began, one bleak windy day in March, not very cold, but awfully disagreeable, there was a grand review and inspection of the whole army. This is the only time that I ever saw General Johnston. I saw Hindman and Hood and some others frequently, but I think that at this general review is the only time I ever saw our general-in-chief. At this review we had something less than 48,000 men under arms - rations were issued to about that number. Over beyond the mountains above Dalton Sherman had a force of 150,000. During the whole campaign until General Johntson was relieved of the command, the disparity between the two armies remained about the same. And yet under these circumstances positive orders were sent down from the ruling powers of the Confederacy at Richmond that we must go forward; that General Johnston must make a forward movement. Undoubtedly he could have made a forward movement; he could have abandoned his position at Dalton; moved South and Westward, and perhaps have flanked Sherman and gone into Tennessee, as Hood did afterwards. He could not have made a movement more pleasing to Sherman. But it is too late to discuss now what might have been done; it is the business of the historian to relate what was done.

When active operations began we entrenched ourselves above Dalton to oppose the forward movement of vSherman. That General was far too wary and wise to make a direct attack upon us in our entrenched position. He knew that he could not carry it. He felt it. He knew where its strong points were, and he knew that, with ten times the number of men he had with him, he could not break General Johnston's lines by any direct attack. He did not make the attempt. He knew, however, that his arni)^ far outnumbered Johnston's and that he could increase his numbers bs- drawing on other divisions in the North and West, and he knew that Johnston had almost literally nowhere to draw from, as many thousand men too old for military service and many thousand boys too young were already in the ranks. These facts were as well known to Sherman as they were to us, and therefore he knew that it was utterly impossible for General Johnston to prevent a flank movement. Flank he did, and General Johnston was

The reader of this history will please pardon the writer if a little personal narrative here and elsewhere mingles with the story, for when one has been an actor in the scenes and incidents he undertakes to narrate and describe it is almost impossible to keep the personality of the first person from intruding itself.

When active operations began and permanent camp was broken up for good, this writer, with a few others, was detailed to go with the wagons and superintend the cooking which was done by colored servants belonging to officers and soldiers of the regiment. This detail was not agreeable to the feelings of the writer and he expressed as much to the Sergeant who brought him the detail. This the Sergeant reported to the Captain, who sent for the writer to appear before him. The Captain explained that it was necessary for some one to go, in whom they had confidence, and who was not a very able bodied man. "Ver^^ well," was the reply, "I will go, of course. It is a soldier's dut}^ to go wdierever he is ordered, but if I do not like it I am coming back here and report to you." He said all right and I took my detail from Assistant Adjutant General Dean and left for the rear. This Captain was Captain Chatham, a young man from Abbeville, who was well liked as an officer and as a man. He was afterwards mortally wounded by the same ball that wounded me and permanently disabled me as a soldier. If every gun fired by the enemy had been as fatal to our ranks the Confederate army would soon have been nowhere. I remained with the wagons about ten days, having really a very comfortable time, though slightly exposed to the fire of the enemy for a little while at Resaca. All the while that I was with the wagons it seemed as though I was out of place and that a burden was pressing upon me which grew heavier every day, and that I must go back to my company to get rid of a weight which was becoming well nigh intolerable. So one pleasant afternoon about the middle of May I spoke to Captain Sullivan, of Edgefield, Quarter-Master, and told him that I wanted to go back to my company. "Well," he said in that quiet, easy way habitutil with him, "you may as w'ell go." The burden was lifted at once and I felt that I was going home. I took my knapsack and haversack, and in an hour's time reported to Captain Chatham and took m}' place in line. I found them in line of battle at the time; but, indeed, they were always, or nearly always in line of battle from the beginning of that campaign to its close. A few days after this the feeling came upon me that I would be wounded soon, but that it would not kill me. I mentioned it to my brother, Sergeant Chapraau, who was with me; mentioned it several times. He said that he had never felt any such sensations in all his three years' experience of the war. Every day for a week or ten daj's before the time arrived I could feel the fatal moment drawing nearer and nearer, as sensibly as the eye can perceive any object moving before it. At last on Sunday night, the night of the 29th of May, 1864, it came. On Saturdaj^ the 28th Cranberry's Texas brigade had a sharp encounter with the enemy. Manigault's brigade relieved them and took their position, and all da}- Sunday we lay in presence of the enemy near enough to hear a loud voice speaking across the intervening distance. While lying here I said to my brother, "Thomas, I'll get it soon, but it won't kill me." At about two or half past two that night as we were all lying down in line - some firing going on all the time - suddenly - it seemed to me quite near - a gun fired. The ball came diagonally across the line, passed through ni}' right leg just above the ankle, tearing out the smaller bone, as I was lying on my left side; struck Captain Chatham near the pit of the stomach and lodged in his bowels. My first words spoken after I received the wound were: "Boys, I've got it;" the next, "OLord, how it hurts!" I got up and tried to walk, but could not touch the right foot to the ground, but stood on the left, supported by the gun. Sergeant Mathis or Matthews, then said to me: "Mr. Chapman, lie down." I replied: "Takeme tothe rear." I knew that I was done for for that time. Billie Reese with his litter then came up. I was placed verj'' carefully upon it and borne off. I asked Billy about my gun and told him that I wanted it properly taken care of and sent to the ammunition or arsenal wagon. "O," he says, "damn your gun we are after taking care of you now." Captain Chatham and myself were both carried back together to a little house somewhere.

At this little house, just before I was lifted into the wagon to be transported to Marietta, I saw Captain W. S. Peterson for the last time. He had a few days before returned from recruiting service and immediately resumed command of his company. He was afterwards killed at Atlanta in one of Hood's fool-hardy efforts to carry Sherman's works by storm. Captain Chatham was alive when I left him, but he died that evening or night.

A few days before I was wounded and my military service - service in the field - closed forever, we had a fight at New Hope Church. As we marched down the road towards the church, which was quite near, taking note of what a clean, pleasant place it v/as, I remarked to my comrades: "Boys, this would be a mighty pretty place for a fight." Soon we were halted and marched down to the right in the woods, and began to throw up breastworks. A sharp engagement soon ensued, in which the Federals engaged were severely punished. Our brigade was not actually engaged, though it was under fire. The Federals called tliis engagement the "Battle of Pumpkin Vine Creek;" we called it the "Battle of New Hope Church." I suppose there was a pumpkin vine creek somewhere about. IvOng after the v/ar a monument was erected to commemorate the career of some New York Regiment, and engraved upon it were the names of all the battles in which the regiment had been engaged during the war, with the losses sustained in each. The getters up of the monument were very well pleased with the whole concern, until they came to Pumpkin Vine Creek, in which battle the regiment had sustained very heavy loss, heavier, indeed, than it had sustained in any other battle. But Pumpkin Vine Creek! They could not stand the name! The idea of suffering so much at Pumpkin Vine Creek! They could not stand it. At length they happily discovered that the Confederates had given the name of the Battle of New Hope Church to this engagement. This name was adopted and the monument stands with the name of New Hope Church engraved upon it.

From Marietta I was carried to Atlanta and placed in Gilmer Hospital, which was in charge of Dr. Michel, of Charleston. My ward was under Dr. Rutherford, of Kentucky, a kind-hearted, good man, to whom I am under many obliga- tions for courtesies shown in bringing me books, and in other wa}-s. Books! Books! How hungry I was for books! What a glorious time I dreamed of having when I could get home and find m5'self amongst my books once more! In hospital I devoured everything in the shape of books that I could get hold of. Some kind lady brought the life of Daniel Webster; and some one gave me a cop}- of Young's Night Thoughts. That is a grand book. Though over two hundred years old, it is as fresh and good to-day as it was when it was first published. From that book more pithy sayings have gone into the common English speech, and have become the property of the thought and language of the people than from any other printed in the English language, except the Bible, and that is not originallj' an English book.

Here I must be permitted to correct a statement made by General Howard in his account of this campaign. He says it rained almost incessantly during the month of May. In fact it rained very little during May; but it rained day and night during June. All through the month of June, 1S64, I was lying on my back in the hospital tent, listening to the wearisome clang of iron and machinery at the Confederate workshops, which were not far off, and watching the steady down pour of rain. It was June and not May, General Howard, during which there was a steady down pour of rain almost without cessation. There was, however, one tremendous fall of rain in the early part of the night of the Qtli of May, to which I was exposed. And that was very nearly all the rain that fell during May; but through June it fell day and night, nearly all the time.