Edgefield County, South Carolina - The whole text, 1897 (part 1 of 11)

Of All The Companies From Edgefield In

BIOGRAPHICAL AND ANKCDOTICAL; WITH SKETCHES OF THP: SEMINOLE WAR; NULLIFICATION; SECESSION; RECONSTRUCTION; CHURCHES AND LITERATURE; WITH ROLLS OF ALL THE COMPANIES FROM EDGEFIELD IN THE WAR OF SECESSION; WAR WITH MEXICO AND WITH THE SEMINOLE INDIANS.

Introduction

The author of this book is a native of Edgefield District, born before it was shorn of its fair proportions, as it was in 1S17, before a part was cut off to form the County of Aiken, and long before it was further divided to form Saluda County. He was born within three miles of Saluda River on the old Charleston and Ninety-Six Road, which, in Revolutionary times, was one of the main highways leading from the low countr}' and the Congarees to Ninety-Six. The place is now in Saluda Count}'.

From his boj'hood the author was a great reader and student of history. Nothing pleased him better than to get hold of some good book telling of the deeds of other times, and stories of Marion and his men, and others of that heroic age. Unfortunately, books that told the history of that period were too few; but he had Weems' Life of Washington and of Marion, and a book of American Biographies published in 1830, all of which were well suited to cultivate a taste for history and make the reader long for more.

With such a training in earh^ life it is not surprising that, as he grew older, he read everything that could throw light upon the early history of his State and the formation of the Union and the rights and duties of the States in the Union. In writing this book he has faithfully sought and drawn from every source of information available. All books, of which he could get hold, giving information of the first settlers and their struggles, he has used; and individuals and friends in all parts of the Counties of Edgefield and Saluda, and .some outside, have freely and gladly helped him in his work. To these, one and all, he gives his grateful and heartfelt thanks. One dear friend, who loaned him many old books, and who assisted him greatly otiierwise. has only recently, 1S96, left this stage of life for a better, William G. Whilden.

Met: of Edgefield and Saluda, and 3'ou children of Edgefield elsewhere, the author has done his best. This book now belongs to you and to your posterity; and the author cannot permit himself to believe that you will turn coldly from it because you may think that it has some errors and defects. Of one truth 3-ou may be sure, that it is absolutely impartial in its treatment of men and their deeds. Can you desire more?

Before the year 1785, Edgefield County was a part of Ninety- Six District, which then included a very extensive territory iu the upper part of the State. By the Act of the IvCgislature of that year, March 12, 1785, Ninety-Six was divided into the Counties, afterwards called Districts, of Edgefield, Abbeville, Newberry, Laurens, Union, and Spartanburg. Augusta, as we shall see, was founded in the 3'ear 1736, and a very active and important trading post had been in existence already for some years at the place on the Savannah where Hamburg was afterwards built. Previous to its occupation b}^ white people the greater part of the territory was in the possession of the numerous and w^ar-like tribe of Indians, known as the Cherokees. The Southern part, lying on the Savannah River, was used by other tribes. Savannah, Creek, &c, as hunting grounds. Of these Indians, their habits, manners, customs, and traditions, it is not necessary at this time, to write, as our purpose is to give a history of Edgefield as it has been since its occupancy by Europeans and their descendants.

Roving Traders

For many years before there was any permanent settlement the whole upper country was traversed by roving traders, who bought skins and furs from the natives and made large profits by the trade. Beavers, buffaloes, bears, and other animals, whose skins were very valuable, as well as wolves, catamounts, and wild cats, were quite as plentiful as squirrels and rabbits are now. There were also many wild deer, and at one time the exportation of skins from the State, or colony, ran up as high as to two hundred and fifty thousand a year. As far back as the year 1690, some time before the English settlers on the Ashley knew that there was such a people in existence as the Cherokees, a man named Daugherty, a trader from Virginia, lived amongst them for purposes of traffic. From his time many adventurers, in search of trade and fortune, frequented all the towns and war-paths of the nation. This trade, for some years, was very profitable, for the Indians knew little or nothing of the value of their goods, and for a few showy trinkets, and gems of small value, the trader on the Savannah, or the Catawba, could procure peltries which he could sell in Charleston for many times their cost.

One of the first settlers of the upper country, Anthony Park, who lived to a very advanced age in the adjoining County of Newberry, travelled in 1758, several hundred miles among the Indians to the west of the Alleghany Mountains. And even then he found several w^hite men who said they had lived among the natives as traders twenty years; some forty or fifty, and one as many as sixty years. One of these traders had upwards of seventy decendants then living in the nation. These traders were mostly Scotch or Irish. These men, however, were not settlers, in the proper sense of the word, although they had lived for so many j^ears in the nation. They were only transient persons; pioneers of the true settlers, living in the wilderness for the purpose of traffic, - a love of adventure, and a desire to be rid of the restraints of civilized life. The territory of Edgefield was traversed, time and again, by these adventurers, as it lay in the direct line of route from Charleston and the Bdistos to the rich, game-abounding country about Ninety-Six and the country above.

From the best information obtainable, we find that the earliest permanent settlements within the limits of Edgefield County were made about the 3^ear 1748. Ninety-Six was settled about that tini^. In May, 1750, a party of Monangahela Indians, led by a Cherokee guide, passed down the Savannah to attack the Euchees, who were friends of the English. These Euchees lived about two miles belovv' Silver Bluff. The Monongahelas were defeated and fled, the Euchees pursuing. They passed through the pine woods about ten miles from Vv'^here Hamburg now is, movirig in a direct line for the then weak settlement of Ninety-Six. The pursuit was so close that the fleeing Indians Avere compelled to throw away their guns, blankets, and plunder. They avoided Ninety-Six and did not stop running until thej- reached the Cherokee towns. We find that one year later. May 7, 1751, Mrs. Mary Gould, called b}-

Captain John Fairchild Mrs. Cloud, living on Little Saluda River, was severely wounded by two Savannah Indians, who killed her husband and children and a young man who was sleeping on the floor. These murders were committed treacherously, the savages having entered the house in a peaceable manner and having been kindly entertained by Gould and his wife. Several distressed families in that neighborhood then deserted their homes and retreated down the country to the Congarees to avoid the Indians. In August of the same year Capt. Fairchild informed the Governor, James Glen, that he had ranged with his company as high up as Ninety-Six, and had built near that place a fort of puncheon logs for the protection of the people of that settlement. That fort was built on the north banks of John's Creek, where a flourishing civilized settlement was founded cotemporaneous with the first ever planted in any part of Ninety-Six District.

In May, 1751, Captain Francis, of Ninety-Six, urged upon Governor Glen to take into consideration the dangers to which the people there and on the Saluda were exposed from the incursions of the Northern Indians and the French. In July of the same year Captain Francis again wrote to the Governor, urging the necessity of building a fort, and of sending up a company of Rangers for the protection of the people. The fort was built in August b)^ Captain Fairchild. At this time the Indians were committing considerable depradations. Indeed, from 1749, soon after the first permanent settlements were made in the District, to the close of Col. Grant's campaign in 1 761, there was not a family in all this part of Carolina that was not exposed to serious danger from the inroads and attacks of the savages.

In the summer of 1753, Gov. Glen invited all the leading men of the nation to meet him in Charleston and hold a general conference for the settlement of difficulties. At this time some Savannah Indians were held as prisoners by the Governor for depradations committed on the whites, and Little Carpenter, a leading Chief of the Cherokees, said although he did not defend the Savannahs, yet, "if they are punished the path will be made bloody, and no white man will be able to come to our countr}'. " "You," he says to the Governor, "and those about you will be safe; but many a straggling white man will lose his life." The conference was long and closed apparently all right, as there were expressions of good will from both sides. But the good will was more apparent than real. A trader, named McDaniel, who had come down wath the Chiefs, refused to return with them, because, he said, "it would be certain death for any trader to do so while the Savannahs were held as prisoners." We hear of these Indians again before they reach the end of their journey. They returned by the pathway, or trail, that led to the Congarees and to Saluda Old Town. On the Little Saluda lived Stephen Holston. His home was not far from the trail. By the time the Indians had reached tlie Little Saluda they had run short of provisions. The escort of ten soldiers, sent by the Governor, had left them at the Congarees, and there was no white man with them except perhaps the trader Butler, who had long been in their country. The Indians, forty in all, stopped at Holston's, surrounded the house and demanded a supply of provisions. Holston, himself, was absent, but Mrs. Holston readily supplied their wants, but in spite of her kindness they continued to show a restless dissatisfaction which it was impossible for her to appease. When night came on two of them insisted upon being permitted to sleep upon the floor of the house. This, after some hesitation, she permitted. About midnight, when .she and her servants were fast asleep, those outside surrounded the house, and the two, who had been lying on the floor, opened the doors, and the whole party rushed in, whooping and yelling and firing off their guns. Mrs. Holston was terribly frightened, and finding that they were about to force open the door of her room, she seized her baby, jumped from the window to the ground and ran. She did not cease running until she came to the house of a neighbor several miles distant. The Indians did not pursue her, as they were not in a very blood-thirsty humor, but only sullen and discontented. They contented themselves with robbing the house of all the pewter plates and dishes, tea cups and a kettle. They took also thirty bushels of corn, and two valuable mares from the stables. When Holston returned home he found his property gone beyond hope of recovery. He laid his complaint before the Governor and petitioned for indemnit}-; but whether his petition was ever granted does not appear.

The reader will notice that amongst Mrs. Holston's losses mention is made of pewter plates and dishes. There are not a great many persons now living in Edgefield whose memory goes far enough back to remember when pewter plates and dishes were displaced by the introduction of delph ware. But it has not been so very long; nor has it been so very long since the old fashioned flax wdieel and distaff were in common use. The present writer remembers sitting at table and eating off pewter plates, many and many times; and the heavy pewter dishes, or bowls, or basins, in which food was placed upon the table. All were thick and heavy. I remember also seeing a strolling manufacturer, with molds, who made thin light plates and dishes. These, however, were not nearly so good and durable as the old fashioned thick and heavy ones, though they were much nicer to look upon. When delph ware first came into use I found it exceedinglj' difficult to hold my fork to its place whenever I tried to cut a piece of meat on my plate. It would slip and run away. With a pewter plate there was no such trouble. The fork had firm holding ground as I could always make one, or both its tines, stick into the metal of the plate deep enough to hold. I have betrayed myself again - forks had only two prongs then. They were not split spoons, nor as well adapted to carrrying food to the mouth as those in use to-day.

Building Fort Keowee

A fort on the borders of the nation, or in the nation, had long been desired by the traders and settlers, and even by some of the best disposed Indians themselves. As early, even, as 1734, the importance of such a fort had been recognized in Charleston: but its erection had been put olT, from time to time. And the colonists, instead of building the fort themselves, had petitioned the Parliament of Great Britian to build it. After ^-ears of delav the province was compelled to do the work at its own expense, and the Council directed that land be purchased from the Indians, and that the fort be erected as near as possible to the Indian town of Keovvee. Accordingly Governor Glen, in the fall of 1753, visited the country of the Lower Cherokees, bought a quantity of land, and built the fort at Keowee. It was claimed that by this purchase the English acquired the territory now embraced in the Districts of

Abbeville, Edgefield, Laurens, Union, Spartanburg, Newberry, Chester, Fairfield, Richland, and York. Whether this claim is just or not, it is certainly true that from this time the settlements began rapidly to extend. But be this as it may, the building of the fort, which was called Fort Prince George, purchased only a brief peace for the nation and short-lived confidence on the border. Massacres soon began again, and the savages were as restless and annoying as before.

Conference At Saluda Old Town

Governor Glen again invited the Chiefs to meet him in conference in Charlestown. They refused to go to Chariest own, basing their refusal, they said, on the fear of the fatal sickness which they had before contracted there, and which they might again contract. They agreed, however, to meet at some place between the nation and Charlestown. The meeting took place at Saluda Old Town in the summer of 1755.

Of what was actually done at this conference we know but little; but an enthusiastic admirer of the Governor, a man named Moses Thompson, writing to him in January, 1756, says: "I cannot forget my impressions of your paternal care of South Carolina since you came among us. First, your journey to Ninety-Six, to settle a peace with the Cherokees; and thence to Savannah to make peace with the Creeks. Second, your long journey to the Cherokee Nation to build a fort. Third, your journey to Saluda, in the heat of summer, to settle a second peace with the Cherokees in troublous times; which act crowns all the rest; for I verily believe there never was such a firm peace made with any Indians before, and all resulting in the advancement of the indigo manufacture. And likewise your great care of our back-settlers; for when I was Major under j^our Excellency; I cannot forget 3'our care by 3^our instructions to me on several occasions; besides your private letters to me to inform your Excellency of any event, that proper steps might be taken for our safety. I think your successor will have nothing to do but to walk in 3'our footsteps; for you have paved the plainest road that can be taken, which, I think, will keep your memory in the minds of the people when you are dead and gone."

Edgefield, like other parts of the middle sections of the State, was settled by people representing the various nationalities of Europe - English, Scotch, Irish, Welch, German, Dutch, and French - English predominating so greatly as to make the English language the language of the country; though several others are spoken in the United States in different sections and are the every day language of the people, especially German, Swedish, and French. I^ike other parts of the upper country, Edgefield received many settlers from the North, from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina; and also perhaps some few from colonies farther North. Some also came from Georgia, as in the early days of that Colony, there were laws prohibiting the sale and use of rum and other ardent spirits, and also the introduction of African slaves. Many Georgia settlers, not liking these laws, moved over into Caro- Hna where the use of both was allowed. No matter from what region they came, nor of what nationality, they were a hardy, brave, energetic, industrious, adventurous set of men, such as pioneers must always be.

Culbreaths, Hazels, &C

CULBREATHS, HAZELS, &C. Among the earliest settlers on the Saluda side of Edgefield, was a Scotch family, or perhaps there were several families, who settled in the year 1756 about four miles south of where Cliappell's Ferry now is, and near where afterwards was organized and built by them the Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill. This church, by the way, was named Chestnut Hill because it was built on a hill-side near where grew many chestnut trees, some very large. This growth was found nowhere _ else in the neighborhood. This settlement was called Scotland, and is still known and recognized by that name by some of the older citizens, though the descendants of the Culbreaths, the original settlers, are no longer there. Joseph Culbreath was born in Scotland, near Plymouth, in 1747, and was brought over to Edgefield by his father, Edward Culbreath, who settled there in 1756. Edward Culbreath, the father, lived only one year after coming to this country, dying in 1 757. He left four sons surviving him, Joseph, John, Daniel, and Edward. These all lived to be over seventy years of age. Luke Ciilbreath, the grandson of Joseph (his father was John whom I remember well), was eighty-four j-ears of age in May, 1891, and has lived sixtj'-two years at his present home near Pleasant I^ane, ten miles north of Edgefield C. .H. There were once many Culbreaths in "Scotland," but now there are none in that region of country and the name is almost extinct in Edgefield. James Y. Culbreath is a la\\yer at Newberry. He is a direct de- .scendant of Edward Culbreath, the founder of the colon}- at "Scotland." His father was William, a brother to Euke Culbreath, above mentioned.

There was a family named Hazel, Scotch also, who came with Edward Culbreath to seek new homes in a new world. The head of the family was Harry Hazel. Some of that family are still living in that part of the country not far from the original place of settlement.

Passing down Saluda, not far from "Scotland," and near Saluda Old Town, is an old .settlement, now owned, that is part of it, by Johnson Hagood, and is cultivated as a grass farm, that is, the low grounds bordering on the river. The other part, which includes the original homestead, is owned b}- J. Y. Culbreath, and others, of Newberry. It was here at this old homestead where Capt. William Butler, of the Revolution, found his wife, Behethland Foote Moore. This place was settled a few years after the settlement at "Scotland," by Mr. Savage from Virginia, who had married the widow Moore, the mother of several children, William, Geo»'ge, and Behethland.

A little out from Saluda, and a mile or two below "Scotland," and on the old Ninety-Six Road, we find that land was granted to William Abn^y, February 14th, 1772, sixteen years after the Culbreaths came. William Abney settled and lived upon the land thus granted until his death. Some of his descendants, at least some of the Abneys, lived upon the place in the old house as long as it was a homestead - not a great many 3-ears since. William Abney \vas the ancestor of John R. Abney, a la\vyer now living in New York City, and of Ben Ab'.iey, elected to the State Legislature from Richland Count v.

His home is in Columbia. Pie also is a lawyer. Xear William 'Abney settled Samuel Abney, a brother, I think, to whom land was granted February 19th, 1772. Michael Abnej' was in the same neighborhood. Land was granted to him October 3rd, 1 771 . Lower down Saluda, just below Higgius' Ferry and lying on the river, land was granted to Dannett Abney, June i-|.th, 1768. From him descended O. L. Schumpert, Esq., sometime member of the Legislature, aftenvards Solicitor of the Circuit in which he resides. His home is at Xewberr}-. Dannett Abney met with a tragic fate during the Revolutionarj^ war. He was butchered in his wife's arms by Cunningham and his men in that celebrated raid of 1781, the sole object of which seemed murderous revenge. To Xathaniel Abne}' on the river, b'ing just above and adjoining Dannett's, on both sides of the road leading to the ferr\-, lands were granted October 5th, 1763, and September 20th, 1766.

The.se Abneys all came from Virginia to this State. The family is Norman-English, Norman- French. The name was originally D'Aubigne, and was changed to the present form four or five hundred years ago - about the middle of the fifteenth century.

Isabella Madison, the wife of Nathaniel Abney, was a great and wise woman, ruling her household of children and servants with a firm but gentle hand, wisely and well. Twelve children were the fruit of this union. Their youngest son, Azariah Abney, lived and died on the original homestead, and it is still in the family, owned in 1891 by Joel Abney, a grandson of Azariah. Dr. M. \V. Abney, of Edgefield, was descended from thi!^ pair through his mother, Martha Wills, who was a granddaughter of Nathaniel Abney. Isabella Abney Boj'kin, daughter of Dr. M. W. Abney - died in 1 889 - was as queenly and wise as her great ancestress.

Nathaniel Abney was capt?in of a militia company under Major Andrew Williamson at Ninety-Six, November 15th, 177.5, but what part he took after the war was fairly begun, and after the Declaration of Independence, does not appear. But he was on the side of Independence.

These Abneys all obtained grants of land before the Revolutionary war; but there were several others, not yet mentioned, to whom lands were granted after the war. John Abney, Febru-

Towlses, Carsons, &C

The Tovvleses, ver)' active and brave Whigs, were, I think, settlers about the year 1760 above "Scotland," in the Half Way Swamp country. Between them and Ned Turner, in fact between them and almost all Tories, burned the fire of implacable hatred. The Chappells were also in the same neighborhood. About Saluda Old Town were the Carsons, brave and true Whigs. Old Mr. James Carson used to tell an anecdote of one of the family, his father, I think, very much like one related by Kennedy of his hero in the story of Horse Shoe Robinson. He said that one day riding alone he stopped his horse at a small creek, or stream of running water, to let him drink. While his horse was drinking, Mr. Carson, not dreaming of danger so near, naturally let his head fall forward in a thoughtful, meditative manner. When the horse was through drinking and raised his head to go forward the road was found to be full of Tories, ready and waiting and completely' blocking the way. Mr. Carson's first impulse was to turn and flee the way he had come, but, glancing backwards, he found the road barred in his rear also. Without a moment's hesitation he rode forward, extended his hand to the leader of the band and said that he was very glad to meet them; that he had given up the Whig cause as a failure and had concluded to take the other side. He affiliated with them and so entirely disarmed their suspicions that they soon ceased to watch him closely and in a little while he made his escape.

I do not know the exact time when many of these settlers, Carsons, Towleses, Butlers (not Gen. Butler's family), Scurrys, Andersons, and others, not far from Saluda, Scotland, and the Island Ford, came into the country; but it was from 1756 to 1766, during which period the great wave of immigration rolled down South from Penns37lvania, Virginia, and North Carolina into South Carolina; when sometimes the number amounted to as many as a thousand families a year, with all their movables and horses and cattle.

Ill the year 1770, a ferry was established at Saluda Old Town, from the lands of Charles Carson on the south side of Saluda, to the opposite shore at the lands of William Turner. The ferry was vested in Charles Carson, his Executors, Administrators, and Assigns. By the same Act a road was ordered to be made and laid out from the south side of the ferry to the nearest and most contiguous part of the road lately laid out and established by the name of Kelly's Road.

Anderson's Ferry over Saluda was established December 19th, 1795. This, I believe, is the same as the Island Ford Ferry. At Abney's Ford and vested in Nathaniel Abney and Francis Higgins, December 19th, 1795. After some years this ferry was rechartered and vested in Francis Higgins alone, and I believe it is still known as Higgins' Ferry, though sometimes called Kinard's.

There was a ferry at Chappell's before the Revolutionary^ war - kept by the Chappells. On December 21st, 1792, a bridge was authorized to be built by Thomas Chappell, in whom the right of taking tolls was vested. I do not think the bridge was ever built, as a ferry at that place was rechartered, December 20th, 1800. And again in 182 1, and vested in Charles Chapman. But in a few years it became Chappell's Ferry, which name it held for many years. Recently a bridge has been built, wdiich is to be free. About the year 1845, Mr. John Chappell built a single span covered bridge at that place. The investment was not profitable and the bridge before many years washed away, and the ferry was reopened.

Previous to the year 1765, the Government of South Carolina had given the upper countr}^ very little attention, little more, indeed, than was found necessary to regulate trade with the Indians. The Governor and Council could do little more. In 1765 an Act was passed to establish a ferry from New Windsor to Augusta. New Windsor vv^as where Hamburg now is. The place must liave been named New Windsor by

B}^ the Act of 176S a road was established from Orangeburg to Saluda and thence to Bush and Rayburn's Creeks - and also for making and establishing a public ferry over Saludy River, and vesting the same in Samuel Kelly and John Mill house. The road thus ordered to be made from Orangeburg to Saluda is surely the same known as Kelly's Road, with which the road leading from Carson's Ferry at Saluda Old Town was to join at the most contiguous part.

Again in 1770 a ferry was established over Saluda River at the lands of Robert Cunningham - and another ferr}- over Savannah River, opposite to Augusta in Georgia.

Stewart Settlement

The reader will notice that these roads and ferries were all made and established before the Revolutionary war. Others were opened soon after the war, notice of which will be made. STEWART SETTLEMENT.

Just below Dannett Abne3''s, on Saluda River, was the Stewart settlement, notorious in local annals for devoted attachment to the Royal cause during the Revolution, and for their warm personal friendship for Ned Turner and Bill Cunningham. Their homestead was at or near the mouth of Tosty Creek, a small stream emptying into the Saluda, and called Tosty, or Tosta, by the natives. This settlement began as early as 1760, or about that time.

Mr. John Stuart, of New Windsor, on the Savannah River (whether connected with the Stewarts above named I do not know), was an officer of the Crown, wholly devoted to the Royal interest, and to him, for some )'ears prev.'ous to the beginning of the war, had been committed the management of Indian affairs in upper Carolina. Under these circumstances he felt bound to exert his* influence to attach the Indians to the Royal interest. Yery earl}- in the contest he retired to

West Florida, and from that province employed his brother Henry, a Mr. Cameron, and some others, to penetrate into the Cherokee country. A plan was settled by him in concert with the King's Governors, and other Royal servants, to land a. British army in West Florida, to proceed with it to the Western frontiers, and from there, in concert with the Tories and Indians, to fall on the friends of the Revolution at the same time the attack should be made on the sea coast. Moses Kirkland was employed to proceed to Boston to concert with Gen. Gage, who then commanded there, the necessary means for accomplishing this design. The plan failed by the capture of Kirkland and the ship which was conveying him to Boston. The affair had made such progress, however, that the Cherokees began their massacres two days after the British fleet made the attack on Sullivan s Island. Of that war with the Cherokees, and of the part Edgefield people bore in it, something more will be said after awhile.

I introduced Mr. John Stuart here, under the impression that he might possibly be connected with the Stewarts of Tosty Creek, as they, too, were devoted friends to the Royal cause. In my boyhood I knew Alexander Stewart well. His home was at the old family homestead near the Saluda, where the family first settled. I have frequently heard it said that he kept and cherished fondly, as a precious memento of olden times, a British officer's old red coat, and epaulettes, which had been worn by an ancestor, or kinsman, in the Revolutionary war. I never saw these things, but I have no doubt of the truth of the facts stated.

Perrys, Colemans, Trotters, &C

There were other early settlers in that part of Edgefield bordering on Big Saluda and Persimmon Creek, not yet mentioned. These were the Perrys, Colemans, Trotters, Berrys, Nunns, Summerses, Rileys, and McCartys, to say nothing as yet of the Brookses.

As the settlements in Abbeville began about the same time with those on the Saluda side of Edgefield, we will make a little excursion into that county. Both counties being parts of the original District of Ninety-Six their histories are necessarily very intimately connected. In the year 1756, the same 3^ear in which the Culbreaths came to "Scotland," Patrick Calhoun, with four families of his friends, settled on Long Cane in Abbeville. Before he came there were only two families, one named Gowdy, the other Edwards, in that extremity of the country. After 1763 the population increased rapidly.

Inconveniences Of The Settlers

At this period of time the settlers in all parts of Ninety-Six District labored under very great inconveniences in regard to the administration of justice. Some of the new comers were not law-abiding, but quite the contrar5\ Some men were without families - mere adventurers, who had thrown off the restraints of civilized life, and felt as though they were amenable to no law except their own wills.

During the war with thp Cherokees, which broke out in 1759, several settlements' were broken up and property of various kinds was abandoned. After this var was over the evils generated thereb}^ continued for some time. There were no courts for the trial of violators of law held outside of Charleston until the 5"ear 1770. The only legal authority in all Ninety-Six District was that of Justice of the Peace appointed by the Governor. In this unpleasant condition of affairs it is no wonder that well- disposed citizens were moved to take the administration of law and justice into their own hands. And this, although altogether justifiable at first, in- variably leads to abuses. In this emergency arose the Society known as Regulators. These Regulators, in the year 1764, under the leadership of some of the best men in Ninety-Six District, such as Thomas Woodward, Joseph Kirkland, and Barnaby Pope, organized themselves and signed an instrument of writing in which they bound themselves to make common cause in pursuing and arresting all horse thieves and other criminals. Horse stealing was a very common offence; and the offenders when caught were tried by the Regulators and, if found guilty, were punished by whipping on the bare back, with many or few stripes, according to the number of their misdeeds. These provoked the horse thieves and their friends to lake active measures to counteract the proceedings of the Regulators. Nearly all the inhabitants of the District took part on one side or the other. Those opposed to the measures of the Regulators made such representations to Lord Charles Montague, then Governor, that he took measures for their suppression. With this end in view he conferred a high commission on a man named Scovill, a man whom his neighbors, especially the Regulators, thought very unfit for the office. As though the District were in a -^tate of rebellion, he erected the Royal standard and called upon the Regulators to submit. He arrested two of them and .sent them to Charlestown, where they were imprisoned. The parties formed opposing camps prepared for war, but each one hesitated to begin the fra}'. They finally agreed to break up camp, go home, and that each party petition the Governor for redress of grievances. This was done, and the result was the passing of the Circuit Court law, which established Courts at Ninety-Six, Orangeburg, and Camden. A sullen peace was made, but the ill feeling between the parties did not die out. A few years afterwards, when the troubles with the mother country began, the Scovillites became Tories and the Regulators and their friends Whigs.

Changes In The Names Of Places

It is curious to note the changes that have taken place in the names of some places since the country was first occupied by the whites. Hamburg was originally Savannah Town, taking its name from the native Savannahs. It was an im- portaiit trading station, and about the 5'ear 1730 Fort Moore was erected near it for its better protection. After that period the place was usually referred to as Fort Moore. In the year 1747, a ferry over the Savannah River was established at the garrison of Fort Moore in New Windsor - rechartered, as already mentioned, in 1765, from New Windsor to Augusta, Ga. For some years Savannah Town, or Fort Moore, was a very important trading station, the Indians, themselv-es, cutting a trail from their upper towns dowai the east bank of the Savannah to that place. After Augusta was founded in 1736, the trade was drawn off; Savannah Town was deserted, and Augusta soon became a large town, with many houses and people, and a busy trading mart. This cit}' is the first example on the Continent of the rapid growth of a Western village into a populous town.

Many years afterwards an enterprising Hollander, named Shultz, of whom a sketch will be given further on, built the city of Hamburg as a rival to Augusta. For a long time it was an active busy place doing a large trade. It was the terminus of the South Carolina Rail Road, which connected it with Charleston. At the time of its completion this was the longest rail road in the world. Hamburg was a formidable rival to Augusta, but its glory has long since departed. Some time during the year 1862, or 1863, I rode through it with a friend in a bugg3% and it was then the most lonely, desolate looking place I had ever seen. What it is now I know not. I have never seen it since, except from the windows of the rail road coach as I passed down the road. Hamburg died, but Augusta still grows and has never faltered nor halted on its way of progress from the year of its founding until now.

Opening Of Public Road. '

In the year 1770 a public road was opened and established from Orangeburg Bridge to Indian Head; one from Indian Head to the road which leads from the Ridge to Augusta ; one from the Ridge Road to lyOng Cane Creek; one from I,ong Cane to Great Rocky Creek; one from Great Rocky Creek to Mountain Creek, near Coffee Town; and one from Robert Goudy's at Ninety-Six to the Ridge, and from thencc to the road that leads from Indian Head to Long Cane. The student of Edgefield history will see from the establishment of these roads, and also of the ferries across the Saluda and Savannah Rivers, that the progress of the settlements and the increase of population was quite rapid. Twenty years had made a wonderful change. But the same rapid evolution of life has been going on without cessation from that day to this. I remember when Chicago was a village in a marsh. I remember Fremont's expedition across the Rocky Mountains when his men were compelled to kill and eat their starving mules to keep themselves from starving. I remember when the West beyond the Mississippi was a region almost as little known as the interior of Africa is now. San Francisco was not; Texas was not, save as an unexplored Mexican province, the home oi countless buffaloes and wild horses. We here have stood almost still, but the wave of population has rolled steadily westward, across mountains and rivers; building great cities as it moved, and making iron and steel roads for travel, until it has met the far Pacific in the West. Do the waves of Ocean stop the movement? Nay! Japan is quickened and awakes to a new life, feeling an electric shock from the land across the Sea.

Christian Priber

We have seen that although there were occasional wrongs done by both whites and Indians, yet it is probable that there would have been no general war between the English settlers and the natives of the upper country had it not been for the intrigues of the French. At an early daj^ the French had occupied the northern portions of the Continent; they had passed westward through the Great Eakes; had found the upper part of the Mississippi; had explored that river to its mouth; had founded the city of New Orleans; had built a chain of forts from its mouth to its upper waters, and now aspired to the occupation of the larger part of the Cootinent by hemming in the English and confining them to the slope on the Atlantic lying east of the Alleghany Mountains. To be successful in this grand scheme, it was necessary that they should foment discord and keep up an endless war between the English and the native Indians. In these efforts they were only too successful, though the ultimate result was loss to themselves, and the sur- render, after many years of bloody and useless war, of all their northern possessions to the English. I^ouisiana, an immense tract of countr}^, comprising their southern and western possessions, was purchas^d from the Emperor Napoleon by Mr. Jefferson in 1803. One of the greatest, most artful, and most successful intriguers the French ever sent amongst the Cherokees was a man named Christian Priber, a German Jesuit in the service of France. He was sent amongst them as early as the year 1736, the year of the founding of Augusta. Although a man of great learning and intelligence; a Hebrew, Greek, and Latin scholar, yet he made himself, to all intents and purposes, an Indian. He married an Indian woman of great beauty and intelligence; painted himself as a son of the wilderness, and so completely identified himself with the natives that his most intimate friends could scarcely have distinguished him from the people with whom he lived. He entirely won their confidence and impressed their minds with feelings of hatred and contempt for the English, representing them as rapacious, greedy, and dishonest. Priber's object seems to have been the founding of a great Indian Empire, composed of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and other tribes. Had he lived it is problematical whether lie could have succeeded or not, but his career was cut short by his captivity and death. About the year 1741, business called him to Mobile, which was then a French towm, near the head of navigation on the Tallapoosa, the English traders among the Creeks, suspecting the object of his journey, went in a body to the town of Tooka- Jiatchka, where he was lodging, and arrested him. They carried him to Frederica; delivered him to Gov. Oglethorpe, who put him in prision, where he soon afterwards died. But his mfluence did not die with him. He had filled the minds of the natives with distrust of the English, which never ceased to rankle in their hearts and alwa5's prevented a firm and settled peace. In the meantime, also, the use of rum had lowered and degraded their manhood, and the small-pox, carried up from Charlestown in a pack-horse train of goods, had further demoralized them by carrying off many in death, and disfiguring for life many of the survivors. All these evil influences combined produced a state of ill feeling in the nation, which was never entirely allayed, and finally culminated in the great war of 1760-61, at the conclusion of which the Cherokees parted with a large portion of their lands, and retired higher up the countr}', near and among the mountains. This war is usually known as Grant's war. Colonel Grant was a Scotchman, a colonel in the regular British service, and had general command of the forces engaged - the troops raised by the Province of South Carolina, as well as his own regiment, - though the South Carolina regiment was under the immediate command of Col. Middleton. fX.^^

In this war first appear the names of Andrew Pickens and of others of Ninety-Six District; and Francis Marion, of the low country, who served with distinction and found it a good training school for service in that great war which was to follow not many 3'ears thereafter. Andrew Pickens was a native of Pennsyh'ania, and had moved to Ninety-Six District only a few years before the outbreak of this war.

Obstructing Water Courses

In the early days of Edgefield fish of various kinds were so abundant, and furnished so much food for the people and of such excellent quality, that their preservation was considered a matter of prime importance. Owing to the increase of population it b2:ame necessary to build mills for the grinding of corn into meal to supply the people with bread, and also sawmills for the cutting of timber into plank for building purposes. This was before the days of steam, and dams across the streams became necessary in order to utilize the water power. These dams, of course, obstructed the free passage of fish, and especially shad, which in the early days of the colony, at certain seasons, were very numerous in all the larger streams nearly up to their sources. Here was a conflict of interests. The mills were necessary for the grinding of corn and also for the sawing of lumber, and the fish were a necessary article of food. The complaints of the people whose supply of fish was, in a great measure, cut off by the dams, became so earnest and troublesome, that the matter was made a subject of legislative investigation, and resulted in the passage of a Fish Sluice Law, March 26th, 1784. It was enacted that all owners of all dams, or other obstructions, on Broad, Saludy, Pacolet, Tyger, and Enoree Rivers, and Steven's Creek, should, within six montbs alter the passage of this Act, build slopes, or make openings in their dams or obstructions, so that the fish at all times might freely pass up or down said rivers; in default whereof the person offending, shall on conviction, forfeit the sum of forty shillings for every day such obstruction should continue. But the necessity of having good mills was so great that it conquered the supposed necessity of having a good supply of fish and the law at length became obsolete and died a natural death - I think it never was repealed. But the right to catch shad in Saluda, and the profit resulting therefrom, were not abandoned without severe struggles to retain them; the last and most determined of which occurred in 1824. In that year a company of twenty men living near Saluda, in the districts of

Abbeville and Laurens - none from Edgefield, it appears - assembled at Svvansey's Ferry, with a boat ready to float down the river, with all necessary tools and implements for cufing away the dam at Lorick's Mills - now owned by James Herbert - which obstructed the free passage of fish. The law could not operate itself, and as the people in the neighborhood of the dam did not seem disposed to enforce it, and as they lived too far remote from the obstruction and from the Court House of the District in which the obstruction lay, they preferred to cairy out the provisions of the law in short form, the due aad ancient form being entirely too inconvenient. This dam had been built, partly or entirely, at the expense of the State under the auspices of Col. Blanding, as part of his great scheme of making the Saluda a navigable stream. The canal, which was dug in furtherance of the scheme, has never entirely filled up yet, and is still to be seen. It was dug on the Newberry side of the river. The dam was very strongly built, with heavy pens of rock below it to buttress and secure it. Showing some respect for the Statute a small, narrow gap had been left open, but not deep enough for the purpose required by the law. When the party arrived at the Sv-ene of action and saw the strength of the dam and considered the magnitude of the work they would have to do if they accomplished their purpose, their ardor was considerably dashed. However, they concluded that it would not do to return home without having done something, and so they bravely set to work and toiled arduously for three days. In that time they opened a passage six feet wide and considerably deeper than the original one. Concluding this to be sufficient for the end designed, they desisted and returned home. Numerous spectators had gathered on both sides to witness the proceedings, but no one offered any opposition. A short time afterwan's the breach was effectually closed, and the dam made stronger than ever before. No effort was ever again made to remove the obstruction.

Education

Education has never been neglected in Edgefield by the people nor by the State. Doubtless there has been individual neglect, and there still is, notwithstanding the universal free school svstem. At all times since the first settlements were made there have been many good schools in the county, and it has always been possible for those persons who desired a good education to get it. On this subject I can write knowingly, for I am a native of Edgefield County. All the education I ever received at school was received in the County, at schools taught by teachers natives of the County, with the exception of three, and only two of the three were from other States, - one from Maine, who married and lived in the County the balance of his life - living at this time, 1891, I believe; the other was from North Carolina; and, I fear, the least competent of all to teach what he professed. One was a native of York County, a brother of Gen. D. H. Hill. One of my teachers was Charles K. Johnson, a son of Rev. William B. Johnson, of Edgefield, founder of the Johnson Female Institute at Anderson. Charles K. Johnson was a graduate of Yale College; a ripe scholar - a man for w^iom I felt a reverence as great as it is possible for a boy to feel towards any young man. "To me, whatever he may have been to others, he never spoke a harsh word, but was always as mild and gentle as possible. I shall always bear him in grateful remembrance and think of him as the type of the perfect gentleman. What he was in the I know not, I never knew; so I can onl}^ think of him, and it does me good to think of him as all that was noble. From him I learned the mysteries of English and of Latin grammar, and learned to read a little Ivatin. In the war against the Seminole Indians, he was a volunteer and served a three months term in Florida. He afterwards went to New Orleans, in which city he died. In those days when I was a pupil of Mr. Johnson's, short- breasted, long-tailed, swallowtailed blue coats were in fashion, with bright, brasj buttons on the breast and skirt. I can never forget how much I admired the appearance of Mr. Johnson and his friend George Addison, who was also a pupil, as they walked off together after school was over for the day. The tip ends of the long skirts of their touched the calves of their legs, and they were both tall young men. It was at this school that I first saw Preston S. Brooks, James C. Brooks, Thomas Butler, Butler Thompson, Bart Blocker, Thomas Bird, John R. Weaver, George Blocker, W. ly. Jennings, George Bell, Mahlon Padgett, two or three Tomkinses, W. W. Adams, and many others, some of whom

As it was in the section where I was born and reared so I have reason to believe it was in all parts of Edgefield. The opportunity to acquire a common school education, if no more, was always there, even from the first. Some parents willfully neglected the opportunities and advantages before them and permitted their children to grow up in ignorance. I knew one family where the children grew up with very little knowledge of books and whose manners were rather uncouth and unrefined; but who, so far as money was concerned, were prosperous and well to do. Indeed, it was the love of money, the desire to accumulate, that caused the parents in this case to neglect the education of their children. Money was preferred to letters. Are there not some such cases yet? Not onl}^ were there schools in all parts of the county where reading, writing, and arithmetic were taught, and where these were, perhaps, the highest branches, with a course of lyindley Murray; but there were academies of a higher order in different parts of the State and county, in which a better education could be obtained. The same Legislature which divided Ninety-Six District into several smaller counties, chartered a college to be erected at Ninety-Six, and also other colleges at several other places in the State. On March lytli, 1785, five days after the passage of the Act for the division of Ninety Six-District, an Act was passed for erecting and establishing a College at Winnsborough, in the District of Camden; a college in or near the city of Charlestown; and a college at Ninety-Six, in the District of Ninety-Six, in the State of South Carolina. Similar Acts had been passed before the Revolution, and some w^ere passed even during that stormy period. Nor was the State ever backward in appropriating money for Common School purposes. The appropriations were always liberal; amply sufficient, as w^as supposed, to meet all the exigencies of the case; that is, the education in the common English branches, of all who were not able to educate themselves. The public school system, as we have it now, is a creature of modern introduction, and the State pays, per annum, for each child so educated about two dollars. Under the old system each child, edacated by the funds appropriated for that purpose, cost never less than four dollars per year, aud sometimes as much as ten in Edgefield. I do not wish to condemn our present school system, but it does not, and cannot, in the very nature of things, give an education worthy of the name. However, if one is thirsty and cannot have a full draught of water it is better to have a spoonful than none. For our present purpose it is enough to say that the cause of education has never been neglected in Edgefield. A county which has produced and reared such men as Maxiraillian EaBorde, A. P. Butler, P. M. Butler, the Bacons, Brookses, Charles K. Johnson, and many others, and Which has been the home of the Hammonds, Chancellor Wardlaw, Carroll, Griffin, Spann, Moragne, Mc- Duffie, General Gary, and others, whose names I cannot now call to mind, has no cause to be ashamed of itself. Of the living, as the Tillmans, Senator Butler, the pen of the historian should not write much; but as public men and serv^ants have we any reason to be ashamed of them?

The Edgefield Village Academy was incorporated December 1 8th, 1824, though the village itself was not an incorporated town until 1830. The Academy was established and in successful operation some years before it was incorporated. James J. Caldwell, of Newberry, afterwards Chancellor, taught there in 18 19. The village was made the county seat in 1791 and the first court was held there early in 1792. Certain escheated property was to vest in the village and the Society Academies to the amount of ten thousand dollars. In December, 18 1 5, thirty-seven thousand dollars were appropriated by the State for general educational purposes, of which Edgefield received its due proportion. It was also enacted at the .same time, that not less than that amount should be the annual appropriation. An inspection of the Acts of the Legislature will show that the State was never indifferent to the education of its children.

Professor La BDrJe received his early education at the Edgefield Village Academy, and thus writes of it: "Among ray early teachers was Robert L. Armstrong, who taught for four years in the Edgefield Village Academy. He was from York District in our State, and a graduate of our College. He was remarkable for his industry and strict discipline. The Academy prospered under his direction - students poured

At this time, 1891, there are graded schools in operation in the town of Edgefield, in which several hundred children, both black and white, receive instruction in the ordinary English branches at the public expense. Besides the public schools, which have proven insufficient for complete educational purposes, there are open, for eight or nine months in the year, not less than twenty good schools in which the pupils paN' for their tuition.

The Butler Family

Passing out from Saluda to the neighborhood of Big Creek, near where Butler Church, Methodist, now stands, we find the old homestead of the Butler family. Capt. James Butler, the founder of the family in Edgefield, came from Prince William County, Virginia, a few years before the breaking out of the Revolutionary war, bringing with him his family.

Mr. William P. Butler, in some notes that he gave me of the Butler Family, says: "We have no knowledge of Capt. James Butler prior to his emigrating from Virginia between 1680 and and 1720." This is quite a mistake, as his sou William was born in Virginia in 1759. He says also that: "Miss Sarah Butler, sister of Capt. James Butler, killed on Cloud's Creek, by Cunningham's band of tories, married first Capt. Smallwood Smith, by whom she had two children, recollected Jacob B. Smith and Sarah Butler Smith, wife of Ryden G. Mays."

Family Memoir

General William Butler, the subject of this memoir, was born in Prince William County, Virginia, in 1759. His father. Captain James Butler, removed with his family to South Carolina and settled in the District of Ninety-Six a few years before the Revolution. They were destined to take their full share in the storni}^ times that w^ere approaching. Captain Butler, before he had time to attend his private affairs, was called upon to engage in the public concerns oi the country. He served in the Snow Camp Expedition under General Richardson and was under General Williamson in his expedition against the Cherokee Indians. In 1779, upon the call of General Lincoln, who had assumed command of the Southern forces, he repaired to his camp near Augusta, Ga. , but was taken sick and was unable to follow the army in the subsequent campaign.

From this period few events of Revolutionar}- interest occurred in the upper part of the State until after the fall of Charleston. The capitulation of the forces in the city and the dispersion or retreat of the small detached corps, which had kept the field during the siege, was regarded by the Royal commander as a restoration of British authority, and both civil and militar}- organizations were engaged to maintain it. The inhabitants of the State were called upon to swear allegiance to the British authority and to take British protection. The village of Ninetj'-Six was designated as a place for the surrounding country to appear for the purpose. The proclamation was thought to be delusive and many persons appeared on the day without fully understanding its import.

Among these was Capt. James Butler, who, when informed of what was demanded of him, positively refused to conform to the terms of the proclamation. The British officers in command immediately put him in irons and threw him in Ninety- Six jail, from whence he was transferred to Charleston where he was confined in the provost for eighteen months. Upon his release, towards the last of the year 1781, from this severe and lengthened imprisonment he returned once more to his home, where he was fated to remain hut three weeks bsfore he was called on to seal with his life his devotion to the cause in which he had already suffered so much. The incidents of the bloody tragedy in which he died can be paralelled only in the annals of civil strife.

From the beginning of the contest with the mother country a difference of sentiment had existed in the State on this subject. South Carolina had been a pet province of the Crown. The grievances complained of by the commercial colonies were unfelt by her, and a strong conservative feeling pervaded a large class of her people. This feeling wai= strongest in the up country where the inhabitants took arms from the beginning upon either side of the quarrel, and the contest conducted by irregular troops assumed a savage guerilla character, in which, says General Greene, the inhabitants pursued each other like wild beasts.

A marauding party of Loyalists had made an incursion in the neighborhood of Mount Willing, near which Capt. Butler lived, carrying off considerable booty, and a band of Whigs being formed for their pursuit, he was called upon to take command of the expedition. At first he positively refused to go at all, saying that his hardships and privations already endured, and his recent return to his home ought to exempt him from such an undertaking. But his son, James Butler, one of the party, refusing to continue of the expedition unless his father assumed its direction, Captain Butler yielded to the appeal and consented to go as an adviser, the actual command being in Captain Turner. The Loyalists were overtaken, dispersed at Farra's Spring, in Lexington District, and the horses and cattle they had taken recaptured. Upon the return of the Whig party they stopped at Cloud's Creek and encamped, refusing to mo\-e onwards or to adopt the ordinary precaution against surprise, notwithstanding the urgent remonstrances of Captain Butler. It was not known then who were the lyoyalists they had been pursuing, but the next morning demonstrated the wisdom of his advice. They proved to have been connected with a larger band, and about sunrise, the band amounting to some three hundred men, under the lead of William Cunningham, approached and attacked the camp. Taken by surprise and utterly disorganized, the little party of Whigs, about thirty in number, rallied and took shelter in an unfinished log house without doors or windows. They were fired upon by Cunningham's party, and a demand for surrender peremptoril}^ made. Its terms were enquired by the Whigs and the response of the Tories was that they were unconditional, but that they would receive a communication from them.

Smallwood Smith was selected for the office; Cunningham's first inquiry was who are of 3'our party? On hearing that young James Butler, the son w^ho had been engaged in the affair in which Radclilf was killed was among them, he , determined to give no terms that would exempt this young man from his sword. Cunningham was well acquainted with the father, Capt. Butler, having served with him in the expedition against the Indians, to which allusion has already been made. It is said he had rather a partiality for him and would have entertained terms of capitulation with the party had it not been for the presence of the son.

Capt. James Butler sent Cunningham a special message that if he would spare his son he would make an unconditional surrender of himself. The young man, however, learning Cunningham's animosity to himself and entertaining the impression that his father or he would be sacrificed in the event of any surrender, determined to run all the hazards of a contest of arms, and exclaiming that he would settle the terms of capitulation, commenced the contest by firing his rifle and killing a Tory by the name of Stewart. It is said that negotiation had been commenced to save the officers and sacrifice the privates. But be this as it may, this demonstration of courage concluded the parley, and young Butler, but 19 years old, received a mortal wound while kneeling to pick his flint for a second discharge. The gallant but expiring boy called his father, who had gone upon the expedition unarmed in his character as adviser, to his side, handed him his rifle; and told him there were yet a few balls in his pouch. The father took the gun and discharged it until the ami^unition was exhausted. But the death of the young man produced a panic in the little party contending against such hopeless odds, and an unconditional surrender was the result.

They were placed upon a ladder placed as a bench and heard the terrific order given to put them to the unsparing sword of retaliation and revenge, but two of the number escaped; the rest were slaughtered where they stood. Capt. James Butler caught up a pitchfork and defended himself until his right hand was severed by a sabre stroke.

The tragedy did not terminate here. A detachment of Tories, under the cominand of Prescott, a subordinate leader, was left to meet any burying party that might be sent to inter the mangled victims, and especially to meet the subject of our memoir, then a Captain of Rangers, who, it was expected, would hasten to the spot. But William Butler was too far from the sad scene to be present even at the funeral ceremonial. Women performed the melancholy rites. Mrs. Sarah Smith, a sister of James Butler, the elder, (his widow at the time being in a state of confinement) was summoned to the scene. Her brother's body was recognised by his hand being severed, but the rest could not be identified by their relatives. James Butler, the younger, was supposed to be identified. A large pit was dug, into which the unburied bodies were indiscriminately placed; but a separate g^ave was prepared by the direction of Mrs. Smith, in which the remains of the Butlers, father and son, were deposited and over which an humble monument with filial piety has since been erected.

William Butler

When Lincoln issued his procl-mation from his camp near Augusta, William Butler repaired to his standard as a lieutenant of militia. The American leader's purpose was the invasion and reclamation of Georgia. Leaving a corps of observation at Purysburg, under Moultrie, he had scarcely crossed the Savannah River higher up when his sagacious adversary, Prevost, finding the way to Charleston open, made a brilliant dash for the capture of that city, and had nearl}^ succeeded.

\VhtTi "he crossed the Savannah the citj' was without defences. and Lincoln beHeving the movement but a feint, delayed to» pursue him; but Moultrie, throwing himself in his path, met him at Tulifiny and Coosa whatchie, and by a defensive retreat delayed his advance until field works sufficient to withstand a\t assault could be thrown up for the defence of the city.

The approach of Lincoln's force, as well as Governor Rutledge with militia from Orangeburg, forbade regular approaches, and Prevost commenced his retreat by way of the islands to Savannah. The militia from the up country were then discharged, but William Butler, who had been of the detachment engaged in the action of Stono, remained and attached hiniself to Pulaski's Legion, in which he remained during the campaign of 1779. He was with the gallant Pole' until his death at the siege of Savannah, and always spoke of, him as a bold, dashing dragoon officer. (He complimente?d his memory by naming one of his grandson's after him. )

During the captivity of his father in Charleston all the responsibilities of family obligations devolved upon William Butler. It was at that time, too, the time immediately succeeding the fall of Charleston, that that brilliant race of partisan leaders, whose achievements threw so much of romance over the war at the South, sprang into existence. And when General Greene took command of the Southern army in 1780, the depression which had followed the fall of Charleston disappeared entirely from public sentiment and South Carolina was once more the most warlike State of the Confederacy.

General Greene's movement upon Ninety-Six is a matter of history. At that time William Butler was ser\'ing under General Pickens on the Carolina side of the Savannah River near Augusta. He was at the siege of Augusta, and after the fall of that place, having been detailed by General Pickens to attend Colonel Lee to Ninety-Six, then also besieged, he was present at the interview between Greene and Lee, upon Lee's arrival, in the which the latter suggested the attack upon the stockade. General Butler always expressed himself with emphasis in .speaking of this interview, repeating the words of Lee, that "the spring must be taken." Greene replied: "How can it be done without a general assault?" Lee responded: "Allow me to take the stockade on the opposite side

A corps was detached to meet Rawdon while an assault wpon an incomplete breach was hazarded. Some skirmishing between Rawdon' s advance guard and this corps took place jiear Saluda Old Town, in which some were killed and , several wounded. A young lieutenant from Virginia by the name of Wade was shot, and as he fell from his saddle, with a genuine trooper's care for his steed, forgetting himself, exclaimed to his comrades: "Don't let my horsi fall into the hands of the enemy." He was carried to the house of Samuel Savage and finally recovered. The Americans fell back -and the combatants had not long swept by when a young -. dragoon officer with a white plume and the cockade of the Whigs in his hat, and accompanied by an orderly, rode up to Mr. Savage's and learned from his step-daughter, who had just rcl:v.rned from the vicinity of Ninety-Six, that the siege was raised and Greene in full retreat had crossed Saluda at the Island ford, with L,ee's legion bringing up the rear. The young officer v/as William Butler, and this was his first meeting v/ith the lady whom he subsequently married. He had been detached from the army of Ninety-Six upon some . separate service under General Plenderson, from v.'hom he .derived his first commission as captain in 1781. He at once determined to join the retreating arm}', and being told that ;±wo stragglers from Rawdon 's force were down in Savage's low grounds, taking the plantation horses, he took them prisoners, mounted one of 'theni behind himself and the other l>ehind his orderly, swam Saluda near what is now called Boaz- ..man's Ferry^ and joined I^ee about ten miles from the Island ford on the Newberry side. He had learned from the prisoners that Rawdon had rushed forward a strong light corps, embracing both cavalry and infantry, in hot pursuit of the Americans. When William Butler came up with Lee he informed him of the pursuit, and the information came none too soon. Lee had halted his command and was lying on his saddle- - blanket, making a pillow of his saddle. His prompt direction, to Armstrong, one of his captains, was: "Form your troops in the rear and fight while we run." The legion was barelj' again on the march w^hen the enemy appeared; but Armstrongmade the required demonstrations with such gallantry and confidence that the enemy, apprehending an engagement with it stronger force, paused for reinforcements and Lee was enabled to put himself in close communication with the main body, which was then halted at Bushes Creek.

After this time William Butler was a partisan, sometimes serving as second in command under Ryan, and sometimes in the same position under Watson - both partisan leaders of local distinction. At a subsequent period he raised and commanded a company of mounted Rangers, under a commission from General Pickens, confirmed l)y the Governor of the State. While serving under Watson he was engaged in an expedition against a band of Tories, who had organized themselves on Edisto. The expedition rendezvou.sed. at the Ridge, Edgefield District. Michael Watson, the leadier., was a determined and resentful man, and consulted too much the counsels which these feelings suggested. When they met the Tories at Dean's Swamp the latter were stronger than had been expected, and though partly taken in ambush and the- Tories occupying a strong position he disdained a retreat. The Whigs had fallen back at the first fire with symptoms of panic and a faltering response to the order to charge. But few obeyed with the stern alacrity they were wont to welcome it. Many obeyed not at all. Again driven back, the stern old warrior shouted his rally and ordered his men to stand to their duty. But about fifteen came up to the call. They had originally gone into the fight against superior numbers, and the Tories strongly posted in the swamp, which position they still maintained. Watson was mortally wounded by a ball through the hip while loading his rifle behind a tree. William Butler then.

assumed the command, giving his lieutenancy to John Corley, and, the danger of the party requiring a resort to desperate measures, placed him in rear with an order to cut down the first man that gave way. It happened that Joseph Corley, among others, was about to give way, which would have lefc the small remnant of the Whigs to certain destruction. John Corley, true to his instructions, with drawn sword menaced his brother with instant death unless he returned to his post. Joseph did return and behaved well afterwards.

Vardell had been killed, and before his breath left him he begged his comrades not to let his body fall into the hands of the Tories. The wounded Wat'^on, lying between the contending parties, had made a similar appeal, specially to William Butler: "Billy, do not let them take me."

The Whigs made one more charge and carrying off their comrades retreated, but found time to bury poor Vardell under a clay root and cover him with tlieir swords. At some little distance from the scene of conflict they took refuge in a wooden outhouse, being pursued, but circumspectly, by the Tories. Watson, severely wounded, and the sudden apprehension of d.ath, still maintained a military resolution. A woman happened to be in the house in which they entered whose infant, some three weeks old, was in a dwelling some distance off. Watson insisted she should be detained; that their weakened condition required concealment and she might betray them. They foimd, means, however, to get information of their perilous situation to Orangeburg, and Captain, subsequent!}' General Rumph, hastened to their relief. Under his escort Watson was carried upon a litter in a dying condition to Orangeburg where he expired and was buried. William Butler superintended the military honors of his funeral.

While serving with Ryan the subject of our memoir was engaged in another expedition against the Tories in Orangeburg District. They were in force near the Court House. A number of Tories, finding their condition desperate, deserted to the Whigs, and Ryan, distrusting them, placed them in front with instructions to his men to shoot them if they proved false. In the fight which ensued his chief was again disabled and William Butler assumed the command. The Tories were defeated.

In 1782 Cunningham made a second incursion into the Ninety-Six District. Perfectly familiar with the country in his youth, possessed of great sagacity, fertility in military expedients and endowed with all the physical qualities so essential to the partizan, he was no mean adversary to contend with. A favorite manoeuvre with him was to divide his command upon the march into small detachments, to be concentrated by different routes near the point at which the blow was aimed. In this manner he had concentrated his force at Caradine's ford on Saluda. William Butler then was commanding a company of Rangers under the authority of General Pickens and, with a portion of his company marched to meet him. With a view to ascertain the enemy's position he resorted to a ruse. Approaching the residence of Joseph Cunningham, near the junction of Little Saluda with Big Saluda, he sent forward his brother, Thomas Butler, with Abner Corley to the house at night. Thomas Butler was an excellent mimic and, imitating the voice of one of William Cunningham's men, called Nibletts, asked from without where our friend Cunningham was. The wife of Joseph Cunningham replied that he had crossed at Caradine's ford. With that information William Butler himself rode up to the house and mounting Joseph Cunningham on a horse compelled him to guide the party across the ford.

They crossed the ford at 12 o'clock at night and next morning halted in a peach orchard near Bauknight's Ferry. The horses were unbridled but with the saddles on feeding upon peas out of a canoe when a grey mare, which Cunningham was known to have taken out of the neighborhood, was observed passing back, having escaped from his camp. This incident disclosed in some measure the state of affairs, and the Rangers received the orders to march. The Rangers numbered some thirty and Cunningham's men about twenty. The bloody scene of Cloud's Creek animated any encounter between Butler and Cunningham with more of the feelings of the duello than the battle-field. Approaching the Tory position unobserved, John Corley was detailed with eight men to gain their rear and upon a concerted signal to commence the attack, while the main body advanced under cover of a hedge. The Tories were drying their blankets by their camp fires; Cunningham, himself, was at a little distance off from his band. As it after- wards appeared, Butler's person being at one time exposed in advancing before the signal was given, he was observed by the Tories, but taken for their leader, for there was a striking personal resemblance between the two men.

Corley's furious assault, himself foremost in the charge, was the first intimation to the Tories that their exasperated foes were at hand. Cunningham was promptly at his post, but, taken by surprise and attacked by superior numbers, thought only of safety. Having no time to saddle his horse, but with partizan quickness seizing his holsters sprang to his seat, while Butler, singling him out, dashed in pursuit. Both men were remarkably fine riders and tradition has preserved the names of the horses they rode. Cunningham was mounted on a mare which had become celebrated in the service as "Silver Heels," while Butler rode a horse called "Ranter." As Butler carried only a sabre and Cunningham only pistols that liad been rendered useless by the rain of the night before, for he snapped them repeatedl}' over his shoulders at his adversary as he fled, life or death hung upon the speed of the horses. As long as the chase was in the woods "Ranter" maintained his own, but when he struck an open trail in which the superior strides of Cunningham's thoroughbred could tell, turning in his seat and patting with triumph and confidence the noble animal that bore him, he tauntingly exclaimed, "I am safe," and dashing rapidly away from his adversary', he escaped by himself swimming the Saluda near lyorick's ferry. When William Butler returned from the pursuit of Cunningham he found a portion of his command assembled at the Tory camp under circumstances which gave him great concern. Turner, one of his prisoners, had been deliberately shot through the h2\l aft^r he had surrendered. When Butler sternly rebuked the act wScysin, who had done the deed, justified himself by reciting an outrage the unfortunate Tory had inflicted upon his mother. The verdict of the corps was in Seysin's favor and no court martial was held upon him. There was certainly strong palliating circumstances in the case. The Tory had stripped Mrs. Seysin to the waist and tying her had severely whipped her to force her to disclose where a party of Whigs, among whom was her son, were.

pose of capturing or dispersing them, and some were overtaken while crossing the river. Butler, finding his men disposed to fire upon them, ordered De Loach, who was raising his rifle, to desist. Sherwood Corley was then in the river, had snapped his pistol at the retreating party, not heeding the order, he deliberately primed it afresh while in the water and killed a Tory named Davis while he w'as ascending the Edgefield bank. The result of this action was the dispersion of Cunningham's famous band. He, him.self, retired to Cuba where he died, being prevented from returning to his native State after the war by a prescriptive proclamation of the authoritives. He was awarded something like an ovation by the British. Goudy, a gallant partizan of the Revolution, visited Cuba after the war on account of his health. Cunningham, in the true spirit of hospitality, called upon him with an invitation to dinner. Whether Goudy accepted the invitation or not we cannot say;, but Cunningham told him that on one- occasion he had ridden up with an escort at his back to a house near Ninety-Six, in which Goudy and others were playing cards, with a view to ascertaining if William Butler was among them. "Why did 3^ou not fire upon us?" asked Goudy. "I had no temptation to kill you," said Cunningham, "but if Billy Butler had been there you would have had the floor flooded with blood."

From this time until after the close of the war, William Butler continued at the head of the Rangers, under command of General Pickens, and was considered his favorite captain. He had, however, very little duty other than patrol to perform. His company of Rangers was not discharged until 1784, more than a year after the peace.

With the resumption of the pursuits of civil life, the soldier's thoughts reverted to the 3'ounggirl of Saluda with whom his meeting during Green's retreat from Ninety-Six has already been mentioned, Nor had she forgotten the young oflicer of the cocade and plume, for when the household rejected him, (the stepfather forbade him to vusit her), she told him to come, she would see him. They were married the 3d of June, 1784.

Miss Behethland Foot Moore, whom William Butler had thus selected as the partner of his life, was a woman of strong, and in many respects remarkable traits of character. She al- ways exercised great influence with her husband and he relied much upon her judgment and advice. He seemed to have inspired her with a deep feeling, almost amounting to a fascination; of itself a high tribute to his memory.

In 1 794 William Butler was elected by the Legislature of South Carolina Sheriff of Ninety-Six District. He discharged few of the ministerial duties, however, leaving them to his brothers, Thomas and Stanmore, who were his deputies; but he always conducted the military escort of the Judge coming into the District and presided as High Sheriff during the sitting of the Court.

The sheriff of that day was an officer of distinction and was generally detailed upon offices of honor. William Butler, as Sheriff of Ninety-Six, received General Washington when upon the Southern tour, from the authorities of Georgia, and conducted him by the Pine House to the Ridge, which was near the termination of his territorial jurisdiction At the Ridge, General Hampton, then sheriff of what was called Camden District, received and conducted him by Granby, through Camden and thence to Charlotte, North Carolina, where the authorities of that State received the illustrious patriot. (There is certainly an error here. Washington passed through the District in 1791).

In 1796 General Pickens resigned the office of Major- General of the upper division of vSouth Carolina militia and through his recommendation Willi uu Butler was elected by the State Legislature to fill the vacancy. In 1800 General Butler became a candidate for Congress against Robert Goodloe Harper, the incumbent from the Ninety-Six District. Mr. Harper had been elected as a Republican, but from conscientious motives joined the Federalists and supported what was peculiarly unpopular at the South - Jay's Treaty. This raised opposition to him at home and General Butler was selected as the opposition candidate, his old commander, John Ryan, moving the nomination. He succeeded in the election and took his seat in 1801.

When the resolution, charging General Wilkinson with complicity with Burr, in his attributed treason, was moved and adopted in the House of Representatives, the occasion gave rise to great sensation. A discussion took place upon the floor as to the chairman of the Committee of Investigation. A ballot was called for by Wilkinson's friends, the motion was overlaid and the duty of making the appointment devolved upon the Speaker. He appointed General Butler. Wilkinson made some offensive remarks. Something of this kind, that he was not only to be tried by a militia general, but that he was condemned before he was tried. This being reported to General Butler he resigned his position on the committee. Roger Bacon being appointed to succeed him and unfriendly communications w^ere made between him and Wilkinson. They were, however, fully reconciled.

In 1813 General Butler resigned his seat in Congress, distinctly in preference to Mr. Calhoun, saying to him, "You can meet Mr. R.andolph in debate, I cannot." His admiration for Randolph was very high, and notwithstanding they differed in opinion as to the war of 181 2, they still continued to entertain friendly relations. Butler once spent some time with him at his house by invitation in returning from Congress.

In 1814 General Butler was called bj^ Gen. Alston, in a very complimentary Order, on record in Washington, to command the troops of South Carolina at Charleston.

President Madison had, in 18 12, offered him the commission of brigadier general in the United States service, but he declined it, saying he was a major general at home.

General Jackson was appointed to command the forces at New Orleans, while General Butler was to command in Charleston. They had been comrades in early life and Jackson sent him word that they were both called militia generals, but he knew whichever was attacked would do his duty. General Pickens desired to prescribe the mode of defence of Charleston. His plan was to allow the enemy to land and fight them in the streets from behind barricades. Butler's response to him, when he assumed the command, was that he expected to consult the dictates of his own judgment, and they should meet them in the water. An incursion was made upon one of the islands for the purpose of supplying provisions to the fleet off the coast, and a slight affair occurred in which Captain Dent of the navy was principally engaged. The incursion was repelled. This was the only engagement with the enemy of any portion of General Butler's command. It had fallen to the lot of his friend Jackson to vindicate the ability of militia generals. The war terminated with the battle of New Orleans and General Butler became a private citizen.

From this period to the close of his life he confined himself principally to the business of his farm. During the time he was in Congress his seat was twice contested, first by Dr. Scriven, a man of high character, and afterwards by Edmund Bacon, a man of mark. The last contest gave rise to the unfortunate issue known as the "old and new parties of Edgefield." It was bitter and led to many painful controversies. Mr. Bacon not only became reconciled with, but was afterwards a warm friend of General Butler's and frequently entertained him with a hospitality that would scarcely be recognized at the present day.

General Butler was a member of the convention held in Charleston in 1787 to consider the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and with General Sumter and others, whose names are to be found on the journal, voted against it. He was subsequently a member of the convention which framed our present State Constitution. (Constitution previous to 1868).

General Butler's brothers were Thomas, who was regarded a man of military talent; Sampson, who was Sheriff" of Edgefield, and for many years represented that district in the State lyCgislature ; Stanmore, who was a captain in the United States army during the time a war was expected with France, and was Clerk of the Court of Edgefield when he died; and James, who was killed in the Rev^olution, as already described. He had two sisters, Nancy and Elizabeth. The first married Elisha Brooks, who was a lieutenant in the Revolution; the latter married Zachariah Brooks, who was also a lieutenant in the Revolution and subsequently a colonel of State cavalry.

He had eight children. James was Sheriff of Edgefield and a colonel of State cavalry at his death. George Butler was a lawyer, and during the war of 18 12 served as major in the regular army. William was a physician and was a surgeon in the army at New Orleans. He also served one term as Representative in Congress. Frank Butler was a lawyer. Pierce M. Butler was an officer in the regular army; was President of the Bank of the State; was Governor of South Carolina, and fell at the battle of Cherubusco at the head of the Palmetto Regiment.

Emmala, the only daughter, was married to General Waddy Thompson, who was a lawyer, a member of Congress and Minister to Mexico. Leontine died young.

Andrew Pickens Butler, the sole survivor, has been a lawyer, a Judge, and is now the senior United States Senator from South Carolina. (Judge A. P. Butler died May 25, 1857. ^ biographical notice of him is given elsewhere in this book).

General Butler was a handsome man, about six feet high, a good shot with a rifle, and excellent in woodcraft and horsemanship. His fondness for horses amounted to a passion, and he would have none but the finest blood upon his place. He considered it a defect in his soi.s not to ride well, and was in the habit of making them break his colts until, upon one occasion when a "Dare Devil" filly was to be mounted and two of the boys, Pickens and Pierce, were drawing lots to see who should do it. Mrs. Butler could stand it no longer. She interposed, telling her husband that they were her children as well as his, and if the horses were to be broken, put the servants at it. He yielded, carelessly remarking, "it would not hurt them to get thrown, the ground was plowed."

At one time he was engaged upon the Turf and ran his horses generally with success; but upon one occasion a demand was made upon him for a stake which he was unable to put up. Under the demand, however, he put up his family serv^ant, Will. He won the race and it was his last. Returning home he told his wife what he had done and gave her a positive pledge, which he kept, never to run another race or to play another card. General Butler was a man of strong impressions and of great self-reliance. Though his connection with most of the events narrated was a subordinate one, he always had his own and decided opinions. He had not literary attainments, but in the school of experience he was a scholar that stood high. One strong peculiarity marked his character - an aversion to long letters and long speeches. He always spoke of John Rutledge as the best speaker he had ever heard; commending him chiefly for his brevity. He, himself, seldom wrote over a page, and that laconic and dispatchful. Plis sherifif 's books, now in the possession of Hon. A. P. Butler, is a model of official neatness.

William Butler died in September, 182 1, and was buried at the family burial ground at Big Creek, in Edgefield District. He died with remarkable calmness. While he has left little that is remembered, save through tradition, he was a man of mark in his day.

General Butler's sister, Elizabeth, became the wife of Zachary Smith Brooks, I^ieutenant during the Revolution and afterwards Coloiiel of State Cavalry. As it may possibly be of interest to some persons now living, I give here the muster roll of a company of cavalry commanded by Col. Bruoks while he was still only a captain. I greatly regret that there is no date to the paper, but it is very old. Some of the names I cannot decipher and some are erased :

I deeply regret that there is no date to this paper; but judging from the names I find and from the quality of the paper itself, it must be full eighty, or ninety, or perhaps a hundred years old. The George Pope, whose name I find as second lieutenant, was a brother of Sampson Pope, grandfather of Judge Y. J. Pope and Sampson Pope, of Newberry. Robert Christie, first lieutenant, was, I think, father of Simeon Christie, some time Sheriff of Edgefield District. Joel Abney, cornet, lived on Saluda River, near Higgins' Ferry, and was the father of Pope and Joel, and the Rev. Mark Abney, who was so well known at Edgefield some years ago. He was the father also of two daughters, Charlotte, who never married, and Elmina,who first married a Dr. Belden. When I first remember seeing her she was a widow. She afterwards married a Methodist minister named Rush. She became a widow again and died in 1889 or 1890, at an advanced age. She was helpless and bedridden for several j-ears before her death. Azariah Abney was a brother of Joel and lived near him. They married sisters - Joel, Elizabeth Pope, and Azariah, Mary - who were sisters of George and Sampson Pope. Wade Carson was of that same family of Carsons, some of whom are living now not far south of Saluda River; and one, Rev. James Carson, is a Baptist preacher. There were three John Abneys; one was the father of Dr. M. W. Abney, whose home was at Edgefield, and who died there about the year 1886. Some of the descendants of the others are still living in that section. Of the descendants of Hardy Matthews I know nothing, and cannot write with certainty, though the name Matthews is still known in Edgefield, and a citizen of Newberry, E. P. Matthews, went from Edgefield and having found"great attractions in that county, married and remained there. And, in the year 1S91, Mr. Budd C. Matthews, grandson of a worthy citizen, followed the example of E. P. and married in Newberry and deserted the land of his birth.

The names of Boram, Spragins, Buffington, Hart, Champion, Deshass, Nunn, Eskridge, and perhaps some others on this roll, have disappeared from that part of Edgefield. Of the descendants of Captain Smith Brooks, the most celebrated and best known is the Hon. Preston S. Brooks, who served his country and State, commanding a company of volunteers during the war with Mexico. He was afterwards elected to the Congress of the United States - was expelled from the House for caning Mr. Sumner, and was immediately re-elected. Some of the Willises and others, still live in the same section, not far frcm their ancestral homes.

Story Of George And Sampson Pope

I have heard a story of the brothers George and vSampsou Pope, that may interest the readers of this book. They were both neighbors of Gen. Butler, and Sampson was v.'armly and devotedly attached to him. At some time, it appears, that George was so unfortunate as to become very angry with Butler. . In his anger and resentment he spoke very harshly of him, which gave great offense to Sampson. He felt so embittered by the abusive language George had heaped upon his friend Gen. Butler, that it seemed to him they could no longer live in the same neighborhood together. So he presented George with a fine horse and a purse of five hundred dollars and requested him to leave the District and go West, which he did. Many years afterwards an acquaintance from Edgefield travelling in Alabama, in search of new lands upon which to settle, accidentally came across him, remained all night, perhaps longer with him; found him prosperous, if not rich; very comfortably situated, and an influential local Methodist preacher.