Edgefield, South Carolina - History (part 2 of 3)

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

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

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

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

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

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

W. B. Dorn

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

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

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

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

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

Kansas Troubles-Secession

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

History Of Kdgefield

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An Ordinance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the loth of August I received a furlough for sixty days. The hospital was then at Forsyth. From Fors^'th we had to go to I^.Iacon, at which place we were delayed just 23 hours. At Macon we saw Stoneman and his raiders, who had recently been captured and were then about to take the train for Charleston. They were an insolent looking set of fellows, and their appearance, deportment, and general manner inspired this writer with no worse feeling than a ver}- natural and laudable desire to kick them. From Aug:usta we had to nass through B^'anchville, Orangeburg, and Cohimbia on the way home. I had heard of the good deeds of that noble lady, Mrs. Rowe, and at Orangeburg I was so happy as to see her come on board with baskets of provisions for the hungrj^ soldiers. Being convalescent after a sojourn in hospital of a little over ten weeks, I wps always hungry. As soon as I saw Mrs. Rowe's benevolent face I smiled and bowed to her. She came to me at once, opened her basket, and gave me to eat until I was ashamed to eat any more, and thought that I must leave something for some other sufferer. That night I slept at the Waj'side Hospital, in Columbia, not the Ladies' Hospital, and left more hungry in the morning than when I arrived there at night. On the 13th of August I arrived at home safe, and found all well and at peace. The clang of arms was not heard in that section, (Mount Enon) though some small part of the Confederate Army, cavalry, camped for a day and night onlj^ a few miles away. The Federal Cavalry that did so much devilment in the lower part of Edgefield and Newberry, did not come nearer than thirty miles of us. I laid aside the weapons of carnal warfare forever, and when the time comes to go to my eternal home, I think I can say with truth, that, whatever my feelings may have been and are towards the Yankees, I have never killed nor hurt one of them.

But I have written enough, and more than enough, the reader may very properly think of my own personal adventures during the comparatively short time in which I was in the field, though the whole term of my service was over eighteen months. My excuse must be that as men grow old they become garrulous.

The Seventh Regiment

As already stated the volunteers from Edgefield were mostly embodied in the Nineteenth and Seventh Regiments. Those in the Nineteenth went West and v/ere in all the campaigns and battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and elsewhere disastrous or fortunate: and those who endured or survived so long were with Johnston at the final surrender. Some were in the Twent^'-fourth which also went West. Those in the Seventh were early sent to Virginia and shared in all the glories and disasters that befell I^ee's veterans from the first fight at Bull Run to the closing scenes around Ricii]]ioud and the falling of the curtain at Appomattox.

The story of that regiment as told by one wlio was in it and part of it, almost from the first until very nearly the close now lies before me, and from it I propose to condense briefly an.' relate its history. It was organized at Camp Butler, S. C. , April 15th, 1861, to serve for twelve months; Thorn :s G. Bacon, Colonel; Robert Fair, Ivieutenant Colonel; Emmet Seibles, Major. It v.-as amongst the first to go to Virginia and with the Second, Third, and Eighth it formed a brigade under M. L. Bonham, afterwards under J. B. Kershaw. Tills regiment was not engaged at the battle of Bull Run, First Manassas, though under artillery fire. The writer of the sketch, from which we draw, enlisted for the v/ar in a re-enlisted company (M), of which E. Jerry Goggans was elected Ca[)tain on the 24th of March, 1862, and joined the regiment on the Peninsula. On the Peninsula they were under command of General J. B. Magruder until the arrival of General J. E. Johnston. They were near, but not engaged in the battle of Williamsburg. On the 12th of May, 1862, the regiment vvas re-organized. At an election for field ofiicers held on the 13th, D. Wyatt Aiken was elected Colonel; Elbert Bland, Lieutenant Colonel; of the Peninsula and around Richmond under Magruder and Johnston and Lee. They were in the desperate conflict at Malvern Hill, where Lieutenant J. R. Bouknight was killed.

They were in the invasion of Maryland, fording the Potomac where it was about 400 yards wide. Some soldiers stripped naked in order to keep their clothes dry; most of them only pulling off their pants and drawers, keeping on their shirts; some onl}' rolled up their breeches, and these got their clothes wet, as the water came up higher than thej' could roll their breeches.

In Mar) land they met many friends and some foes. The friends would"^smile and wave their handkerchiefs, and a smile from a lovely girl was very charming. The enemies would close their doors as the Confederates passed, grin and make faces at them through the windows. As they passed Frederick City great demonstrations were made by both friends and foes - some ladies brought pails of water; some milk, some bread, some waved handkerchiefs, and Confederate flags, while others waved Union flags from the windows and held their noses as the Southerners passed. "A Georgia Major, inspired by the occasion and by liquor was riding along the lines and speaking. He was calling the attention of the citizens to the grand, invincible army of the South. As he passed Kershaw's brigade he said: 'I'm a Georgian, but I give to South Carolina the honor of beginning this struggle for libert}'?' We cheered him and he p^assed on."

This regiment wa/j at the taking of Harper's Ferry and played an important part in that enterprise. They were at the battle of Sharpsburg, v\^here Colonel Aiken fell, shot through the lungs, and the regiment lost 169 killed and wounded, being half that went into action. Company M lost 17 killed and wounded out of 29 that were present on tlie field of battle. Major White vras killed in this battle. After crossing the Potomac at Winchester on the return from Marylaud after the battle of Sharpsburg, lyieutenant Colonel Bland took command of the regiment. He had been v/ounded at Savage Station and was not at Sharpsburg. J. S. Hard, senior Captain, became Major. He was afterwards killed at Chickaniauga.

I am templed to give here large extracts from this Diary of Sergeant J. J. McDaniel, of company M, as personal narratives always have great charms for me; but I am compelled to forego that pleasure. I 3'ield, however, to the temptation to give a description of "winter quarters."

"The Seventh Regiment remained encamped near Fredericksburg from the time of the battle of the 13th of December till the lotli of Januar}', 1863. On that dax' McLaw's Division moved back some six miles from town, where we could obtain wood plentifully. For where a division encamps dtiring the winter in a cold climate, it takes but a little while to clear large fields, leaving not a tree, where so lately waved a large forest. Our brigade was placed in the midst of a dense forest, the regiments composing it being crowded together closer than usual. Here we vx'ent regularly into winter quarters, and I will describe here the appearance of some of our quarters. With the exception of a ver}^ few ofhcers we had no wall tents; but a simple fl}'. which is a piece of canvass stretched across a ridge pole, generally raised on two forks as high as you could reach, so as to be convenient to hang up articles. We often run our waist belts around the pole, buckling them for a 'rack,' or swing for our guns, and these in their turn serving to hang clothes upon and other articles of camp equipage. The ends of the canvass we pegged to the ground on each side, some six or seven feet from the upright forks, leaving the tent open at both ends, with but little inside. To obviate this inconvenience most of the me^ses built log pens 3 or 4 feet high, and put the fly on top of this pen, which, when daubed with mud, formed an excellent wall to exclude the rigor of the winter. To complete the tent a chimney must now be built. This is first made of sticks and afterv^'ards daubed with mud. Many being too lazy to build their chimney high enough with sticks, obtained empt\^ flour barrels, which they set on top to lengthen out the funnel. These generally burnt up, as they could not be daubed or plastered vcith mud to shield them. It was no uncommon thing to hear a passer-by cry out to the inmates, 'Your barrel is on fire.' But there are otlier kinds of tents or quarters which some build v ithout any canvass. These resemble the roof of a house, and are made b}' leaning poles or boards against the ridge pole at an an.gle of about 45 degrees, and covering these '.vith leaves and dirt, form a very wann tent. Others again, v/hen they are camped on the side of a hill, cut out a tent in the side of the hill, making solid walls of earth, and thus literally, Esquimaux fashion, burrowing under ground. These excel all others in vrarmtl:.

The next question after the tent is finished is how shall we sleep? for it is unhealthy to sleep on the ground, with nothing but your bidding under you, though some do it. The plan generally adopted is to drive up four forks some 2 ftet high, form a scaffold, and cover this with small poles, upon which make your bed. This seems pretty rough at first, as soldiers don't have beddiug enough to make the poles soft, yet in a few nights they would not exchange them for feather beds.

"The amusements and employments of our soldiers while in winter quarters were various. The inclemency of the weather during this winter in Virginia, was such that for weeks we did not drill. There were many heavy falls of snow^, generally followed by rain. Two or three days after a heavy fall of snow^ the country for miles around would' be full of soldiers hunting rabbits. When they would get on one's track in the snow, they would be almost sure to 'jump' him, and then he was almost sure to be caught, for, hindered on one hand by the deep snow, and, headed on all .sides by soldiers, he was soon captured. I have known some exciting races.

"Another great sport was snow balling. Frequently when you .showed your head outside of 3'our tent you would be saluted wdth a volley of snow balls, and if you w^ere not disposed to join in the fight your best policy would be to doublequick out of danger. I have frequently .seen one regiment arrayed against another in these snow ball battles, led by their respective officers. In fact, I have seen two brigades meet in these bloodless contests, each man having a haversack full oi ready-made snow balls. In such a battle the air is white with the flying missiles, darting sportively through the contendin.g ranks.

"Other favorite .sports were the various games of town ball. But I am sorry to say that many spent most of their time at cards, playing and betting on games of chance. I have known soldiers paid off 2 or 3 months' wages, and before night lose it all gambling. How much more profitably it would be to them to spend their time in reading some religious book or tract, and then save their money, character, and morals.

"Nothing of an exciting nature occurred for sometime to break the dull monotony of camp life in winter quarters. We received a daily mail from Richmond, together with the daily papers, which served as a source of instruction and a means of employing profitably much of our time. The 'Dispatch,' 'Whig,' 'Examiner,' and 'Sentinel' were eagerly' sought to learn the latest news. We paid for each of these papers mostly 15 cents, sometimes less and frequently more. We sometimes formed clubs of eight or ten, which would enable the club to read all the dailies at a small cost to each member. The Illustrated Southern News was the favorite weekly, in which we received a likeness and history weekly of some of our distinguished generals. We also received a great many religious papers and tracts, sent by the various religious associations for that purpose throughout the Confederacy. These, like bread cast upon the waters, will doubtless be gathered after many days. Their fruits in part were seen in the revivals which followed in the spring. . . . Our camp had the appearance of a busy workshop on cold winter evenings. You could see the soldiers coming and going in all directions, carrying wood for the night, and the sound of many axes resounded throughout the camp.

"Our regiment picketed at Fredericksburg. When it came our turn to go we would stay a week and quarter in the houses around the town. We picketed up the river, near a mile above town, opposite Falmouth, a small place on the north bank of the Rappahannock. The Yankees were stationed on that bank and we on the south. By agreement the pickets did not fire at each other across the river n^^ar Fredericksburg. For awhile they exchanged papers, and the Yankees would swap coffee for tobacco. The means by which this traffic was conducted was a very small boat into which they put the articles, and then arranging sails it was carried over by the winds. The Yankee officers captured one that some of ours sent over called the 'Body Louse'. They stated in their account of it that they would send it to Washington to be placed in the patent office as a curiosity."

But winter quarters passed away; and the campaign of 1863, with all its battles and bloodshed, began about the middle of April. In May of this year was fought the battle of Chancellorsville, where Stonewall Jackson was killed, a loss from which the Confederacy never recovered. The writer of the Diary from which we are reading says: "Chancellorsville, which consisted of a large house used as a hotel and latterly as a female boarding school, was all in flames when he saw it. It had been set on fire by our shells. This was Hooker's headquarters, and report says that while leaning against a piazza post it was knocked down by a cannon ball, precipitating him to the ground. He villianously retained several ladies in the house, saying to them that General L,ee would not fire on the house while they were in it. The Richmond Dispatch gave the names of the ladies, and a full account of it. They plead with the brutal coward, telling him that General Lee would not sacrifice a victory for the sake of a few ladies - that there was too much at stake - the cause of the entire Confederacy. Yet he would not let them go till the house was in flames, and then he had to move his own carcass to a safer place." Some wounded soldiers were burned to death in the house, and many in the woods which took fire from Jackson's artillery.

It would be a pleasure to give the sergeant's account of this battle in full, and of the march of the army into Pennsylvania and of the battle of Gettysburg, but want of space forbids.

The writer of the Diary was wounded at Gettysburg - shot clear through the body, the ball passing through the lungs. As soon as he was able to travel he was sent home, leaving the army on the 2nd of July, 1S63. He returned to it again, arriving there on the 19th of July, 1S64, having been absent a little over one year. His Diary contains an account of the movements of the army and of the battles in which his regiments were engaged during his absence. After his return he served faithfully, continuing his record until the 28th of December, 1864, when he was honorabl}' discharged from the army on account of his wound, w^hich, it was considered, entirely disabled him for further military service. He left Richmond on the 29tli of December, 1864, and arrived at home on Monday, the 2nd of January, 1865. Having been wounded at Gettysburg, he was not with his regiment when it was sent to the assistance of Bragg at Chickamauga, nor when it passed through Middle and East Tennessee on the return to Virginia.

But perhaps enough has been written in this book about the war. In that time of fier}' trial, as far as is known to this writer, Edgefield did her part nobly and well.

We will go back for a little while to an earlier period in our history and give a brief account of one of the dead towns of Edgefield and its father and builder.

Soldiers' Relief Association

A meeting of the ladies of Edgefield and its vicinity was held at the Masonic Hall on Monday morning at 10 o'clock. The meeting was called to order and Mrs. J. A. Bland was called to the Chair. After stating the object of the meeting the following preamble and resolutions were offered b}^ Mrs. Captain Bland and unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That we, the ladies of Edgefield, do desire to aid our brave and suffering soldiers, so far as it is in the province of woman to do.

Resolved, 3rd. That the object of this Asiiciation sli;ill be the procuring and making of all articles necessary for the comfort of all the troops without discrimination who represent Edgefield.

Resolved, \M\. That eacli lady on paying the su;n of one dollar, or its equii-alent, shall become a member of the Association, and entitled to all privileges.

John Maloy, Mrs. John Huiet, Mrs. Henry T. Wright, Mrs. Lewis Jones, Mrs. A. G. Teague, and Miss CorneUa Jones. The meeting then adjourned to meet once a week.

Presentation Of A Flag To The Holcombe Legion

Mrs. Pickens, whose maiden name this I^egion bears, has presented them with a beautiful flag and a beautiful letter accompanying it, as follows: Officers and Soldiers of the Holcombe Legion:

I can find no words with which to thank your gallant Colonel for the compliment he has paid me, in giving to his noble command the name I once bore; but I trust the presentation of this standard may in some small measure testify my deep appreciation of the honor conferred upon me. In seeking to render this ensign worthy of your valor and devotion, I have placed first among its devices the armorials of your beloved State, the glorious palmetto and crescent, emblems consecrated to noble daring and high resolve, for they waved in our harbor when Carolina stood alone in this momentous contest, and floated over that heroic battery which threw its steady and victorious fire into the arrogant "Star of the West." I remember with pride that your commander, Colonel Stevens, had charge of that battery, and thus early in the war established a claim to Carolina's grateful remembrance. While I give into your honorable keeping the spotless escutcheon of your State, I look with eager confidence toward that futui'e, when your heroism shall achieve for it a new lustre and renown.

The dates inscribed 1776 and i860 are eloquent with meaning. The first commemorates our disenthralment from a foreign foe, the second speaks to you of that glad hour when we threw off the tyranny of domestic wrong, and welcomed the new birth of a higher freedom. If I have reversed the Palmetto with the Lone Star of the ' 'Imperial State of Texas," if I have thus sought to associate on your battleflag the two devices which share the devotion of my own heart, you will not blame me; you will remember the bloody struggle, the Spartan endurance, the indomitable courage by which she won her right to honor and independence; and the chivalric, heroic blood of South Carolina which flowed at the Alamo will, to the last day, challenge an admiring tribute from every son of her soil. I feel assured that the noble motto inscribed on this banner, "It is for the brave to die, but not to surrender" - is but the expression of the spirit which animates the breast of every soldier in your midst. Patriotism ranks with us, as with the ancients, first among virtues, and life is only worth keeping that we may perform^the duties belonging to it.

And now I cannot resist telling you how anxiously I will follow 3'our every movement; w^hat pride I will feel in your moments of victory and success; and I will grieve if reverses befall you. I earnestly pray that God will keep each one of you in His charge, and that the fortune of war may give you all you require, an opportunity to show yourselves a legion of heroes. I.UCY HOLCOMBE PICKENS.

Hamburg and its founder have alreadj' been mentioned in these pages, but the following account, which is copied verbatim from the Atlanta Journal, and for the exact accurac}'' of which this writer is not responsible, but which he believes to be very nearly correct, gives some particulars of interest which ought to be included in a history of Edgefield:

" 'The dead towns of Georgia' have been the subject of a work of great interest and unusual merit, but as far as is known, 'the dead towns of South Carolina' have not been touched upon.

"Mr. William C. Sibley, President of the Sibley Mills of Augusta, and a citizen that the Electric City prizes as one of its most valued, was in Atlanta Thursday night. (This was in June or July, 1891.) He was in a reminiscent strain, and told me some facts about the history of Hamburg, the desolate cit}'- now populated by from one hundred to one hundred and fifty lazy vagrant negroes, just across the river from Augusta.

"He knew it when it was the centre of commerce for four States, when hundreds upon hundreds of wagons each day from Georgia, Upper and Lower South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee would roll into its streets loaded down with articles of commerce.

"Along in the early thirties Augusta had an old German citizen b}^ the name of Schultz. The city was at that time a trading centre for hundreds of miles of the sourroundiug country. Schultz was one of the wealthiest citizens. He erected and owned three brick buildings on the north side of Broad street, just below the monument, which are standing until this day.

"They were known as the Bridge Bank buildings, because, presumably, was a bank located there which was run by old man Schultz and McKinney. Schultz also owned the bridge that spanned the Savannah and connected Georgia and South Carolina.

some lawsuit the city managed to get possession of the bridge. This angered Schultz, and in a fit of pique he vowed that he would kill Augusta's trade and build up Hamburg. He went before the South Carolina Legislature, and on the strength of his representations of the feasibility of establishing direct trade between Hamburg, S. C, and Hamburg, Germany, borrowed $50,000.

"This was in the year '32, and in one night, where the night before there was a howling wilderness, Schultz had up the fronts of a row of houses. It was the terminus of the South Carolina railroad, the first railroad of a hundred miles in length that the world ever saw, and was on the side of the Savannah river where the channel was the deepest.

"Hamburg grew to be the most important trading town in the interior of South Carolina, and its business continually increased till 1848. 'When I first went there,' said Mr. Sibley, 'Hamburg received 70,000 cales of cotton, the remarkable part of which was that 60,000 of them were in on wagons.'

" 'To show you what a town Hamburg was at that time,' Mr. Sibley continued, 'the city built a plank road from Hamburg to Edgefield, a distance of twenty-six miles. Along about November and December the streets would be so crowded with the wagonsof the country people from four States that frequently people would have to walk four or five blocks before finding a place to cross.

" 'On the outskirts of the city the wagoners would strike their tents, and frequently there would be as many as five or six hundred of them in compact at a tim.e. The road going and coming for a distance of five or six miles would be literally jammed up with wagons, rendering it almost impossible to make more than a mile an hour.

" 'Old Schultz was a genius,' said Mr. Sible\', smilingly, 'and, like a good many other men of profound braiii, wouldn't pay his debts. He was the most plausible of talkers and the most industrious of workers. He had Hamburg laid out in beautiful streets and Schultz' s Hill v/as a park of great beaut}-. '

"A great many of these improvements were made with the $50,000 which Schultz borrowed from the South Carolina Legislature, and which, by the way, he never paid back. Schultz came ver}^ near owing everybody he came in contact with, and invariably failed to pay them. One day he had about twenty Irishmen at work in front of his store and one of his creditors told him, 'Mr. Schultz, I don't see how 3^ou can afford to hire these men when you owe me and ever3^bod3'- else.' 'Well sir,' said the German, 'I sacrifice my private interests to the public good.'

"There were two causes for Hamburg's downfall. One of them was the building of tlie Greenville and Columbia Railroad and the other the cutting of the first Augusta canal.

"It was the first intention of the railroad builders to make Hamburg one of the termini of the railroad, and they offered to do so if Hamburg would make a subscription of $50,000, but in those days there was great prejudice against railroads, and the citizens of Hamburg were afraid that it would take away their wagon trade, so the road was built to Greenville, and fully one-half of Hamburg's trade was taken away.

"Then Augusta got Hamburg's cotton that used to come from up the river, because coming down the canal took away the great danger of shooting the rapids. Hamburg gradually grew from bad to worse, and finally, about the time of the war, its sole population was composed of negroes.

"Now it is nothing but almost a howling wilderness. Where once the busy merchant sold his wares a lazy negro skulks; where fine residences, that beatiful Southern women graced, once stood, now negro ramshackles, with dirty pickaninnies playing on the porch, are to be seen. The well-kept .streets are a mass of \veeds, and Schultz's beautiful park, under whose trees many beautiful tales of love have been told, is now the resort of negro pic-nickers.

"Hamburg is surely an evidence of what narrow-minded, illiberal citizens can do. It now serves but one purpo.se. It is the battle ground for game cocks and bull dogs.

the founder of Hamburg, was a native of Hamburg in Germany. When about nineteen years of age he was taken prisoner b}^- Bonaparte and released upon the prom'se of not bearing arms any more against the French, which he violated and was re-captured. Napoleon, not caring to put a mere boy to death, gt.ve him liberty to emigrate to America. He came to Augusta and first followed boating to Savannah. After Augusta too^c possession of his bridge Mr. Schultz then went before the L'igislature of South Carolina and promised, if they would help him, to build a town that v/ould rival Augusta. The State must have failed to fulfill some of its promises, for after Schultz was ruined he was often seen in Columbia during the sessions of tlie Legislature with his long overcoat dangling around his heels and the mark of Cain upon his brow. After Augusta took possession of his bridge he built a toll gate on the Carolina side and collected his tolls from there. When the courts decided the case against him Mr. Schultz tried to commit suicide by firing a pistol in his mouth, but the bullet came out at his forehead, greatly disfiguring his face."

Whether the Stite failed to keep any of its promises to Mr. Schultz or not, is not known to this writer, most probabl}' not; but he was involved lu a long lawsuit about his bridge, in which he was loser and he sank the State's $50,000. Hamburg was built as promi.sf d, and did for some years an immense business.

We have already seen that, in the early settlement of this country, some years before the founding and building of Augusta, on the site afterwards occupied by the town of Hamburg, was an important trading station, at which, for many years, a large business was carried on with the Indians up the river all the way to the mountains and beyond. Fort Moore was erected at that place for the protection of the trade. The building of Augusta, which town flourished and grew rapidly, drew off the trade from the Carolina side, and made the station insignificant as a trading post. Three-fourths of a century passed and Hamburg came into being through the energy of Mr. Schultz; lived and flourished, and became the focus of a great trade for many years; but it finally deca5'ed and died through the force of the influences already mentioned, the cutting of the Augusta canal and the building of the Green- ville and Columbia Railroad. Thus twice in the 'iiistory of the country ha.s Augusta been largely instrumental xn diverting trade from the Carolina side and destroying the germ of a city on the opposite side of the Savannah River.

Many years ago, going into Hamburg with wagons loaded with cotton, we camped a short distance back on the uplands on the Edgefield side, so that we could get into market as early as possible. The sun rose clear and was shining oright and clear in the uplands, but as we drove on we founcf'the whole valley of the river covered with a dense fog, and oi'i that fog was clearly and distinctly defined a white solar rainbow - no colors. I saw the same, or a similar phenomenon, once on the fog over the river as I walked down from Columbia to the depot to take the cars for Newberry. In both cases the bow was well defined and very distinct, white /'without colors, having the same appearance as a lunar rainbow. The white solar rainbow appears upon a dense fog; the' lunar rainbow upon falling rain. While writing the above a perfect solar spectrum, with all the colors that an analysis of the sunlight gives, has formed itself upon the floor of the room. A broken piece of glass resting with one edge wpon the v/indow sill outside, the upper edge leaning against the window pane touches it in such a manner as to act like a prism forming a perfect spectrum upon the floor with alii the colors beautiful and bright. (January 14th, 1892).

To what has already been v.-ritten. of Hamburg must be added that by Act of the Legislature, passed December 17th, 1813, Henry Schultz and Lewis Cooper were authorized to build a toll bridge across the Savannah River so as to connect the two places, Augusta and Hamburg. The bridge was already in process of erection when the Act was passed. This bridge was re-chartered December i8th, 1830.

Inspection and warehouse for tobacco authorized to be erected December 20th, 1 821, on the same day lands and slaves, and indeed all property in the town, by Act of the Legislature v>^ere declared exempt from taxation for five 3'ears. The town w^as incorporated December 19th, 1827.

The Bank of the State was authorized to establish a branch at Hamburg December 18th, 1830, and in December 1832 the Solicitor was authorized to convey the State's interest in Hamburg to Henry Schultz. The town was incorporated a second time, December 19th, 1835, and charter amended in 1837. The Bank of Hamburg chartered December 21, 1823, charter amended December 19th, 1835, and again December 2iht, 1S36.

There is a story or tradition connected with the history of Hamburg that, with proi>riety, might be related here, as it was a source of great amusement when it was first told. Doubtless there are many persons now living in the County of Edgefield who never have heard tlie expression: "The Gyascutus has broke loose." This, like many other slangphrases, such as "That's what's the matter with Hannah," had a great run for awhile, but suddenly died and dropped out of circulation, and passed into that dead region of limbo, where all unrealities are sure to go at some time.

The phrase had its being and birth as follows: Just after the close of the War with Mexico some volunteers from Virginia or North Carolina, who were under General Taylor in the army of the Rio Grande, undertook to make their way home on foot from Texas or from New Orleans. In all that Western country there were lev/, in fact, I believe no railroads at that time. They found travelling on foot ver}' pleasant, as the weather was good, and they were .soldiers and used to foot wear. When they reached Hamburg they found that they were short of funds, in fact, about out, with barely enough to carry them another day's journey. In this extremity they were compelled to resort to some very energetic measures to raise the wind. A caucus to consider ways and means was held, and they came to the conclusion that a tax to defray expenses must be levied upon the citizens of Hamburg and Augusta,' and as many of the inhabitants of the adjoining country in Carolina and Georgia as they could reach. Accordingly they spent a day in Hamburg making preparations. They hired a large hall, gave out that they would have on exhibition there for one night, and for one night only, a verj' large, strange, and furious animal, such an one as had never been heard of nor seen in that part of the world before. They had caught it, they said, somewhere in the wilderness of the Mississippi swamps, one night when it invaded their camp. It had devoured two of their number and , was in the act of swallowing the third, a very large man, when the survivors succeeded in lassoing the monster and binding it so stro^ngly that it could not move. They had it firmly fastened in a large car, or van, drawn by four of the strongest horses. The car would cross the Augusta bridge about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and drive into town in good season to have all ready for the show, which would open about 8 o'clock in the evening. Of course there was great curiosity to see this wonderful beast. The news spread like wild fire over town and country, and long before night the streets of Hamburg were packed and jammed. Such a crow-d was never seen in that town before, never has been since, and very probably will never be seen there again.

Sure enough, ab®ut 4 in the afternoon the car made its appearance in Augusta in the street leading to the bridge, preceded by a single man on foot, making the air ring with the shrill notes of a fife, playing the tune, "See, the conquering hero comes."

In due time the car drove to the hall and drove into a closed and covered shed in the rear; and the announcement was made that at eight precisely the front door would be opened to the anxious crowd for admission to see this greatest of curiosities the world had ever produced. In the mean time tvv'^o men at the door were kept busy selling tickets of admission to the show. The price was one dollar each.

The earth rolled on, the sun sank and set, and eight o'clock came. The door was opened and the crowd began to pour in. The hall was well lighted, but there were very few seats. But this made no difference, as there were no ladies present - this strange, fierce animal not being considered altogether proper for ladies to see. Over the far end of the hall a curtain appeared to hang, on which was depicted a likeness of the most uncouth creature ever seen, or that any imagination ever conceived. This was said to be a good likeness of the Gyascutus, which was the name of the monster supposed to be hidden in the rear. The hall was soon packed tight, but the large windows were open to the cool night air, so that there was no danger of suflfocatiou. As the moment drew near lor the curtain to rise, so that the many eyes of the crowd might see this greatest of the world's curiosities, suddenly a deep growl was heard behind the curtain. This was succeeded by an awful roar, "followed by a succession of screaming shrieks and hisses, more terrifying than any the lions and tigers and all the beasts of the jungle ever made. To say that the crowd was startled is saying nothing. Many began to move towards the door, some towards the windows, and not too soon, for suddenly a mightj^ uproar and noise of breaking and crashing timbers was heard, and the climax was reached when the show man, who was near the far end of the hall, cried out with a loud voice: "The Gyascutus is broke loose! The Gyascutus is broke loose!" You better believe the crowd dispersed speedily. In a short time, not only the hall, but the streets of Hamburg were almost entirely deserted. Some never stopped running until they were safe in Augusta. Some thought they could clear the Savannah at a leap, tried it, and landed safe in the mud on the Carolina side. In a little while the tumult subsided, and the night that followed was the quietest ever known in that part of the country.

In the morning an investigation was had; no damage was found done to the building, but in the rear the very ghost, and a dilapidated one, of a wagon or car was standing solitary and alone a broken wreck; the four fine horses had vanished and were very quietly standing in their stalls in Augusta and eating their oats; the Gyascutus had indeed broken loose and was never seen nor heard of any more, nor were those returned soldiers from the War with Mexico ever seen or found. Tliej^ left with their pockets full of mone}^, and were far awa}- when the morning broke. Who were the}'? Perhaps some of Hamburg's own sons with some of the boys of Augusta on a lark.

Ah, old men, contemporaries of this present writer, do you feel sometimes, as he does, that there is no longer any fun in the world? Or is the world what it was then, and has the spirit of fun only evaporated from us? Does the Gyascutus ever break loose now?

Francis Hugh Wardlaw

Francis H. Wardlaw, son of James Wardlaw and Hannah Clarke Wardlaw, was born at Abbeville Court House, S. C, December i6th, iSoo; was baptized by Rev. Robert P. Wilson, of the Presbyterian Church; went to the common English schools of Abbeville, taught by Francis Walker, William Sadler, Flinn, Clary, Hooper, James Curr}^ and Thomas Fulton. In 1812 he went to Willington, in Abbeville District, and there attended for two years Dr. Waddell's famous Classical Academy. He spent the year 18 15 at home at Abbeville Court House, in studying arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, and surveying, under Captain William Robertson, and in writing in the Clerk's ofhce under his father, then Clerk of the Court for Abbeville District. He entered the South Carolina College April 13th, 1 81 6, and graduated with first honor of his class in December, 1S18. Read law in the office of A. Bowie, Esq., at Abbeville Court House, and was admitted to practice law at Charleston, January, 1S22, and equity at Columbia, May, 1822. He settled at Edgefield near the end of February, 1822, and practiced law there iu partnership with Whitfield Brooks until the fall of 1825; with William Garrett from 1S26 to 1828; with D. E. Wardlaw from 1851 to 1841, and with William C. Morange from 1841 to 1846; was editor of a newspaper at Edgefield from March, 1S29, to the spring of 1832; elected to the State Convention from Edgefield in 1832, and to the House of Representatives of South Carolina Eegislature in 1834 and 183S; was partner of R. H. Spann's in 1850; was elected Chancellor December 3rd, 1850, aiid Judge in the Court of Appeals December 21st, 1859; delegate from Edgefield in the conventions of 1852 and i860, being one of only four or five persons who were members of all three conventions above mentioned; 1832, 1852, and i860.

Gresham lyamar, daughter of Thomas Gresham Lamar and Martha Iceland Car}^ by Rev. Henry Reid, Presbyterian minister from Augusta. By this union he had seven children, three of whom died young. One son, Lieutenant T. Lamar Wardlaw, was killed at Fort Moultrie, July 17th, 1862, another son, Francis H. Wardlaw, died December 5th, 1887, at Edgefield where he was practicing law. One son and one daughter only are now living, Mrs. J. W. Hill, of Edgefield, and J. Lewis Wardlaw, of Fairfield County. Chancvllor Wardlaw died at Columbia in the house of Major Theodore Stark, May 29th, 1861, and was buried at Edgefield Court House, South Carolina.

As a law3^er and judge of law I have heard this related of him: A decision of his was once quoted in a court at Westminister, the opposing counsel ridiculed the idea of resorting to South Carolina law as a precedent for England or English courts, whereupon the presiding Judge remarked that the decision in question was worthy of the highest respect and would do honor to the courts of any country.

John E. Bacon

The writer of this history is indebted to Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper and to Appleton's Biograph}^ for the following notice of Honorable John E. Bacon. Mr. Bacon, recently minister from the United States to Uruguay and Paraguay, was born at Edgefield, S. C. , and is now between fifty-five and sixty years of age. (January, 18^2) His family have been identified with the State of his birth from its earliest history, and members of it have enjoj-ed manj' offices of honor and trust. He was graduated with distinction at the South Carolina College in 1852, and was admitted to the Bar in 1854. He was sent to St. Petersburg as Secretary of Legation, and married there the youngest daughter of ex-Govxrnor Pickens, then the Minister at that Court. He is an accomplished linguist, speaking French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

Mr. Bacon entered the Confederate Army in i86i, at the commencement of the war and served throughout thestrugo-le, reaching the rank of Major, After the war, finding himself completely impoverished, h6 returned to the practice of his profession and was soon in the enjoyment of an unusually large and lucrative business. In 1867 he was elected District Judge for the District of Edgefield, and presided regularly until deposed by the Federal Commander, and a "Military Judge" was put in his place. In 1872 he removed to Columbia, where he has ever since resided. In that year he was elected President of the largest Democratic Club in the city, and was re-elected four consecutive times. During this period he was also a member and Secretary of the State Democratic Executive Committee, and also a member of the County Executive Committee.

In 1878 Judge Bacon was sent to the Legislature for the purpose of reopening the South Carolina College. He was made Chairman of the Commirtee on Education, and, by the aid of his able colleagues and other experienced members, the measure was pvit through, after a severe struggle, the bill passing the Senate by the vote only of the distinguished President of that body. Judge Bacon regards his connection with the re-establishment of this college on a solid basis - vvhereby the young men of the State can get a first class collegiate education for about the third of the cost of ante-belhtm days - with greater pride and satisfaction than any, indeed, all of the acts of his life.

In 1884 Judge Bacon was elected a member of the State Convention for the nomination of delegates to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago and of Pesidential electors, and was himself nominated an elector and elected .

In 1885 he was appointed United States Minister by President Cleveland, at Montevideo, and in 18S7 his salary was almost doubled in consideration of able and meritorious services. Upon the election of President Harrison he resigned his office and returned to Columbia, where he died in the early part of the j-ear 1897.

Joseph Abney

Joseph Abney was a native of Edgefield District, of the Saluda side, and was born December 2nd, 1819, near the river not far above what is now Herbert's Ferry, then Eorick's. His father was John Abney, his mother Agatha Griffith. His mother was his father's second wife. His father's father was a Virginian, and among the first comers to that section of country. His mother's people were of Welsh descent. The education of Joseph Abney was as good as it was possible for him to get in the schools and academies of the country. His father died when he was only three or four years old, and his mother married again, a Mr. Cadaway Clark, a kind, good man, who treated his step-sons, Joseph and John, with great kindness. Joseph Abney was not a graduate of a college, but he was a fairly good classical scholar and mathematician. He was a hard and diligent student and a natural orator. His command of language was so great, and he so far surpassed the other boys at school as a speaker, that he received the name of the orator, which he really deserved. After his education was completed as far as his limited means enabled him to carr}^ it, he taught school to acquire money upon which to live while reading law, having chosen that profession as his business for life. He was quite successful as a teacher, winning the love and respect of his pupils. He read law at Abbeville in the office of Mr. Perrin, and had for a companion in his studies, a young man, who afterwards became eminent as a lawyer, as a soldier, and as a Judge - Samuel McGowan. He was admitted to practice law in Columbia in the year 1S42; the same year and place in which his friend and companion, Samuel McGowan, ^^'as admitted. Henry R. Spann, another Edgefield lawyer, was admitted the same year.