Williamsburg County, South Carolina - Chapter 30: Williamsburg, C. S. A., 1864, 1923

When one understands the almost superhuman vene¬ ration that has always "hedged about" ministers of the gospel in Williamsburg and this "low country," and reads the following extract from an editorial in the Charleston Courier of January 19, 1864, he will obtain some faint suggestion of the intensity of existing feeling that this country should do its utmost to win the war.

This editorial begins: "The propriety of conscripting the ministers has been discussed. We think it, first of all, very doubtful whether there is any need for the extension of the conscription as to ages or classes. We firmly be¬ lieve that a faithful enforcement of the original con¬ scription from eighteen to forty-five years, with the dis¬ continuance of substitution, unless in special cases, to be decided not by the amount of money nor the position of influence of the conscript, but on just discrimination and sound discretion before a competent board, would give us an army sufficient and efficient, if properly or¬ ganized, disciplined, and managed. We see all around us not occasions for new laws, but urgent occasions for the faithful execution of extant laws." The editorial continues, favoring ministers and all other able bodied men enlisting in combat units.

South Carolina sustained a great loss when Captain the Honorable Plowden C. J. Weston died of consumption on January 25, 1864. He was captain of Company A, Tenth Regiment, in which were many soldiers from along the Santee in Williamsburg. He equipped his company at his own expense according to the latest and most ap¬ proved designs both in clothing and arms, and his company was the only unit in the regiment reasonably well armed until the time of his death. Captain Weston was born in

England while his parents, from the oldest families in Georgetown, were spending the summer in the old home of the family in the "Mother Country/' Exposure incident to his military service in the Western campaign under General Bragg caused his death. He was Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina and had come home to preside over the Senate of 1863 when stricken.

rency began to depreciate. The newspapers in Charleston said on Mav 28 that thev could receive bills onlv at actual current valuation, one-third discount, stating they had deferred this action for some weeks after these bills had ceased to pass at par.

The prices of articles in Kingstree at that time may be realized from the following: Sugar, $5.00 per pound; flour, $1.00; cotton, $1.00; cotton cards, $75.00 per pair; tobacco, $6.00. On July 6, at Mrs. Belser's sale, a large iron pot brought $105.00; an oven, $95.00; and a match of horses, thirteen years old, $3,100.00. At the close of the year, Mrs. McGill purchased some articles and here is her bill : 4 yards homespun, $24.00 ; 1 spool cotton,

This year the fields of Williamsburg brought forth abundantly and at the harvest time all its barns were overflowing. Notwithstanding conditions incident to the deflation of currency, the defeats in Virginia and Tennes¬ see and Georgia, and the sorrow coming from the death of so many valiant young men, Williamsburg's old men,

An independent company, which was organized in Wil¬ liamsburg and Georgetown Districts on November 5, 1862, for state service, and commanded by Captain W. N. Y. Rodgers, was on March 11, 1864 reorganized and mustered into the Confederate service. This company was known as Captain Steele's company and played a considerable part in the history of this low country from its organi¬ zation until the end of the War. Here is its roll of March 11, 1864: J. J. Steele, captain; J. M. Kennedy, first lieu¬ tenant; N. H. Welch, second lieutenant; T. S. Steele, second lieutenant; J. H. Fulmore, first sergeant; E. Kirby, second sergeant; G. W. Mills, third sergeant; E.

E. Matthews, fourth sergeant; James Floyd, fifth ser¬ geant; J. M. Woods, first corporal; R. Epps, second cor¬ poral ; C. W. McClam, third corporal.

Williamsburg's battle losses in 1864 were fearful. Cap¬ tain China, commanding Kingstree's Own, the Wee Nee Volunteers, was killed on May 16, at Drury's Bluff. Lieutenant F. J. Lesesne was killed at Swift Creek May 9th. Captain W. B. Gordon, commanding the Ripley Guards, the Pride of the Santee, was killed at the Weldon Railway. Lieutenant W. H. Munnerlin was killed at At¬ lanta on July 30th. Colonel James F. Pressley, who had been acting as Brigadier General for more than a year was severely wounded at Atlanta. His brother, Lieu¬ tenant Colonel John G. Pressley, easily favorite hero of all Williamsburg, was so severely wounded at Walthall Junction on May 5th that his right arm hung limp by* his side the remainder of his life. Lieutenant Calhoun Logan and Ensign J. M. Pendergrass were wounded at Drury's Bluff ; Lieutenant Charles Lesesne at Swift Creek ; Lieutenants Thomas J. Kirby and E. S. Sauls at Atlanta; Lieutenant Junius E. Scott at Weldon Railway; Lieuten¬ ants R. A. Flagler and R. S. Smith at Fort Harrison; Lieutenant T. G. Britton at Haw's Shop; Lieutenant T. M. Britton at Franklin; Lieutenant T. M. McCutchen at Trevillian; Lieutenant T. S. Nelson at Haw's Shop.

Clay's Farm: killed, Jacob D. Casselman, John W. Collins, Hugh Gunther, Benjamin Matthews, William G. Williamson; wounded, John J. Godwin and Samuel A. Scott.

Somewhere these men were killed in action. Records and tradition say one place and another. Wherever they fell, Williamsburg dust is forever there. Robert Ander¬ son, Frank McCants, John Rodgers, J. Cooper, William

In hospitals, in camps, in kindly homes of Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina, these soldiers of Williamsburg died of disease during 1864 : B. J. Avant, J. A. Guess, C. R. Martin, Joseph Ard, W. N. Boatwright, James Martin, E. R. Martin, William Montgomery, T. J. Hughes, E. C. Keels, J. H. McClary, W. D. Singletary, J. McKenzie, S. E. McCants, W. J. B. Wall, L. W. Cockfield, W. S. Allen, S. M. Flagler, William G. Christmas, Henry Gordon, Lieutenant J. R. China, S. S. Mitchum, M. R. D. Baker, W. D. Cook, E. S. Ellis, S. Edgar Montgomery, John Salters, S. W. Cockfield.

Out of all this suffering and death grew hatred for Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States. From the beginning, the Southern people seemed to realize that this man stood between them and the destiny they desired. They called the North Lincolndom and its people Lincolnites. The Southern people were about correct in their estimate of Lincoln's powerful personality. He seems to have been the only man of the War who could have controlled.

Hatred for Abraham Lincoln was, and is, powerful in Williamsburg. No man can measure what this hatred has wrought in Williamsburg. It is interesting to know how the newspapers fed this flame of hatred. In the Courier of November 9, 1864, appears the following under the caption : "God Bless Our Noble President."

"Bless him for filling the land with smutty jokes, with vile mouthed and obscene stories which even blackguards by profession are ashamed to repeat.

"Bless him for turning a war for the preservation of the Union and for the suppression of the rebellion into a wicked, murderous, crusade for cotton, negroes, and power. Bless him for making a million of widows and five millions of orphans.

"Bless him for robbing the North of its bone and sinew, and for using the bodies of those who have served for enriching the soil of rebel territory.

"Bless him for piling mountains of taxes upon us - for the stamps we use - for the depreciation of our cur¬ rency - for the the poverty, ruin, and suffering in the land - for the thousands of women who have been forced into houses of prostitution - for the thousands of broken hearts - for the thousands of orphan children who will curse him forever - for the army of cripples - for the corrup¬ tion in high places - for the trampling upon the liberties of a free people - for the freeing of negroes by a stroke of his pen - for continuing this war until slaves are free, thus proving the foolishness of his proclamation - for the

President Jefferson Davis, of the Confederate States of America, was first severely criticized in the South in November, 1864. His proposition for immediately eman¬ cipating forty thousand slaves and training them for ser¬ vice in the army, giving them fifty acres of land each, and to continue emancipating them for service in the army, created great resistance of sentiment in the South. The real basis of the secession of the Southern States was economic. This fact is nowhere more clearly revealed than in the scorn President Davis received when he made this recommendation to the Confederate Congress.

However much contempt was shoAvn for President Davis' proposition, when it was realized that Sherman would probably march through South Carolina on his way North from the Sea, many of the best men in the State warmly advocated training slaves into soldiers to resist him. This was not done.

November 16, 1864, was set apart by executive author¬ ity as a day of prayer, confession, and thanksgiving. The Courier said, "Various and checkered has been the char¬ acter of our fears for the past six months, which gives rise to feelings of a diverse nature. The reverses that our armies have sustained have been so grave as to admonish us that our sins have provoked the wrathful displeasure of Almighty God. God has greatly humiliated us at the hands of our adversaries. All our victories and successes have come from God, it is at once our duty and privilege to implore the continuance of His favor."

At the time of all these serious national matters, it seems that soap and vinegar were scarce and that whiskey and potatoes were plentiful in Williamsburg. One man in the district showed how good soap could be made from myrtle wax; and another asserted that good vinegar, very much like white wine vinegar, conld he produced by mixing three bushels of ripe persimmons, three gallons of whiskey, and twenty-seven gallons of water. Wil¬ liam Gilmore Simms, the historian, endorsed this vinegar recipe.

Editor Fulton, of the Wilmington Journal, came to Kingstree in November 1864, and P. B. Mouzon, agent of the Northwestern railway, gave him twenty sweet potatoes that could not all be contained in a bushel basket. Editor Fulton went back to Wilmington and wrote about Williamsburg's sweet potatoes. The editor of the Charles¬ ton Courier read Editor Fulton's article and came to Kingstree immediately. Mr. Mouzon gave him a bushel of "uncommonly fine" potatoes, one of which measured twenty-four inches in length, and of "other respectable di¬ mensions." The editor of the Courier wrote : "It appears that large potatoes are quite common in old Williamsburg, as we saw a negro with six of unusual size, for which he was asking $1.00 each. When told that his price was above the market, he consoled himself by say¬ ing that he would take them home and keep them until spring, when potatoes would be scarce, and he could readily get his price. How much like 'ole Mossa.' "

Williamsburg elected in 1864 as its delegation in the Legislature: Senator, James McCutchen; representa¬ tives, James F. Pressley and W. A. Hemingway. Colonel McCutchen declined the honor, preferring to remain with his regiment. Colonel Pressley was at home recovering from the serious wound receievd at Atlanta.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at its con¬ ference in December, 1864, appointed Reverend J. W. Mur¬ ray for the Kingstree Circuit and the Reverend J. C. Stoll for the Black River Circuit for 1865.