The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 21, 1910, Image 9
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The Abbeville Press and Banner
BJ W. W. & W. R. BRADLEY ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1910 Established I8?E
I T
I MEMORY
Secession of the State?Org
em Confederacy?Valor
?Victories in Peace-M?
(of the Country.
SOME DATES AN]
Nor. 7, 1860?First public act having foi
Confederacy was that of t
calling for a State Conventi*
17, 1860. Smallpox prevail
moved to Charleston.
Nov, 22, 1860?At Abbeville the first polil
?Delegates nominated to the
A. Calhoun, Edward Noble
son, D. L. Wardlaw, John
December 20, 1860.?Ordinance of Seces
4. 1861?Congress of the Confederate
I April 18, 1865?General Johnston admitted
fighting would be murder."
May 3, 1865?When the very ground upon
been surrendered, Mr. Da^
Abbeville, S- C. This, t
"further fighting would b
properly refused to fight.
May 10,1865?Jeff Davis, in his attempl
caught at Irvinville, near A
May 14, 1865?Gen. Taylor surrenders to C
federate forces east of the 5
May 36, I860?Gen. Kirby Smith surrendei
forces west of the Mississip
May 26, 186-5?All military opposition to tb
CAPTURi
U. S. troops captured, in the war
Confederates captured, in the war,
DIED IN PF
U. S. troops died in Southern prisons
Confederate troops died in Northern prisor
AT THE CLOSE OF
Total strength Union army
! Of this number were absent
Union soldiers on duty when the war clos
Confederate soldiers in service at surrender
Army Northern Virginia
Army of Tennessee -
Army of Missouri
Army of Alabama
Army of Trans-Mississippi
Array of Nashville and Chattanooga
Paroled from different points.
In Federal prisons
j Total strength Confederate army at surrend
Of this number were:
Absent in Northern prisons
At home and in hospitals, estimated
Confederate soldiers on duty, at the surrer
mated
A little study of these figures, with som
lead us to believe that at least some of those
of the lives of the gallant soldiers under
manders were unwilling to close the war as
connection with this it might be asked if \
only man that should have been punished at
officers were killed, yet it seems that mar
dered to certain death.
We are told in the books that the batt
fight between 25,000 intrenched Federals
erates who stormed the fort. The battle i
lantry of the Confederates under Hood,
# Federals under Schofield. The Federal 1
v is set down as 2,826, while the Confederat
6,000. Whether these facts sustain the be
em life, the following paragraph will be i:
It is said that some years after the war,
then in command of the army of the Unit
viewed with Emperor Wilhelm the army
peror in his enthusiasm said as the last
Schofield, is this not the grandest army ;
&aid General Schofield, "it is not." "V
army ?" was the quick rejoinder. Genera
battle of Franklin, Tennessee, in 1864 bet1
the Confederates. I saw men in rags a
charge the works behind which my commi
and on. Nothing could stop their impetn
our guns were closed up. It seemed that
ates were being swept away by our guns.
I moved my men out of the trenches to st<
was the grandest army I ever saw."
Note.?Lee's army, it will be seen, is ci
ent for duty only about 14,.">00. Granting t
was a fair average of the absentees from tl
number of Confederate soldiers on duty at 1
thing like 37,750. With the number of L
from the total, and deducting the nnmb
ate Army was rednced to a mere handful,
send to certain defeat at least a part of the :
eelf was running to cover, that he might be <
LL DAY.
;anization of the Southof
the Southern Soldier
iral and Materia! Growth
V
3 FIGURES.
its object the formation of the
he South Carolina Legislature in
>n to meet in Columbia, December
ing in (JoiumDia ine uonveuiwu
tical meeting in the Confederacy
State Convention, namely: John
, Thomas C. Perrin, llomas ThomH.
Wilson.
ision adopted nnanimonsly.
States met in Montgomery, Ala.
I President.
nmter, being the first gnn of one
>d in the annals of mankind.
I at Fort Sumter by Maj. Anderson,
o Confederate forces.
t in Richmond, July 20, 1861.
Confederates.
t Appomattox.
same flag on Fort Sumter that he
(viously.
ited in Ford's Theatre, Washington,
battle of the war.
lerman at Durham, N. C.
. to Gen. Sherman "that any further
which he was then running had
ris proposed further resistance at
oo, after Johnson had said that
e murder." The soldiers very
and Davis moved on.
k to escape from the country, was
[aeon, Ga.
ten. Canby all the remaining Conlississippi.
:s to Gen. Canby all Confederate
Pile
United States ceased.
SD.
212,608
4.7R 1RQ
tISON.
30,156
is 30,152
THE WAR.
1,000,576
202,709
Jed 797,807
27,805
31.243
7,978
42,293
17,686
5,029
42,189
98,802
er 273,025
98,802
86,472
lHor oaf i.
87,750
273,025
e knowledge of the situation, won Id
i in authority were utterly reckless
their command, and that some com long
as a soldier was left living. In
^erz, of Andersonville fame, was t he
; the close of the war. While man y
iy private soldiers were needlessly o rle
of Franklin was a sanguinary
under Schofield and 40,000 Confeds
notable for the remarkable galand
the stubborn bravery of the
oss in killed, wounded and missing
;e loss is estimated as exceeding
lief of the needless waste of Southnteresting
reading:
when General Schofield, who was
;ed States, visited Germany and reof
the German Empire, the Emsoldier
passed in review : "General
rou ever saw ?" "No. Emperor,"
fhere did you ever see a grander
:1 Schofield Baid : "Emperor, at the
ween the United .States troops and
nd tatters, barefooted and hungry,
find was intrenched. They came on
ons charge. Great gaps made by
whole battalions of the ConfederBut
still onward they came, until
ly the slaughter. That, Emperor,
edited with 27,805, while he had pres
hat the absentees from Lee's army
tie other Confederate armies, the total
:he surrender must have been some,ee's
and Johnston's armies deducted
er in Northern prisons, the Con fed erAnd
yet Mr. Davis was anxious to
remnant of his army while he hiinout
of range of pursuing Federals.
By Hugh Wilson.
As one who spent his boyhood days
in Due West, find as one for whose
people I formed the strongest attachment
in youtli, and which affection
is still maintained, I would like to
add a word to that which was so well
said by Hon. F. B. Gary, the invited:
orator on Memorial Day, 1910.
THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL.
This is the semi-centennial year of>
the inauguration of the mightiest]
struggle that ever shook a continent, I
or buried its soldiers in a thousand
church yards, in every part of the
country. At Richmond are uncounted
graves. At Arlington acres of the
great estate of Lee are filled with the
graves of the Confederate dead; at
Atlanta may be seen the graves of
many valiant soldiers who fell in the
city's defence; at Chattanooga the
bodies of thousands of Confederate soldiers
sleep in the cemetery which the
Congress of the United States dedicated
to American valor, which act
of Congress was, perhaps, the most
magnanimous that can bo placed to
the credit or any country.
THE PAST?THREE CLASSES.
In 1860 the total population of this
State was 703,000. (Jf'this number
291,000 were white, 400,000 were
slaves, and 10,000 were free negroes.
Of the white population a small
per cent were tne owners of the
slaves. Others of the white population
were non-slaveowners simply
because of inability to buy slaves.
There were then three distinct
classes of white people in this State,
namely:
First ? The educated and ruling
class, composed of slave-owners.
Second?The smaller and uneducated
and unthinking slave-owning
class who were subservient and loyal
to their more intelligent and more
able neighbors. They had no thought
that was not inspired by their acknowledged
superiors, and except as
ciphers in the numeral notation, thev
were without force.
Third?The poor unfortunate class
of uncultured and uneducated "white
trash" for whose civilization and for
whose culture and for whose education
the autocratic slave-owner
manifested little or no interest.
Events would indicate that the rich
and autocratic class of slave-owners
was almost as much interested in the
ignorance of "poor white trash" as
they were in shutting off the light
from the slave. It was then, as now,
evident that the system of slavery
could not exist in the presence of
an intelligent and educated yeomanry.
Ignorance of both the poor white
people and the African slave formed
the cornerstone or bedrock of a system
that was repulsive to all the better
sentiment of the Christian civilization.
For a long time previous to 1860
the people had been at amity among
themselves and in peace with all the
world.
Manufacturing interests were almost
totally neglected. Our vast
water powers were running to waste.
Electric power generated by water
power was then unknown or undeveloped.
n?ornr\r luac ^i ??nnfa/1 f a
f vci j new uiittivu w mv
growing of cotton and to the increase
of the number of slaves. The white
owners of small farms were being
crowded out that greater areas
might be acquired by the slave
owner. This was especially true
of the lands on the Savannah side
of this County.
On the election of Lincoln, the
Republican candidate for President,
the cry of alarm for the safety of
"our peculiar institution" was made,
and it spread like wild fire.
six PERIODS.
1860
In 1860 the State of South Carolina
passed the ordinance of Secession
from the Federal Union. Other
States soon followed the example of
South Carolina, and within a few
weeks the Southern Confederacy was
organized. An army was put in the
field. One of the first companies in
this State to report for military service
went from the city of Abbeville.
A little later a call lor other companies
was made. Companies
were organized at Due West,
in which companies were volunteers
from the surrounding country. It
was in this way that the little town
of Due West received credit for having
sent many men to the war.
And it was from the valor of these
men that Due West became as
distinguished in war as it was renowned
in peace.
I860
In 1865 the war was ended in defeat
to the South. Lee surrendered at
Appomattox, and Johnston's army
surrendered at Bentonville. Davis
was captured near Macon, Ga.
Disheartened at the result of the
war, our people were dazed.
Slaves were set free. With rumors
of probable unfriendly acts by
the Washington Government toward
civil and military leaders, our
people knew not what to do. Labor
and business of every kind waseither
suspended or demoralized.
1S0S
In 18(JS the Congress of the United
States invited the former slaves to
take charge of the politics and the
government of the State. Drunk
with joy at their freedom and crazed
by their elevation to power, the inexperienced
slave, as might have
been expected, put his heel on the
neck of his former master.
1876
In 1876 Wade Hampton was
chosen to lead the people to
the rescue of the State from the
hands of the alien and the former
slave. By united effort and by
the invincible determination of
valorous ex-soldiers and their sons,
the State again came under the rule
of the white man in 1877. This restored
the Government almost exclusively
to the former ruling class.
1892
In 1892 dissatisfaction among: the
people had become general, and un1
? i i n r? rn:1
aer cne ieaaersnip ox a. jx. iiiiumii
the party in power was overthrown,
when "the people" elected their own
chosea representatives to all the offices.
The plan of nominating officers
by convention having been abolished
and the primary election having
been substituted.
1910
In 1910 the people are in their normal
condition. Happy in their political
freedom and contented with the
Government, while every effort is
being made to promote individual
prosperity, education, morals and religious
thought. All opposition to
public educatiou having disappeared,
schools and colleges flourish as they
never flourished before. And
Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by [a glorious triumph],
And all the clouds that lowered upon our
bouse
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious
wreaths,
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums cnangea to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
DUE WEST THE CENTER OF PROSPERITY.
Let us make Due West a center
from which we may look around for
triumphs in peace. In the fifties
that town consisted of only a few
families. The college was ?i small
structure. Lindsay Hall was a plain
building of huge proportions. The
Society Halls were then thought to
be model* of architectural beauty and
mechanical skill. Only about sixty
or seventy students were in attendance.
The college languished. And
today, sad to relate, the professors are
on short rations, because of the
smallness of their salaries.
Instead of the little unpretentious
academy for boys and girls, magnificent
imposing buildings have been
erected for the students in the Worn
an's College. Dormitories as fine, as
large, and as well suited as any dormitories
that can be found in the state
now stand beside each of the colleges
at Due West.
Except for the glorious peaceful
triumphs of the descendants of the
Confederate soldier whence cune
these two hundred girls who with
their grace and their beauty fill t!i"
classrooms of t he Woman's College?
Did the two hundred men who
went to battle from this little town
ever see in its classic groves tw >
hundred such specimens of splendid
young manhood as now crowd the
halls of Erskine?
These splendid results in the
growth of the town and in the increased
usefulness of the colleges
come not alone from the prosperity of
the country. They come because the
people of the town have moved oa to
a higher plane of broader citizenship.
And, because of the colleges having
adopted more modern methods
they are drawing to their class rooms
the greatest number of students.
NO PRETTY YOUNG GIRL SHOULD
GO INTO THE SLUMS OF ANY
COUNTRY.
The best and the sweetest Christian
girls in all this land, go out from the
Womans (jouege 10 taKe ine piace
which their Creator himself had
assigned to them. And that assignment,
as you all certainly know,
is, that each one should become
the wife of a good man. And if a
good man is not in evidence, then
she might, in the hope of better
things, take one of the other sort.
No good young woman has any
right to dodge the duty of becoming
a wife and a mother. It is a foolish
notion that she can go into the filth
and degradation of a foreign country
and serve her Master more acceptably
than she can by assuming the duty
which He himself has laid upon her.
While no pretty Christian girl should
go off as a missionary, yet it is possible
and permissible that unreasonably
ugly girls and women well past
forty, might safely go off to places of
temptation to labor in the slums of
a foreign country.
Do you believe there is in hell a
place hot enough to properly punish
the man who would knowingly aeucl
off a pure Christian girl to places of
degradation ?
ERSKINE COLLEGE.
As to Erskine College. Its unprecedented
prosperity may, in part at
least, be attributed to the higher and
the more sane conduct of the College
itself. Besides being faithful to the
best interests of every student
in its class rooms, that institution
now, standing 011 si high pedestal,
reaches down its friendly hand and
f I
offers its kindly interest in aid of all j
students who would rise to the j
higher and the better walks of life.
The college hopes that each student
may win success in life and attain to
the highest sphere of usefulness. It
does hot wait until a graduate has
attained such distinction that he does
not need the assistance of his alma
mater before giving him the kindest
and the most helpful assistance.
Erskine is always anxious to give a
helping hand to every student, even
as it is ever ready to see and to
recognize his undeveloped worth.
VICTORIES IN PEACE.
The failure of the valor of our heroic
soldiers is acknowledged. But on the
foundation of their military failure,
we have built in peace that of which
we know our fathers, if they may
look dofrn upon us from their home
beyond the stars, are proud, even as
we are proud of the heritage of their
heroism in war.' Their undying
famp onrl thpir imnerishahlfi renown
rest today like a^halo of glory on
these classic grounds.
GROWTH OF THE SURROUNDING
COUNTRY.
Donaldsville is now a big town and
Honea Path is almost a city.
In the long ago there was but one
house between Donalds and Honea
Path, and but one from Donalds to
Hodges. Now, the number of elegant
houses along either road would
seem to indicate that there will soon
be a continous town from Belton to
Greenwood,- and on to Ninety-Six.
Nearly all the road from Donalds
to Due West is lined with the dwellings
of the best and the most prosperous
citizens.
A great cotton mill has been built
at Ware Shoals, and at Belton and
Honea Path are other cotton mills.
Greenwood has two cotton mills in
operation, and two others are being
built. Ninety-Six has one cotton
mill.
Cotton Mills have be^n built at
Abbeville and at Calhoun Falls.
As an evidence of the prosperity
of the farming interests, the number
of stores has been greatly increased to
supply demands of the people.
Farming lands in thirty years have
gone up from four, six, eight, and
ten dollars an acre to forty and all
the way up to one hundred dollars
an acre.
Hundreds of nice farm houses have
been built, and thousands of acres of
former waste lands are now producing
the best of crops.
Since Democratic reconstruction
the Savannah Valley Railroad ha*
been built. The C. & W. C railroad
now runs the entire length of what
was then the lower part of Abbeville
County. The S. A. L. railway has
been built across the county. .And a
railroad now runs daily trains between
Donalds and Due West.
LOOKING TO THE RISING SUN.
If our orators were dispose I to
look more to the rising sun than to
the setting sun, they might find in
Due West such men as II. S. Galloway
who is the first printer in all the
land to build a railroad, or they
might look to R. C. Brownlee who
by integrity, good judgment and
business methods, has amassed a
fortune, and who may at no distant
day add to the material and industrial
wealth of the country by building
a cotton mill. There is A. S.
Kennedy, prosperous b.inker, with a
character as high as the highest, arid
a heart as good as the b3.-t.
Did any of the orators who have
for the thousandth time repeated the
names of theimmortul trio?Calhoun,n
r rv .A.
iuc-uum-,*, xreiugrue?cvci imi ^
our neighbors Joseph Haddon, J. C.
fribble and Thomas llldrick? In
their ignorance these speakers have
never mentioned the name of Frank
1 Ellis, whose apples are not inferior to
those with which Mother Eve tempted
your grandfather. The apples
which Mr. Ellis grows are good the
whole year round. S >me being winter
apples for summer stomach*,
i Did any of these orators ever
tell the people that i^unuel J. Wakefield,
by improved methods of farming,
by deep plowing, by intelligent
use of fertilizer, and by the application
of energy, has astonished his
neighbors in showing the fertility
and the value of Abbeville County
lands? Did any man who feels
bound on every public occasion to
kiss the feet of the immortal trio
ever tell the people that Samuel J.
Wakefield, in an agricultural center,
far removed from railroads, haa
successfully built and profitably managed
the best oil mill in all this
country? Did any of the worshippers
of the immortal statesmen
ever tell the people that Samuel
J. Wakefield had been of more value (
to the country than a thousand j
politicians who never did as
much as to make two blades of grass j
prow where only one grew oeioreri
Did not the lands of the immortal I
trio, become almost a barren waste?
How is it in reference to the lands )
about Wakefield's home? "Say not1
thou, What is the cause that the,
former days were better than these?
for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning
this."
IDOLATORS CHALLENGED.
Idolators of the immortal trio are
[ challenged and dared to show where-1
, in this country has been blessed byj
, their presence. They are challenged!
| to show wherein their absence is j
; known or wherein their presence is!
needed? They are challenged; awK
they lire dared, to show wherein- tfoa-i
in mortal trio has done the leae*
part as much good for the country seyour
friend and neighbor A. M. F3f-win
of Antreville has done for this*
county.
NO VALOROUS SOLDIER SHOUlilV"
kiss anybody's feet.
None deny the greatness of eitbfiar
one of the immortal trio, aricl elotseswould
detract from their character^,,
hut an honorable and a high-toreed-'
citizenship, of which those of oar
fellow-citizens who are present fceEay
are fit representatives, should scoaa?.
to bow down to kiss the feet of." angr
man, however great he may harco?been.
The Southern soldier lowets?.
his crest to no man. He is iiv
America and he acknowledges inferiority
to no man. The Southetxt/
wnlHior r?r/?nrllv scnrns the Rffc Of aDC
man who would teach him that:
manly valor should surrender tfo.
the purse-proud of former times.**that
it should bow down to the-arts
of the politician of a departed gloiy^.
whose history is complete.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GRA.VE5T".
WHICH WE DECORATE.
And it may be permissible to* .
make note of a characteristic of aB.
the speeches that we have heard some*the
war. It is for this people to- sayif
any orator has addressed ao Abbeville
County audience without naeationing
names of those who lived aodt >
died before the war, some of whooa.
at least were in a large measure responsible
for the graves upon whida.
""A loxrinrr /nir flrtlVPIM
>VC fU C IVAiaj itvj iiig vu* ^>v > w-K-vDIFFERENCE
IN SENTIMENTS
It would seem that in the good oldT
days of Calhoun when he inspiredL
their ideas, the people entertainers
different convictions and were grwp?
erned by different principles from*,
those which prevail today. I? support
of this statement copies of sooseof
the laws are .herewith presented^,
and a recital of some of our expenditures
today for school purposes, kgiven.
The whole State of South CarofiaBu
spent about $25,000 in educating- the?
children of poor white men in C&Ehoun's
day. If there is a record oC
his having favored educating: the*masses,
I have not seen it.
Here are some of the records of the ?
laws of the State before the war:
174:0
Fine of 100 Pouuds for Hiring^
Nej?ro as Scribe.
XLV. And Whereas, the having cE
slaves taught to write, or suffering them.
to be employed in writing, may be attended
with great inconveniences ; Beit
therefore enacted by the authority?
aforesaid, that all and every personam?
persons whomsoever, who shall hereafter
teach, or cause any slave or slaves
to be taught to write, or shall use mr
employ any slave as a scribe in a?y
manner of writing whatsoever, hereafter
taught to write, every such pesrson
and persons shall, for ev*>ry suck offence.
forfeit the sum of one hundred,
pounds current money.
C. Pinckney, SpeakerIn
the Council Chamber, the 1 Jth day 7
of May, 1740.
Assented to: Wm. Bull.
1751.
TP a Claim TtlS*Pilot.*! AuOther iffc:*
XX W KJ1MI V
Medicine He Must SuffiwDeath.
X. And be it further enacted by tlit?
authority aforesaid, that in case- aags?
slave shall teach or instruct anofcheicslave
in the knowledge of any poisotiou9
root, plant, herb or other sort off'
poison whatsoever, he or she, so offending,
shall, npon conviction thereof, suffer
death as a felon ; and the slaves carslaves
so instructed, shall suffer sorfapunishment,
not extending to life-or
limb, as shall be adjudged and determined
by the justices and freeholders^
or a majority of them, before whon?.
such slave or slaves shall be tried..
Negro as Excluded from I>rag;
Stores.
XI. And to prevent, as much as may
be, all slaves from attaining the knowledge
of any mineral or vegetable- poison,
Be it Further Enacted, bytt^assthority
aforesaid, that it shall not; 2*?lawful
for any physician, apothecary iHcdruggist,
at any time hereafter, ta> raasrploy
any slave or slaves in the shoj* ?r
places where they keep their medicines
or drugs under pain of forfeiting. -2?ssum
of twenty pounds, proclamations
money, for every such offense, to be recovered
and applied as hereinafter directed.
Fifty Stripes for Practicing:'
Medicine.
XII. And be it further enacted1,, 1^the
authority aforesaid, that no negroee
or other slaves, commonly called doctors,
shall hereafter be suffered arpermitted
to administer any medicice^
or pretended medicine, to any ot??r
slave, but at the instance or by diroi:
tion of some white person ; and in ce??
any negro or other slave shall offong
herein, he shall, upon complaint
proof thereof made to any jneticir *r?
Mio noorw fnr thu rifillTltv Sllffprcrwv.
poral punishment, not exceeding; fitfciy
stripes.
Andrew Rutledge, Speaker*1
In Council Chamber, the 17th May, 113.7*
Assented to: James Glen.
1800.
Punishment lor Assemblings
tlio Purpose ot Mental or Kit*?
ligious Instruction.
II. And be it further enacted, by il-j*.
(Feb. 18, 1861?Jefferson Davis inaugurate
April 12, 1861?Beauregard fired on Fort S
of the greatest wars recorde
April 14, 1861?United States Flag lowerec
April 14,1861?Fort Sumter surrendered t
May 21, 1861?Congress Adjourned to mee
April 2, 1865?Richmond evacuated by the
April 9, 1865?Lee surrendered to Grant a
April 14, 186T? Major Anderson raised the
had lowered four years pre
April 14, 1865?Abraham Lincoln assassin?
April 16, 1865?Battle of Bentonville, last
ADril 18. 1865?Johnston surrendered to SI