Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, October 08, 1909, Image 1
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I ESTABLISHED 18551 YOBKVILLE, 8. C., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1909. MO. 81.
THE VICTC
* Explanation of It
f
GREAT ADDRE
President of Wofford Coll
Therefrom th
The leading address at the King's
Mountain celebration yesterday was
delivered by Dr. Henry Snyder,
president ot Wofford college. It was
an able effort, characterized by com- J
plete knowledge of the subject dis^
cussed, and stirring eloquence that
held the undivided attention of all tne
thousands within range of the doctor's
voice, and elicited round after round
of applause. Following is the address
' in full:
KING'S MOUNTAIN.
I*. ..a M.......
Patriotic women, worthy and gracious
descendants of those who neiped
to make this republic a reality, and
the republic itself, grateful to the men
who, in tnis spot one hundred and
f. twenty-nine years ago, sealed with
their blood their faith in free institutions?the
Daughters of the American
Revolution and the government of the
United States?have today brought us
? together to dedicate this shaft of enfe
during granite to the memory of those
who fought here, to a faith in the
* principles for which they fought, and
to an abiding love for the country
whose foundations they helped to lay.
In this celebration we are expressing
some among the noblest emotions 01
our human nature?a memory which
will not let us forget, in the clamorous
Interests of the present hour, a splendidly
heroic past, a tribute of homage
to those who gladly gave life itself in
devotion to a large and noble cause,
a generous gratitude for this rich heritage
of free institutions, and a patriotism
that dedicates ltseit atresn to
the maintenance of these institutions,
g and in the high and hoiy passion 01
this hour resolves to hand tneu.
down, not only unimpaired, but enhanced
to bless the alter generations.
Memory for an heroic past, homage to
those who served nobly in it, gratitude
for blessings received from dead
^ hands, a new and stronger love for a
" country and a cause besprinkled with
blood of willing- human sacrifice?
these are, 1 repeat, among the ttnest
and best emotions of our humanity.
The mood they bring to us makes this
a sacred occasion and touches our
thought with something of the high
passion of religion. it transforms
g tnis nill into a shrine of patriotism
and consecrates us and all Americans
ministrants at its altars. It Is in this
spirit that I shall endeavor to tell
anew the familiar story, interpret
afresh the motives that beat at the
heart of the men who here acted their
p; parts so greatly, and bring home to
^ our thougnt, with what clearness and
force I may, the profound significance
of October 7, 1780, not only to this republic,
but to the future of humanity
itself.
A battle as a battle. In which men
shoot and cut and slay one another in
herce, slaughterous lust for blood, Is
an ill thing to consider. No flaunting
of brlgut banners, no blare of silver
trumpets, no rythmic tramp of marching
feet, no glittering of the trappings
of war, no dauntless daring, no lighthearted
courage, no glad willingness
to give up life and all that men hold
dear?none of these things avail to
redeem a battle of the hideous horror
^ of its sheer inhumanity and transform
its gory held into a sacred spot, to
which men and women of the aftertime
journey as to a shrine. The battie
and its held get their reueinpiu...
from the truth, the principles, the
ideals that animate the combatants.
There is no virtue in mere fighting.
T* K ntwfnc, lino 1 n hot fnr u'hlnh
^ Alio Vil VUV IIVO mwfc *v* fi M?V"
light.
But these men of King's Mountain
were fighting for principles of home,
of social, of religious, of political life,
which lift their battlefield, this spot,
^ from the low level of a physical struggle,
with all Its attendant horrors, into
a high and holy place of sacrificial
service. The principles that moved
them and the Ideals that gleamed before
them, constitute the very alpiiaoet
of the primer of our social and politiw
cal organization, nevertheless no com
pany of Americans can have the face
to gather together on an occasion like
this without reminding themselves
afresh of those fundamental principles
which furnished the life-giving spirit
to all their institutions. Moreover, it
is the beauty and significance of these
principles grasped in the thought, imbedded
in the conscience, and aglow
in the heart of the riflemen of King's
Mountain that made the grim, relentless
slaughter of that October day an
inevitable and glorious necessity.
It should be remembered, first, that
they were not fighting for some new
principle of government. They were
probably simply conscious that they
were fighting to hold what they had
_ brought with them from the older
' lands over sea The civilization they
had planted along the Atlantic shore
line was new only in the conditions by
which it was surrounded. The organized
form of government by which
this civilization was proieciea ana iurthered
was no strange discovery flash9
ing suddenly upon the American colonists
as they struggled to make the
wilderness habitable. They were Englishmen
in the main, with English conceptions
of home, of individual ana
public rights, with English ideas of
law and order and government. They
knew they were but planting an old
seed in a new soil, and they felt it
their bounden duty to see to it that
^ it should be so cultivated and tended,
as it grew, as not to lose any of its
power of beneficent fruitage. The
working principles of their organized
and individual life were therefore very
old and very precious. They were
present, in rude beginnings, it is true,
? far back on the shores of the German
ocean in oldest homes of the race, when
grim Saxon warriors chose their own
chief by free vote and signed their
assent to any measure by clashing
swords on shields; they were present
when Saxon thanes gathered under the
spreading branches of a great oak on
the hillside, the first English narlia
merit, and as free and equal men
judged and decided what was best for
all the people; they throbbed in the
heart of those stern barons who wrung
from a reluctant king, in the meadows
of Runnymede, the Great Charter of
* our liberties; their principles actuated
the commercial and industrial classes
of the late middle ages when they refused
to be taxed without representation,
and forced and brought tyrannical
kings to their way of thinking;
it was the might of these principles
that won an open Bible in their own
every day speech for the common people
In the days of Henry VIII,, Elizabeth,
and James II.; it was the fire
?r at
aim
:s Meaning and Ir
Message.
;SS BY DR. HEN
lege Rehearses the Story
e Lessons That Should 1
the Present Generation.
of these principles that fused English,
Puritan and Scotch Covenanter together,
and sent them victorious to
Naseby and Marston Moor; it was
violation and defiance of these principles
that brought a king's head to
the block after he had been tried and
condemned by an elected parliament
of the people. These principles of the
right and the ability of the people to
govern themselves, slowly won through
the centuries, but once won never surrendered,
the Cavaliers brought with
them to Virginia, the Pilgrims to New
England, the Dutch to New York, the
Swede to New Jersey, the Quaker and
the German to Pennsylvania, the
Scotch-Irish to the new homes along
the slopes of the Blue Ridge, and the
Huguenot to the lowlands of South
Carolina. Freedom, self-government,
was born In the blood and bred In the
bone of most of these men. But its
power was strengthened by the stress
and strain of their new surroundings.
It was felt and realized by all, not only
by the cultivated thinker of the older
colonies but also by the lonely hunter
by the salt licks of the Cumberland.
When the storm of the Revolution
broke, they knew, each and all, clearly
what was at issue and thought it
worth while to pay the price of life
and goods for it. It was their rights
GOVERNOR AN8EL.
as Englishmen which were threatened
?rignis long innerited and dearbought.
When they read the great
declaration of July 4, 1776, it had power
to move them, not because it told
of new and unfamiliar political principles,
but because it restated in stirring
phrases the old and familiar. And
these were too precious to give up.
It is these principles, therefore, their
supreme worth to them and to humanity
and the radiant heroism that
was spent to maintain them that in
vt'sia tins opv/t mui iuq 511/1 j no w**>- ,
memorate today. It was a battle by
heroic men for principles that make
men heroic.
And tne mere story of it is well
worth the telling anew. What is the
condition of the cause for which the
colonists were hgnting immediately
before the battle of King's Mountain,
October 7, 1780? By the middle of
May of this year Augusta, Savannah
anu Charleston had fallen into the
hands of the British. Following these
victories they adopted the severest
measures for completing the work of
subjugation, particularly in South Carolina.
Imprisonment, confiscation of
property, banishment, ruthless execution
under the superficial forms of
military law, robbery, murder were the
order of the day. Their most relentless
leader, Tarleton scoured the middle
and lower country, leaving devastation
and ruin in his tracks. "No
quarter!" was his motto even in open
and honorable battle. It was only the
activity of such leaders as Sumter,
Marlon, Pickens and Bratton, striking
suddenly and getting swiftly away to
strike again, that seemed to keep
burning the spark of liberty and save
the stale from that complete subjugation
at which the British aim.
In the up country Colonel Ferguson,
in many respects, the most skillful of
Tj?: ? J ? U 1 A r.t.ji was via/nmiiclv
llic ?>illli3il icauci o, nao
and effectively active. This man had
courage, dash, resourcefulness, power
of organization, tact and address in
conciliating the disaffected and winning
the hesitant over to the British
side, and a large amount of that personal
magnetism that enters into the
make-up of the real leader. This picturesque
and masterful man was doing
in the up-country what Tarleton was
doing in the low-country. His command
consisted of provincial American
troops from New York and New
Jersey and Tories from North and
South Carolina. The exceptional skill
of their leader had trained and organized
them Into a high state of efficiency.
The whole country was now in a
thorough state of demoralization, and
to the ills of a foreign invasion were
added the horrors of civil war. Families
were divided into opposing camps
of Whigs and Tories; father against
son; brother against brother; neighbor
against neighbor; the unhappy
state of the country furnished the
fruitful occasion for the expression of
all the baser passions of our human
nature. Open murder, secret assassination,
theft, burnings, pillage were
the familiar happenings of the day.
No man's life or family, or home was
safe from the attack of the midnight
prowler. It was a time of gloom, and
the patriot cause seemed all but lost.
But faith and courage had not quite
died out. There were a few who still
kept the torch of liberty alight in
hearts of gold and rought on againsi
desperate odds. On the 18th day of
August, they closed a series of sharp
engagements with an attack on a detachment
of Ferguson's troops at Musgrove's
Mill on the Enoree river, and
gained a signal victory. McCall, Williams,
Hammond, Brandon, Steen,
Charles McDowell and McJunkin were
the leaders. Among them, however,
was a new type of fighting man, now
for the first time entering upon the
stage of action. These were the riflemen
from over the mountains?men
from Georgia under Clarke, from the
Nolachucky, the Watauga, and the
Holston under Robertson, Sevier and
Shelby, These distant frontiersmen,
resting awhile from clearing new lands
and fighting Indians beyond the Blue
MOUNTAIN
itepretation of Its
RY N. SNYDER
of the Battle, and Draws
5e Heeded by
Ridge, had crossed the mountains at
McDowell's call for help.
Flushed with their victory, the patriot
leaders were now ready to move
on to strike the British post at NinetySix.
But there came the terrible news
of the complete defeat of Gates' Continental
Army at Camden, so they, too,
must retreat?the mountain men to
their homes beyond the Blue Ridge,
and the rest over the border Into
North Carolina. These are now the
dark days of the Revolution, darker
than any time since the drear winter
of Valley Forge. Marion was In hiding;
Sumter had been surprised and
beaten at Hanging Rock and his force
had scattered; the shattered remnants
of Gates' demoralized army had fled
to Hillsboro, North Carolina; CornwalUs
was at Charlotte, prepared to do in
iNoitn Carolina wnat he had done in
its sister state to the south, and then,
moving into Virginia to strike Washington,
and put down forever the cause
of human liberty on these shores; Ferguson
had swept up to the very foot
of the mountains on the west, driving
everything before him, awing the cowardly,
winning over the weak and hesitating,
and slaying where he could
those stubborn patriots who yet held
out and destroying their homes. Well
could he and Cornwallis report that
the rebellion was at an end in South
Carolina. Dark and desperate seemed
the cause of free men and free institutions.
To hope for success now
would seem but the futile dream of
those who took no sane reckoning of
conditions. Further resistance were a
vain and useless waste of life and
property. The sun of liberty had gone
down in the stormy darkness of a
starless and uncertain night.
Early In September, Ferguson, before
moving eastward from Gilbert
Town, sent a message to the mountain
chieftains on the Watauga, the Nolachucky,
and the Holston, that If they
did "not desist from their opposition to
British arms, he would march his
army over the mountains, hang their
leaders, and lay waste their country
with fire and sword." Wrongly
he reckoned in the real effect of
such a message. It came as a challenge
to men little accustomed to let
a challenge pass without taking it up.
Besides, it held out a threat of invasion
and the destruction of homes, but
recently won from the wilderness and
the savage. Humble log cabins though
they were, resting under the shadow of
great mountains, they were yet the
homes of American free men, and with
the blood in their veins and the race
memories that cling about their traditions,
their first duty was to keep
these homes sacred within and safe
from any attack without. Moreover,
these men were not of the sort to
wait for the foe to come to them. They
were accustomed to seek their foes.
On the 25th of September, at the call
of their leaders, the mountain men met
at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga.
It is a fateful and significant gathering.
The destiny of the future republic
is involved in it. Campbell is there
with his four hundred Virginians;
Shelby has brought two hundred and
forty of his Hol3ton men to join them
to an equal number from the banks
of the Watauga under Sevier. Looking
back upon them from this distance of
time, one must say that that is a romantically
picturesque company of
men who gathered together on that
bright September day, with the clearilowing
Watauga at their feet and
their great hills towering above them,
glowing in the first gorgeous penciling
i of autumn. As they move to and fro
in groups discussing the supreme question
of the hour or gather in mass to
hear what their leaders have to say,
they are well worth our considering,
who and of what sort they are. Clad
in the familiar fringed hunting shirt
of the frontiersman,, their long hair
flowing from beneath coonskin or
minkskin caps, their feet shod in the
moccasin of their Indian foes, in their
belt the knife and tomahawk, and in
their hands, ever ready, reaching from
foot to cnin, tne long cieaoiy rone, in
the use of which they had become
inarvelously expert, they step before
our modern eyes as singularly romantic
and picturesque figures. They are
our Knight-errants of the wilderness?
"the advance guard of western civilization
and the rear guard of the Revolution;"
tall, grim, gaunt, keen-eyed,
toil-hardened men, with nerves of steel
and muscles of iron, rude of speech,
rough of manner, and stern of deed,
their struggle to subdue the wilderness
and their contests with the Indians had
made them resourceful, self-reliant,
independent, brave. They were essentially
a product of their surroundings
and of their manner of life. They
were not builders of towns; they were,
however, home builders in the wilderness,
and therefore woodmen, hunters,
Indian fighters.
But they were far more than this.
Before the middle of the eighteenth
century Scotch-Irish settlers had come
"> ?? Al/I n ntiohin
uvtri ii win uic v^iu uuiiu, uwu |/uow...0
beyond the seacoast, beyond even the
Piedmont hills, had crossed the Blue
Ridge and claimed for their own the
fertile valleys between the two Appalachian
ranges. They were a strong,
virile, vigorous folk, and having the
blood of the Covenanters in their
veins, they were committed unalterably
by instinct, tradition, and practice to
civil and religious liberty. They and
their descendants became the most
American of Americans. By and liy
the thin line of settlements which they
first established was strengthened by
the enterprising men of other faiths
and blood who also loved liberty?
Swedes, Germans, English and even a
sprinkling of Huguenots. But in the
course of time all became subdued to
the prevailing stern Scotch-Irish Presbyterian
type, a type, if not always
ixf nfhor rtoovilp'u Hchts. Jit
least ever tenacious of their own. In
their rude cabins In the shadowy gloom
of the unbroken forest, fighting Indians,
clearing a bit of land for next
year's crop, enduring all manner of
hardships, today a son or father or
brother slain by a treacherous foe, tomorrow
wife or daughter or sister carried
off to captivity worse than death,
they were trained in an iron school of
experience, and It made Iron men of
a stock already possessed of not a few
of the iron virtues.
And in this school they lost none
of their love of liberty, nor abated one
jot of their stubbornness in holding it,
or their quick willingness to fight for
it. As early as 1772 they had set up
on the banks of the Watauga the first
organized form of government ever set
up by American born men on this continent.
And their articles of government
show two things?first, that they
knew what freedom was, and secondly,
that they knew how to organize It
practically into institutions.
They naturally, from the beginning,
ardently espoused the cause of the
Colonists. But up to this time their
chief business had been to keep the
Indians in check, who were continually
wrought upon by British agents to Join
them In the conflict. Roosevelt has
aptly described these Americans of the
Alleghany valleys, "as a shield of sin?
ewy men thrust in between the people
of the seaboard and the red warriors
of the wilderness," and well had they
performed this duty. But now another
duty called. They would not wait
for the foe to seek them in their
homes. They would seek him. So on
the morning of the 26th they are ready
to march. In answer to a prayer and
an address by one of their preachers
they shout in chorus: "The sword of
the Lord and of our Gideons," and
mounted on tough, wiry steeds they
turned their faces eastward over the
mountains, through rugged defiles, over
narrow trails, under frowning precipices,
this little army of democratic
American citizens who would be free,
threaded their cautious way. Six days
later, on the 30th of the month, they
are over the mountains at Quaker
Meadows. Here they are joined by
three hundred and fifty North Carolinians
under Cleveland and Winpton
and McDowell, leaders true and tried,
and men seasoned by repeated conflicts
with their Tory enemies. Finally, in
the afternoon of the sixth of October,
they reached Cowpens. There they are
joined by the forces of Lacy, Hill, Williams
and Hambrlght, South and North
Carolinians who knew not how to yield.
They are now within striking distance
of the foe they are seeking. He Is
only a little way ahead, having taken
a position on a hill near King's Mountain,
from which he said God Almighty
Himself nor all the Rebels out of hell
could drive him.
But there Is hardly time even for
rest. The time to strike their blow Is
at hand. At 9 o'clock they set out.
The stars are obscured by heavy
olniiSo onH a SHmlln? rain hparlns to faJL
In black darkness they press on till the
The history of this mounment as
scriptions thereon, will be found in the
grey, dripping dawn finds them at the
Cherokee Ford on Broad river. They
naa marcnea eifnieen miies uuung me
night, and their enemy was yet fifteen
miles away. But wearied as they were,
they press on without food or rest, and
at 3 o'clock in the afternoon they are
at the foot of the hill ready for the
attack.
"To catch and destroy Ferguson,"
had been the cry of the mountaineers.
Now they were ready to make it good.
The hated foe was within their grasp.
Leaving their horses, afoot they hasten
into action, with forces so divided as
completely to surround the enemy.
With his usual dash and courage the
British leader answers; charge with
charge. But he meets a new kind of
fighting men, and they give him what
they call "Indian play," that is, charging
from the protection of one tree to
that of another, they fire upon the
British with their usual deadly accuracy.
Ferguson repeatedly gives them
the bayonet, a mode of war-fare with
trhlnh t hotr tnn nrp unfamiliar At
each charge they flee quickly down the
hillside till out of reach of the enemy
and then turn to charge and flre again
with terrible execution. For an hour
the slaughter goes on, the American
forces gradually closing in. Early in
the action the gallant Ferguson is slain,
pierced with seven wounds. Nothing
can save his band now. Flags of
truce are shown by the British at various
points in the conflict. But the
mountaineers, at least many of them,
did not even know what a flag of truce
meant, and kept on firing. Finally, the
firing ceased, and that October sun
went down on the last of Ferguson and
him men?all slain or captured. The
men of the hills and the mountains
had done what they came to do?capture
and destroy Ferguson. So burying
their dead, caring for the wounded,
and taking their prisoners, they turn
their faces once more toward their
valley homes beyond the dim blue line
of the distant mountains.
But Shelby. Sevier, Campbell. Cleveland,
McDowell, Winston. Hambright,
Lacy, Hill and Williams, with the men
under them had done far more than
destroy Ferguson. Their victory sent
Cornwallis from Charlotte back to
Winnsboro all but panic-stricken,
freed the up-country of the horror and
oppression of Tory rule, brought a new
hope and courage and faith to the patriotic
cause every where, and became
the turning: point of the Revo' Ion,
making Torktown's glad day a near
possibility. There may have been other
battles In which more men were engaged;
but none counted for more In
Its deep and far-reaching influence
than that one which was here fought
one hundred and twenty-nine years
ago. It gave us the Imperial republic
of this proud hour.
r~iz i
JOSEPH M. BROWN,
Governor of Georgia, who should have
been at King's Mountain yesterday
and wasn't.
' i
mm
;;:j|
THE NATIONAL MONUMENT.
well as a complete description of It. ti
article by Hon. D. E. Flnley elsewhere
Men of the up-country of the two
Carolinas and of Georgia of that olden
day! You had the reward of all your
sufferings and hardships on this slope
Ion that day of battle. Today we turn
back to you in gratitude for the priceless
legacy you left us, your descendants;
men of the distant mountains of
Virginia, of Tennessee, of Kentucky!
[You left this field to take up anew
[the tasks you but temporarily laid
aside, tasks mighty In their influence
upon the country you here helped to
vp?fierhtiner Indians, carving new
commonwealths from the wilderness,
and holding from Frenchman and
Spaniard the west and southwest, the
fairest portion of our National domain.
Fitting it is therefore, that we, your
heirs, should dedicate to your memory
this lofty shaft. Its base rests upon
the hill consecrated by your valor and
your devotion to the cause which now
blesses us, and you were men of the
hills; it Is made of enduring granite
* m lt-- ? -4 U TifV?l/?V?
dug irom me very etti m uyci muvn
you marched and suffered, and you
were unyielding granite In the stubborn
virtues of your manhood; It
points away to the blue of the overarching
sky from Its deep base In the
broad bosom of the earth, and out of
your heroic virtues, born of the soil
that you won, there soared high over
all the aspiring Ideal of home, of
brotherhood, of the same rights for all
and special privileges to none, of religious
and political liberty, in a republic
of free and equal men. It was
for these ideals that you fought and
were willing to die. That granite fibre
of your manhood, that grim, stern battle
lust, those muscles of iron and
nerves of steel?all were but the servants
of your ideals. These chiefly
constitute your glory. You did your
whole duty In striving to make them
real in your own way and by your own
? ? ~n* hnnnr vmi
nictiiia, ciuu ?c ui iuuuj ^
most when we turn from this scene
and these exercises and this shaft dedicated
to your memory, possessed with
the thought that It shall be our duty,
to meet the new tasks, social, Indus
trial, and political, that have come to
us, in the spirit of the ideals which,
through your deeds here performed,
make this spot a shrine of patriotic
worship for all Americans.
t-T Don't make a specialty of white
lies; it doesn't take them long to show
dirt.
"THE UNITI
Splendid Achievements
Twenty-Ni
MARVELOUS GROV
Hon. E. Y. Webb of North Ca
Was at the Time of
Mountain and M
Hon. E. Y. Webb, congressman from
the Eighth North Carolina district,
was on the programme to respond to
the toast "United States," but was unable
to be present on account of the
critical illness of one of his children,
and his address was read by Congressman
R. N. Page, of the Seventh
North Carolina district as follows:
The United States of America.
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens:
In attempting to discuss so big a
subject as the "United States of America,"
In the short time necessarily allotted
to me, I am reminded of the
braggart who boasted that he could
whip any man In Richmond. No one
taking the gage of battle, he declared
that he could whip any man In Virginia;
still no one accepting the challenge,
he loudly announced that he
could whip any man in the United
States, whereupon some one struck him
4^
j)fc c
>gether with a transcript of the Inln
this Issue.
full In the face and laid him low.
When he recovered consciousness, and
after rubbing his face a moment, he
candidly said, "Boys, I took in too
much territory the last time."
However, the subject has been assigned
me by the programme committee,
and I will do the best I can with
it, at the same time craving your sympathy
and attention.
For a few minutes let us consider the
condition of our country at the time
the battle of King's Mountain was
fought and then trace the growth and
progress of the republic to the present
time.
Mr. Chairman, on this spot of earth
where we now stand, there occurred
just 129 years ago a momentous struggle
in which was bound up the destiny
of a country that has since become
richer than Ophir of Babylon, mightier
than Rome, vaster than the British
empire, and more cultured than Greece.
Had the patriots lost this all-important
battle, our country would have retained
the British yoke and remained
an English province. On this hill-top
on that eventful day quivered the destiny
of this republic in fate's tremend
ous balances, wnen tfte guns ceasea
firing, and the smoke of that hour's
terrible contest had cleared away, the
patriots' triumph was complete, and
the way grew clear, the path bright,
to the successful termination of the
Revolutionary war, with our independence
forever established, and under
the guidance of and smiles of providence,
that young nation has become
the mightiest government that ever
existed on the shore of time.
Let us notice the conditions under
which the young republic started her
career alone among the other nations
of earth. Her people did not exceed
three millions, scattered over an area
of 240,000 square miles. Today her
population has grown to ninety millions
of people inhabiting three millions,
six hundred thousand square
miles of territory. In 1780 Virginia
had the largest population of any of
the states; Pennsylvania was next,
and North Carolina third. The country
was then bounded on the west by
the Mississippi river, on the south by
the Spanish colony of Florida, on the
east by the Atlantic ocean, and on the
north by the Dominion of Canada. At
that time the northern boundary was
In dispute, and but six of the thirteen
states had definite boundaries. The
ID STATES"
i of One Hundred and
ine Years.
FTH OF AMERICA.
rolina, Tells What the Country
the Victory at King's
fhat It Is Now.
boundaries of North Carolina and
(south Carolina were not known or settled.
The populated portions of the
country were along the Atlantic seaboard.
in those days there were but three
banks in existence; the Bank of North
America, in .Philadelphia, the Bank of
i\ew York, and the Bank of Massachusetts
In Boston. It is Interesting
to observe that we now have more
than seventeen thousand banking Institutions.
About the only modes of travel and
transportation In those days were by
boat and horseback. In the south
there were no wagon roads and but
few in New England. All highways
were but bridle paths or blazed trails
running through an unknown wilderness.
Practically the only road In the
south ran from Alexandria, Virginia,
via Jamestown on to Hertford, New
bern and Wilmington, North Carolina,
ana on 10 cnarieoion ana (savannah.
In those primitive days there were
but seventy-five postofflces throughout
tne land, the receipts of which were
138,000, and expenditures on account of
rtiu /lann. tmonf u/orn Willie I
last year the government spent on this
department alone about 1200,000,000.
The mail was carried then by stage
and horseback. Since then there have
been established 75,000 postofflces, and
the mail is now transported by air
tubes and express trains. The prices
of postage then depended on the distance
a letter was carried, the postage
usually being paid by the person receiving
the letter or at the place of
delivery. It cost six cents 10 carry
a letter thirty miles, twelve and a half
cents to carry it a hundred miles, and
twenty-live cents to carry It 450 miles.
Now a man in Maine may send his
letter to ?an rrancisco or to the Philippines
for two cents, or to the farthest
part of earth for five cents.
In 1780 North Carolina had but four
postofflees, Edenton, Washington, Newoern
and Wilmington. South Carolina
nad but two, Georgetown and
Charleston.
There was then but one cotton mill
in existence; and now we have about
2,000, furnishing cotton goods to the
farthest markets of earth. The oldtime
spinning wheel was found in every
home, and it is now only a relic
preserved from the long ago. Such a
machine could spin five skeins of No.
32 yarns in thlrty-slx hours; while the
modern mule spinning machine, opera
a ted by one person, can produce fifty five
thousand skeins of similar thread
in the same time. With the old time
loom one person could weave fortytwo
yards of cotton cloth in a week;
while now a single person with modern
machinery can produce three thousand
yards in the same length of time.
The value of all manufactures then
aggregated twenty million dollars,
wnlle now they are valued at about
thirteen billions of dollars annually.
The entire imports and exports In 1780,
amounted to forty millions of dollars,
while now they average more than two
billions of dollars.
Education then was but poorly encouraged,
there being but twenty colleges
about like our ordinary high
schools; while today there are about
500 with an enrollment of two hundred
thousand students. There were
but two medical schools in the early
days of the republic and not a single
school of law.
Only 103 newspapers furnished the
news to the people; while last year
there were more than twenty thousand
of these publications. North Carolina
had but one newspaper, the Fayetteville
Observer, and South Carolina had
but two, the State Gazette, and the
City Gazette or Dally Advertiser. In
those days the printing of 250 small
papers In an hour was fine work, while
now we have printing presses that can
print, cut and fold 96,000 eight-page
papers per hour, or 1,600 every minute.
The Daner in this modern mechanical
wonder passes through the cylinders
at the rate of 30 miles an hour.
In 1780 New York was the largest
city with 32,000 Inhabitants, Philadelphia
next with 28,000, Boston next with
18,000, and Charleston fourth with 16,000.
The increase in poulatlon In the
United States from 1780 to the present
is 2,000 per cent Belgium in the
same time increased her population
204 per cent England 155 per cent,
Germany 143 per cent, and France but
42 per cent.
The total number of -members of the
lower house of congress was 66, each
based on 33,000 population. We now
have 392 members, each based on 190,000
population. Had the basis of this
Pflnrooontotlnn romnlnp-l linrhn niTPfl
VUV.IVUVIV.1 ? .uaMiiuua - ?
since 1780, there would now be 2,259
members In the lower branch of congress;
and, had the basis of 1900 been
used In 1780, congress would have had
but 18 members in It
In those days the entire wealth of
the country did not exceed one billion
dollars, while now it exceeds 113 billions.
Since this battle was fought the Federal
Union of thirteen states has grown
M. R. PATTERSON,
Governor of Tennessee, who should
have been at King's Mountain yesterday
and wasn't.
to embrace forty-six states, besides
numerous territories and insular possessions,
until today one is startled at
the thought that our country's flag
al ? <?AA AAA nrtiin ro m ilou C\t tho
uifs uver o,oju,uuv 041101c ?>iiv? .?
earth's surface.
On the 30th day of April, 1803, under
the masterly guidance of Thomas
Jefferson, that vast stretch of territory
beyond the Mississippi became part of
the United States. Out of this immense
territory have been carved the
states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri,
Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oregon, Washington, Montana,
North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho,
Wyoming, and parts of Nevada and
Colorado, totaling 1,172,000 square
miles, and at the same time giving
possession of both sides of the Mississippi
river, the longest river in the
world. This great river drains a terrl
tory larger than the combined area* of
England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland,
Prance, Spain, Portugal, Germany,
Austria, Italy and Turkey, and "discharges
three times as much water
as the St Lawrence, twenty-five times
as much as the Rhine, and 338 times '
as much as the Thames." Forty years
after the Louisiana purchase, the
great empire of Texas took her place
among the sovereign states of the union.
What a country this one state Is!
She Is vaster in ..ita than England,
France and Wales, all combined; larger
than Switzerland, Holland, Denmark,
Belgium and Germany all put
together.
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, New Jersey, PennsylI
van la. Delaware. Maryland. Vinarlnla
and West Virginia could all be laid on
a map of Texas, and still a surface as
large as that of South Carolina would
be left uncovered!
Then what must we think of the
size of the entire United States? Our
country has grown in area from a few
hundred thousand square miles she
possessed when the battle of King's
Mountain was fought, until she Is today
larger than Prance, Germany,
England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy,
Spain, Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Russia,
Greece, Japan and Belgium all
combined. Ail of these great nations
could be laid on a map of the United
States, and Texas would remain uncovered.
And, "Whereon the face of
the globe, in all things past, or In the
present, are such allurements of wealtn
and happiness to be found as In the
mighty region" of the United States?
"Where else has nature beckoned with
such bountiful hands or smiled so
sweet and hospitable a welcome?" Our
country Is easily capable of sustaining
a thousand million souls, and then
the population would not be as dense
as It Is in Massachusetts today. Were
the United States as thickly populated
as Belgium there would be within
our mighty borders a population
equal to that of the entire world.
Creasy, the author of "Fifteen Decisive
Battles," says, "the ancient Romans
boasted, with reason, of the growth
of Rome from humble beginnings to
the greatest magnitude which the
world had ever witnessed. But the citizen
of the United States is still more
entitled to this praise. In two centuries
and a half the country has acquired
ampler dominions than Rome
gained In ten." "The Increase of its
strength Is unparalleled In rapidity or
extent"
When the constitution was framed
steam was unknown, and as late as
1814 the fastest steam vessel traveled
only six miles an hour, while today
there axe in the United States enough
steam engines to generate seventeen
billions horse-power, and ocean liners
cross the Atlantic in four and a half
days.
In the beginning of the last century
there was not a foot of railroad track
within our broad domain; while today
there are more than 200,000 miles of
track, or one-half the entire world's
trackage and enough to girdle the
earth more than eight times.
The framers of the constitution knew
nothing of electricity; but now it
rings bells, heats dwellings, raises elevators,
propels street cars, drives railroad
trains, runs cotton mills and
printing presses, lights our homes,
irons our clothes, and whirls us along
splendid , Macadam roads in comfortable
automobiles.
During all ages and in all climes
under the sun, men have longed to fly,
and an American cltlsen now navigates
the air like a bird in his wonderful
flying machine.
During the last century the farmer,
too, has made wonderful progress.
Since the invention of the cotton gin
our cotton crop has grown from a
few bags in 1800 to 12,000,000 bales in
1908. One hundred years ago the
wooden plow was the only implement
for hrmikinr un the soil: lust such a
plow as was used by the Bible prophets;
while today the farmer may
proudly ride his plow, while the share
sinks deep into the productive soli,
and his grain is gathered, bound,
threshed and measured by wonderful
machinery. In the beginning of the
last century, "in the heat of midsummer,
without protection from the
broiling sun, the working men of the
world, sickle in hand, gathered the
harvest while women crept after them,
and kneeling, bound the sheaves."
In those days books were so scarce
and dear that Illiteracy stalked in every
home; while in this enlightened
time the poorest may afford a good library
and send his little ones to school
at least four months in every year.
The farmer nowadays rides in buggies
and vehicles that only royalty
could afford a hundred years ago. My
friends, we should feel a thrill of patriotic
pride as we see our country in
the beginning of the 20th century
marching at the front of the world's
procession in wealth, agriculture, mining,
fisheries, forestry, transportation,
education and discoveries. All these
accomplishments have taken place
In the space of one short century. We
can Indeed exclaim with Tennyson:
"We are living, we are dwelling
In a grand and awful time;
As age on age is telling,
To be living is sublime."
By means of the telegraph and telephone
one may sit at his breakfast table
and read of the happenings of yesterday
In the remotest parts of earth.
The whole world Is bound together by
320 cables, which make all nations
neighbors. By means of the phonograph
one may sit at ease in his home
and listen to the voice of a dead
friend or hear Madam Melba sing in
her grandest operatic style. By means
of the wireless telegraph the voyager
on the sea no longer fears the terrors
of the deep, for help can be called
over the winds and waves and arrive
in time to rescue.
One hundred years ago the doctor
and the surgeon were almost unknown;
while at the present science has advanced
so rapidly and wonderfully that
parts of the human anatomy may be
replaced with animal substitutes, the
human system lighted and inspected
by electricity and the X-ray, and even
death itself baffled and often robbed
of its victim.
All this wonderful progress, this
marvelous growth, these phenomenal
inventions and discoveries, have taken
place in our glorious republic, whose
foundation was laid in the storm and
stress of a battle, the anniversary of
which this concourse of people are
here to commemorate today. This,
thererore, is noiy grouna, ana on approaching
it one should feel Instinctively
that he should remove his hat
and unlatch his shoes; for here took
place the decisive battle which sealed
the destiny of unborn millions. God
bless and keep the spirits of the stainless
heroes who here fought and
yielded their noble lives in such a
country's cause! Brave, simple men!
Pure in motive, patriotic in action,
gullant in battle and glorious in death!
This magnificent shaft but feebly ex
presses our aamirauun ui uieir ueumless
deeds; (or, could the loving and
patriotic hearts before me today erect
a monument In keeping with their sentiments,
it would rise to the stature
of pure gold and pierce the clouds beyond
the flight of bird or eagle.
But yonder lofty, lonely mountain
peak will stand forever as a twin sentinel
of this splendid government tribute
In granite, to point the spot
where American liberty first received
Its full inspiration and drew its first
full breath of life.
Let us emulate the lives of these noble
men who fought and died and are
buried here, by placing our country's
cause above every cause save that of
God and home. Let us reconsecrate
our lives to this beautiful republic and
determine to make the land they won
for us a garden of peace, of happiness,
and religious liberty.
Burled In rude holes, called graves,
the noble dead lie all about us.
"Oao* r?n nmhu ImpH onH QflIntpri Hparl
Dear as the life you gave!
No impious footsteps here shall tread
The herbage of your grave.
Nor shall your glor> be forgot
While fame her record keeps.
And honor points the hallowed spot
Where valor proudly sleeps."