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COL. CREWS TELLS OF A CLASH WITH HAMPTON. A Midnight Charge in Which he Felt the Weight of his Leader's Sabre -Hampton Almost Shot by One of his Own Men. Some time ago I was iequested by the editor of The News and Courier .and The Sunday News to write for the latter a story regarding a war i. cident in which Gen. Hampton, my self and others of his cavalry com mand participated. and which came dangerously near resulting in the .zerious wounding, if not death, of our beloved chief. I herewith submit the subjoined brief sketch: It may be necessary, by way of a sort of preface, to say that about five years charge of Col. T. B. Crews, of Laureis. edrson in honor of Gen. Hampton, several thrilling incidents in his war career were related. Among was the following as reported in the papers of that city: 'Mr. W. W. Russell, who was a seout id gidt, rode with. both Stuart and Hampton, gave some inci dents in the raids of the latter. He related how one dark night two de tahments, one under command of Hampton, the other in charge of Col. T. B. Crews, of Laurens, met in the darkness while trying to flank Burn side's army, and nothing but the pres ence of mind of a private saved Gen. Hampton from being killed, like Jack son, by his own men.'' A veteran friend of mine, who was present on the occasion, wrote me a -note requesting that I give the inci -dent more in detail. I tried to do so, briefly explaining, or rather cor recting, some of the errors or lapse of fact on the part of the speaker, which was not unnatural after an interval of forty years since the incident oc cured. The facts of the somewhat memor able incident in question, as I remem ber them. they having occurred near ly forty-five years ago,, but which I believe are substantially correct. are as follows: A short time before the battle of Fredricksburg. some time in the lat ter part of November or early in De cember, 1862, G-en. Hampton made a * raid and reconnoissance into the Yan kee lines, his command on this parti cular occasion being composed of de tachments from the several regi mients of his brigade, consisting -of a thousand or more cavalry and a coup le of guns~ of Hart's battery. The command crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly's Ford, about dark, and after proeeding some miles, went into biv ionae until just before day. It was a clear, but bitterly cold night. No fire was allowed, of course, as we were then well inside the lines of the ene my, some twenty miles or more, per haps, where even loud talking was forbidden, officers' commands being rather whispered than audible. Leav ing bivouac (cavalry on such quests never thought of going regularly in to camp) the command proceeded to a point near Stafford's store in up per Stafford County, situated on a voad known as the "Telegraph -road,'' a highway leading from Fal mouth, where Burnside 's army was then encamped, to Vumphries. This road was of much importance to the enemy, being the main artery or chan nel of communication between those two posts, especially at this particul-' ar juncture, and hence was strongly guarded by Yankee cavalry, pickets being posted every half mile, with a strong reserve post of several hun 'dred. Gen. Hampton's immediate -purpose was to capture this reserve; but. in addition. had other objects in Tiew. Just before reaching Telegraph -road, which was approached by a cross-country road, G-en. Hampton's command, with the exception of the Jeff Davis Legion, was halted sever :al hours to allow time for the latter regiment, which was sent a circuitous route, to get in rear of the Yankee reserve. Afer waiting a sufficient time, as supposed, for the legion to make the circuit, the main portion of the comn 'manid struck the Telegraph road and proceeded upon it. for the p~upose of capturing all the force at the reserve ~post that the legion failed to capture. :as by that road. in the direction of Falmouth, was the only avenue of escape for the enemy. But unfortunately the guide for the Jeff Davis Legion made a mistake in miet making the eircuit extensive enough, and striking the Telegraph read between the reserve and the next picket post, in the direction of the main approaching column, instead of getting in rear of the reserve post as originally designed and planned by Hlampton. The legion, however, although fail a n to.cptur the reserve, captured several sialler posts and proceeded down the road up which Hampton's main column was approaching, ex pecting the Yankees to be retreating in that direction, having heard oc easioial fifing for some time. As th% legion spprofched near- enough toibe;distinetly heard, one of Hamp ton's- videttes, about forty yards ahead of the advance guard, (to the command of which I has been assign ed,) feeling assured that the expected Yankees were closely approaching, calling out: "Here they come, boys!" Instantly Gen. Hampton, (always at the front,) who was abreast of the first set of fours of the advance guard, gave the command to charge, he himself leading, followed by the 1st South Carolina, the leading regi ment that night, the whole affair taking place after dark. When the head of Hampton's column struck what was supposed to be the fleeing Yankees there was, of course, quite a clash, each thinking the other the enemy, but instead it was Greek meet ting Greek, or rather friend in death grapple with friend-sabre and pis tol being used in a hand-to-hand life destroying struggle. It lasted, however, but a few brief moments-Hampton, with his innate coolness and presence of mind in ev ery emergency, having discovered the mistake, called out in clarion voice: ''Stop this, men, we're all Georgia!'" The verbal signal or watchword for that somewhat eventful night was 'Georgia." The head of Hampton's main col umn had charged the Jeff Davis Le gion through mistake. When order was restored it was fortunately found that though sever al of the men were wounded, some of them painfully, none was killed. The horses were less fortunate, several be ing killed and wounded. We shall not soon forget the oc currence or the night. which was ex ceedingly cold, the sky thickly over cast. threatening snow, and although there was a young moon it gave little or no li-ht,-not enough to distinguish a gray jacket from a blue. Among others silghtly wounded in this affair the writer received quite a vigorous rap on the head and shoulder from a sabre in the hand and from the strong arm of his chief -Gen. Hampton himself. But for the good fortune of having an unusu ally thick visor to my cap the blow would doubtless have done me mueh greater injury. As it was, however, the sabre cut entirely through the visor and inflicted a slight wound just at the root of the hair, above the left temple. This, with a .stiff shoulder for a few days, was the extent of my injuries. I was more fortunate than some others. But when I received my chief's sabre blow I saw more stars than I ever expect to see again with out looking at them, and having my self 'previously dealt some pretty heavy blows to others was not much consolation. Yet my consolation did come when the General invited me to take supper with him and staff the same night at the house of a loyal southern sympathizer. though in tlie Yankee lines. The bill of fare was bountiful, including genuine coffee and something stronger-each of which luxury had been long a strang er. Gen. Hampton, as I afterwards learned, had rather a close call on the night in question. One of his trusted scouts. Walker Russell, in the midst of the dara:ness and confusion, had covered the General -with his pistol, being within a feu~ feet of him, and suposJing he was one of the enemy, ws. in the very act of firing when Hamion, hiaving~ discovered the mis take. stave the urd!er to cease the strugle. Thus a terrible calamity was narrowly averted. That Wade .famnpton was born, as has been well cl!amled. ''a military gnu,'no man v.ho saw or stu;died his career in the war between the states could doubi for a moment. He was not niilitary bred or educa4. ed, but seemed io understand the sieinee of war :!s if by intuition. Ev er. eahn aind 1.rni ff'-d, even in greiat emergency and :re.Est the met iii minent danger, nis was a per:onaHt.y that inspired ca)ur:e and imi,rted the utmost confidence to his follow ers. In adition to these distinguish ing and marked characteristics, as well as that Napoleonic ''four o'clock in the morning courage,'' at tributed to the ''Little Corporal'' as a test of true bravery in the soldier, Hampton possessed other qualities as a military leader in l.arge measure. He was eminently kind and humane to his men-the private as well as to the subaltern officer. A single in stance will amply illustrate: On one occasion of a raid far over in the Yankee lines, on a midwinter night SlIo Will-. vile of iii,. commanda niere lad in year-. not being sufficiently clad, fell from his horse from sheer cold and numbness, apparenLly froz en stark and stiff. As soon as the fact was made known to Gen. Hamp ton he h-alted the entire columa, re turned in -person to the place where the boy lay and with his own. hands assisted in carrying rails from a near by fence, helped build a fire and re mained with the boy unt'il he was - ,licntly recovered to , -emou,.. hi. horse. This single evidence of kia'; and humanityto anht....... --c . a private," may seem : i. . L connection with the i. . . of a valorous chieftaPe. But as it was a :.. nark of sympathy and pity f4 :: leILS. which actuated the immortal Lee to dismount from his war horse amidst the roar of death-dealing engines of the battlefield and replace then1ified- t ged sparrow that had fluttered from r its nest, so the mention of Hampton's kindness to the frozen boy is at least permissible. I have alluded, in another place, to I Gen. Hampton's uniform calmness; and perfect self-possession under all circumstances. He possessed another virtue in large degree-that of pat- C ient resignation to pain and suffering. from the result of casualty on the battlefield. I was quite near him when he received two painful wounds -one by gunshot in hip, he other " sabre cut on handL-at the battle of t Gettysbui. It was feared at the time that the former wound might prove fatal. It did disable him for r four or five months. He returned toj his command the latter part of No vember in the midst of a hot- little af fair in Stevensburg, Mead having made a forward movement and Hamp- t ton's cavalry was resisting his ad vance. Hampton's presence on the field acted on the men as promptly a. if an electric current had touched the nerve of every soldier in line. and from one end to the other a zlad af claim rang out. "Hampton is here." C His men felt reassured and rejoiced at his coming. When Gen. Hampton was wounded on the occasion referred to, although ( disabled and in a serious condition, he did not immediately leave the field, but was assisted to (small house n.ear by, only a few &ndred yards from the place where was wounded. After the last e ,'g of J the day, late in the afternoon of,July 3d. when there was a lull and a seem ing tacit agreement between the belli gerents to suspend hostilities, having some wounded men of my company in the same hospital where Gen. Hamp ton was lying, (though I was not Lware he was there until I reached the point,) I rode down to look after them. I found the General in a very small room on a cot, lying partially on his side and back, writing a note as calmly and unmoved as if in some peaceful rereat a thousand miles dis tant instead of so near "war's fierce alarums." Just at that juncture an ambulance was driven up and I was one of three or four others who helped to place the wounded hero in what we were fear ful might prove a vehicle to, convey him to that "long drawn aisle and frette,d vault'' from which there is no return. But our fears were for tunately groundless. Hampton liv ed to serve his loved Southland still longer and add still more and, if pos sible, brighter laurels to his already well bedecked crown. T. B. Crews. Laurens. S. C., August 5, 1907. Niagara: Niagara is a corruption of the Sen eca word "neagara,'' meaning' "aeross the neck,'' an allusion to a strip of land between the lakes. The name has been subjeeted to many changes since the discovery of the cataract, more than thirty differe~nt rednsbeing found in the writings oftevarious early explorers and geographers. YOURH *LIVER~ is your best friend or your worst enemy. Active it's your friend. 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