Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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S. C. IX THE REVOLUTION. Admirable Portrayal of Her Part in the Struggle for Liberty. The following address was delivered by Col. Rion .McKissick, at Greenwood, July 3rd: Let me confess to you my vast sur prise in beholding sucn a apienuiu celebration of the national holiday, and so fine an outpouring of the citizens of Greenwood, city and county. It is no 6mall surprise tc me, for I expected to see here a mere handful of people. Half a century ago and a little more the glorious Fourth was observed as gladly and as generally in the South as it was in all other sections of the union, but after the War Between the States the feeling of nationalism in the South had almost died out and not until recent years did this sectior of the republic begin again to cele^ brate this day. This, I understand is the first time that the Fourth has E&* *' 3 been celebrated in Greenwood and I hope that every year hereafter this -> occasion may be repeated. Let m( congratulate you upon the success of this event, it is tne Desi arrang ed and best attended Fourth of Julj observance that I have seen in man> years. It does you high credit, it re fleets honor upon your civic pridt and your love of country. From sea to sea. throughout th( republic, the one hundred and thir ty-ninth anniversary of the independ ence of the American people will b< observed today and Monday in thou sands of places by millions of peo pie. In many instances, the ringing jV ' of great liberty bells, the thunder o cannon, imposing processionals, th< acclaim of mighty multitudes and al the pomp and pageantry of a studiet patriotism will commemorate the da: we celebrate but in few places wil these ceremonials be held in i neighborhood more historic than tha in which we today are. For not fai from us and known of all of us is th< sacred soil of Ninety-Six, the scen< of the first bloodshed of the Revolu in Qnnth fnrrilina that of th< aiege from the 19th to the 21st da: of November. 1775, the stronghole of the British and the Tories for th< greater part of the Revolution, thi point from which they laid desolate the beautiful and rich surroundinj domain, the impregnable fortress against whose star points was wage< one of the most dramatic sieges of th< entire war, a siege which, from i military point of view, constitutec one of the worst mistakes of oui American general. Nathaniel Greene I in whose honor a* monument is beinj unveiled this day upon the battle field of Guilford court house by oui sister State of North Carolina. As South Carolinians we justl: glory in our State's splendid history ! / but how much do we really knov about it? What facts do we posses." about its achievement in the war o the revolution? To what extent d( we look into our State's past as i mirror of the present? It is. because of a belief that the average man ha: small knowledge of the historical po 6ition of South Caroliua that I ven ture on this day to direct briefly voui attention to certain phases of oui SLy- \ T history, and I shall be frank to saj that what knowledge I have is derived from a recent research into the irecords of our yesterdays. A world war. the most stupendous in the annals of man, is daily arresting our attention, but when we read of the atrocities committed in thai immense conflict do we recall thai as hideous babarities were visited upon our people by the British and -the Tories in our fight for freedom? Fifty years ago even the memories ol "Bloody Bill" Cunningham. 'Bloody' Tarleton and "Bloody" Bates were held in the deepest personal uairex by the sons and grandsons of Soutf Carolina patriots. A few incidents in the Revolutionary war in this State may suffice to indicate that history is but repeating itself in th< it v war fields across the seas. There was Wvley, who was turner over by the Tory leader. Browne, tc the Indians. They ripped him oper with knives in Browne's presence anr then tortured him to death. Then was Rannal McKoy. a seventeen-yeai old boy, captured as a prisoner of wai by the same Browne and put into ? pen of fence rails three feet higl covered with fence rails. He was hanged until nearly dead. Ther Browne turned him over to the In dians. - They scalped him and sagave lv maimed his body in the very pres ence of his prostrated mother. A number of his associates at the sam< h-opo rlicnrvQPrl rtf ill the samt way. There were the Revolutionary patriot prisoners at Charleston wh< were removed from the quarters pro vided for them tinder the terms o their surrender and crowded upor prison ships in such numbers tha many of them could not find room t< lie down. I)r. Fayssoux. a continent al surgeon, declares that in this tin "fivllv ^icnlavprl thpmspjvp* I>1 ! LI ?>I J inn; ut^'.w.vx. void of faith, honor, or humanity and capable of the most savase act; of barbarity." The vessels in whirl these unfortunate South Carolinian; were packed were infected witi sm!Wox- a *act known t0 t^le Brit- it ishjpthorities before they put these j w prisoners aboard. Eight hundred of li these men. imprisoned for thirteen e: months, died. There was Turner. " stripped to the waist an old woman d of South Carolina. .Mrs. Scysia, tied o her to a post, and brutally whippea.s; ' her to force her to disclose where a ci L party of Americans, among whom t< was her son. was located. That son q afterwards shot Turner for mistreat- d ' ing his mother. There was the mas- tl > sacre of Capt. James Butler, his son T James and twenty-six others, by g "Bloody Bill" Cunningham and his f, > men. Although these South Carolin- a > ians had surrendered, they were ? i butchered by the sabres of their mer- tl - ciless foes. All of them, except the n > two Butlers, were buried hastily in g - a single grave. This same Cunning- w t ham on another occasion hung two n i Smith Carolina patriots who had sur- v rendered_ to him on a fodder stack. . It broke, but Cunningham, drawing e * his sword, murdered the two half g 1 strangled men as they lay pros- t 5 trate before him. On this occasion. t * fourteen other men who had surren- t 5 dered were deliberately hacked to Q * pieces. There was "Bloody Bates." t of *hat is now Greenville, who at th^ ^ 7 head of a band of Cherokees and t white men painted as Indians from g i the Saluda mountain, fell like a t wolf upon the fold, upon the fort of t i the patriots at Gowen's Ferry. The a - fort was surrendered on the express q condition that proteotion be affordi ed its inmates, but no sooner had Q - they delivered themselves into the j Tory's hands than he ordered and h ; executed a general and indiscrimi- t f nate massacre of all his prisoners, j i men, women and children, including 1 even his own kindred. 1 These facts are canea 10 aemon* f strate that our forefathers suffered f 1 as greatly as the victims of our pres- j. * ent war. They are not recited to stir g t prejudice against the English people r at this time nor to create an imJ pression favorable to their present 3 foes. They are simply the facts of ^ - history. 3 No ether State suffered as South" ^ r; Carolina suffered in the Revolutioniiary war. Here for a great part of 3 j the time was the seat of war and i t 5 here the people most painfully felt v 31 the iron heel of their mother coun- f ? j try which was aware (if and acquies- t s'ced in the sort of warfare waged c i against South Carolinians. The low3 est classes within the State were t t "formed into banditti, the leaders of i which being the commissioners of.c r his majesty, were .turned loose, to . indulge thejr private animosities. ^ 5 their thirst for blood and rapine. * - without reference to the interest of " f king or country." Xor was this all. 1 j The savage Indians were allies c r against us and by the British govern- t . ment were supplied with "arn;s and 1 ' ammunition and aided and abetted ] ? to add the horrors of their barbari-j* f ties to the war upon the good peo-j' i c >; pie of South Carolina. 1 "In consequence of the civil wars . ^ J between the Whigs and Tories." says ^ > Ramsay. "the incursions of the sav-i* 'ages, and the other calamities result- 11 - ing from the operations of the Brit-I-* * ish and American armies, South Car-:c | j " olina exhibited scenes of distress that i 0 r, were shocking to humanity. The sin- 11 , gle district of Ninety-Six which was ! * the only one of seven into which the | ^ State was then divided was computed r > by well informed persons residing j0 therein to contain within its limits n 1 1,400 widows and orphans made so v - by the war. Nor was it wonderful 11 : that the country involved in such ac- n cumulated distress. The State gov ernment was suspended and the Brit- ^ ish conquerors were careless of the a civil rights of inhabitants. Order 1and police were scarcely object's of ^ ; their attention. The will of the c ' strongest was law. Such was the 1 general character of those who called a 5 themselves Tories that nothing could a 5 be expected from them, unrestrained s as they were by civil government, but a * outrages against the peace and order 0 of society. Though among the To- i{ ' ries in lower parts of South Carolina. c ) were gentlemen of honor, principle 1 - ??? ? a a 1 j and humanity, vet in tne interior auu I frontier a great portion of them con- 0 stituted an ignorant, unprincipled ^ r banditti, to whom idleness, licentious- 11 r ness and deeds of violence were fa- i' 1 miliar. Horse thieves and others p 1 whose crimes had exiled them from f: 5 society attached themselves to par- * 1 ties of the British. Encouraged by P - their example and instigated by the ! - love of plunder, they committed the a - most extensive depredations. Under v ^ cloak of attachment to th' old gov ornment. they covered the basest and j * i most selfish purposes. They could j* ' rarely ever be brought to the field of | * > battle.** 1 Let us turn now to a considera-1v f tion of the part played by the Pal- s i metto State in the mighty struggle!0 t! for the freedom and independence of 11 > these I'nited States. Let us not forget r I n - that South Carolina was the first of i" si the original thirteen States to form J1 51 an independent constitution. Let us j' . !not forger that the battlefield of the j 0 s j Tr>sr and decisive three years of the j ^ 11 Revolution was South Carolina. Con-1 v I c 5 !sider that there was no government p Lin the State save that incident to mil- j ary rule. Consider that the men ho did the fighting in South Caro- -f na under Sumter, Marion and Pickns were purely volunteer soldiers! who came and went as the occasion emanded without prospect or hope f pay or reward." Theirs was the! ante impelling motive of love of! ountry, the same unselfish devotion a the ideal that more than threeuarters of a century later sent their, escendants to uphold the rights of ( tie South ar the cannon's red mouth. | 'here is no record of the number of; outh Carolina soldiers in the war Dr American independence, but we| re assured by an eminent historian 1 hat there were few men living at j hat time in South Carolina who did; ot serve at one time or other in the, reat contest. "It was a time in j ,-hich there was no such thing asj eutrality nor place in which there' ,-as a spot for safety." The number of battles, actions and ngagements which occurred in outh Carolina during the Revoluion is eloQuent of the position of he Palmetto State in the titanic batle for the liberty of America. In nly one other State, New York, were here more battlefields. One hunred and thirty-seven conflicts bearj estimony of the contribution of this itate to the Revolution. In the first wo years of -that contest nine batles were fought within this State] nd in eight of these none but South larolinians fought under the patriot lag. hi the last two years of these louth Carolina alone battled for the reedom of their land. Of the one lundred and thirty seven battles, acions and engagements between the jritisn ana rones ana inaians on uie ne hand and the Americans on the ither which took place in South Car lina, one hundred and three were ought by South Carolinians alone, n twenty others South Carolinians houlder to shoulder with troops of ither States, making one hundred :nd twenty-three battles in which iouth Carolinians fought, leaving but ourteen in which troops from other States fought within South Carolina rithout their assistance. Not conent with fighting so much in their iwn State, South Carolinians fought wice at Augusta and twice at Saannah, and to round things off, ought and pursued the Indians over he line into North Carolina. No Jtate can present a better record. Edward McCrady, the greatest and j he most authoritative of South Car- J ilina's historians; says: "The condition of affairs in South L Carolina was. without parallel in the ii6tftry of the Revolution. No other Jtate was so completely overrun by j irkish forces. There w- * r part I f her territory from the mountains 1 o the seaboard which was not trod B ly hostile forces, no ford nor ferry E hat was not crossed by armed men E n pursuit or retreat, no swamp that I ras not to cover lurking foes. No I ither State, was so divided upon the I luestions at issue and in no other 6 [id the men of both sides so general- I y participate in the struggle. In I lone other were Tory organizations I rom other States so much used in onnection with royal troops to sub- i lue American Whigs, thus attemptug to carry out the British miniserial plan of overcoming Americans >y Americans.1 While South Carolina eceived but little assistance from another State but North Carolina and . one from the North, her territory fas garrisoned by Americans serving a the British army listed from Conecticut, from New York, from New ersey and from Pennsylvania. The iritish forces at King's Mountain and t Ninety-Six were composed entirey of soldiers raised in the Northern tates. In no other State was the ivil government set up by the Revoutionists so completely overthrown nd the country so given over to anrchy. The citizens of no other State B uffered exile for the American cause I s did those from South Carolina. In 8 ther States the militia was occasjnallv engaged in operations with the ontinental forces and sometimes, hough rarely, alone in enterprise gainst the enemy. The complete verthrow of all civil government in J ;outh Carolina rendering the empioynent of militia on either side withit her borders impracticable, in their; lace partisan bands were organized j g iy the Whigs, upon the nucleus of| he old militia organization and were,' iractically self-maintained for the] ast three years of the war. These1 gain and again upheld the struggle, rhile there was not a continental sol-! lier in the State. The names of Sumer. Marion and Pickens stand out in; he romance of the history of the! "nited States, occupying peculiar and inique positions. In no other State fas there so much fighting and bloodlied as in South Carolina. No State ontributed so liberally of her means I o the common cause of her s?ister I i.tfttes. a cause which was not origin- ?3 illy hers! No State furnished so E aanv men in proportion to her popu- | ation in the actual warfare which M 11 sued and none had so few upon the lension rolls of the country after it fas over. One hundred and thirty- I even battlefields dot the map of I (Continued on page 3, column 2.) I H. M. GRAHAM, Pres. N. A. HUNT, 1st Vice Pres. J. E. NEWSOM, Cashier '-Hm& ROBERT BLACK, 2nd Vice Pres. ^ i *r - -A" r\TT?rnnninr n a tatv H1N ILKrKlDL DACNIV . I Bamberg, S. C. i ^ ^ \ ^ Dear Sir: ..%* The war clouds arc thickening and the outlook for the future is not so mm blight. We have the greatest abundance of eatables, of things to wear and of money to spend. Would it not be wise to open a savings account with us?so I \ that in case we should have a real panic in the future you would be on the safe side. There is nothing so uncomfortable as to be without monev when ' --fmi you need it most. There is nothing so comforting as a bank account when monev is at a premium. ' In order to encourage those that would provide for a rainy day we have de cided to pay 5 per cent, on all savings accounts left with us for three months or y J lon?cr' ' ' I We are the first in this section to pay 5 per cent, on savings accounts, and if the money at interest in Bamberg county at 4 per cent, was increased to 5 , * per cent, and the difference given by the depositors to our several orphanages, there would be many a little soul made happy. Suppose we try it. We pre- I * T 1 1 i- T? 1 J J11 ~ il.A /lAlinlr 1T1 CllCt II tlllS IS Qone mat JDaillUcrg county Will ot* iae west auvciuocu wujuij uj. South Carolina and such an advertisement as this will be worthy of imitation, ' and will be followed by other counties. Let our county lead the other coun- ,,^gb|S ties in good deeds. It is our purpose and desire to have on deposit in our savings department by 1st February, 1916, at least fifty thousand dollars, and we want you as one of ' ylpf our depositors. It will help you and it will be appreciated by us. If you have > "yip-/ an account with us now open one for your good wife or your children. It is wonderful how an account in the savings department will grow when started, , and one dollar will start this account. \ Yours very truly, > ENTERPRISE BANK. J SOMETHING NEW! II THIS IS THE LEVER THE LEVER LOCKS ' II fi Waterman's Ideal Pocket Self-filling Fountain Pen ?i|K [ When a Better Pen is Made L. 1" g E. Waterman Co. will Make It. | I I > . / V||-i I &iSL * mmKm ,l .. J|$ |[ MAIL ORDERS FILLED SAME DAY RECEIVED ^'#f| Herald Book Store i