Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1857-09-19
NGNiHER GIN.

NUMBER SIX.
1t was about the 10th of December,
1916, that the Palmcttoes rendezvoused at
Charleston They oncamped at the race
course, three miles above the city, where
they remained about ten days. They were
visited every day at their camp by the ladies
and citizens of Charleston. [ remember
with what interest the ladies came round our
I.camp-fres to witness our awkward attempts
at cooking, and with what grace they CON
descended to eat our fried potatoes cooked
by soldier hands.
The city of Charleston gave us the rcgi-
mental flag, which was presented to Colo
mel Butler in presence of the regiment;
by L. Legcr Hutchinson, Mayor of Charles
ton. Upon our flag cleaned not the stars
of union, and the stripes for foes, but upon
its blue folds stood out single trec-thc
sad, desolatc and solitary palmctto-a
speaking historical! memorial of ancient his
tory. Every people has its national amori-
al eignets frnught with an inspiration or
memory, and its armies go to battle under
banners inscribed with them.
The traveller who has sailed along the
coast of South Carolina has seen along the
margin of the sea, the bleak and sad pal
metto, marking the blue outline with it's
branchlcss, leafless and barren trunk
There arc few landscapes that look SO desc
late as the sandy coast of Carolina, fringcd
with groves of palmettocs. The palmetto
grows from thirty to forty feet high, and
resembles nothing so much as tall cab
bage. 1t has no limbs, or leaves, and has
nothing but bunchy, trunk, short cxcres-
ence of blades at the top. The bark is
rough and ugly. Such Is the exterior of
the tree, but the interior yields a soft, plea
SAINT and nutritious substance which is very
good for the table 1t yielded much ofthe
food upon which the soldiers of the Rcvo-
luton kept body and soul together. Such
is the palmetto, but it has history which
consccrated it in South Carolina as sacred
tree, an amorial signct of her soldicry, and
an emblem of her sovereignty
In May, 1776, before the declaration of
independence, Sir Peter Parker, with a
large fleet came bearing down on Charles
ton, Without any help, but from them
selves, the Carolinians prepared to give him
battle With nothing but militia, untrain-
ed and unskilled, they threw up a rude fort
of palmetto logs, on Sullivan's Island, and
with apprehension, but without fear await
ed the unequal conflict. The quaint and
simple historian who was one of the com
batants thus describes it:
"The island of sand no longer seemed q
drcary waste Brighter rolled the blue
waves of the ocean beneath the golden beam
and swecter murmurcd the pillows on their
sandy beach. My heart rejoiced with the
playful fishes, as they leaped high wanton-
ing in the air, or with a sudden Hounco re-
turned again, wild darting through their
lucid element. Our work went on in joy
The palmetto trees were brought to us by
the blacks in large RATS, of which we con
structed for our fort, an immense pen, two
hundred feet long, and sixteen feet wide,
filled with sand to stop the shot"
Such was the palmetto fort, the only bull
wark between brave men and their graves;
the only barrier that opposed the entrance
of the invader, to the only maratimc city
in the South. And how well the palmetto
logs stood the shock, and concentrated fire
of three hundred cannon, let our historian
tell us.
Such sudden burst of flame and thun-
der, could not but make us feel very queer
at first, especially as we were young hands
and had never been engaged in such an
awful scene before. But "a few rounds pres
emily brought us all right again, and then,
with heads bound up, and stripped to the
buff, we piled our bulldogs like heroes.
The British out-numbered us in men and
guns, at least three to one, but then our
guns, some of them at least, were much the
heaviest, carrying balls of two and forty
pounds weight land when the monsters,
crarpmed to the throat with chained shot,
let out, it was with such hidcous peals as
made both earth and ocean tremblc. At
one time it appeared as though by strange
kind of accident, all their broadsides had
struck up at once, which made the fort
tremble again. But our poImet.oes stood
the fire to a miracle, closed up without a
sign of a splinter on their shot, which was
stopped by the intermediate sand while,
on the other hand, every bullet that we fir
ed went through and through their ships
timber heads, and iron anchors, in their fu-
rious course.
And thus was the order of our battle
there, a line of seven tall ships--and here
one little solitary fort---there British dis.
cipline; and here, American enthusiasm--
there, brave ren fighting for tyrant-
and here, heroes contending for liberty
Such was the fight, and the result was a
victory the most glorious In the history of
the revolution. Gathering q remnant of
his shattered and dismantIod ships, Sir Pc
ter Parker, sullcn and cfcstfnllen, retrcated
from Charleston, whipped man--whipped
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