The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1857-11-18
From the Marion American.
I he P lmetto Regime
DY ONE OF THE TWO HUNDRED.
NO. Ill.

NO. ii.
1t was about the goth of December,
lS46, that the Pametuoes reudezvoused
at Charleston. They encamped at the
race course, three miles above the citv,
where hey remained about ten days.
They we're visited every day at their camp
by the ladies aad citizens Of Charleston. [
remember with what interes, the ladies
came round our camp fires to witness our
awkward attempts at cooking, and with
what grace they condescended TO eat our
fried potatoes cooked ty soldier hands.
The city of Charleston gave US the
reg'mental flag, which WAS presented TO
Colonel Butler, in p' essence OF the regi
ment, 10y I. Leger Hutchinson, MAYOR Of
Charleston. Upon our flag gjeamed not
the stars of union, and tue stripes for
foes. bu; upon lie blue folds stood out
single tree-the sad, desolate and solita.
ry palmetto-a speaking, historical me
moral OF ancient history. Ever, people
has It's national armor'al slgnets traught
with an inspiration or II memory, and It's
armies go to battle under banners inscri-
bed with them.
T. The traveller who has sailed along the
coast of South Cdroina has seen along
the margin Of the sea, the black and sad
palmetto, marking the blue outline with
Its hranchltss, leailcss and barren trunk
There are few landscapes that look so
deso!ate as tie sandy coast Of Carolina.
tringed With groves Of paImcltoes. The
palmetto grows from thirty to forty feet
high, and resembles nothing SO much as
tail cabbage. 1t has no limbs or leaves
and has nothing but bunchy, thick, short
excresceuce of blades at the top The
bark is rough and ug'y. Such is the ex
terror OF The tee, but tue interior Yields
a soft, pleasant aud nutritious substance,
which Is very good for the taUe. 1t Wei
ded much Of the food upon which tn :
soldiers Of ihe Revolution kept body ana
soul together. Such is the Palmetto, but
II has history which consecralcd II in
South Carolina AS a sacred tree, an armo-
rial slgnet OF her soldiery, and AL EN-
b!em of her sovereignty.
In May, l776, before the Declaration
of Independence, Sir Peter Parker, with
a large fleet, came bearing down on Char.
lesion. Without any neIp, but fom
themselves, the Carolinixns prepared to
give him tattIe. With norhmg but mill
TIA, unframed and u skilled, they threw
up aiude fort OF palmetto logs, on Sal.
ilvans Island, and with apprehension, but
without fear, awaited the unequal con-
n'ct. The quaint and simple historian.
who was one OF the combatauts, thus de.
scrIbes it
"lhe island of sand no longer seemed
a dreary waste. Brighter rolled the blue
waters OF the ocean beneath the golden
beam, and sweeter murmured the b.lIows
ON their sandy beach. My heart rejolced
with the playful fishes, AS they Ieaped
high, wantonlug IN The air, or with sud.
den iiounce returned agalu, wild, darunp
through their lucid element. Our work
went III JOY. The palmetto trees were
brought to us by the blacks III large RATS,
OF which We constructed for our fort, AN
immense pen, two hundred feet long and
sixteen ieet wide, filled with sand 10 stop
the shot"
Such was the palmetto fort, the only
buiwark between brave men and their
graves the only barrier that opposed
The entrance OF tue Invader 10 the only
maHIime city ia the South. And how
well the palmetto logs stood the shock
aud concentrated tire of three hundred
cannon, let our historian tell us.
Such sudden burst OF flame aud
thunder; 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 presently brought US all right
again, and then, with heads bound up.
and stripped to the bul, we piled our
bull dogs like heroes.
"The British outnumbered us in men
and gus, 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; and when the
monsters, crsmmed 10 the throat with
chained shot aud internal fire, let out, it
! WAS with such hideOus peals rs made
both earth and ocean lrembie. At one
time 1t appeared MS though, by a straage
kind Of accident, all their broad sides
had struck up at once, which made the
fort ,rembie again. But our palmettoes
stood the fire to = miracle, closed up with.
=.