Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1869-02-11
This financial and moral paralysis was fostering

This financial and moral paralysis was fosterlpi
dishonesty. People who had in other days bee
honorable descended to all sorts Of trickeries, i
the hope Of saving property which did not seen
to be covered by the stay-orders 1 was tease
with applications to use my authority in prevent
ing the collection of debts, the administration Q
estates, and the levying of taxes. In short, tn
stay-system was Transforming the chivalrous South
rons into race of-Micawbers. .--..-..- -.
There would have been more hope in the futur,
ofmy district but for the exhausted soil and th
wretched agriculture which had been. .bequeathe'
to it by slavery. Land which, under proper cult
vation, will produce two generous crops year
had been reduced, by lack Of manure and Of man
agement, to one crop, varying from ten to tw
bushels the acre: The common plow-share Of tn
country is about six inches wide by ten long, an.
this is used until it is worn into what is called
"bull- ll-tongue," phrase which aptly describes it
shape and size. This triviality does not turn
furrow; it.scratches the earth Like harrow.
Here and there, at monstrous intervals, a plante
uses Northern plows and manure, gathering hi
forty and eighty bushels of corn to the acre. Hi
neighbors look on with astonishment, but withou
initiating him, as if his results were magic, ant
beyond merely human accomplishment. A Ger
man colony, planted at Walhalla, in the northwest
ern corner of South Carolina, has converted trac
of some thousands of acres into garden of fer
tiliy. Among their Anglo-Saxon neighbors yol
cannot discover sign of their influence What i
to become of this bull-tongued and bul[headet
race? L sometimes thought there was no hope o
the physical regeneration of the South until immi
grafton should have rooted out and replaced it
present population.
In this same land numberless water privilege
send their ungathered riches to the sea- and tn,
earth is crowded with underground palaces O
mineral wealth. The climate, too, is unrivalled
the summer heat in Greenyille was rarely too grea
for walking its highest point being usually eighty
four; while the winter brought at the worst tw'
or three falls of snow, which melted in two or thre
days Neither in Europe, nor along the shores o
the Mediterranean, have found temperatur
which, during the year round, was 50 agreeabl
and healthful You can see what it is in the re
markable stature of the men, and in the height
fullness of form, and beauty of the women. NJ.
impression is that the entire Allegheny region
from Maryland down into the North Of Georgia, j
a paradise for the growth of the human plant !
bodily comforts and intellectual pleasures existed
there, I should advise all New England to emf
crate to it. ..- -........ ....,
Yet it is poorer than Naples, and before the wa
it was not richer. So much for the political econo
my of the chivalrous Southron, and so much 70
his rule-or-ruin craftsmanship, and, in one word
so much for slavery .-. ..-
SOUTHERN LoYALIsTS -s
class the leyalists of my district under the heat
of "semi-chigalrpus Southrons," because, beinl
seldom large planters or even shareholders they d.
not exhibit all the characteristics of the ''high
toned" population. They are mostly small farm
ers, inhabiting the mountains of Piekeus and Of
certain portion of Greenville known as the Darl
Corner. I did not always find it easy to distia
guish them from rebels. One gaunt old femal
laid claim to Bureau rations on the double groun
that she was good Union woman, and that sh
had lost two sons in the Confederate army. Thi
story was so contradictory that 1 believed it, re
membering first that truth is often more improba
Bile than falsehood and, second, that many loys
families saw their children carried off by rebe
press-gangs.
These poor, uncultured, and, in some cases, hall
wild people have always been true to the Unite
States Government. In the days of Notification
and in other subsequent disuni9n excitements
when Governor Perry, (or, as they called him, Be-
Perry fought great fight against Calhounism
they were bis frmest supporters, and regarded hin
with something like alteration. As Greenvilleit
said to me, "They believed they would go to hin
when they died" = .:..a..
"But now," in the words of one Of their patri
archs, "Ben Perry has fallen from the faith; )" ant
consequently the mountaineers have deserted hin
in body, and stigmatize him as "the biggest re
agoing." One of the prime staples Of the Repub
lican speeches which I heard in that region wa
the showing mp of the apostacy of this distinguishe
central monkey" -.-.... -. s
THE MoUNTANEERs DURING THE WAR.
Itis certain that the majority of the able-bodie
men of the mountains were eventually bullied o
dragged by main force into the rebel army. The
sought to remain loyal; there is no reasonabl
doubt of that; but the CONSUMPTION details Wer
too much for them. Long lines Of videttes wer
run clear through the mountains, and thedistance
between the lines were traversed by relentless pat
rolls. Men who fed on being summoned to surren
der were shot at once they were massacred il
their own door-yards, in the presence of their fam
lilies. It must be understood chat by the Conscrip
ton Act, every male Southerner Was placed on tn
roll of the Confederate army, and thus was eonsti
tuted deserter in case he failed to repair to tn
depot of the regiment to which he had been as
signed. It was nominaly as deserters, and not a
Unionists, that these victims were murdered.
The rebel authorities even used blood-hounds t
aid their troops in securing the refractory noun
tains. "But that didn't amount to much, salt
stalwart old mountaineer to me wlth,a chuckie
'The dawgs would run ahead yelping, and tn
bows would take a crack or two at EN- with rifle
and that would be the end Of the dawgs."
1t took at least two lowlanders to catch one high
lander, and when caught he was very nearly worth
less as soldier. He seldom fired gun at tn
Yankees; if there was chance to desert he I'm
proved it if he got back to his native rocks, b
was bigger pest than ever Nearlyall the you'll
of the Dark Corner were, at one time or another
chased into the rebel army, without doing it par
ticle of benefit. ..,,. =
Meantime, the elders of the mountains harboret
such of our men as escaped to them from Colum
bia or Audersonville, and acted as guides in run
ming them through the rebel lines to Eastern Ten
nessee. Several of them have shown me certif
Gates to this effect, from Union officers whom the
had thus befiended. DE-.
Il tell you this paper was mighty big scare t
me as long as the war lasted" said a STOPPING