The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-13
CHI A r L f. S TON.
TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 10, 1869.
Gumn to tho Isescuo7!!

AO110AA1 uAOAsNAINOs hA N11 1OOJ
Quinn to the Resouo7!!
Gufin, Of Abbeville, the individual who
enrolled the negro militia, has written q
letter to the Abbeville Press, in which he
gives clear and intelligent account of his
proceedings in raising negro company.
This letter is reprinted in another column,
and it is so evidently written for the pur-
pose Of clearing away the cloud which rests
upon the hitherto spo:less character of Gov
ernor Scott, that we desire to speak Of it
with all possible respect.
In this letter Gufin says: oI received
"orders from the Adjutant- General to raise
"a company" This is right to the point;
but unfortunately, Scott, ia his letter to
Mr.. Williams, said: ''No orders have been
'issued for the enrolment Of the militia.
" n Even the Adjutant, Generals Office
'hus not get been opened" This is rather,
bad beginning for Guf6n, the more espe-
cially as he had told the people of Abbeville
that he was can agent Of the Governor and
s'bore his commission as captain Of the
company to be raised" And then to sim
mer down TO an order from the Adjutant-
General, when no orders Of the kind chad
t'been issued" and when sthe Adjutant-
Generals Office has not yet been opened"
Besides, Scott says, and he told the trutA,
that the Adjutant General ives "absent from
''the State" And Elliott, the negro AS
sistant Adjutant General, said few days
ago that s'no such order had passed through
t'the Adjutant Generals ofioe"
Gufin must have been dreaming; but upon
the strength of the dream he declared that
he was to be the captain of the company,
and did, as he says in his letter, enroll .
company of colored men. Dreaming still,
he came to the conclusion that the enlist
ment Of negro troops would disorganize
labor, and he wrote q letter, not to the
his instructions, but to Scott--s'telling him
'sof his fears about organising q oolored
company"
This letter was certainly received by
Scott; but strange was the metamorphosis,
for, in the Williams letter, Scott says: az
'sam led to believe from letter received
''from Mr.. Gufan, Of Abbeville, that the
"Adjutsnt and Inspector General n II
''promised him the position Of enrolling
"oficer Of that county when the enrolment
''is ordered" When the letter was written
it was to tell Governor Scott Of the fears of
the adventurous Gufin. When the letter
was received it led Governor SCOTT to be-
lieve that Gufin had been promised GER
tain Office. There could not have been one
word more, because Scott says ssthis-
"letter about the enrolling ofice-may
''have given rise to the rumors Of enlist
''ments and excitement in the neighborhood
"spoken Of by THE News, and of sohich I
':snow nothing, except what gather from
'.its fulminations." Mind, sixty-tive negroes
had been enrolled and the fears of Gufin
had driven him to write to Scott. The
letter, however, only led Scott to be-
lieve that Gufin expected TO be enrolling
officer. Only this, and nothing more
Anxious to ease the mind Of Guffin the
rash, SCOTT replied at once, directing him
according to the Williams letter-"if any
"of the colorsd people had supposed that
"they were to be- Immediately enrolled to
"disabuse them Of the notion" There was
not word about Gufin being made an en-.
rolling officer, which, according to Scott,
was the subject Of Gufin's letter; but seve-
raj words about the enlistment Of the ne
groes, Of which Scott says that he knew
nothing until he saw it in THE NEWS.
This is not the end Of it. Scott's letter
must have been as successfully manipulated
on its way to Gufin as Gufin's was on it's
way to Scott; for Gufin says that "IIis
"Excellency r. K. Scott" instructed him
'"to notify all those wishing to enroll them
''selves in the militia that for the present the
''e'roIIansnt wiW be sUspENDBD," which is
very different matter, or as President Grant
would say--a horse Of another color.
What a tangled web is this What con-
fusion worse confounded (! In the Arst
place Gufiin, whom Scott declares to be .as
respectable and patriotic d gentleman 10
"any in Abbeville County," says that he
had Constructions from the Adjutant- q enc
''ral to raise company" Scott says en-
s.Ne orders have been issued for
sths enrolment Of the militia Then
9ufhn says that he enrolled oolored men
and %. -sss:.S 80 Governor Scott .stelling him
"his fears" Scott says that Gufin's letter
lea him TO believe that GnAfn' had been
promised tho post OF enrolling oficer In
Aobe7iile County. Then, In the third place,
Quinn says that Scott, ID reply to his letter,
instructed him TO notify che wouid-be mi
litia "that for Tho present sAs snroy,msns .osiI
zoe ausPsHDsD." Scott declares that he
had given mo orders for the immedisse
formation Of negro troops, and that no orders
had been issued for the enrollmsnt os the
militia. How, then, could he order that to