Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-04-01
Aistury 1T $. Garulina.
Written for the Yorkville Enquirer.
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
OF THE
EarIy Settlement of South Carolina.
BY REV, ROBERT LATHAM.

Early Settlement of South Carolina.
BY REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK
The discovery of the new world was not
mere accident. As long as the world lasts,
it will remain one of the grandest triumphs
of science. Christopher Columbus was no or
dinary man. He was several centuries ahead
of the men of his age. Intellectually, he must
have been a giant. His mind was we'll stored
with useful knowledge, and he possessed some
mental qualifications which do not fall to the
lot of many men. He possessed those traits
of mind with which Phillips says Napoleon
Bonaparte was eminently endowed. He was
capable Of meeting any emergency which
might take place in the life ola man engaged
in great undertakings.
Although the Cabots discovered the CONT:
nent of America before Columbus, Still, we
may safely say, had not Columbus discovered
Waiting Island, the Cabots never would have
seen Prima Vista. In 1892, Columbus left
Palos with three small ships and only ninety
men but on the 25th of September, 1888, he
again set sail from Cadiz, on a second voyage,
with seventeen ships and fifteen hundred men.
1t was difficult to persuade men to join the
first expedition, and those that were secured
belonged to what might be called the floating
population. When preparations were ma
king for the second expedition, it became
manifest that change had come over the
minds ofthe multitude. Everybody was anx-
ious to 90 to the New World, and many of
the first families of Spain embarked with 20.
lumbus. On the, 9Th of December he landed
on Hayti, where he had left thirty-nine men
when he returned to Spain after his first voy:
age. These men were not to be found, and
the fort which he had erected for their defense
was totally destroyed. The natives reported
that the men had become desperate in their
conduct toward the aboriginal inhabitants.
They plundered the surrounding country for
supplies and mal-treated the women, and
were guilty of so many and so great outrages
against honesty and decency, that the natives
rose in their fury and killed the garrison and
DESTROYED the fort. Near rock where was a
spring of water and favorable position for a
forti6cation, but in a different locality from
the first fort, Columbus built a town the first
built by Europeans in the New World. In
honor of his benefactress, he named it Isa-
bella. In May, 1894, he discovered Jamaica.
Here, again, the cruel and rapacious ma
ture of thSSpaniards showed itself: The
men we're full of plunder and licentiousness.
A spirit of revenge was kindled in the hearts
of the greatly wronged natives, and in order
to prevent determination, Columbus prepared
for war. Early in 1895, he set out with an
army of two hundred men, twenty horses and
an equal number of dogs. With the latter,
the poor savages were chased and caught, and
butchered by the men. The natives were
subdued and quantities of gold collected.
With this gold, and many other strange and
valuable things which had been found on the
various islands which had been discovered
or stolen from the peaceful inhabitants, Co.
lumbus, in 1896, returned to Spain. The
sight of this gold was more than the avaricious
of Europe could bear. A spirit of maritime
adventure was kindled in the minds Of thous-
ands. The reckless and prohigate, the idle
and licentious, as we'll as the avaricious were
anxious to board vessel and set sail. The
gold taken by Columbus from the West In
dies to Spain, proved to be magnet which
attracted adventures to Mexico and South
America. The eyes of the inhabitants Of Eu-
rope were turned, expectantly, toward the
land of perennial flowers, fountains Of youth,
rivers sparkling with diamonds, and sands
yellow with gold. Thus, whilst the discovery
of America was the result of scientific knowl-
edge, its settlement was due, in part, to the
basest of all psssions-the thirst for gold.
But there was another cause which tended
to the settlement of the New World. Like
the thirst for gold, an evil in itself, but so
overruled that good came out of it. We refer
to. the character of the governments OF Eu-
rope 1t may be said with truth, that all the
nations of Europe, at this time, were badly
governed In French history, it is known as
the period of the "Religious Wars" These
wars threw all Europe into a state of confu-
sion They were called religious wars, be-
cause it was struggle between Professionalism
and Papacy. These Protestants are known in
history by the name of Huguenots.
Since these Huguenots occupy an impor-
tant position, not only in the history of South
Carolina, but in the history of the United
States, it is necessary that we have correct
idea of their character and early history.
Three of the Presidents Of the Continental
Congress were of Huguenot origin. Henry
Laurens, Elias Boudinot and John Jay were
the men. In France, abput the year 1860,
the name Huguenot was, in derison, given
by the Catholics to the Protestants in and near
the city of Tours Why they were called
Huguenots, it would be difficult, at this late
PERIOD. to say positively. At some time
prior to 1860, there lived inSar near Tours
man by the name of Hugo. He was
desperate character ; the terror of the
whole country whilst living, and after his
death the supersttious people believed that
his cruel ghost still tormented them. AS
the spirit Of Wayne, which was called "Mad
Anthony" was terror to the North Amer
lean Indians, so the ghost of this reputed
monster, Hugo, was an object of dread to
the inhabitants of Tours. The Huguenots,
it is thought, were so named from this man.
Another way of accounting for the appella.
ton is this There was a gate Of the city OF
Tours which bore the name Hugo. Near
tb;s oato in sanuestered nlacps the PrOtes-