Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1875-02-18
Ghildren's department.
[OfIgIh
TRIALS OF THE REVOLUTION.

Much of the history of the Revolutionary
war never has been written. This unwritter
history is often intensely interesting, and is
we'll calculated to give the present generation
an idea of the character of the first settlers Of
the country, and the price they paid for the
liberty which we, of the present day, enjoy
Various reasons might be assigned for its
never having been given to the world. Some
of the most thrilling events took place amongst
a comparatively illiterate people, and the
heroes Of many hair-breadth escape, and OF
deeds of noble daring, were unknown beyond
their immediate neighborhood.
The main reason for the silence of histori-
ans on many important points of Revolutions
ry history, is the fact that the noble deeds and
heroic suffering of some individuals could not
bementioned without consigning otherindvld-
uals to infamy and shame. Even at the
present day, the same difficulty is encountered
by the individual who would chronicle the
trials of those who drove the British lion
from the country. In every section of the
original thirteen States, there we're what were
called tories. The descendants Of these indi-
viduals are scattered all over the country,
and prudence dictates that the feelings of
these persons ought not to be wounded.
Hence, in the following sketch we will name
no names and mention no places.
In certain locality in one of the Southern
IL IL,
wings; that is, persons who were opposed to
the British government, and in favor Of
American liberty. Most of their neighbors
were tories; that is, persons who favored the
kings government. AS was often the case,
these tories were no better by nature than
they should have been, and great deal worse
by practice than was necessary even to estab.
lsh kingly government. In plain English,
the tories, generally, were very bad men, if
their characters have been truthfully handed
down to us by tradition. The wings were
generally in the war. No one was at home in
the whig families except the old men, the
mothers and the children. In this locali-
ty, the men who were in the army dared not
come home, for so soon as it was known that
they were in the neighborhood, the country
was diligently searched for them. The to-
ries, as rule, were heartless set of mon
sters Often, they would 60 in squads of half
dozen or more, to the houses of those who
were fighting for liberty, and take every NOR
sci of food to be found on the place. The
COWS were often driven away, the bread taken
out of the oven or ashes, as there were many
houses in which there were no ovens.
On one occasion, in the community to which
we refer, all the children in most of the fami-
lies were down with the small pox. There
was not peck of meal in the neighborhood,
and only one COW. This cow the tories killed
and divided out amongst themselves, leaving
only the head to the family.
At another time, lady in the same COM
munity was forced to bake bread all day for
a squad of British soldiers and tories, and al
though her own children were crying for
something to eat, she was not allowed to give
them a single morsel. The children were
cursed and abused for being the offspring of
rebels.
At another time, the husband and father
of one of the families came home from the
army sick. He dared not remain in the house,
but was placed in an out house. By some
means the tories found out that he was at
home The house was searched, and then the
woods, and finally the clubhouse in which he
was. No sooner was he found than he was
dragged from his miserable bed of straw and
taken a short distance from the house and
hanged. The tree upon which he was hang
ed was still standing few years ago. The
man is reported to have been very excel
lent citizen. His only crime was that he had
espoused the cause of the colonies
At present, we can hardly see how many
persons were preserved from all the horrors
of starvation. 1t will help us to understand
this, if we remember that the people of Revo'
lutionary times were brave and hardy set
of people. They had never known anything
but hardships. The mothers and little chill
dren worked in summer, and in thousand
ways that the tender and thriftless people OF
the present day would never think of, they
managed to support life. On many occasions
dams were built across the small streams, and
the little minnows taken out and dried. Game
was more abundant than it is at present. Any
and everything was eaten that would support
life. Many dainty meal was made out Of
acorns.