Wilmington daily commercial., 1876-10-24

Warded Gnrougn regular military cnallnels
TO the Secretary of War;
AIKEN, s. c., September 81, 1876. j
Assistant Adjtttdnt General, Department of
the South, Louisville, KY, Qbrougb Com
n1ending Officer United States Troops, Al
Ken, S. o.:
SIR-I have the honor to report that in
compliance with the telegram of Breyet
Brigadier General commanding the Depart
ment, dated Louisville, Ky, September 1S,
1876, directing me to proceed Immediately,
with the bulk of my force, 20 Siverton, s.
g., and report the condition of things and
facts as to any trouble at this place, received
ut o'clock p. m. the 18th instant
L left this camp at about 1870 2. NJ, the
same date, with Lieutenant Q. B. Linton
and thirty-three men of Companies and
OF the Eighteenth Infantry, with three days
rations, and marched about twenty five
miles to Rouse's Bridge, South Carolina,
arriving there at about 80 A. NJ, 195h inst. !
About seven miles from Aiken we were /
challenged by q detachment of fifteen or |
twenty men on the road, mounted and |
armed, and apparently organized as regu- |
lar company Of cavalry. There were other |
men seated i'll barn near the road. In
questioning the man who had charge Of the
party, he stated that he had been within
few miles of Rouses Bridge and found the
s1irmishing, and that he had orders to re-
port there in the morning.
On arriving at Rouse's Bridge, we found
a body of about 100 negroes, some OF them
armed with old pattern muskets and shot
guns. They we're very much excited, and
with no organization. We had scarcely ar
rived at our camping ground when we heard
shots fired, and the negroes running up the
road, CRYING that one of their number had
been shot, and that the white men were
coming They afterward acknowledged
that nobody had been shot, and that the
! shots had been fired by themselves a short
| time after, body of some three hundred
= and twenty white men, all mounted and
we'll armed aud under command OF one
A, L. Butler, were seen coming up the road
from the direction in which the ngroes
o heard firing. Lieutenant Hinton and my
U self went down the road to meet them, and
i OIL approaching the party found fhab Gney
I had thrown out a skirmish line in the woods
= almost surrounding the settlement while
:. the main body marched up the road. Soon
= as we were recognized as United States Of
n ficers we heard the command given the
o skirmishers to halt by mah who rode into
3 the woods evidently to give the skirmish
d line information of our presence. There
a was undoubted evidence of we'll dIgested
e plan of attack, which, if carried out, would
20 nave resulted a. the slaughter Of nearly all
, the negroes in the place.
" lied body of men, known throughout the
country as Buffers Cavalry" a wellldrilled
and organized company. Besides this force
there were other men from this vicinity,
8 and some from Augusta, Ga, and under
e command of Butler. From what 1 Can
ID learn, the party which we intercepted AT
eC Ropse's Bridge WAS the largest that had
n been gotten together, and included almost
all those which had been raiding through
- the country for the two or three days pre-
~ vlous. After finding that there were Uni.
On ted States troops upon the ground, those
~, men proposed to disbNnd and go home, ,pro
III vided the negroes would do likewise. Ar
agreement to that effect was easily made, al
al the negroes were already very much frigh
E. tened, and both parties left the vicinity
On the morning of the goth instant VIZ
be marched from Rouse's Bridge to Ellenton
OF. a distance of five or six miles. On the roat
a. l saw at house where we stopped for wa
ter the bodies of three negroes who haC
- been killed, two of whom had been dea(
~ since Sunday. The negroes were afraid &
u, ,a bury them, as they said the white men were
there on Monday and had ordered then
not
an I saw two negroes at Rouse's bridge whS
llp had been wounded and have positive infor
at nation of five others who were killed in tht
nd vicinity of Ellenton. AS far as 1 can learI
nd oily one white man has been killed during
the four days rioting. On our arrival a
Ellenton we found party of twenty-five o
thirty mounted white men who left tow
soon after our arrival with the avowed in
tention of going to their homes. sent
BIB small detail In light, wagon bacl
day in the evening, reporting all quie
lO6 there, and no armed parties on any o
A- the roads in the vicinity. 1t was reported
to me in the afternoon that there were dis
turbances down on the Barnwel road.
was requested to send down to inform tn,
naonla in hat vicinitv NJ tha apraaunan
which had been made at Rouse's Bridge
Lieut. Hinton, with one of the citizens
rode down to Robbins, about six miles, anC
found there body CT twenty or thirtl
white men, who stated that they were de
tachment from Gen. Haygood's command
= who were at Steel Greek. They stated tina
KR Haygood had authority from Judge Wig
gins to make arrests and disarm the negroes
t. and that they had been sent there to pro
7IS tect the negroes while burying the body o.
- Simon Coker, o colored member of the Leg
ids islature, who had been shot neal
Igg~ Ellenton on Tuesday morning.
Lieutenant Hinton saw Coker's body. Thii
man was brought from his home at Robbins
= to Ellenton and deliberately shot 1 esti
mate the total number of white men en-
A gagged in the riots at not less than eigh
Of hundred. coming from Georgia, and from
to Edgefeld, Aiken and Barnwell, 8. G. The
negroes at and about Ellenton were com
l. pletely cowed, many of them coming in
from hiding in the woods while we we're
there. They were afraid to go to work.
es' saying they were afraid Of being shot down
ga in the cotton fields. The Port ROYAL Rail.
road was torn up about ten miles above El-
lenton during the riots. The Ganeral Su.
: perintendent said that his men were efraid
r to work ON the road and requested me to
leave him small guard. Six men were lef,
at Ellenton for that purpose and were with
drawn and joined their companies the next
day. The road was almost entirely repaired
when the detachment returned The de-
'r. taehment left Ellenton at 10 80 p. M, sep.
81 tember 21st, on all extra car and engine,
= connecting with the two and ahalf train
g from Augusta Arrived at the Aiken at 1
y q. m. Very respectfully your obedient ser.
,e, want,
Is, (Signed) THos. }. LLOYD,