The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1876-03-02
D. II. Chamberlain.
WHAT A REPUBLICAN, ORGAN THINKS OF
HIM.

Gov. Chamberlain, OF South Carolina
ls at present receiving somo notice
from the press of the country in con
necton with tho open lettor addressed
by him to Senator Morton. 1t may
not be uninterostng to our readers
TO be informed something about the
antecedents of the man. We may
remark, On passant, that few years
since Chamberlain was daily donounc
cd by tho opposition. press Of the
South as being the most corrupt man
in South Carolina, and it was to him,
moro than to any other man, that the
misgovernment which afflicted his
State was attributable. After serving
for n time as q sergeant, and aftol>
wards commissioned officer in col
ored cavalry on tho sea coast'of South
Carolina during tho latter years of
the war, Chamberlain settled down
upon Wadmalaw Island, whore he en-.
gagged in tho culture of Sea Island
cotton. He catered TO the worst pre-
judiccs of the lately liberated blacks,
and actually consplrod with them to
prevent the return of their old own
crs to the homes from whonce they
had refugod. DR.. AcHcnry, now Of
Napoleon, Ohio, who was then an
assistant surgeon in the United States
army, and stationed on Wadmaaw
Island, under the command of Major
Gen. Scott, then in charge Of tho
Freedman's Bureau, declared, in n
leJter addressed 10 n gentleman in
this city, that "six months of the time
which he should have devoted to the
caro- of the sick was expended in pres
venting Wholesale massacre Of the
whites through the machinations Of
Chamberlain. Scott, the General
commanding, once threatened Cham
berlaiu with tho "ball and chain" if
ho did not cease his efforts to array
the blacks against thoir old owners.
The Jenkins, Fripps and others on
Wadmalaw Island can attest tho
truth OF this statement. AS q cotton
planter Chamberlain was not q suc~
cess.
1t is said that ho never paid his la
borcrs, but Of this wo know nothing
further than rumor. At all events,
ho was in needy circumstances when
hc took his scat in tho Constitutional
Convention of the State as q delegate
in April, 1868, and the little form of
the then embryo Governor was COW
Ored by an army blanket coat, which,
from its patched appearance, romind-
cd one of the historic coat of many
colors. In this convention, Chambers
lain exhibited all the traits of the de-
magogue. lie introduced at length,
q resolution asking the General Gov
ornment to appropriate $4,0O0,O00 to
purchase lands for his homeless con.
stituonts. BY just such trickery he
succeeded in having his name placed
upon tho State ticket for Attorney
General, and was elected, and entered
upon the discharge Of his duties when
Scott became Governor. AS Attor,.
ncy General it was his business to
protect the interests of the State, but
we find him engaged in various other
schomes whereby the Treasury, under
the manageraent Of his friond Parker
was depleted.
The Gland Commission" swindlc
was concocted by him, and cx,Trcas-
urer Parker states that Chamberlain
"got the lions share in this fraud
upon the State, getting dollars whore
G. p. Leslie and himself only got
cents" During tho timo tho embryo
treformor" was in q dormant state,
and was on tho most intimate terms
with such mon as Moses and Whip.
per. Ho was noisy in his dcnuncia-
'tion Of Democrats, and thoy, in turn,
heaped their anathemas upon him.
So completely welded was ho to the
negro, and so bitter was he to tho
South Carolina whites, that in 1871,
whom his infant child doceased, he
called in n colorod preacher named
Horria IN Y,nrfnrrn thn Iost rii 10 ovnr