The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-25
FERGUS0N'S AVENGERS.

watered by the Catawalba and Pacolet
Rivers and their gentle tributaries.
In the month of September, ITS, Corn
wallis detached the notorious Col. Fergu-
son to the frontiers of North Carolina, for
the ostensible purpose of encouraging the
tories of that region to take up arms for
the King. Ferguson's force consisted in
part OF the most profigate and abandoned
characters of the partisan days, and his
march was marked by atrocities of the
most shocking description. The hardy
men of the Carolinas, Kentucky and Nir-
ginia, rose against the maurauders, and,
led by Boone and other backwoods worth
les, gave them decisive defeat at Kings
Mountain Ferguson was slain in the
battle, and his ellow-foragers, numbering
about 1000, were nearly all captured or
killed.
The conflict revived the hopes of the
Southern patriots, and forced CORVALLIS
to return to Charleston discounted and
cast down.
"We shall have rest now," the patriots
said, after the battle. Ferguson, the
dreaded, is dead, and the few tories who
escaped with their wretched lives are not
strong enough to do us harm"
Everywhere in the vicinity of the bat
fetield the Americans breathed freer, and
the loyalists in whose interests Ferguson
had marched to his death, curbed their
loyalty, and in secrecy swore revenge
But the settlements were soon 20 learn
that the victory at Kings Mountain had
nerved the arm of a foe more terrible
than any which they had hitherto known
The existence of the new terror was
discovered by a boy one morning about a
fortnight after the battle. He found the
family of Archibald Mettson murdered in
their own house, and to the corpses had
been pinned Il paper bearing these words:
This for the gallant Ferguson"
This terrible atrocity aroused the coun-
Try, and the excitement was heightened by
the finding of the body of another MUIR
dered patriot. On the cold breast, which
had been pierced by pistol balls, was the
pallid paper and its words of terrible i'm
port, and the country knew that a fearful
vengeance would be taken for Kings
Mountain.
During the week that followed the dis
coveries have mentioned, the work of
the Avengers was terrible. They fell
upon patriot houses at the dead of night
and left on the bosom Of their victims the
five words which had already tcrrorized
the country. 1t was in vain that the pa
tr!ots summoned their cunning and ener-
gy for the capture Of the band Of demons,
which, as it had been discovered, num-
bcred six men, masked and mounted on
black horses. They came and went like
ghosts, but always left behind the terri
Bile sentence which had made their exist
ence eXecrable. At times they fell upon
their hunters, and left them upon the
geance.
Fear began oparalyze the Carolinians
many abandoned their homes for the sake
of their families; and it is probable that
tiIC N-lllIS Nlall III hpuIIl IlthC DNNu tN pop
ulated in a short time, had it not been for
the courage Of one woman.
Her name was Alice Beauchampe.
1t was a dark night in the last week of
left the house of a friend. Her own
house, which had been deserted for sew
eral days, was not far away, and she de-
termined to return to it for the purpose of
securing an article Of apparel left behind
in her recent flight.
Before she set out on her journey she
was warned of the dangers that cnvironed
it; but she smiled and declared that she
did not fear them. She could enter the
old home through the kitchen, in the
rear, find the garment without a light,
and return safely to her friends.
The path she had often traversed was
barely discernible; but she made good
Roadway, and reached her home without
incident. The silence of the grave hung
about The forsaken place, and the lifting
of the latch sent chill Of terror through
the girls heart. Through the kitchen,
across the deserted parlOr, and up the
stairs, she crept to the room where she
had left the object of her nocturnal quest.
The drawer of the old bureau yielded
without noise, and Alice was drawing forth
the garment V hen the voices of men
fell upon her ears.
She started, dropped her prize, and
with her heart in her throat crept to the
window that overlooked the porch in front
of the house.
She could see nothing, for the night was
too dark but the voices of men, mingled
with the champing of bits, continued to sa-
lutte her ears.
"This is old Beauchampe's house."
said one. at has been deserted for
several days. The daughter, frightened
by the manner in which we treated her
father, has fled somewhere for protec
ton"
These words drove every vestige of color
from the listeners face; they told her who
the men below were, though she could not
even see the outlines of their persons One
week prior to her visit, her father, one of
the Kings Mountain heroes, was found
dead in a palmetto grove, and the words
of Ferguson's Avengers lay on his breast
Then she had deserted her home, knowing
that the hand that had struck the father
would not spare the daughter
Well might the poor girl tremble when
she found herself so near the scourges of
the country, and she did not move until
she heard the front door opened by a !
kick, and heavily booted feet in the room |
below.
Then calm thought of her situation |
drove fear from her heart, and Alice Beau |
champe prepared for one of the most dar- |
ing deeds OF the Revolutionary War.
The noise in the house increased, and |
oaths and rude jests preceded and followed
the lighting Of a fire on the hearth.
Alice, who had longed for sight of
the dreaded six, crept to spot near the
bureau where there was a crack in the
floor. Then applying her eye to the peek
hole, she saw six wild looking men direct |
ly beneath her.
They were, beyond doubt the avengers
Of Ferguson's death, for several masks lay |
on the table, along with three or four bot
Ties of wine which they had taken from
some patriots cellar. Tall, rough, devil |
may care looking fellows they were, armed
with pistols, carbines and sabers, the kind
Of men who never court the smiles of
mercy or listen to the pleading of inno-