New-York tribune., 1876-10-24
THE OFFICIAL REPORTS.

|
channels to the Secretary of War:
AIKEN, s. c., Sept 81. 1876.
Assistant Adutdnt General, Department Of tho Sonh
Louisville Heatucty-Through commanding oihcer
United States troops, Aiken, S. c.:
| SIR: have the honor to report that, in compli-
ance with the Telegram of Brevet Brigadier-Genera
! commanding the department, dated Louisville NY"
Sept 1s. 1876, directing me to proceed Immediately
with the bulk of my force to Silyerton s. Co. and re-
mort the condition of things and facts as to any
trouble al that place, received at o'clock p M on
the 18th inst. | left this camp at or about 1890
| n M of the same date with Lieut. e. B. Hinton and
33 men of Companies + and j, 18th Infantry, with
three days' rations and marched about 20 miles to
! Rouse's Bridge $. c., arriving there about JIG
o'clock on the morning of the 10Th instant. About
seven miles from Aiken we were challenged by
detachment of some 10 or 20 men on the road
mounted and armed and apparently organized as a
regular company of cavalry. There were other men
secreted in a barn near the road In questioning
the man who had charge Of the party he stated that
he had been within "A few miles Of RouScs Bridge
and found the road picketed and that there had
been some skirnishng. and that he had orders 10
report there in the morning. On arriving at Rouses
Bridge we found body Of about 100 negroes, some
Of them armed with old-pattcrned muSkcts and
seemed 10 possess no organization. We had scarcely
arrived at our camping ground when we heard shots
fired and saw the negroes running up the road crying
that one of their number had been shot and that the
white men were arming They afterward ac-
knowledged that nobody had been shot, and that
the shots had been fired by themselves.
A short time after body of some 32O white men,
all mounted aud well armed, and under command OF
one A. F. Butler, were seen coming up the road from
| the direction IN which the negroes had been hIed
upon. Lieut.. Hinton and myself went down the
road To meet them, aud on approaching the party
found that they had thrown out a skirmish
line i'm the woods almost surrounding the negroes,
while the main body marched up the road. As soon
as we were recognized United states officers we
/ heard the command given the skirmishers to halt
by n man who rode in the woods, evidently to give
the skirmi,h line information Of presence. There
was undoubted evidence Of wcll-digeSted
plan of attack, which If carried out
would have resulted in the slaughter of nearly all
the negroes in that place. This man Butler has
regularly organized body of men known throughout
this country ~ Butler's Cavalry wcll-drllled
and organized company Besides this force there
were other men from this vicinity and some from
Augusta ia. all under the command of Butler.
From what can learn the party which | inter
ccptcd at Rouscs Bridge was the largest that had
! together,
had been rading through the country for the two
or three days previous After finding that there
were United States troops the ground, these men
proposed To disband and 20 home, provided
the negroes would do likewise. An agreement
| to that effect easily made. as
the negroes were already much frightened, and
both parties left the vicinity On the morning of
the Goth inst. We marched from Rouse's Bridge to
! EIentOn. distance of five or six miles. On the
road saw at the house where We stopped Tor water
| the bodies of three negroes who had been
! killed, two of whom had been dead since
sunday. The negroes were AFRAID To bury
them. n they said the white men who were
there on Monday had ordered them not
! 10. | saw two negroes at Rouses Bridge VINO hau
been wounded. and have positive information of
five others who were killed in the vicinity of Ellen
ton. As far as | can learn only one white man has
been killed during the four days rioting On our
arrival at Ellcnton We found party of % or 30
mounted white men, who left town soon after our
arrival. with the avowed intention Of going to their
homes | sent a small detail in light wagon back
| 10 the bridge which returned in the evening and
reported all quiet there and no armed parties on
any of the roads in the vicinity
II WAS reporcd to me in the afternoon that there
were disturbances down on the Barnwell road. l
WAS requested to send down 10 inform the people in
that vicinity of the agreement which had been made
at Rouse'- Bridge. Lieut. Hinton, with one OF the
citizens. rode down to Robbins. about six miles, and
found there a body of 90 or 30 white men. who
stated that they detachment from Cen Hay
! goods command who were AT Steel Creek
They stated that Haygood had authority from
Judge Virgins to make arrests and disam the
negroes and that they had been sent there to pro-
! tect the negroes while buryng the body of Simon
! Col.r colored member of the Legislature, who had
been shot near Ellenton on Tuesday morning. Leut.
| Hinton saw Cokers body. This man was brought
from his home at Robbins to Elenton and delibe-
rately shot.
| Iestimate the total number of white men en-
gagged in the riot rs not less than 500, coming from
| Edrrtield Aiken, and larnwell ). G. The negroes
M aud about Elleuton were completely cowed
| Many of them came IN from hiding places IN the
woods while we were there They were afraid to go
| 10 work saying they were afraid OF beng shot
down i'm the cotton fields. The Port Royal Rail
| road was torn up about ten miles above EHenton
during the riot. The General Superintendent
| said that his were afraid to
work on the road and requested me To leave him n
small guard Six men were left at Ellenton for that
purpose and were Withdrawn and joined their COM
names next day. The road almost entirely re-
| n,ired when the detachment returned. The detach-
ment left ElcntOn at 1870 p. M, Sept 2l on an
| extra car and engine, connecting with the 2:3O
o'clock train from Augusta and arIsved at Aiken at
Ip.m. Very respectfully, your obedient servant
THOMAS j. LLOYD
Captain / sth Infantry. Commanding Detachment.
THE NEGROES ONLY SAVED BY HE FfDEl'ALs.
Posr OF AIKEN, :. C., Sept 23, 1876.
Rfspccifuy (Oricdrded 10 The Assistant Adjntdnt Gen
| ,raI Of The Department OF Me South.
I,ro,, what | hay. Learned nv arrival here