Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1876-07-12
Ferguson's Avengers.
A STORY OF PARTISAN DAYS.

The foregoing five words had institu-
ted reign of terror in one OF the love-
liest districts of the Palmetto State-a
district watered by the Catawba and
Paclot rivers, and their gentle tributa-
ries.
In the month of September, 1870.
Cornwallls detached the notorious Col.
Ferguson to the frontiers of North Car
olina, for the ostensible purpose of en-
eouraging the tories of that region to
take up arms for the king. Ferguson s
force consisted in part of the most prof
ligate and abandoned characters of the
partisan days, and his march was mark
ed by atrocities of the most shocking
description. The hardy men of the
Carolinas, Kentucky and Virginia, rose
against the marauders, and led by
Boone and other backwoods worthless,
gave them a decisive defeat at King
Mountain. Ferguson was slain in the
battle, and his fellow foragers, number
ing about one thousand, were nearly
all captured or killed.
This conflict revived the hopes Of the
Southern patriots, and forced Cornwall
lis to return to Charleston discounted
and cast down.
1--WE shall have rest now," the pa
triots said, after the battle. Ferguson,
the dreaded, is dead, and the few tories
who have escaped with wretched lives
are not strong enough to do us any
harm"
Everywhere in the vicinity of the
battle field the Americans breathed
freer, and the loyalists in whose inter-
ests Ferguson had marched to his
death, curbed their loyalty, and in Sc
cresy swore revenge.
But the settlements were soon to
learn that the victory Of Kings Noun
tain had nerved the arm of a foe more
terrible than any which they had hith-
erto known.
The existence of the new terror was
discovered by boy one morning about
a fortnight after the battle. He found
the family of Archibald Mettson muir
dered in their own house, and to their
corpses had been pinned paper bear
ing these words
'sThis for the gallant Ferguson 20
This terrible atrocity aroused the
country, and the excitement was quick
ly heightened by the finding of the bO-
dy of another murdered patriot. On
the cold breast, which had been pierced
by pistol ball, was the pallid paper and
its words of terrible import, and the
country knew that fearful vengeance
would be taken for Kings Mountain.
During the week that followed the
discoveries have mentioned, the work
of the avengers was terrible. They
fell upon patriot houses at the dead of
night, and lett on the bosom of their
victims the five words which bad ter
rorized the country. 1t was in vain
that the patriots summoned their cum
ming and energy for the capture Of the
band of demons, which, as it had been
discovered, numbered six men, masked,
and mounted on black horses. They
came and went like ghosts, but always
left behind the terrible sentence which
had made their existence execrable.
At times they fell upon their hunters,
and left them by the roadside marked
with the sign of vengeance.
Fear began to paralyze Carolinians ;
many abandoned their homes for the
sake of their families and it is proba-
BILE that the entire district would have
been depopulated in short time, had
it not been for the courage of one wo-
man. Her name was Alice Beau
champe.
1t was dark night in the last week
of November, when the heroine of my
story left the house of friend. Her
own house, which had been deserted
for several days, was not far away, and
she had determined 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 envi-
roned it but she smiled, and declared
that she did not fear them. She could
enter the old house through the kitch-
en-, in the rear, find tbs garment with
out light, and return safely to her
friends.
The path she had often trayersed was
barely discernable but she made good
headway, and reached her home with
out incident. The silence Of the grave
hung about the forsaken place, and the
lifting of the latch sent chill of terror
to the young 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