Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-12-14
FERGUsON's AVENGERS.
A story of Partisan Days.

A story of Partisan Days.
"7his for the gallant Ferguson"
The foregoing five words had institut
ed reign Of terror in one Of the lowell
est districts of the Palmetto State-s
district entered by the Catawba and
Pacolet rivers and their gentle tributa
ries.
In the month of September, 1870
Cornwallis detached the notorious Col
Ferguson to the frontier Of North Caro-
lima, for the ostensible purpose of en-
couraging the tories Of that region te
take up arms for the king. Ferguson's
forces consisted in part Of the most pro
fligate 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 Car
olinas, Kentucky and Virginia rose
Boone and other backwoods worthless
gave them decisive defeat at Kings
Mountain. Ferguson was slain in the
battle, and his fellow foragers, number
ing about one thousand, were nearly al
captured or killed.
This conflict revived the hopes Of the
Southern patriots, and forced Cornwallis
to return to Charleston, discomftted
and cast down.
"We shall have rest now," the patri
OTIS 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 any
HARM"
Everywhe in the vicinity of the bat
tle-feld the Americans breathed freer
and the loyalists in whose interests Fer
guson had marched to his death, curbed
their loyalty, and in secrecy swore re-
venge.
But the settlements were soon to
learn that the victory at Kings Noun
tain had nerved the arm of the foe more
terribly than any which they had hither-
to known.
The existence of the new terror was
discovered by boy one morning about
fortnight after the battle. He found
the family of Archibald Mettson MUIR
dered in their own house, and to the
corpses had been pinned paper bear
ing these words:
This for the gallant Ferguson !"
This terrible atrocity aroused the
country, and the excitement was quick
ly heightened by the finding Of the body
ef another murdered patriot. On the
cold breast, which had been pierced by
pistol balls, was the pallid paper and It's
words of terrible import, and the coun-
try 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 left on the bosoms Of their
victims the five words which had already
terrorized 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 upon the roadside, marked
with the sign of vengeance.
Fear began to paralyze the Carroll
mans; many abandoned their homes for
the sake of their families; and it is pro-
bable 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 Beauchampe
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 wear
ing apparel left behind ip her recent
flight.
Before she set out on her journey she
was warned of the dangers that environ
ed it; but she smiled and declared she
did not fear them. She would enter the
house through the kitchen, in the rear,
find the garment without light, and re-
turn safely to her friends.
The path she had often traversed was
barely discernable; but she made good
headway, and reached her home without
incident. The silence of the grave hung
about the place, and the lifting of the
latch sent a 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 when the voices OF
men fell upon her ears.
She started, dropped her prize, and
with her heart in her throat, crept to a
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, con-
tinued to salute her ears.
This is old Beauchampe's house.
said one. 1T has been deserted for sew
eral days The daughter, frightened by
the manner in which we treated the
father, has fed somewhere for protec-
ton
These words drew every vestige of
color from the listeners face; they told
her who the men below were, though
she could not see even 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 Fer
gusons Avengers lay on his breast.
Then she had deserted her home, know
ing that the hand that had struck the
father dead would not now spare the
daughter.
Well might the lone girl tremble when
she found herself so near the dreaded
scourges of the country, and she did not
move until she heard the front door
opened and heavily booted feet in the
room below.
Then calm thought Of her situation
drove fear from her heart, and Alice
Beauchampe prepared to perform one
of the most daring deeds of the revOlu-
tionary war.
The noise in the house increased, and
oaths and rude jests preceded and fol
lowed the lighting of fire upon the
hearth.
Alice, who had longed for sight Of
the dreaded six, crept to spot near the
bureau where there was crevice in the
foor There applying her eye to the
hole, she saw six wild looking men di
rectly beneath her.
They were, beyond doubt, the aven
gers Of Ferguson's death, for several
masks lay on the table, along with three
or four bottles Of wine which they haC
| taken from some patriOt's celler. Tall