The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1877-11-29
FERGUSON'S AVENGERS.
a Story of Partisan Days.

districts of the Palmetto State-a dis
trict entered by The Catawba and Pacolet
rivers and their gentle tributaries
In the month of September, 1880,
CORVALLIS detached the notorious Col.
Ferguson to the frontiers of North Caro-
lima, for the ostensible purpose of en-
couraging the tories of that region 10
take up arms for the king. Ferguson's
force consisted in part of the most profit
gate and abandoned characters Of the
partisan days, and his march was marked
by atrocities OF the most shocking de-
scrIptiOn. / he hardy men of the Caro-
linas, Kentucky and Virginia rose against
the marauders, and, led by Boone and
either backwoods worthless, gave them a
decisive defeat at Kings Mountain.
Ferguson was slain in the battle, and his
fellow foragers, numbering about one
thousand, were nearly all captured or
killed.
This conflict revived the hopes of the
southern patriots, and forced CORVALLIS
to return to Charleston, discOmtitted and
cast down.
We shall have rest now," the pat
riots 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
battlefield 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-
yenge.
But the settlements were soon learn
that the victory OF Kings Mountains
had ncrved the arm of the foe more ter
rible than any which they had hitherto
known.
The existence of the new terror was
discovered by a boy one morning about
fortnight after the battle. He found the
family of Archibald Mettson murdered
in their own house, and to the corpses
had been pinned a paper bearing these
words:
This for the galleDt Ferguson"
This terrible atrocity aroused the coun-
try, and the excitement was quickly
heightened by the finding Of the body of
another murdered patriot. On the cold
breast, which had been pierced by pistol
balls, was the pallid paper and its words
of terrible import, and the country knew
that fearful vengeance would be taken
for King 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 bosoms of their victims
the five words which had already terror
lied the country. 1t was in vain that TIE
patriots summoned their cunning and
energy for the capture of the band of
demons, which, as it had been discovered
hara1 Cix ,oa.l-,l
ed 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 lett
them upon the roadside, marked with the
sign of vengeance.
Fear began toparalyze the Carolinians;
many abandoned their homes for the sake
of their families and it is probable that
the entire district would have been de-
populated 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
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 enyir-
oned it; but she smiled and declared she
did not fear them. She could enter the
house through the kitchen, in the rear.
find the garment without light. and
return safely to her friends.
The path she had often traversed was
barely observable; but she made good
Roadway, and reached her home without
incident. The silence of the grave hung
about the 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 when 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, con-
tinued to salute her ears.
This is old Beauchampe's house"
said one. 1t has been deserted for
several 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 Noun
tain heroes, was found dead in 4 palmetto
grove, and the words of Fergusons
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 lone girl tremble
when she found herself 50 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 revolution
AIRY war.
The noise in the house increased. and
oaths and rude jests preceded and fol- .
lowed the lighting Of a fire on the
hearth.
Alice, who had longed for a sight of
the dreaded six, crept to spot near the
bureau where there was crevice in the .
moor. There applying her eye to the .
hole, she saw six Withholding men d.
rectly beneath her.
They were, beyond a doubt. the
Avengers of Ferguson's death, for sew
eral masks lay on the table, along with
three or four bottles of wine which they
had taken from some patriots cellar. .
TAN, rough, devil-may -care-looking fell .