The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1878-09-21
DEATH OF GEN. HODGES.
A Story of the Revolution.
Incidents Of Remarkable Family.
Close of an Honored Life.


OF the oldest and most respectable
citizens of Abbeville county, died at
his late residence in the town OF
Hodges, on Friday, March "a, 1876,
after an illness of two days, at the
advanced age of "a years, and us his
career has been an eventful one, we
append some sketches or incidents
connected with his life, which we
doubt not will be read with much in
terest:
Gen. Hodges, grandfather, of Gull
pepper, and his grandmother. OF
Richmond, Virginia, were married
and emigrated to this country prior
to the Revolution and settled near
where the town of Hodges now
stands. They were the first settlers
Of that vicinity, where they bought
tract of land, POI ton of the Eng
lish grant to Salvador, the jew,
which had been sold to Rapley, an
Englishrnan, aud comprised, per-
haps, one-fourth of the land of Alb
beville county, and was for great
many years known as "The Jews
Land" At that time the lands OF
the county were covered with orig
nal forest growth, and game of all
sorts could be readily caught any
where, while the streams furnished
an abundance of fish, which enabled
those Opposed to hunt to make an
easy living.
Gen. Hodges was u contemporary
of the father of Gen. James Gillian,
who now lives in Greenwood, aud
also of the Caldwells and of the CAL
houns, who first settled this county,
all of whom being strong Wings,
suffered much from the depredatiois
of the hostile Indians who were
much more numerous than the
whites and who then occupied al
most tlris entire country. At that
time General Gillam's fathers family
were very influential citizens of the
community and were of the most
prominent Wings of the county, and
were noted for their intrepidity and
daring services during the Indian
and the Revolutionary wars. and
many of whom lost their lives in the
service of their county. The Cen
eral is still in a fine state of preser-
walton, both mentally aud phy sically.
and his hearing is such as to inn
press upon those whom he meets the
fact OF his being Il gentleman of the
highest type.
During the Revolutionary war
Gen. Hodges father, John Hodges,
who held the commission of Major
in the army of the Revolution, and
the Generals grandfather were ac-
lively engaged in the war against
the tories and the red-man. On one
occasion the grandfather WAS ut home
on leave of absence, when the fact
was ascertained by the Indians who
ca&me to his house unexpectedly. shot
the furlouehed soldier dead i'll the
presence of his family, tied the Ia
dies, his daughters, some four in
number, preparatory to burning
them and the house, when the Indian
Chief, who was with the murierous
gang, became enamored of the beau
ty of one of the sisters, Dorathy, and
proposed to her that if she would
become his wife her life should he
saved. Her condition then might
not be easily imagined. Here she
was in the hands of the murderers of
her father, in the presence OF his life
less body, tied with her sisters in the
house which was soon to he en-
velOped with the consuming element.
This indeed, was dreadful position,
but her only rescue from the impend-
ing doom was to swear that she
would ever love, cherish and obey,
and keep in sickness and health a
natural enemy and the murderer of
her father and sisters. The exulta-
ton of the tlemoniac iiends over the
grief and heart-rending exclama
tions of these defenseless and dis.
tressed creatures was beyond de-
scription. Finally. when this young
lady, more beautiful than the rest,
was forced to choice. she reluctant
Nv consented 10 Dt titC "hO va INV
Indian Chief, and was loosed from
the cords which bound her limbs, to
be the more firmly bound soul and
body by solemn oath to the lead
er of these cruel assassins. Being
removed from the dwelling she was
rescued from the flames whilst the
torch was applied to the house, aud
her sisters persisted in her presence
whilst the war dance and the song
kept up the tiendish carnival.
Dorathy was perhaps the must cn-
happy and the most unwilling 6r'de
upon whom the genial sunlight OF
South Carolina had ever fallen.
Having just seen her father mur-
dered and her sisters burned to death
in the ruins OF the parental ROOF,
and she captive, the wife OF the
Indian Chief whose manners must
have been as repulsive to her natures
as the wooings OF the hawk to the