Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-10-14
SO. 4!2.

who manifested sheir appreciation with erAfnusias
ticapplause - .as
80 - : .. HON. M JOHN v. DANiEi gs s3s
Of Virginia, as follows ssss 5ssa
My CoUNTFYMEN:: Upon this siot, one
hundred years ago this day, was a great battle
of the people fought by the people alone.
3 There was not a bayonet, not cannon.
Thee,was no martial music. There was no
eilded banner There was no chaplain, There
was no ambulance or wagon. There was mo
| general officer There was not asingle regular
soldier in the Army Of Victory. There were
MEN here. They were clad in: coarse home
spun garments, made at the cabin fresides by
their sisters ard wives and mothers, They
had knives in their belts and fiintlock rifies
in their hands, and they did a deed for which
all mankind should be grateful, and which the
ages will remember.
They climbed the stony breastworks Of this
rugged mountain, through terrific fires OF tory
rifles and through fereest Onsets OF BRITISH
! bayonets They tore from the eproild summit
/ the royal banner Of Great Britain. Iil6y laid
low in battle, OF led captive, every ono OF the
defiant s0Aiery who defended it, CDmplste
| to wish' was their victory, as their COM
mlander said.
AS they stood 1conquerors here, their shout
Of triumph was heard "seven miles ON the
.dT
back the voice Of the mountain, that shout OF
triumph rolled. Like minstrels song, its
joyous waters swept over the land Of the pine,
the palmetto and the moss-clad oak, lifting up
the hearts of those who crOuched under the
sword Of Tarleton rallying the fragments OF
the Southern army that had fled from the fury
of CORVALLIS, suppressing the uprisings OF
tory factions who 'swere willing enough to
wound, yet afraid to strike;' and reanlma-
ting the scattered band OF Sumter, anG cheer
ing anew the dauntless men who still stood by
the side of Marion, the lion-hearted. North
ward it rolled, and the Continental Congress
received it with jubilant thanksgiving. Our
peerless commander-iil-chief heard in it the
first note of hope that broke in upon the mis-
cries of despair; that walled upon his ears from
the disastrous field of the Southern land, and
his bursting heart, bowed with the recent
treachery of Arnold, found solace III the 10y
atty of an artless people, who made liberty
their first love, and life the only treasure OF
their devotion. Jefferson, then Governor OF
Virginia, afterwards wrote: 1T was the JOY
full annunciation of that turn OF the tide OF
success which terminated the Revolutionary
war with the seal of Independence" 1T had
burned the shadows of death into the morn
ing.n The men who did this deed Of vast and
unending consequence, were rude foresters,
huntsmen and herdsmen Of the wilderness,
sswho came from beyond mountains whose
very names were not known"
Pause, o. century, ere thy latest sleep be
broken! Pause and bow before this GRIND Old
mountain. Salute the venerable witness or
this glorious day. Hear once more the sol
Cmn tread of the huntsmen as they file around
t. rocky lair of their oppressOrs. Hear the
wild melody Of their soulful voices echolng
through these gorges, and carrying dread notes
Of warning to the foe at bay. LOOK once more!
Behold the men of the wilderness, as their
firm feet climb from ledge to ledge OF tne
rocky fastnesses. See them as they receive
the charge of the veteran warriors of England,
recoiling now before the bayonet, yet ever re-
| turning.with instant and fercer onsets See
them as their concentric fires close around the
desperate and nnhallowed valor that meets
| it's fate with grim and stern defiance. LOOK!
| Let thy latest glance behold the bazOned
standard of ST.; George as it falls in the midst
of the sum burned, storm beaten faces as 1t
is torn from this proud crest by the horny
hands of the men of the desert, who ''came
from beyond the mountains whose very names
were not known" Hear! Let the last sound
that falls upon thy ears be that wild victorious
shout Of the mountain men, which shall echo
through the ages, teaching the world It's grand
est lesson, how to be freel
My Countrymen From some partlahty,
which cannot explain, and which i cannot
hope to justify, have been summonef rom
the Old Commonwealth that was the home,
and from county that bears the konored
name of Campbell, to speak Of the porGentous
scene that was here enacted and to- unite
with you in it's commemoration. hen Il re-
call that a Bancroft, standing here, has de-
picted it in the vivid lines of historic truth,
and Preston has shed over it thai rare ana
| o1n rryInSa SaI
the tongue that has been touched with living
fire, we'll mayI shrink from the unequal task,
and envy the silence which the medltatiye
mind brings to it's contemplation. But have
considered that the things which have come
to pass are so engaging in themselYesJ tnat
in their plainest recital every deficiency OF the
orator would he forgotten and as tine men OF
Kings Mountain came in their rude dress to
do its wondrous deeds, So let me, in all SIM
plicity of speech attempt to tell once more Its
wondrous story ~! $50 ~
The history of the Revolution, from the
firing of the irst gun at Lexington to the
battle of Kings Mountain, reveals a series OF
disasters to the American army, broken here
and there by scintillation of victory, glorified
allthe way by splendid exertions of1patience,
fortitude and courage, but attended with but
few successes that were followed by sribstan-
tial com eauences. The British had indeed re-
tired from Concord and Lexington, in The inst
flush of war, before the desultory fire OIL unor-
ganized rebels, and in the next month oil May,
Ethan Allen and Arnold had made brilliant,
dash and captured Mconderoga. But ere
Washington, who was chosen commanderln-
Chief by the Colonial Congress, could re ch the
field of action, Bunker Hill was turned by the
thrice repeated assaults of the British troops;
and though they had beentaught that Colonial
militia could fight with deadly precision and
disciplined valor, our enemies were yet masters
of the situation. On the very last day Of that
year, ;the expedition against Canada, under
Montgomery and Arnold, met with a foretaste
of it's disastrous close, and on the heights OF
Quebec, where Wolfe had perished in the JOY
Of victory, Montgomery, the Colonial leader,
had fallen victim Of desperate and fatal
valOr.a H., Iii jgy i't'ata is
In March, 1776, the British evacuated Bos-
ton, but only to strike at more vital points. On
June 28, ere yet the Declaration had severed
America forever from the Mother Land there
arose in the Southern horizon what Bancroft
has fitly termed, ''the bright, the morning star
that harbingers American Independence, " and
from the guns of Moultrie, at the palmetto
fort, in front Of Charleston, was proclaimed
the first grand triumph of the incipient Re-
public that was ushered into being amid the
clash of resounding arms. All hail noble
South Carolina, of whom her eloquent orator
has said that 'Ethe sky which bends above her
is scarcely large enough for a single star to
glitter in,'' and Of fwhom may ado, never was
10 small sky illumined by SO auspicious or so
bright a star. On the 4th of.July following,
the declaration made at Philadelphia an
nounced the birthday of nation, and old In
dependence Bell rang out, Proclaim Liberty
throughout the land and to all tie inhabitants
thereof.'' @r.s.f