Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-02-14
s}listcllaueuns &eadiug.
TWO OBSCURE HEROES.

of 1880, they thought the revolution was
at an end in the Southern States, and it
really seemed So Even the patriots thought
it was useless to resist any longer, and so
when the British ordered all the people to
come together at different places and enroll
themselves as British Subjects most of them
were ready to do it, simply because they
thought they could not help themselves.
Only few daring men, here and there,
were bold enough to think of refusing, and
but for them the British could have set up
the royal power again in South Carolina,
and then they would have been free to take
their whole force against the patriots fur
ther north. The fate of the whole country
depended, to large extent, upon the cour-
age of the few men who would not give up,
even at such a time, but kept up the fight
against all odds. These brave men forced
the British to keep an army in the South
which they needed further North.
The credit of beginning this kind Of par
tisan warfare belongs chiefly to two or three
plain men, who did it simply because they
loved their country more than their ease.
The man who first began it was Justin
Gaston-a white-haired patriot, who lived
on little stream called Fishing creek, near
Rocky Mount. He was eighty years of age,
! and it might we'll have thought himself too
old to care about war matters; but he was a
brave man and a patriot, and the people who
lived near him were in the habit of taking
his advice and doing as he did.
When the news came that Tarleton had
killed band of patriots, under Col. Buford,
in cold blood, Justin CASTOR called his nine
sons and many Of his nephews round him.
Joining hands these young men promised
each other that they never would take the
British oath, and never would give up the
cause.
Soon afterward British force came to the
neighborhood, and all the people were Or
dered to meet at Rocky Mount to enroll their
namesand take the oath. One of the British
officers went to see Justin Castor, and tried
to persuade him that it was folly to refuse.
He knew that if CASTOR advised the people
to give up there would be no trouble but
the white-haired patriot told him to his face
that he would never take the oath himself,
or advise anybody else to do So.
AS soon as the officer left, the old man
sent for his friends, and about thirty brave
fellows met at his house that night with
their rifles in their hands. They knew there
would be strong force of British and To-
ries at Rocky Mount the next day, but in
spite of the odds against them they made
up their minds to attack the place. Creep
ing through the woods, they suddenly came
upon the crowd, and after a sharp fight sent
the British flying helter-skelter in every di-
rection. This stopped the work of enrolling
the people as British subjects, and it did
more than that. 1t showed the patriots
through the whole country that they could
still give the British great deal of trouble,
and after this affair many of the men who
had thought of giving up rubbed up their
rifles instead, and formed little bands OF
fighting men to keep the war going.
Another man who did much to stir up
partisan warfare was the Rev. William Mar
tin, an old and pious preacherin in the Scotch
Irish settlements. These Scotch-Irish were
very religious people, and their preacher
was their leader in all things. One Sunday
after the news had come to the settlement
that Buford's men had been killed by the
British in cold blood, the eloquent old man
went into the pulpit and preached about the
duty of fighting. In the afternoon he
preached again, and even when the service
was over he went on in the open air, still
preaching to the people how they should
fight for their country, until all the men in
the settlement were full of fighting. spirit
The womertold the men to go and do their
duty, and that they would take care of the
crops.
These little bands of patriots were too
small to fight regular battles, or even to hold
strong posts They had to hidein the woods
and swamps, and only came out when they
saw a chance to strike a blow. Then the
blow fell like lightning, and the men who
dealt it quickly hid themselves again.
They had signs by which they told each
other what they were going to do. A tWig
bent down, a few stones strung along path
or any other of the hundred small signs,
served to tell every patriot when and where
to meet his friends. A man riding about,
breaking a twig here and there, or making
some other sign of the kind, could call to-
gether large force at chosen spot within
a few hours. The men brought out in this
way would fall suddenly upon some stray
British force that was off it's guards, and ut
terly destroy it, The British would at once
send strong body Of troops to punish the
daring patriots, but the redcOat leader would
look in vain for anybody to punish. The
patriots could scatter and hide as quickly as
they could come together.
Finding that they could not destroy these
patriot companies, the British and Tories
took their revenge on women and children.
They burned the houses of the patriots, car
ried off their crops and killed their cattle, so
as to starve their families; but the women
were as brave as the men, and from first to
last not one of them ever wished her hus-
band or son to give up the fight
If the patriots could not conquer the Brit
ish, they at least kept them in hornets
nest. If they could not drive them out OF
South Carolina, they could keep them there,
which was nearly as good thing to 90 be-
cause every soldier that CORVALLIS had to
keep in the South would have been sent to
some other part of the country to fight
Americans if the CarOlinians had left the
British alone.
In this way small bands of resOlute men
kept CORVALLIS busy, and held the State for
the American cause, until General Greene
went South and took command. Greene
was one Of the greatest of the American
Generals, and after long campaign he
drove the British out of the State. But ifit
had not been for the partisans the South
would have been lost long before he could
be spared to 60 there, and if the partisans
had not kept British army busy there, 1t
might have gone very hard with the Amer
leans in the rest of the country.
When we rejoice in the freedom OF our
country we ought not to forget how much
we owe the partisans, and especially such
men as Justin CASTOR and the Rev. Will
liam Martin, who first set the partisans at
their work. It would have been much cas-
ier and pleasanter for them to remain quiet
under British rule; and they had nothing to
gain for themselves, but everything to lose
BY the course they took. CASTOR knew that
his home would be burned for what he did,
and the eloquent old Scotch preacher knew
that he would be put into a prison-pen for
preaching war sermons to his people; but
they were not men to finch. They cared
more for their country than for themselves,
and it was precisely that kind of men
throughout the land. from New England to
years of hard fighting and terrible suffering.