Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-01-03
Strips uf gutal Aistorv,
"REMINISCENCES OF YORK
BY DIR. MAURICE A. MOORE.

in going back to early years spent IN ork,
in which District | was born and lived the
earliest and best part of my life; and though
many years have rolled over my head since
I found home out Of her bounds, the "old
stamping ground' is very pleasantand good
| ly still to me- and many localities, families
and anecdotes, belonging to them, which H.
lustrate the first settlements and settlers of
the District, are fast fading from the knowl-
edge of the living, as a new generation
arises and though ofinterest as landmarks
to all who claim to be Of York, will be buried
in oblivion (as much belonging to her histo-
ry has already,) if some one does not stoop
and rescue the bits, not yet engulfed entire
ly by the passage of time, and string them
/ together. Shall this be?
When think of her devotion to Liberty
in the Revolution; even heraborigines-the
Catawbas- Wings the good and distin-
guished SONS of her soil-men claiming her
ever lovingly and proudly as their mother,
though often far removed from her limits;
and lastly, the long list in the roll Of Con-
federate dead, am moved to step forward
with the little remaining strength of three
score-ten- four) down Lethe, as far as am
able, and take upon myself, according to my
mean ability, the task of chronicling THE
PAST OF YORK.
do not intend to attempt history with
precise dates and all thingsin Order-such an
undertaking belongs to younger son--rather
record of individuals, manners, customs
"reminiscences of an old man who recalls the
day when there was but one glazed house
outside the county town limits, young ladies
played on spinning wheels instead of pian-
Os many people believed in witches, and
corn-shuckings were fashionable instead OF
tournaments.
York was mostly settled by Scotch-Irish
from Pennsylvania, who first found a rest
ing place there from the old country; but
after few years came farther South for a
permanent home, and gave to their new set
Element the name of the one they had left in
Pennsylvania. When the war of the Revo-
luton came, to the never-to-be-forgOtten
honor of the Scotch-Irish of York and Ches-
ter Districts, South Carolina, be it said, they
were true as steel to the Whig principles
which they early espoused. No "Bloody
Scout" arose in their section, Tory was
"rare bird" and an dh'ldthenl0 nldrdndthd TO
his neighbors and his relatives. On the soil
of York, Houck was defeated and Fergu-
son killed. TO Lacy, one Of her sons, was
given the honor Of beginning the attack at
Kings Mountain. He and his men belong
ed to the good old stock. They fought with
the tenacity of the old Covenanters, their
fore fathers, and marched and bivouacked
with the gay spirits and good-humored en-
durance Of their Irish ancestry. Indeed,
those settlers were a happy mixture of the
canny Scotch care, with spice OF Irish hui
NOR and heartiness-a decided improve
ment on the stern fanaticism Of the one, and
easy pliancy and want of thrift of the other.
In religion they were Presbyterians to
unit-gOod conscientious men, "true and
Just in all their dealings )" always punctual
attendants at the meeting house, looking up
to their pastor with the taith-devotion, al
most-of a Romanist to his Padre. Yet it
was venial sin to get groggy at the Court
House sales-day; or get so exhilarated at the
polls election days, as to have several small
fights; and at wedding, the best of men
would dance jig, hornpipe or reel, and
"come home with drap too much in the
e'e."
THE CATAWBA INDIANS.
The aborigines of York were the Cataw-
bas, who, as late as the year 1850, numbered
three thousand warriors. They all had the
characteristic bravery Of the red-men of
America, but were ever kindly disposition
ed to the whites, and from the earliest settle
ments, dwelt in amity with him. Sad, in
deed, is the contemplation of their present
state. A miserable remnant hangs around
the waters of the river that bears their
name though the fish, once their prey and
sport, have nearly all left its broad stream.
The Woodman's axe has long since felled
their broad hunting grounds, and the labor
ers' gee-haw to his plodding plough-horse
echoes through the hills that once resound-
ed with the high hunting cry of the CataW-
ba, to the bounding stag or fainting hind
The women engage in a rude pottery,
making pans and pipes, which they ex-
change in the neighborhood for provisions
and old clothes. The men, still too proud to
work, live on in worthless dignity upon the
poor pittance paid by the State for their
broad fertile lands. 1t is forty or torty-ive
we may we'll imagine), they acceded to the
proposition of the State to sell their lands
to South Carolina, and they went to Hay
wood, North Carolina, to join the CherO-
KEGS, give up their individuality as a peo-
pie, and be blotted out from among the ma
tions but North Carolina refused them a
home, and they came back to the haunts of
their forefathers, living monument to the
cupidity of the whites, which must excite
the sympathy of every generous heart.
Their numbers were reduced to less than
one-half, not long after the Revolution, by
the smallpox. The tradition / heard in
my boyhood was, that it was introduced
through the avarice of some white men, to
enable them to get more easy possession OF
the rich lands of the Indians. Be this as it
may, the fatality of the disease among them
was awful. The treatment of all diseases
was the same with the Indian doctors, and
to each and all they gave a corn-sweat:
The mode Of administering this was to boil
ears ofcorn, slip shucked, take them steam
ing out of the pot, and pack them closely
round the patient, and as soon as it pro-
duced protuse sweat they were taken up
and thrown into the river, and 1t was more
frequently dead than live body that was
taken out of the water. Experience was
no teacher to the Catawba physician ; for l
rel remember being told by an EYEWITNESS, a
reliable man who had lived among them at
the time, that he had seen twenty-five
day, during the prevalence of the scourge,
taken out of the river dead.
Hagler was the name of their last king.
| l remember being told, by the same lndl-
vidual referred to above, of the mode OF
his burial. The grave was ten feet wide,
ten deep, and ten long, and in it, with his
body, was put his handsome-mounted rifle,
a fine powder flask, gold and silver moneys,
pipes, tobacco, etc. In fact, the grave was
nearly filled with valuableS, the personal
property of the dead king. There was a
guard of sixteen warriors appointed to keep
watch over it moon, (or four Weeks) and
some Virginia gamblers, who had been pres
ent at the interment, got rum enough to
make the guard drunk, succeeded in doing
so, and rifed the grave of all it contained
of real value: .
ed who had married Gen. Newriver, and
had an only child. Both husband and wife
died soon after the King, leaving their lit
tie daughter, Sally, an orphan at the early
age of five Years. This little princess was
taken by Thomas Spratt, the intimate friend
of bar fothor to his own home. reared and