The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-30
Instead of Wars Dread Alarm, We Have
White Winged P~eace-Instead Of Visits
from Mid night Assassins Every Man
Sleeps sweetly Under His Own Vine
and Fig Tree.
A Sketch Which Every Boy and
Girl in AbbeVilG County
Should Read.
The Story as Told by Prof. Il. Means
Davis, Of the South Carolina Col.
lege, Who Stands SO Fair Before
the Whole People of the State.

The Story as TOld by Prof. II. Means
Davis, Of the South Carolina Col
lege, Who Stands so Fair Before
the Whole People of the State.
Christmas IL coming, and the boys and girls
Of Abbeville County and many other Coun-
ties In this broad Ian are looking forward In
joyous anticipation to Its delights; They are
thinking of w:,rm and comfortable parlors,
of CHEEKY lights of bright fires, OF cosy, cor
oieem and s e} sa a1@ages ao OF the 5ee ch Eassle sn STOCK OK:
ing full In the light glow Of the Goals, that oid
Santa Claus, who must be gettlng very oIo
and blind now, as he has lived so long, cannon
warm tucking in bed that mama will give
them after ali the preparations have been
made, and Of her strict injunction to Keep
gecz SAN an as go not nc s be- fri EsTS eda'G away my By
the fear OF being, seen through ever SO Htte q
under slightly turned coverlet.
Christmas morning. of the hurry, and scurry
to reach those stockings, and to drag out pell,,
nell the horses and dolls, and crackers and
oranges and pistols and candy and DOCKS ano
skyrockets and raisins and wheelbarrows
and-well. all sorts Of things that are sweet
and beautiful and noisy and altogether de-
lightful. ,,
Willie, In Ninety+Six. in Long Canes and the
Flatwoods, and along the savannah River,
and over in Georgia up Broad River and
down to Augusta. In all the corners OF the
whether in icebound Greenland and the fro,
zen tundras OF Siberia, in pleasant England
and America, In the torrid heat OF the Equa-
tor, or In the warm December sun ni aus Is
the wilds oil Africa, will be found happy
hearts and bright Christmas faces.
At this special season every one shonld De
at peace, every one should be comfortable.
- rar1 Nrn chnff1H hn honnu For one nnv AL
least, all things should be Joyous. And we
have much to be thankful for. What though
crops have been poor, or prices have been so
low that there Is not as much as usual Tor th ne
Abbeville? There Is at least peace ana secur'
lily and settled government.
In order that you may feel now mucn you
have to be thankful TOR, let me tell you about
a Christmas Eve and a Christmas Day In the
Long Canes Just one hundred and twenty
eight years ago. Let me show you how they
were spent by children who lived then where
some who will read this now live, and OF
whom some were the great grandfathers and
g~randmothers OF those who are nvibg now
and bearing their names. This Is not a story
OF New England or OF the far West, nor OF
ppeople who we're your own flesh and blood
and ran and played and toiled on the farms
In your own n~eighoorhood. Peihaps your
parents Gun point out TO you some Of the
Identical spots that are mentioned.
In 1853, there was no such place as Aooe-
willie County. There was what was known as
"The settlement on Long Canes near the Sa-
vannah, in the Ninety-Six District In Gram
Vile County," q county that stretched from
Port Royal upward 10 the north. The coun-
try did not look at all as 1t appears to-day.
There were no towns, no churches with
steeples, no streets. no railroads., no GIN
houses; no beautiful flower gardens teeming
with roses in the spring. chry%saDtheums In
the autumn, fragrant violets at Christmas
II is safe 10 say that not q stalk OF cotton was
to be seen In the whole OF the NinetyTSiX DIS.
trict. IL was a new and wild country, but a
beautiful ONE. For q long time people had
lived here, but they were not white men or
black men,. They were red Indians, VINO
painted their faces, stuck feathers In their
hair, and thought II the highest glorp TO Kill
au enemy and lake his scafy. They would
even kill and scalp helpless women and the
babies in the cradle. They loved to live here.
because the land consisted OF broad prairies,
majestic forests without underbrush, and
reedy pools and swift flowing streams. Be-
sides the hills around Ninety-Six, there was
| the great stretch called the FlaLwoods, and
the.rich bottoms Of Long Canes, all covered
with wild peas and with canes from five to
thirty feet In height, growing, on the high,
lands Us well as on the creek banks. So tall
were the canes where the town OF Abbeville
now stands that 1t is said when Captain An.
drew Hamilton built the first house In the
settlement, ("the old Red house,") he intended
to put 1t CD the highest point OF the hill, bul
was surprised to find when the canes were
EleAIeO aWaH. Iudl uO W}6 my JalQ6 " ~
summit. One standing on a hill could see for
miles around and detect the presence OF
herds of buffalo, or deer, or wild horses, or
wolves, or the panther and wildcat, while
along the creeks, beaverdams were COM
mon.
So beautiful q land could not be left always
to Its wild and fierce masters. First a few
traders came from the white settlements.
then cattle raisers had their owpens In The
midst of these pastures. Then one by one
regular settlers dropped In and built log cab
ms. Before 1856, there were but two white
settlers In the north west OF the State. In
that year Patrick Calhoun and his brother
William, with SIX other fam lilies came 10
the Long Canes TO live, having heard OF their
beauties from traders. They had come from
Virginia after the defeat of Braddock In l755,
for the Indians were on the "arpath, ana an
Indian on the warpath Is a very dangerous
enemy to any set OF people at any time.
Hardly had they made their homes here
when the Cherokees rose up against the
white settlers all along the border. and killed
a number of men, women and children as
they were Fastening from Long Canes 10 Au-
gusta, among them Mrs. Catherine Calhoun.
and took away two daughters OF William
Calhoun, one of whom was never heard OF
again and the other was recovered only after
the lapse of several years. Thu rest OF the
settlers escaped to other places, chiefly the
Waxhaws, In what Is now Lancaster County.
The settlement on Long Canes was ibir-
doned. But not long after Col. Grant, OF the
British army, with an allied force from this
province, penetrated to Oconee county, and
destroyed the Cherokee towns and broke
their power completely, Ma sooner was this
known, and all fears Of another outbreak re-
moved, than the Calhouns and Mobiles and
their com patriots returned straight TO Long
Canes, and settled in their old location. They
fondly hoped that their wanderings and hard
ships were over. The fertility OF the lan and
the beauty of the scenery were such that soon
others Joined the settlers, and the founda-
ton OF a prosperous community was inaug'
nrntnl-
Patrick Calhoun was appointed by the Gov
ernor a Justice of the Peace. and he had built
O block house or fort, with the aid OF Mr.:
Noble, Mr.. Houston and Others, and named
IL Fort Boone, after the Governor. Summer
came, and autumn, and the crops were ripe
and harvested and people were making prep
~arations for winter. The mothers were prob
ably making buck skin coats and trousers FOR
the men, and short skirts and quilted petit
coats for themselves, and the children were
also dressed in buck skin and kersey, for
Hopes vert high that the next year was to he
peaceful, prosperous and happy.
: Christmas that year WINS on sunday, anu
this was another reason why II should be u
What a pity we cannot look back all
through these years end take a peep Tito the
log cabins OF the people ut Long Canes anu
Hard Labor, and See what they were doing.
We can only guess.
This is what afterward happened. From a
letter written by Patrick Calhoun to Govern
or Boone, in Char lesion, II appears that on
McGarvy walked oyer to the old plan
talon OF John Vaun on savannah River at
0 o'clock, and there he saw some In
catching horses. AT frst view he
nowf friendly, but seeing II fellow whom he
knew to be a Greek Indian and one of the
party which last summer drove off the white
from Broad River In Georgia, make
wards his gun which was set at the end of
lie housc, McGarvy got another house be-