The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-11-14


stretched q halter had he ever been cap
tured. It is possible that this man was
related to old Hugh Beatty, but the lat
ter Indignantly denied it.
Before the war Tinker Dave Beatty
made a living BY travelling on horseback
through the mountains mending tin
ware, and he frequently took excursions
into the slave lands to the south, where
it is believed he contracted his seces-
sion notions. Els life gave him a mowl-
edge Of the roads and trails that subse-
quently was Of the greatest value to the
Confederates, and an acquaintance with
the mountaineers that resulted In the
exile or annihilation of many Union
family.
Secession as a doctrine, practical or
theoretic, was something old Hugh
Beatty and his sons and 6nsmen did
not understand, but when they heard
that the stars and stripes had been torn
to shreds and trampled under foot, and
that Tennessee had joined new repub-
lie, and that many Of her soAAs were en-
listing to uphold it, they saw into the
situation and lis necessities at once.
Hitherto the mountaineers had taken
but little interest in the affairs Of their
own state and none at all in the states
beyond, but now they made journeys
down to the postofice towns and vii
lages to learn the news and then went
l.. %<,I
seThe rich shareholders have grown
tired of the old Union because they can
no longer run it, and now they have set
up government of their own and
brought on a fight. They say the noun
tain men must side with them for our
lives and property and liberty, but we
don't see it in that light. !"
This is how the men in the Cumber-
land range reasoned. Their hearts were
with the Union. They could not give
perhaps a logical reason for this inclina-
ton, but they stood ready to attest their
devotion by the strongest evidence OF
sincerity-they would fight for the stars
and stripes till the death
The store at Beatty's, in October and
November, 1861, was crowded day and
night as if revival were in progress
as in truth there was, but there was
neither psalm singing nor preaching nor
praying, nor, for the matter Of that,
much talking, but there was great
deal of earnest swearing and a great
deal of quiet discussion as to the right
thing to do in the very unusual circum-
stances that confronted them. There
was strong hope, if not strong be-
lief, that neither side would bother the
Cumberland mountain men, but old
Hugh Beatty, the man who had fought
under and shaken hands with Andrew
Jackson, and by virtue Of this had be-
come an authority that it would be folly
for less favored men to dispute, held to
it that no man able to fight could keep
out of the trouble.
Scouts were sent down to the Hoston,
even as far south as Knoxville, and over
to Powell's valley, and soon they began
to return with the news that Andrew
johnson had fed north; that Parson
Brownlow was in Jail, and that JEFF
Davis soldiers were conscripting men
in the Great Smoky range and would
soon come into the Cumb berland hills for
the same purpose. When old Hugh
heard this, he addressed the tall, butter
nut clad men in the store as follows:
"Boys, we 1ns is in TO- it. We uns
hez got to be carried off like ID mig
gahs to fight fo' JEFF Davis or else show
his doggone hounds our teeth and go in
for the ole flag and the Union. Seem
my chillen and growed gran 'chillen
bout me, I was jist bout gittin to
think that mebbe was comm nigh to
be ole man, more particular as this
fall I failed to chip squirt for the first
time in so years, but a man is a heap
sight bigger'n a squirt, and, hy the
eternal, the man that forces me to be a
rebel agin my will must be able to shoot
quicker and straighter and finer nor
me.
"Me and my sons and my gran sons
and the gals husbands hev got our rifles
in good order, and the wimmin is
a-moldin bullets and a-greasin patches.
1f any Of YOU 2Rs want ammunition