The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-18

ing the speakership term of Robert c.
winthrop, serving as speaker in 1S4S dur
ing the absence of Mr.. Winthrop came
from this district his birthplace being
IN the county of Tillman and his home
at Abbeville, S. c., within nine miles of
the birthplace of Calhoun.
Robert Toombs, the "thunderer," who is
commonly accredited with having done
more to bring on the war Immediately
anterior to it, than any other ynan in
the south, lived in this district at Wash
ington, Ga. Jefferson Davis and Toombs
were the leaders of the southern party
in the United States Senate, and before
the country Immediately precedent to the
war. Upon the organization of the con-
federacy, Toombs became Secretary of
State while his neighbor, Stephens, be-
came Vice President
preston Brooks, the member of con-
gress who on May %, 1856, caned Charles
Sumner in the United States Senate, cane
from this district, and the county of Tul-
man. Brooks was brilliant but hot-head-
ed, and gained by his act an unenviable
national reputation.
Henry w. Grady, the oratorical SAINT
OF the whole south, came from this cir
Gle.
With the exception of Armistead Burt,
VINO Is less known than the rest, all these
men gained national regulations and live
boldly in the public mind to-day
George Washington Crawford of Wat
sons county, in this district was Secre-
tary of State under President Tyler.
Charles Jones Jenkins was offered the
secretaryship of the interior under resi-.
dent Fillmore. Francis Wilkinson Pick
ems, of Tillmans county, was United
States minister to Russia from 1858 to
1860 at which latter date he resigned to
become war governor Of South Carolina,
and to take upon his shoulders the grave
nj he
tie and young republic of South Carolina
when the state first seeded. 1t was Gov
Pickens who demanded of Maj. Ander-
son the surrender of Fort Sumter and
gave the command to fire on the Star
of the West" George McDuf1e one of
the most powerful of American orators,
and United States senator James Henry
Hammond, who became nationally
known as "Mud-Still Hammond" for his
! speech in the Senate on the Kansas
question, and VIM. LoWndes Yancey, a
members of congress, and a powerful ora
tor, who spoke at Fanuel Hail. Cooper In
stitute and throughout the north in OPP
position to the election of Lincoln, were
! from this district. Louis Trezevaht Wig
| fall, United States senator from Texas in
1860, and expelled in 1861 for joining the
| confederacy, was born and reared in this
district. 1t was Wigfall, at Fort Sumter,
who on the afternoon of April 10. 1861,
| upon seeing lllS nag OL the lOIl. uGSCeuu,
| embarked in a skiff, entered the fort
through a port hole and demanded Of
| Maj. Anderson the surrender Of the fort,
| on the ground that it was untenable, in
| consequence of which, in a few moments,
| Maj. Anderson ran up the white flag j..
| l.. M. Curry, United States minister to
| Spain during the first term of Mr.. Cleve-
| land, was born and reared in this dis
| trict.
This district, it is worth saying, has al
| ways largely dominated the politics of
| Georgia and South Carolina-particularly
| has this been the case with South Caro-
| lima, where the leadership of the state has
| been almost uninterruptedly in the hands
| of this district since the beginning of the
century. 1t is very apparent, therefore,
| that the district has had quite a strong
hand upon the politics of the south and
| the nation.
This district, of course, gave birth to
| notification and secession. AS it gave birth
| to secession, and rocked it in its mewling.
| days. so it was the death chamber of the
| confederate government. This happened
| in a peculiar way, by a double coincidence
| of remarkable power and interest, worth
! relating in this connection. The first Sc
| cession meeting in South Carolina was
| held at Abbeville, near the house of Arm
istead Burt and within nine miles of the
! birthplace of John c. Calhoun. By acct
| dent the last meeting of the confederate
| cabinet was held in the house of Armis-
tead Burt, within sight of the grove of
| secession. On the evacus ton of Richmond
| and the retreat of Presi .ent Davis and his
| cabinet the route of the retreat carried
| the party through Abbeville. President
| Davis, accompanied by Mr.. Benjamin,
| secretary of state; Mr. Breckenridge, sec
rotary of war Mr.. Mallory, secretary of the
| navy and Mr. Reagan, secretary OF the
/ AhhaVillQ 3,
1865. That night a meeting of the cabinet
was held in the house of Mr.. Burt. Inc
next morning the party proceeded on the
| tourney toward Washington, Ca, the nome
| of Robert Toombs. After crossing the pa
yannah river, at a distance of ABOUT ~
miles from Abbeville, upon nearing OF the
presence of federal troops In the vicinity
ana on account of general fatigue, the
party divided Mr.. Davis says in his DOCK
that Secretaries Benjamin Breckenridge
and Mallory separated from hlm aIter
crossing the river, and he saw them no
more He was accompanied to washington
by Mr. Reagan alone Of his caplnet' anu
Mr. Reagan was with him several days
afterward when he was captured rev
miles south Of Macon, Ga. Mr.. Davis was
brought to Augusta where Vice President
Stephens was held in waiting, and toBeth-
er they were put aboard a steamer asa
conveyed to Fortress Monroe and Boston
harbor Thus died the cohIeuer@cy III '"0
home of it's birth.
Following the war, this district was the
most vigorous of all southern territory N
waging the fight for renewed white SUI
nremancv The famous Hamburg negro
riot occurred in this district in 1876. The
FARMERS Movement Of South Carolina,
TO which can with little doubt be traced
the beginning of the agricultural upneavel
of the south and west, resulting in the or
SANITATION OF the populfst party, was
started in this district in 1885, by senator
then nIain "Capt"-Tillman. The first
nopulist movement and organization In the
south was started in this district by
Thomas e. Watson in 1890.
There is a study of the inheritance OF
the present generation of this district.
This is the country of Watson and TIL
man. Hugh Calhoun Middleton.
xxw.n .,Vncr rNs.EnUUENV