Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-09-11
GRIERSON, THE TORY

The old Episcopal churchyard Of st.
Paul's, in Augusta, Ga, is not entirely
unknown to fame, having been during
the days Of the American Revolution) no.
torious Fort Grierson, built by the British
shortly before the colonies threw oil their
dominion and christened in honor of the
Irish-It Tory who later on beat back
of its ramparts the stubborn siege of Eli
jail Clarke and made 1t the refuge and
stronghold of band Of Hessians and rem
egades that scourged the country there
about with fire and sword.
Its site is directly ON the bank of the
Savannah river, and, standing on what Is
now the rear wall of the churchyard, one
looks across the broad, muddy current into
Carolina, directly into old Edgefield dis
trict, the theater of many a sanguinary
enactment in those times, and the most
turbulent spot today in all that hot headed
state where the erstwhile populous city
and commercial mart of Hamburg, now
decayed and almost deserted, blends its
ruins into landscape not altogether I'M
lovely, with a succession OF rising blue
hills in the background. Below, the river
sweeps to the south and the bold white
bluffs Of Beech island would be finely in
sight were it not for the view obstructing
railroad bridges. From the water to the
churchyard there are two precipitous rises,
both faced with ancient brickwork and
requiring no great stretch Of fancy or vivid
imagination to conceive as parapets, with
here and there the plain trace Of an en-
brasure or easement. The situation COM
mands any approach by water, and In it.
self precludes any attack from the 'front.'
the Carolina side.
Otherwise the metamorphosis has been
complete, yet though, for all that air of
abiding peace, the leafy elms and shaded
sward, blooming rose vines, quantity in
scribed gravestones and old brick church,
with Its stained glass windows and white
belfry effect, 1t was the storm center Of
running series Of acts of blood and cruelty
and carnage and the scene Of murders and
brutalities galore. Around 1t and It's
crafty, courageous defender there Is woven
one Of those historical legends still current
throughout the Carolinas and Georgia,
that deal with men and deeds Of that peri
cd and out of which Gilmore SIMS the
Scott of the south, might have wrought
novel as interesting and as true as his in
comparable "Eutaw" or BLACK Riders Of
the Congaree" inspired by and spun Of
this folklore-with it's conclusion an act of
bloody but fitting justice we'll in keeping
with the theme.
Grierson, the tradition runs, was the son
of an Irish nobleman and an italian wom-
an Of gentle blood, who settled in Georgia
after his birth. Nature had endowed him
with military genius in small way,
unquavering courage and wonderfully
shrewd and cruel nature displaying the
human tiger In his lissome figure and cat
like grace.
Educated abroad he returned to America
skilled in all the athletic accomplishments
Of soldier Of the time and possessed Of
the easy grace and polished manner of the
true gallant, but the diabolical nature I'M
derneath was manifested In the wrestling
matches with which he would engage
some proud young Creek Or Choctaw and,
catching him in viselike grip, with the
advantage a scientific knowledge of the
game gave him, snap thigh or shank,
blighting the aboriginal's life as though 1t
was glorious fun. To many Of a rural
youngsters of today in that section who has
listened open mouthed to these tales by
their gray haired grandparents he, like
Marion and Sumter, Pickens and Clarke
is almost living, breathing reality and
not parsonage passed into the grave and
history, and they shudder at his atrocity,
marvel at his wiliness-that outwitted
even for time the Swamp Fox and Blue
Hens Chioken-and delight in the sudden
ness and violence albeit the justice Of his
death.
At first he had espoused the patriot
cause, but later forsook 1t and joined the
British. The infamous Brown, who COM
manded Augusta, recognized his capacity
and made him his lieutenant, placing Fort
Grierson and Its garrison under his COM
mand And then how Elijah Clarke and
his mountainous and riaemen sought to
take 1t, their brave efforts proving impo-
tent against the brick walls and artillery,
and how the attacks were resolved into a
starving out process which SO nearly sue
ceeded, and yet failed, almost In the very
hour Of triumph, because his forces were
imperatively needed and called elsewhere,
Is matter of history. And SO, too, is the
fact that with their departure the Tory be-
gan to wreak revenge for the inconvenieno
and confinement he had been obliged to
undergo, though not as fully chronicled as
its interest and Importance would seem TO
deserve He had bay mare, Wild Goose,
an animal that had filed his pockets with
money at the races roundabout and won
entirely and exclusively bis affection, that
was famous as being unmatched in point
Of speed, endurance and intelligence by
any horse In all that district. Mounted
on 1t, and at the head Of his band, this