The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-19
BETWEEN OLD-TIME BOYS.
Famous Duel Which Occurred On g
Savannah River Island.


Augusta Herald: In the Savannah
river, some eight or ten miles above Au-
gusta, was, 50 or 80 years ago, a large
and dreary sandbank known as Goat
island, covered with drifting and shifting
dunes, the home of the crane, the king
fish and the her Z. Precisely Sc years ago
one of the most n ted drel@ that ever IL
lustrated the code . honor took place on
Goat iSland-a sort of T. trial ground
amenable, perhaps, neither 10 the laws of
Georgia nor South Carolina. The prin-
c1pals and seconds in this duel, save one,
were all Edgefield men of high descent
and of the cavalier class, who believed in
and Dracticed the code duellO.
the principals were two handsome and
brilliant young lawyers-Louis T. Wig
fall, aged % years, and Preston S. Brooks,
aged % The casus belli in this famous
duel grew out of political strife and am
p1tlonS. Wigfalls second was John
Laurens Manning of Sumter county,
Pierce Mason Butler of Edgefield All
these four men became famous charac-
tiers In the history of their state as is
abundantly proved by the chronicles and
amended since.
In the very early hour of the dim gray
dawn of fall morning of the year 1871
to avoid notice and, perhaps, arrest-two
closed carriages are driven out of Au-
gusta. They leave the door of the late
Thomas Barrett, who is himself an occu-
pant, of one Of the carriages. These two
coaches convey WigfaI, Manning. Bar
rett. physician and three colored men,
servants. to the vicinity of Goat island
Brooks and Butler, with their physician
and servants, come from the Edgefield
side, accompanied by the late Major An
drew Hammond of New Richmond
The duel took place at R3O o'clock in
the afternoon. The actors in the bloody
drama were taken from either shore to
the island in one of the long pole boats
of that day. Two shots were exchanged.
The result of the second shot was the
wounding of Wigfall through both thighs
and the whizzing of a bullet into Brooks
hip, the bullet ranging into his back and
lodging there. Both men were painfully
and very seriously wounded. Both sank
to the ground and soon became almost
unconscious from loss of blood
And now comes the dramatic and some
what weird part of the story. Both
wounds having been temporarily dressed,
both men were lifted tenderlV into the
pole boat, and, lying almost side by side,
were roWed down the mathematical
stream to the city In this boat with the
wounded men Were the seconds, Mr.. Bar
rett, Major Hammond, the physicians and
five negro men. Imagine this funereal
barge, illuminated by lightwood barge,
sometimes fiaring bright, sometimes burn
ing blue, as it giIded down the broad,
still river in the blacknesS of darkness
bearing on its bosom two noble brave
ana bleeding boys, whose immortal souls
before the journeys end, might be called
Arriving at Augusta, Louis Wigfall was
taken to the residence of Mr.. Thomas
Barrett, whose wife and mother-in-laW
the late Mrs. Harriet Glasscock. were
family connections of his, and there
nursed back TO health with tender care
and motherly WatchfulneSS. Preston
Brooks was taken to Beard hotel, in
Hamburg, whence, after q few DAYS, he
was taken to his home in Edgefeld.
Louis I. Wigfall married a brilliant
belle of Providence, r. l., and after liv-
ing in Edgetield a few years subsequent
to this duel removed to Marshall Tex
which state he very soon represented in
the United States senate, where he
achieved national reputation as an or
ator and statesman. The war Of course
found him devotedly and enthusiastically
on the side of his native south He be-
came hero in the memorable and initial
siege of Fort Sumter, a brigadier general
in the confederate army, senator from
Texas in the confederate congress and an
intimate friend and adviser of Jefferson
Davis He died in Galveston. Tex some
ten or twelve years after the close OF the
war.
Preston S. Brooks married a daughter
of Governor Means of South Carolina and
continued to i've in E,dgeheld. He be-
came so popular among the people Of
Edgefeld and the neghboring districts
that they sent him TO represent them in
congress-. Previous to this. however. he
nad lea company y OF the Palmetto regi-
ment throughout the Mexican war and
had reached the highest rank as a wise
and brave soldier. While he was a mem
Der of the lower house of congress, his
cousin, Judge Andrew Dickens Butler
was South Carolina's senator. In the sen
ate about this time-it is a matter Of
national history-the famous Massachu-
sets senator. Charles Sumner, made
speech rejecting in an insulting manner
upon Senator Butler. who was many
years his senior. This insult to his ven
cradle kinsman SO aroused the ire of the
fiery Brooks that he publicly caned Sum
ner in the senate chamber. The matter
became almost q national issue, and
aro-sed in the northern mind much Of
that hatred of the south that led to the
war. Preston S. Brooks. in his third
| term as congressman, died in Washing
ton in 1857.
Pierce NJ. Butler became governor OF
South Carolina; then United States com
| missioner 70 the Indians and subsequently
the devoted and illustrious leader of the
renowned Palmetto regiment in the Mex