The age-herald., 1898-11-13

this district at Laurena. s. C., the same; town in which President Andrew Johnson conducted a tailor shop. Ell Whitney, though northern born. lived for some years at Augusta, and here invented and perfect- ed his cotton gin. the greatest achievement ever made for the agricultural and commers' cial south. .ss
 Democratic DisruptIonists
 Peculiarly worthy of observation, and @. fact that has not been widely noted. is that Thomas E. Watson and Herschel V. John son were from this-the same-district; the two men who, one in 1896 and the other in 1860, in similar great convulsions of the democratic party. received nominations for the vice presidency, and thereby, probably, in both instances defeated the darling wish es of the democratic party. It is remarkable that the country should have gone to ex- actly the same locality. to-wit, a narrow strip of land in eastern Georgia, and un- designedy so, for vice presidential candi- dates in these two crises, and for the only two vice presidential candidates that have been taken from the south since 1859. John son lived within thirty miles of the home of Watson.
 This little district has been from the beginning of the government the birthplace of the 'isms'' from the south; 1t Is the New England of the south in this respect. Here "nullifcation" and secession had their birth. Here was the cradle of the confederacy, between these two ridges of mighty hills that form the watershed of the Savannah. and as the confederacy was born and rocked here, so it came here to die. and received here it's sepulchre. This happened in a peculiar way, with double coincidence of remarkable power. The first secession meeting in South Carolina was held at Abbeville. near the house of Armis- tead Burt with one or two hundred yards). in grove that has ever since been called Recession Grove" and within nine miles of the birthplace of Calhoun. By accident hc las. meeting of the confederate cabi- net was held at Abbeville, in the house of Armistead Burt, within sight of the Grove of Secession. On the evacuation of Rich mond and the retreat of President Davis and hs cabinet, the retreat brought the party through Abbeville. So this became unwittingly the circuitous route of the long gray fox, who returned to the brush from which he started, to die.
 Finish of the Confectionery
 President Davis, accompanied by MT. Benjamin, secretary of state MT. Rreckin- ridge secretary of war; MT. Mallory, secre- tary of the navy, and MT. Reagan, secre- tary of the treasury (see Pres dent Davis book, arrived at Abbeyille on the retreat on May 3. 1865. That night meeting of the cabinet was held in the house of MT. Burt. The next morning the party proceeded to- wards Washington, Ga., the home of Toombs. After crossing the Savannah river about twenty miles from Abbeville, hearing of the presence of federal troops in the neighborhood. and on account of the gen eral fatigue. the party divided. Here, says President Davis Secretaries Benjamin, Breckinridge and Mallory left him. and he saw them no more. Secretary Reagan alone of the cabinet accompanied MT Davis to Washington, and MT. Reagan was with him several days afterwasd. when he was captured a few miles south of Macon, just without the limits of the district under de- scription. MT. Davis was carried to Au-, gusta, where Vice President Stephens was. being held in waiting. This was the last of the confederate government Mir. Davis and MT. Stephens were put aboard steamas CT together, and conveyed, one to Boston harbor and tn other to Fortress Monroe.s Thus died the confederacy at the home-in. the very house-of its birth. !,
 As the district furnished the "isms'' be-. fore the war, it Is worth noting that iti stll continued to coin them. MT. Watsons started the first branch of the populist, par ty in the south in his district in 1S90,i though the populst party of the country really had its birth six years before in South Carolina, when Senator Tillman