The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-09

the fire upon the Star Of the West,
George McDuilic, who served in the
House and Senate with Clay, Web
stcr and Calhoun "A man Of great ar
gumcntatiyc and oratorical ability;
James Henry Hammond, United
States Senator from South Carolina,
who made a national reputation as
Mud sill Hammond" for his refer
cnce in the debate on the Kansas
question to the slaves or negroes az
the necessary "mud.sills' of society;
the Buffers, who have for three gen
crations served South Carolina in the
National House and Senate Major
Gen. M. G. Butler, in the recent
Spanish war, and now a member Of
the Cuban commission, lives in Till
man 5 County; Major Gen. Joseph
Wheeler, born within five miles of
Augusta on the Georgia side. Two
Of the Major Generals appointed from
civil life in the recent war sprung
from this productive soil. James
Longstrcct, the Confederate Licutcn-
ant General, was born six miles from
Augusta, in the County of Tillman
and Butler, and six miles from
the birthplace of Tillman, William
Lowndes Yancy, who was powerful
member Of Congress in ante -bellum
times, man Of singularly great ora
torical gifts and we'll remembered by
the older part Of the present genera
tion for his speeches in Cooper Union,
Fancull Hall, and throughout the
North in the campaign Of 1860, was
born and reared near the homes CT
Stephens and Watson. Louis Trcze-
want Wigfall, United States Senator
from Texas, and among the expelled
Senator'S in 1861, was born and reared
in tic district, and he it was who, on
April 13, 1861, upon seeing the flag of
Sumter descend, rode out to the fort
and made the final demand Of surren-
der to Major Anderson. j. L. Nj.
Curry, United States minister to
Spain in 1884 and at present the
director of the Peabody and Slater
educational funds, came from Coun-
ty adjoining Watsons $. Hilary A.
Herbert, recent Secretary of the Navy,
was born in this district, at Laurcns,
! s. o., the same town in which Presi
dent Andrew johnson conducted a
tailor shop. Eli Whitney, though
Northern born, lived for some years at
Augusta, and here invented and per-
fcctcd his cotton gin, the greatest
achievement ever made for the agri-
cultural and commercial South.
Peculiarly worthy Of observation,
and fact that has not been widely
noted, is that Thomas f. Watson and
Herschel V. johnson were from this
tho same-distriot the two men
who, in 1906, and the other in 1860,
in similar great convulsions Of the
Democratic party, received nomina-
tions for Vice Presidency, and there
by, probably, in both instances de-
feated the darling wishes Of tho Dem
ocratic party. 1t is remarkable that
the country should have gone to ex-
actly the same locality, to wit, mar
row strip Of land in Eastern Georgia,
and undesignedly so, for Vice Presi-
Dental candidates in these two crises,
and for the only two Vice Presiden-
tial candidates that have been taken
from the South sinco 1859. johnson
lived within thirty miles Of the home
Of Watson.
| This little district has heen from
the beginning of the Government the
birthplace Of the "isms'' from the
South; it is the New. England of the
South in this respect. Here ''Nullifi-
cation" and Secession" had their
birth. Here was the cradle of the
Confederacy, between these two ridges
of mighty hills that form the water
shed Of the Savannah, and as the Con-
fcderacy was born and rocked here, so
it came here to die. and received here
it's sepulchcrc. This happened in a
peculiar way, with double coinoi-
dcncc Of remarkable power. The first
secession meeting in South Carolina
was held at Abbevillc, near the house
Of Armistcad Burt, with one or two
hundred yards,) in grove shat has
ever since been called Secession
Grove" and within nine miles of the
birthplace Of Calhoun. By accident,
the last meeting Of che Confederate
Cabinet was held at Abbcville, in the
house Of Armistead Burt, within sight
of the Grove of Secession. On the
evacuation Of Richmond and the re-
| kroot &c n.-.:x