Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-06-07
MAJOR DUNLOP AT EBENEZER.

Wednesday with appropriate exercises.
A large concourse of people were
present. The speeches of the day
were made by Major w. S. Dunlop in
behalf of the veterans, and Mr.. Earle
Thorn we'll, of Fort Mill, in behalf of
the sons of veterans. The cCrrespon-
dent of The News and Courier has the
following to say of Major Dunlop and
his address
The older orator was Major w. S.
Dunlop, of the sharpshoo,ers of Nc.
Gowan's brigade. Major Dunlop is a
native of York county, raised a COM
pany from this neighborhood, and in
1862 was put in command of the
sharpshooters of this brigade. What
he said was description of the sharp
shooters life. The ordinary idea of a
sharpshooter is that be is an irregular
kind of soldier, under no authority
and with no well defined end in view /;
that he spent most of his time in q
tree top or behind bowlder, popping
away at some fellow who was on the
other side, and who was amusing him
self in similar way. This delusion
Major Dunlop corrected. The sharp
shooters protected front and flank, in
advance; rear and flank, in retreat,
from surprise. They opened the fight
and took the part of master of ceremo-
nies, introducing the blue and the
gray. Their drills were regular and
constant; the men ever impatient to
fight, but restive under camp duty.
One habit was to subject these men to
roll-call at unusual hours, such as mid
night, daylight, ETC., and he was proud
to say he never had a man to fail to
respond the object of this training
was to accustom the men to prompt
response whenever called on.
An actual record shows that the 200
men under his command captured
more than 1000 prisoners of the kill
ed they kept no count; but more than
once they met and broke the oncoming
line of battle, which they were bound
only to locate and to watch.
After the war Major Dunlop went to
Arkansas, where he has been promi-
nent in state affairs. His visit here is
to meet again those of his old comrades
who survive, and right glad they are
to see him once more. He closed his
brief address with a strong and detin-
ite tribute to the courage and endur'
ance of Elliott's brigade, which for
five hours held at bay the heavy masses
of blue infantry which were trying to
press through "the crater" into the
Confederate lines. When Malone
came up he had nothing to- do out to
beat back a confused body of defeated
Federals, who were so massed that IL
was as easy to kill ten as one. Some
of Elliott's brigade, he insists, grasped
their guns and fought with seemingly
unimpaired strength even after they
had needed the assistance of their
friends to extricate themselves from the
debris and dirt of the mine.
The statements of the correspondent
are inaccurate in some particulars.
Major Dunlop went into the service as
first lieutenant of Company B, Twelfth
regiment, S. C. V. His company
was composed Of volunteers from the
vicinity of Yorkville, McConnellsville,
Sharon, what was then known as the
"Bluewater" section of Western York,
and also from the Coates's Tavern
country. The sharpshooters, of which
he subsequently became commander,
were carefully chosen from the whole
Of McGowan's brigade.