The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-03-07
Soldier OF the Cross, and Formerly
Defender Of His Country.

Rev. John Il. McBryde, who has
come to take charge of the Spartan
Mill Presbyterian church, is not only
an edifying preacher and devoted pas
tor, whose advent into this field may
justly be regarded as blessing, but
he is veteran Confederate with a
splendid record.
He joined Jackson's army when a boy
of fifteen or sixteen years of age, was
several times wounded, and still
carries q Yankee bullet in one leg.
His war record reads like romance,
80 much 80 that many of his friends
have urged him to write tho story, but
to this he has always been aversc. He
is fond Of talking of the war to his
friends, and the reporter has drawn
some history from one of them.
A. the second battle of.Manassas, his
mess Of eight men were eating break
fast just as the sun rose, and they ask
ed each other; "How many of us will
be alive when that sun sets this even
lng9" That night John McBryde was
the only one left. His seven comrades
had been shot in that bloody day
some of them by his side.
At the "bloody angle" Mt Spotsylva-
nia, he was among the men holding an
advanced position of the Confederate
entrcnchments. The Yankees had
broken the line and got behind, with
out these men knowing what had hap
pened, and when one called to Mr.. Nc
Bryde to surrender, he replied, cpl
not do it," Struck in the face with
the butt of gun, his teeth broken
with the blow, he became senscless
and was dragged by the hair over the
brestworEzs. With his wounds untend-
ed, he was afterwards placed in the
hold of n vessel, and kept there for
moro than forty eight hours, under
conditions of incredible hardship, and
carried to fort Delaware. The Con-
federates were informed that there
were 1,700 prisoners upon this vessel.
The men were crowded 80 thickly in
the hold that they lay one upon the
other. Air could not circulate; the
only ventilation was the hatch. They
were given no water. Biscuits wero
thrown down the hatch to those who
happened to he within reach rs food
would be thrown to dogs. Few men
could eat; they were in the grasp of
dreadful sea a-sicllncss, and in the throes
of nausea; it wos impossible for one
man to get out of the way of another,
30 close was the pack. 1t was said that
one hundred men died on the voyage.
The survivors arrived Mt the prison in
state of horrible filth, and starving.
The ingenious and willful cruelty of
the prison life is unfortunately known
To many of our soldiers, and many II
Southern home has mourned over the
long list Of those who died under it.
1t was after Lees surrender, in the
bushwhacking time, when detached
bands of soldiery cOamed over the
country, that Mr.. McBryde had some
of his most picturesque escapades, near
his home ut Pendleton. This is an ac-
count of one OF them:
Mr.. McBryde rode up about dusk one
evening to we'll near Anderson, and
The reply showed that the men were
Yankee calvalrymen, who had just dis
mounted. Mr.. McBryde concluded
that he did not need the water at that
particular time. and beat retreat.
The Yankees mounted hastily and
followed, shooting at him. They ran
him into long lane, with fences on
each side, SO that he could not run out.
What was his CONSERVATION to perceive
ahead of him, and coming towards him,
another squad of Yankees. His case
was desperate, for he was one of three
men in that part of the country who
were listed for death if they could be
caught, the famous Nance Jolly being
another, but he did not lose hope. His
wits came to his rescue. Raising him
self in his stirrups, he waved his hand
to his pursuers and yelled out, so that
those in front could hear, "Who- o -oop.
come on boys; they are Yanks ahead"
The men in front, suppOsing that he
was leading party Of Confederates,
took alarm, and wheeling, ran from
him rs fast as their horses could carry
them, MIR. McBryde continuing to run
them, with the enemy behind running
him, until he reached q place where he
could turn off into the woods, and thus
he made hisescape. .-Spartanburg Her
cid.