The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1900-04-26
SWINGING alvl! TIE Circle.
Peop|e and Places Within 20
Miles of Bamberg.
FARMERS AND THEIR FARMS.
What 3 Staff Correspondent Of The
Herald Saw and Heard Along the
County's Highways and Byways.

THE BAMBERG HERALD, in the last issue
of this paper, commends in such strong
Ian guage that paragraph of the grand
iury presentment to his Honor Judge
Geo. W. Gage, which condemns the
wholesale and unlawful destruction OF
the splendid fish foods in our many
streams by seines, wire traps, nets dyna-
mite, etc. I have always been a blind
and devoted follower of that grand and
good old philosopher, quaint lzaak Wal
ton, and as such, believe there is no bet
ter, no more exhilerating sport than fish
ing. By that I don't mean the CONNER
cial trapping and capture OF the hnny
inhabitants of purling brooks, dark and
pooly creeks, sluggish moving rivers,
pellucid ponds, sedgy banked lagoons and
bayous, deep blue lakes, and the depths
of the boundless ocean. There's too much
work about that. I don't see any sport
in dragging stream with net, in fenc-
ing it across with trap, or in convuls-
ing and shocking the water with dyna-
mite explosives. That's not fishing as
nv good old mentor taught it. I like to
fish with rod and line and temptingly
baised hook. like to match my cunning
against that of the finny prey, and If l
fail to attract them to my hook and sue
cessfully land him, I don't complain, for
it is the pleasurable uncertainty of fish
ing that attracts me, not the prey. Of
course I like to come home with good
string, but don't complain if / do not,
and 1 have never, never lied about the
size of fish that hooked but failed to
land,
Being this sort of a fisherman l have
always condemned the trap, the seine,
the net, and the dynamite stick. l have
tished several times in my erratic Swing"
and l have been alike saddened and
angered at the number of traps and other
appliances that | have come
across in my travels. hope the magis-
trates and constables will, as you put it
in your editorial, "rout 'em Out" and the
sooner the better. for if prompt action is
not taken we'll soon have no fish. This
is not q pessimistic prediction, either, for
the same unlawful and wholesale destrue-
ton in other waters than ours, In all
parts of the world, has surely resulted III
the almost complete annihilation of their
inhabitants. Ii VIC don't stop these un-
lawful practices now, our fish land this is
as certain as am writing these lines) will
60 the way of the bison, which were once
so plentiful on our plains and prairles
that human computation could not fix
their number.
have always taken great interest IN
the Rivers Bridge Memorial Association,
and hope this year to attend its meeting,
and listen to the Grafton of my eloquent
legal friend, Col. Robert Allrich, and
also hear the equally interesting and In
structive paper that will be read by that
reformer Mrs. Virginia D..
Young. read with great interest, there
fore, Mr.. Brabham's sketchy remlnls-
cenees of the exhumation and proper
burial of the bullet shattered bodies OF
the gallant gray-coated heroes, who gave
up their lives ut the bridge in defense OF
their country's honor. In the brief sketch
that l made of the Association in my
first letter to THE BAMBERG HERALD, l
had but scanty data to 60 upon, and it is
not improbable, that there were
MANY inaccuracies in it. The true story
of the gallant check made to Sherman's
Army Corps, by the little
handful of Confederates entrenched at
Rivers Bridge should certainly be written
out and preserved to be handed down as
a precious heritage to our children and
children's children. Those who have
of the ght from an actual ex-
perience in it's crash and din, and those
non -combatants who witnessed the strug-
gle, or took part in the sade aftermath of
gathering up and caring for the wounded
and burying the mangled dead, are fast
getting into that "sere and yellow" con-
dition of life, which weakens all the fac
ulties, even that of memory. The history
can only be correctly told by the actual
witnesses of the battle or by those who
took part in it. The Association should
gather together this data-every scrap OF
it., no matter how fragmentory-and
when the material is all in hand it will
be an easy task for the historians to COL
late, arrange and write it out-a sequent
and complete story of the whole affair.
A year or more ago suggested this
yery same thing, in a broader sense, to
the camps of Confederate Veterans IN
Bamberg county. Each camp should have
it's historian whose duty it should be to
gather together the bits of history that
we're made by the soldiers of the Confed-
eracy from Bamberg county during the
nations four years struggle for inde-
pendence. I have often wondered Ill
passing the dismantled earthworks and
Notifications that dot the county what
story each could tell if the insensatc
earth could speak. There are those liv-
ing who can tell all about them, / have
no doubt, by whom they were thrown up,
whether Federal or Confederate, and for
what particular purpose. Aside from the
battle at Rivers Bridge there were no
considerable engagements in Bamberg
county. At least, l SO understand. Yet
history was made here, and there is hard
" spot in the county that could not tell
an interesting story of some phase of that
great conflict between the States. Sher-
mans army swept through the county a
perfect besom of destruction, burning and
destroying with ruthless ferocity. Some
places were spared-notably the old Gra-
ham mansion here, now the splendid res
idence of Capt. James B. Guess-yet
have never been able to learn exactly
why it was spared. A friend tells me
that there was slight skirmish between
the Federals and Confederates at Binna,
kers Bridge, and that there is solitary
grave there in which moulder the bones
of brave Confederate soldier. l have
looked for the grave, but have never been
able to find it. There may be other
graves. know there are plenty of incl
dents. My friend Col. L. L. Rice has
often RECALLED me with interesting remin
iscences of the passage of Sherman
men through our county. There are 9th
ers who can tell equally interesting sto
ries of those four bloody years OF war
These stories should all be gathered to
gether, these spots that have particular
significance-more especially the earth
works and entrenchments-should bt
properly identified and their purpose ant
use described. When this material is al