The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-02-20

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owned then by Mr.. Hooper, who, II
| is said, was Tory, as a great many
gentlemen were, and whose wisdom
and foresight have often been highly
commended in the last thirty years
in the South by descendants OF the
"patriots" of l776.
1t is also said that Lord CORVALLIS
several times made his headquarters
in this house and there is q very
large oak tree standing in the yard
on which he hung an American spy.
BIRTHPLACE OF GEN. ANDERSON.
The place is now owned by DR.. w.
w. Anderson, Sr., and was the birth
place of his distinguished brother,
s,Fiyhting Dick Anderson, a lieu
tenant general in the Confederate
army.
When Gen. Sumter moved up here
from Santee the neiShborhood was
settled by planters, gentlemen, with
large tract; of land and numbers OF
slaves, who lived on their high hills
of health in perfect satisfaction with
themselves and their surroundings.
Most of them have passed away
even in name from the land they
loved so we'll, the only record of
them now left being in the records of
the Episcopal Church kept here.
The war Of l776 must have been q
rude shock to these gentlemen,
separating them. as it did, in their
friendly relations towards each
other.
AS soon as it commenced Gen.
Sumter took Il part, and l have been
told commanded a regiment, which
was stationed on the coast. some
where near Georgetown, when the
battle of Fort Moultrie was fought,
but his hardest work came later IN
the war when the British came back
to South Carolina in 1850.
Gen. Green and the author OF his
life find a great deal of fault with
Gen. Sumter for INSTRUMENTATION,
and lay the want OF success in one or
two expeditions to him, and do not
believe that they have ever been
publicly denied, but l have heard
that they could be if his private let
ters at the time We're published
The same author also says that
Gen. Sumter used TO take forcibly
the negro slaves OF the Tories and
pay his men with them, and that his
men then lost /. great deal Of time
going off TO carry their negroes to
places of Safety, and says that there
was a good deal of complaint by the
Wings of this conduct, as it caused
the British TO retaliate by seizing
their negroes.
All of this may be true Of Gen.
Sumter, out there are some things to
show what sort OF work he did even
if no one has ever written his life,
and one is that he was given a name
bv those best able to know aad ap-
preciate his fighting qualities. His
soldiers called him The Game
Cock" and no better evidence could
be given of his courage and the love
of his soldiers for him, for men en-
gagged in the stern realities OF war
never give Il man false or misleading
titles; whatever they call their lead
er he can be absolutely known to be.
THREE HISTORIC SWORDS.
The other fact is that his grandson,
Mr.. Sebastian Sumter, has now in
his possession two swords taken by
Gen. Sumter from two British officers
whom he captured, Major Wemyss
and Major Fraser. These swards are
tongues OF steel, telling in silence OF
Gen. Sumter's skill and courage and
contradictiug any little spiteful
sliags that the General never con-
descended to notice by Il denial. His
own sword, too, speaks volumes; no
small man III any sense ever welded
it; none but Il plain, strong nam who
meant business and to whom war
meant fight in its strongest sense.
1t is long and heavy, with keen
point and edge, and 10 look al 1T any
one can imagine English blood spout
ing beneath its fierce strokes, and
making redder the red coat of many
a British soldier and helping to win
for It's owner the right to mind his
OWN business without outside inter
ference, all that he and his people
have ever asked.
Gen. Sumter left the army before
peace was declared, but after all of
the serious fighting was over and
when it was very plain that the
cause for which he had fought would
triumph.
We are told by Johnson, in the
life of Gen. Green, that Gen. Sumter
left the army because he thought
himself badly treated by Gen. Green,
but it is more natural to suppose
from what we know of Gen. Sumter
that he did not care TO stay in the
army when tie reason for joining it
was practically over, and for that
reason cleft it.
HIS HOME BURNED BY THE BRITISH.
One day during the war the Gener-
al was at home on a visit TO his
family, and, expecting to be engaged
in some domestic occupation. he
told his little son, Tom, then or 10
years old, to get his horse and ride
down the road and see if he could
hear of any Of the enemy being in
the neighborhood, as he did not wish
to by surprised and perhaps captur-
ed be them. Tom rode of towards
where the thrifty little hamlet Of
Wedgefield now stands. After going