The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1901-05-01

I the little hills Many of these cuts,
hundred yards long, were not mor
than ten feet wi,le. The day and tn
scheme was kept profoundly secret.
One morning about the break OF Il =
our boys were aroused by the unea"tl
ly rumbliny sound of 400 wagons rol
, ing over the pike, but that sound wa
nothing to the roaring of those wagon
on their return. That train of wagon
r was nearly four miles long and by tn
time the head of the column got fairl
into the valley AMI the major bcgal
bosslng the loading of the forcmos
teams Tom Taylor, with his men, wer,
resting in the suburbs and Jcb Stuart
with 1000 cavalry, were paradcd on ;
hill overlooking the valley. just thet
5000 Federal cavalry came charging
down from some hiding place behino
the woods and for an hour or more
Stuart and Taylor had their hands full
The Felerals had an artillery compan,
to help create panic and they were
after the wagon train in desperate
determination. In the confusion that
followed the surprise Stuart ordered
the wagons that were loading hay &c
countcrmarch in double quick and they
| performed that mancuvcr with great
alacrity until the head of the procession
reached the pike and could get no far
thcr, for the body and tail of The train
blockaded the highway for two miles
back.
Then came The great stampede.
Then rushed the stCeds ION battle
driven" All along the line the alarm
was given, whips were popping, team
sters We're bawling. "Turn men; turn
and save you: teams," exclaimed the
major. "The Yankees are coming"
And they did turn. but tn this day no.
body knows how. Some of the wagon
ers swOrc afterwards they flew over and
some crawled under and some turned Il
four-horse team in an eight-foot cut
Colonel Taylor ordered his men to
guard the wagons, but they couldn't
keep up with them. Stuart's men
were i'll hand to hand fight with the
enemies cavalry and slsshed them with
swords and shot them with small
arms; but they were outnumbered and
had to fight and fall back at every
charge.
1t was about the middle of the after.
noon when the roaring of the stamped
ing train reached our campground
Old Joe Johnston heard it, for the
sound thereof was like the sound of
many waters. He understood it at
once and ordered whole brigade and
battery to double quick up the Drains
vile pike. I" told Stuart" he ex-
claimed, "thcy would trick if he didu't
look out. Those rascals IN that valley
are nearly all Union men and they got
word TO the enemy. Pm afraid we
have lost some of our wagons, and 1t
will be hard joke en- Stuart
Later on we perceived great clouds
of dust gathering over the pike and the
roaring came louder and louder and
nearer and nearer, and by and by,
with the aid of field glass, we could
see Major Aver rise over the top of a
distant hill and halt. He is fine
rider and was astridc fine horse
whose name was SelIm. He saw the
brigade coming to the rescue and
slowed up, the long procession behind
him. Man aad beast were dripping
with streams Of sweat that would have
turned saw mil. In the grand melee
Colonel Taylor got cut off from his
command, for the boys were trying to
keep up with the wagons. But they
all came up in course Of time aud re-
ceived the plaudits of their comrades.
Stuart worried the enemy so bad that
they left the valley with nary wagon
and Major Aver left it with nary hay.
But they got it later, for old Joe got
his back up and swore he would have
it.
Those 400 wagoners were for a long
time the heroes of the campfres. One
of them, Jim Wilkcrson, our former
marshal, lives here now and still de
clarcs that he turned his team in an
eight.foot cut and passed two more in
a ten-foot cut and had liked TO have
beat the whole train TO camp. His
driving was like the driving of Jehu,
for he drove furiousiy.
The big battle OF Drainsvllc never
got into history, but it was camp talk
at Centcrvillc all that winter. Dur
ing the Revolution of 1776 there was
great battle called the " battle Of the
kegs" that caused infinite merrimcnt
to the continental army and it was set
to verse by humorous poet, Frances
Hopkinson, but this is known TO Vir-
ginia veterans as the "battle of the
wagons" BILL ARP.