The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1904-03-10
A MARTYR We SHOULD REMEMBER.
Calvin Croz Born Brandon 4O Fouy Murdered By Negro
Troops During the Dark DAYS Of Reconstruction


Rev. Mr.. Melvin is in receipt of
the following interesting account of
the murder Of Calvin Crozier at
Newberry, S. O., by company of ne.
gro troops just after the war and dur
ing the reconstruction period. Mr..
Orozier was defending two ladies from
the outrages of the troops and was
foully murdered in his defense. The
interest attached here to the incident
grows out of the fact that Crozier was
bern in Brandon in 1910 and is suppos-
ed to have relative living here or near
here. One H. J. McLaurin, Of Sum-
ter, s. c., sent Mr.. Melvin this &C.
count, with the request that he try to
find his relatives. This is the &C.
count as published:
(By Octavia Zollicoffer Bond.
would be glad to ''eat the slop
from your kitchen,'' wrote Calvin
Crozier to his mother when about to
leave the Indianapolis military pris-
on in April, 1866.
To say that he was lone of
Morgan's men" presents to the imag-
ination the picture of stalwart Ken
tucky trooper, which Crozier was not.
On the contrary he was a rather boy
ish looking Texan for his 25 years of
age. Barely five feet, eight inches in
height, slender, with fair complexion
and dark brown hair, he had q mild
expression of countenance which, ex-
cept for the steely gleam Of the steady
blue eyes, was not suggestive of the
bold and determined character of the
captive confederate. Few would
have taken him to be what he really
was, one of the most daring of Nor
gan's intrepid raiders, one. moreover,
who had been early seasoned in arms
as an Indian fighter on the border, un-
der Gen. Ross, just before the out.
break Of the civil war. Especially
did he appear now, at the end of
nearly two years imprisonment and
Ill treatment, harmless crs ature.
Almost starved to death,'' as he
wrote his family, sick and pitifully
thin, he had hardly the strength to
button his faded gray jacket and walk
out of the prison gates that had been
thrown open by the surrender at Ap
pomattox. The type Of thousands
who like himself had fought for a
principle with all his might, and lost,
he faced abont and began to rconsider,
in dazed sort Of way, how he was
to reach home. All, the Galveston
home with its sunshine and flowers
and its bountiful board, should hs
ever see it again? How clearly he
remembered the patriotic exaltation
of spirit in whic'l he had left it to
join Goods Light Artillery at Dallas
in 1861. Well, too, he remembered
the enthusiasm of his first great battle
at Elk Horn, Pea RIDGE, where
brave Mccullough fell, and the march
eastward to Corinth, where he was
transferred to the command of Gen
Cans, as we'll as the reckless ardor
with which he had refused to return
to Texas when Cans was order ed
back, and had persisted in going for
ward to join John Morgan, "where
there is more fighting -
Now all was changed. There were
no drums and flies, no comrades and,
worst, Of all, no hope. 1t was long
way to walk back to Galveston, and
he was ill., Yet the effort must be
made. For there alone might he find
rest from his utter weariness in the
loving ministrations of father, moth
er and two dear sisters, and possibly a
reunion with the five brave brothers,
who, like himself, had dedicated their
all to the south in the beginning of
the great conflict. By slow stages the
return was begun. Three states in
succession were crossed by the ragged,
footsore confederate. With the help
of sympathizing compatriots, many of
whom had been left by the chances OF
war almost as destitute as himself, he
painfully pursued his journey. In the
t'Old North State benevolent doc.
tor was his good Samaritan, nursing
him back to comparative health by
weeks of faithful care and enabling
him with timey aid, to make the rest
of the journey home by rail. On
leaving the kind doctor with CRATE
full heart he proceeded to Newberry.
in South Carolina. Here he was
half way home and his thoughts turn.
ed with increasing eagerness to the
home folks; for this was the native
state of his mother, who came Of har.
dy South Carolina stock, but later