The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1904-10-26
New York Sun.

1ie-y Of equal size in all its career
av,,7 did as much execution as a GER
tain company Of Confcdcratcs known
as the Black Horse cavalry accom-
plishcd on the ground which acquires
fresh interest on account OF the army
aanoeuvres rehearscd therc-thc bat
LET, ED Of Bull Run.
True, the pages of authentic his,
tory give no record of slaughter on
that cay at the hands Of these terrible
fellows. The havoc ;hcy made was
Tot wrought upon Yankee flesh and
blood, but upon imaginative courage.
4 part of the problem Of war s to
strike terror to the hearts Of the
enemy, both the combatant and the
-Etay-At-home element. and that the
'aa2ctul of horsemen who rode black
.seeeds ct Bull Run succeeded in doing
cnost thoroughly.
Federal soldiers who were scared
away from The colors, either before or
after the first gun was fred, gave as
:an excuse that the Black Horse caval-
~ had swooped down upon them and
slaughtered eli but the pitiful few left
30 tell the tale. These stories travel
ed ac7th and west, and armies of men
~ere scared from enlisting by the
Black Horse bugaboo.
The thought Of grim and devilish
riders upon prancing black war chsrg-
ers, cutting right ond left with CORY
sabree, became spectre haunting
many minds all through the war, and is
-css~ found among oral traditions of
the conflict when veterans fight their
battles over.
Il was just two years to day be-
fore that memorable first encounter of
the Blue and the Gray on the banks
Of Bull Run that militia company of
savalry was organized at Waterloo, on
the Rappahannock, in Fauquier
county, Va. 1t was mode up of Il. f.
VS.. It's captain, John Scott, was an
educ ated planter, and one of the
iieutcnants was Randolph, wLose
calling was the law. The other
lieutenant was a planter named Cor
don.
Ia the ranks there were planters and
the sons of planters bearing noted
Virginia names, and the majority of
them afterwards rose to rank in the
Confederate service. Whatever their
names, they were of the stock Of the
Lees, the Madisons, the Tylers and
the Randolphs.
Naturally the great attraction of q
militia company for these young men
was of social nature; but when the
time came to buckle on the sword in
earnest they were ready for the busi-
ness of war. The first duty of this
company was to protect the officers of
the law at the execution Of old John
Brown, for it was expected that for
znidaole attempt might be made at
the last moment to rescue the liberia
Gor.
When the war uprising came in Vir.
.giuia, which was after the fall Of Sum-
ter, the Black Horse company, under
H4ieut. Robert Randolph, rushed to
sarms and marched with another local
,scmpany to Harper's Ferry, ready to
carry out the plan of seizing the gov
eernment arms and arseuals. That
grip, which was looked upon at the
time as holiday affair, was the be-
ginning Of four years service in the
saddle, FOR the border was soon ablaze
With war, and the cavaliers of Vir.
asinia we're not the mec &c shiTh the
ordeal at that hour.
From Harper's Ferry the command
wode tu Manassas, or Bull Run, and
was the nacleus Of the great army Of
northern Virginia which had its be-
Ginnipgs on these historic plains.
Onher Capt. W. H. Payne the COM
pspy -skirmished with the federal ad-
-5ance;guoca and was on active outpost
du.y on the DAY of the battle Of July
81, 1eU1.
30 doubt the reason why the Black
Horse cavslEo was heard from in so
many places on that field was that it
Ras widely developed on outpost
~aEty, and at the time of the federal
yout and retreat closed in upon the
helated fellows, or the runaways and
dtragglers on the outskirts of the field.
IN that way one Black Horse sabreur
-gcpeared 10 all his ferceness before
She~eyes ef at least 100 retreating and
badly scared federals. who made the
most of, the apisoSe when called upon
ga accnlArtTor their last moments on
Eae field.