Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1905-02-15
James Robertson.


delivered as an oration at Tusca-
loosa on the 4th of July, 1888:
Valorously
He bore himself, and with his youthful
Chivalrous deeds performed, which in a
OF legendary lore had placed his name,
Embalmed in song, beside the hallowed
OF Douglass and of Percy; not unsung
Entirely his fame Romance has wreathed
With towering fingers, and with wizard
That hangs the votive chaplet on the
heart,
His story, mid her fictions, and hath
given
His name and deeds to aftertimes. When
This trophied anniversary came round
And called Columbia's patriot childron
To greetits advent, the old man was here,
Sereuely smiling as the autumn sun
just dripping down the golden west to
seek
His evening couch. Few months agone 1
saw
Him in his quiet homo, with all around
Its wishes could demand-and by his side
The loved companion of his youthful
years,
This singing maiden of his boyhood's
time;
She who had cheered him with her smiles
when clouds
We're DER his country's prospects; who
had trod
In sun and shade, iife's devious path with
And whom kind Heaven had still pre-
served to bless,
With all the fullness of maternal wealth,
The mellowing afternoon of his decline.
Where are they now-the old man and
his wife?
Alasl the broadening sun sets in the
night,
The ripening shock falls on the reaper's
arm;
The lingering guest must leave the hall
at last;
The music ceases when the feast is done;
The old man and his wife have gone from
earth,
Have passed in peace to heaven; and
summers flowers,
Beneath tho light of this triumphant day,
Luxurious sweets are shedding DER
The unsculptured grave of
Horseshoe Robinson"
The grave of James Robertson is
in Tuscaloosa county, on the banks
of the Black Warrior River, near
Sanders Ferry, in the old family
burying ground. He was the famous
"Horseshoe Robinson" of Revolution
airy fame in South Carolina, and the
hero of the novel of that name,
written by John Pendleton Kennedy
in 1885. The name "Horsecnoe"
was given because of bend in a
creek in his plantation in South Caro-
lima, shaped like horseshoe.
The following inscription is taken
from his tombstone:
Major James Robertson.
A native of S. @.
Died April 26, 1888, aged 70 years,
And was buried here.
Well known as Horseshoe Robin
son, he earned just fame in the war
for independence, in which he was
eminent in courage, patriotism and
suffering. He lived fifty,six years
with his worthy partner, useful and
respected, and died in hopes of
blessed immortality. His children
erect this monument as a tribute
justly due good husband, father,
neighbor, patriot and soldier.
James Robertson was born in 1859, |
and his epitaph states that he was a
native of South Carolina. He was
married in 1882, and lived fifty-six
years with his worthy partner; she
died in January, 1888, and he died
April 26, 1888. The name of his
wife was Sarah Morris --; ira.
dition says her maiden name was
Hayden; they left several children
one daughter was living in Mssis-
sippi few years ago. James Rob
ertson was famous scout during the
Revolution, and terror to the
Tories. After the war he settled in
Pendleton District, and was living
there when Kennedy met him in
1918. In the preface to Kennedy's
novel of "Horseshoe Robinson," he
gives an account of the circumstances
which led him to write the story.
He says that in the winter of
1818-19 he had occasion to visit the