The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-13
SARAH HALLS OF HALLS HOUSE
ToccoA CoZART.

:
| When told that she was daughter of
| that same Robert Halls. his qualification
was too great to longer conceal his own
| identity--he was Light Horse Harry Lee,
| HIMSELF The commander and friend of
| her father Lee recounted with enthus-
| iasm the particulars OF the battle of
Cowpens, where her father had disting-
| uished himself, and had insisted on
| charging the enemy all by himself-so
| impatient had he been of the hesitancy
! of one of the leaders, which came near
to losing the Americans the victory:
| Halls impetuosty disclosed the neces-
| sity for that forward movement; it was
made and the victory wont
| Lee was on his way south in search of
| health; he lived but a short time after
| that pleasant meeting. Mrs. Bellinger
! ever treasured as a pleasant memory her
| talk with one of the great characters
| of the American Revolution.
At the historic Carolina College in
| Columbia, was a young medical student,
| relative of the --inckney family. lie
! was a welcome guest at Halls house; but
! in return for the hospitality showered
| upon him there committed a theft lie
! actually stole the heart of the charming
| Sarah Halls! This proved a not entirely
| unforgivabe crime In the eyes of the
| parents, so, joyous wedding bells soon
rang out the young peoples happiness
DIR. Carnot Belinger took his bride to
|
| where broad acres had been the posses
/ sion of his family since the time or
| the old English Landgraves.
To the third LandgraYe,-"Be llinghame
] of South Carolina" the King of England
i, had granted 1.-THE neck" of land on the
| Ashley river in early colonial days, Tor
! services rendered" As Charleston grew
| into an important English seaport, the
| Bellinger family, for several generations,
| shared its social pleasures and good for
| tune. 1t was into such environment that
| Sarah Halls Bellinger went to make her
! home The wide fields of her new home
were watered by the river cooled by
! the sea breezes and made fertile by
| hidden treasure that no suspected the
| existence of, On this very land was
| afterward discovered the rich phosphate
! beds that have added so materially to
| South Cardinals wealth.
Years of happiness rolled away one
| of Mrs Bellingers sisters. Minnie, mar
| ried Col William Henry Taylor and re-
/ moved to Montgomery, Ala, to live, where
| the, built a handsome home, buying a
! plantation in the rich prairies few miles
! from town.
Mrs. TAYLOR wrote such glowing de-
| scriptions of he- new home to her sister
! Sarah that she, constrained by love of,
| and forging for, the faraway sister and
+ that urging of the pioneer spirit not yet
| de-, in the American heart, urged Dr.
| Bellinger to sell out and move to Mont
! gomery This was finally done; and in
| 1885. Dr. Bellinger through the offices
! of his brother-in-law, Colonel Taylor,
! found himself the possessor of two plant
| ations Montgomery. One was a
| large tract of excellent prairie land, of
| owe. 1000 acres; the other was smaller,
! closer to town, and on it the home was
! to BE built
Then began the low, toilsome and dan
| serous Journey across rivers. through
| forests, and amid the nameless terrors
| of the Redmans land-for the Greeks
! hal not then been removed.
At this particular juncture, the Indians
! had been greatly incensed by the ruth
| les murders of some good Indians by
| sor.a lawless whites the Indians had
! Vowded vengeance. We can imagine DR..
Belllngers agony of apprehension as the
helpless caravan trailed its feeble way
| through the dangerous territory.
Several times day a halt was called
to see If every wagon-loaded with furn-
iture and household supplies, each Hook
| an herd, each person, both white and
! slave were in place; it usually resulted
/ in the discovery that some OF the slaves
were tagging behind-out of sight; this
ANNOYED and distressed Dr. Bellinger
greatly. but he was urged to patience by
the heroic little wife. Finally, when they
| Ia reached the heart of the Indian coun-
! try, they came upon the dead body OF
! viii man. good missionary, who had
been killed by the Indians for no fault
! of his but because they had vowed
vengeance on "the very first white man
| they should meet" A friendly Indian
| WI standing guard over the body; he
| explained and further said that he would
| bury the body. He urged Dr. Bellinger
| to hasten on out of the unfriendly region,
| halt was made long enough for the lag
| CARDS to come up; when they learned OF
| tn. murder, they were nearly paralyzed
| by fright and from that time on, not
! sla-e was found more than hundred
| feet behind the procession
There might have been hesitaney about
| pushing farther into the Indian coun-
try, hut Mrs Bellnger's eye flashed
VITA the same daring spirit that had con-
| ouered America. while she exclaimed:
.'The others reached Montgomery, why
! not we?''
So the journey was resumed. Christ
| mas week was spent upon the road amid
! such discoura ging surroundings as were
| H. .ural to the circumstances, climate and
| season. AS they drew near the land
| where they were to abide, they encoun-
ter the black prairie mud. How the
| grooming straining teams ever pulled
| the burdened wagons to their destination,
! no one can tell-only a Niger an er
| mule" could comprehend.
This black seemingly fathomless mud
was too much for even the indomitable
! snrit of Sarah Halls: she became silent
| an distressed; and, when the toilworn,
| well-nisht exhausted little train crept up
! to the door of a double loghouse-the
, temporary shelter of the family until
s'the big house" could be bullt-the col
| lapse was complete
;arah Halls vo.ce was lilted up in
lamentation. She wept for the dear
homes back in South Carolina; for the
home that was to be, but that she
| needed right then; for the comforting
presence of the sister, five long miles
ava over seas of that new horror
the black mud. She begged that they
go right on to Texas where DR.. Belling-
gers brother lived for Texas seemed
! clos, and much more desirable. viewed
over the surrounding expanse OF mud
DIR. Bellinger finally pacified her, and
humorously invited her to "tarry awhile
before pushing on to Texas.
So. came this noble woman to Mont
eomery: she whose work was to be a
benedlction to the suffering soldiers of
the war and an added luster to Alabama S
glory.
Her scholarly husband, writing to
friends in South Carolina, facetiously
spoke of his small plantation as
minor Orcas'-on account of the horrors
of the mud" The big plantation
naturally became Major Orcas;' the ne
groes identifying cotton, came to say,
pat cotton was raised on Marster
Jorcas Place.
Years passed in happiness, and chill
1.or,. io,cbtar 6lled the home. When