Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-02-05

|
vi.
Now stir the fire, and lie at ease.
| The scouts are gone, and on the
| brush
see the colonel bend his knees,
To take his slumbers too-but hush!
He's praying. comrades: ills not
strange;
The man that's fighting day by day,
May well. when night comes, take
| change,
And down upon his knees to pray.
VII.
Break up that hoecake. boys, and hand
The sly and silent jug that's there;
| love not 1t should idly stand.
| When Marion's men have need OF
| cheer.
'Tis seldom that our luck affords
A stuff like this we just have
And dry potatoes on our boards
May always call for such draught.
VIII.
Now pile the brush and roll the log:
Hard pillow, but q soldiers head,
That's half the time in brake and bog,
Must never think Of softer bed.
| The owl is hooting to the night,
The cooter crawling DER the bank,
And in that pond the FLASHING light,
Tells where the alligator sank.
"What-'tis the signal! start so soon,
And through the Santee swamp so
deep.
without the aid of friendly moon.
And we, Heaven help US, half asleep!
But courage, comrades! Marion leads,
The Swamp Fox takes us out to-
night;
So clear your swords. and spur your
Steeds,
There's goodly chance. think, Of
fight.
I'VE follow where the Swamp Fox
guides.
We leave the swamp and cypress
tree,
Our spurs are in our coursers' Sides
And ready for the strife are we
The Tory camp Is now In sight,
And there he covers within MS
He hears our shout, he breads the
He fears. and flies from Marion's
men,"
Thus sang the native warrior OF the
Ashley, gallant George Dennison,
long after the war was cover: He told
the story truly of the Partisan. and he
did not sing amiss. He had rough
and native vigor-a talent all his own
and did not smoothe his song to the
loss of spirit, and did not shape his
nln
pretender He made no man the hero
of his song who had not made himself
hero in his performances. Truer
historian Of the deeds which he beheld,
never put fact on record; more faith
full bard never sang in honor of brave
spirits. Verify, he was not unworthy
to chant the praises of our forest rang
ers
And gallant men were the warriors
whom he honored by his songs. They
owe perchance, but little to his rustic
muse, and they have had the fortune
to secure the homage Of others who
have better guarantees Of fame. Shar-
ing the glories of Marion, their own
story-while poor George Dennison re-
mains unknown. Yet, could he now
survive to describe their progress-to
paint their deeds-to give US the live
ly details of those wild and pictur-
esdue adventures, in which day and
night found them perpetually engaged
he would show us such scenes as i'm
aginatiOn cannot we'll conceive, or
poetry of herself depict He would
show us the rude forester as, passing
from his farmstead to the swamp. fly
| ing from the marauder. he became, In
time. the adroit partisan, under the alb
| lest leaders. How the necessity, ever
present and usually in the aspect OF
pressing danger, brought out all the
resources of natural art, and taught
| him in a thousand stratagems. How
he grew. in time. to be as stealthy as
| the fox, and as subtle as the serpent.
How he grew. in time. to practise all
| the arts of all natural inhabitants
Of swamp and thicket; to initiate the
cry of the bird. the stealth of the beast
the spread Of the eagle. the fierce va
| lor Of the tiger. How to snare and
circumvent the foe. How, imbedding
himself in the covering leaves ana
branches of the thick limbed tree, he
would lie In wait till the fall Of even
ing: then. dropping suddenly upon the
shoulders of the sentry as he paced
| 1rir knife
into his heart. before he could yet re-
cover from his panic. How he would
bulrOw in the hollow Of the miry ditch.
and crawling. Indian fashion, into the
trench. wait patiently until the soldier
came into the moonlight, when the sill
yer drop at his rifles muzzle fell with
fatal accuracy upon his button, or his
breastplate, and the sharp sudden
crack which followed almost invariably
announced the victims long sleep OF
death. And thousand legends be-
sides would he teach us. making them
live To our eyes, and work like pas
sion i'm our souls, Of which tradition
and history speak but family, and or
the arts and valor by which our par
tisanS grew enabled to neutraliZe the
superiority of European force and tao
tics. Often and again have they lain
close to the gushing spring, and silent
in the bush like the tiger in his jungle,
awaiting until the fOragers had squat
ted around 1t for the enjoyment of
their midday meal; then. rushing forth
with fierce hallOO, seizing upon the
stacked arms. and beating down the
surprised but daring soldiers who
might rise up to defend them. And
this sort OF warfare. small though 1t
may appear. was at last triumphant.
The successes of the patriots, during
the whole period of the Revolutionary
contest in the south, were almost en-
tirely the result Of the rapid, unex-
pected movement-the sudden stroke
made by the little troop, familiar with
It's ground, knowing its object, and