The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-09-15
THE STRUGGLE OF '76.
Address Delivered at Red Shirt Reunion at
Anderson, August 18th, by Senator B. R.
TilIman.
Ladies and Fellow Citizens :

IIIIn1af1.
Ladies and Fellow Citizens:
It is needless for me to say that it affords me great
pleasure to meet the good people OF Anderson County lace
to face once more. Twelve months ago II anyone hadasKeo
me if | ever expected again to make speeches IN oou'h
Carolina | would have answered, "No." My condition
was such at that time that l had little hope OF ever De-
ing able to undergo the mental labor and st4ain of public
speaking or even attempting it IN the senate ou' tne
good God seems to have some more work tor me 10 oo'
and NV health has so far improved that l have been able
to sit in the senate nine hours a day for two months and
watch Aldrich run things, and becoming tired OF seeing
him turn the crank to run the machine while | was only
a cog in the wheel l secured a pair for my vote and nave
been out in Ohio for a month preaching to those people
the gospel of white supremacy according to llllman.
received invitations to address meetings in SIX or
eight other counties besides this and arranged a scheoule
which gave me four speeches last week and two TINS. MY
old enemies have been raising Cain because l am able 10
come to you and you want to hear me. Certain editors
resent these invitations being sent and are also dlsgruntleo
because l have accepted them. One would suppose that
after nineteen years of honorable and acceptance service
to South Carolina these men would have the decency 10
let me alone and stop, but this gang of whippersnaPpers
continues to bark at my heels.
Looking Backward.
want to say, my friends, that since l received the
invitation to attend this meeting my memory has been very
busy and my brain has been acting like fire that has burned
down. When YOU stir the embers they suddenly flare up
into a blaze. If I we're to tell you all the things that have
come to mind about the period which we are here assem-
bled to celebrate l have no doubt l could interest you un-
til shutdown. But l am somewhat fatigued and you are
hungry, so l will only discuss the aspect OF things at TINS
time in connection with some Of the most important events
with which l was associated in 1876. Then, too, nave
to 90 over to the 'dark corner OF GreenVlNe THIS after
noon. | am to speak tomorrow at Llckvllle. vi course
know that the "dark corner Of Greenville County is up
near the mountains where they have the reputation OF
raising the devil and distiling corn liquor, while l shall
speak in the lower part Of the county which is %benlghted
according to my enemies because they do not rase anything
there but Tilmanites. It's a very prosperous and progress
sve community, all the same.
consider this one of the most important meetings
which has ever assembled in South Carolina, for the reason
that we are today confronted by a condition which may
become very dangerous. We are approaching a period
of history when another crisis will come in our affairs. 1t
seems that Divine Providence alway takes care OF South
Carolina when conditions require 1t. FOR instance IN the
dark day Of 1880 just before the surrender OF Charleston
with the only patriot army then in the state, and before
the British had completed their lines around the city,
FRANCIS Marion, tnen d major III Oultlle , leSHHeHt, "dS
invited to an entertainment at the quarters of a brother
officer. On reaching the scene he found that drinking and
gambling were the main objects of those in attendance.
When he seized~hs hat and sought to retire some gentle
men got between him and the stairway and insisted that
he should not leave them. Being highly religious in his
habits of life and thought; after insisting that he must go
and the exit being blocked he walked to the window which
was on the second floor and sprang out on the ground.
The distance was so great that it caused a very serious
sprain to one of his ankles; and when General Lee, know
ing the scarcity of provisions, ordered that all non-combat-
ants and men unified for active duty should leave the city
Marion crossed the Cooper river along with others and
made his way to his home in the direction of the Santee
on account of the lack of provisions, there wasn no organized
body of patriots left in the state and Camden and Ninety
Six were soon occupied by the enemy. Marion called a
meeting of the principal men Of the eastern section, among
them Colonel Peter Horny and Major Lacy, and after long
discussion of the apparent hopeessness of the cause, he
with a small number Of patriots joined each other in pledg-
ing their lives to a continuation of the struggle as long as
there was a British soldier left in the state. If he had not
sprained his ankle he would have surrendered with Moultrie
and the others, and who can tell what would have been
the result upon the fortunes of the war? Moultries parole
kept hin inactive the remainder of the war. Marions
band of liberty and together with other similar troops un-
der Sumter and Pickens led to Kings Mountain and Cow
mems and made Yorktown possible.