The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-06-25
MASSACRE AT LONG CANE AND
THE CALHOUN FAMILY.
james Calhoun, Irish E.migrant, First
Lived in Old Waxhaw Settlement,
Then in Abbeyille-CrucI Murder
OF Men and Women at Long Cane
in 176O--MOnumcnt to Brave WO-
man.

(By Mrs. Oze Van Wyck, Cateechee
Chapter, d. A. r., Anderson, S. c.
In 1888 James Calhoun and his
wife Cartherine left Douglas Ireland,
to find a home in the new country.
They chose this home in the state
Of Pennsylvania, and after living
there a while they decided to move
to Virginia, but they had lived in Vir-
ginia only a short time they were
driven from this home by hordes Of
ruthless savages let loose upon the
| frontier settlement in consequence of
Braddock's defeat. The family then
moved to WaXhaw, Lancaster county,
South Carolina. James Calhoun had
four sons. John, William. Ezekiel and
Patrick. The father and sons were all
planters At Waxhaw his sons were
Immediately associated with such men
as William Richardson Davie, the dis
tinguished PARTISAN leader Of the Rev
olution, Andrew Jackson and Gen.
Andrew Pickens and from this peo-
pie came four of the greatest men of
their times: Jackson. Calhoun, Craw-
ford and Pickens. They were all
Scotch-Irish and Presbyterians Of the
strictest set, and around old Waxhaw
| church was formed the settlement
which gave tone and thought to the
whole upper country of this state
| Old Waxhaw church is thus describ-
ed by McCrady: "Unpainted, unceiled,
uncushioned in the straight-back
pews and rough Sunday school bench
es, it looked grimly wooden and des-
olate. In this settlement children
week taught to read the Bible every
| day and were familiar with the word
of God in the family and in the
school, as we'll as in the church. The
children and youth recited the AS
sembly's Shorter Catechism once a
week."
| Children were taught to speak the
truth and defend it, to keep a good
conscience and fear God-the founda-
tion Of great men,"
| Moved to Abbeville.
| The Calhouns decided to make an
other move and pushed on to the
county which is now Abbeville. They
had been living there but a short
while when the horrible massacres
of Long Cane was enacted. William
Calhoun (born 1929 had married
Agnes Long (born 1889 in 1749, and
| at the time Of the massacre they had
| the following children: Joseph, Cath
arine, Mary and Ann.
The settlers at Long Cane, number
| ing 25O souls. mostly women and chill
dren, had heard Of the uprising of the
Cherokee Indians, and on the morn
ing Of February 1, 1850, the entire
| colony was busy packing wagons and
getting ready to fly to Toblus Fort
| near Augusta, when the blood-curd-
ling and savage war-whoop of the
Cherokees was heard. The ammuni-
tion and guns of the men were most
horses hitched or partly hitched to
the vehicles. Quicker than it takes to
tell 1t William Calhoun saw his moth
er. 76 years old, killed by the savages
and his little daughters Catharine
and Mary. scalped and dying. and lit
tie Ann, a baby Of two and one-half
nd
| savages. Panic-stricken and almost
paralyzed with horror, he cut a horse
loose from a wagon and placed upon
his back his wife and only remaining
child, Joseph, boy years old ,and
bade them flee towards Augusta. The
bereaved mother rode all day and at
which had been left by some family
running away from the Indians, she
took refuge in it. During the night
in her desolation and bereavement
with no eye to see, no ear to hear
no hand to help, save God, she gave
birth 10 son and called him Pat
rick.
a Valiant Soul.
With her husband and murdered
children behind her, and danger all
| around her. fearing to stay where she
was and not physically able to go
forward. hers was a situation seldom
equalled in life, but hers was also
stern pioneer character, and, realiZ-