The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-08-24


weight and my mare a fine one,
was soon very near leading the re-
treat, which continued undated un-
til we had crossed bridge over a
large and deep stream and reached
a causeway with swamp on either
side. when our pursuers left us.
AS we thus left the town 1 noticed
two incidents-one, the capture Of
one Of our friends from the post at
the river bridge, who. pursued by a
cavalryman, made Intellectual effort
to get away. 1t did not sem to occur
to him to use the gun he carried on
his shoulder. but he ran in a sort Of
aimless way until the cavalryman hit
him with the fiat of his sabre and
rolled him over. This was the last ]
saw at that time of Bill Price. The
other incident was the burning Of the
"Cornwallis House." formerly the resi-
dence Of my great-grandfather. Col.
Joseph Kershaw. Of the Revolution,
1t was a great pity that the old house
was burnt. but 1t was set fire to by
a Confederate officer because there
were stored in ii several hundred
hogsheads Of sugar belonging to the
Confederate Government, and he had
orders not to permit it to fall into
n hon
luton the family were turned out by
Lord Cornwallis and he occupied it As
his headquarters while he remained
there in comamnd of the British.
This was the last sight 1 had of
Camden on that eventful evening. We
rode on down to my uncle's planta-
ton, eight miles below Camden,
where we spent the night, while the
glare in the sky Camdenward told of
devastation and terror there. My
uncle and I were naturally anxious to
know how our respective families
were faring. He had a faithful slave
named Abram, whom he sent for and
charged, to go to Camden and find
out the facts. Old Abram walked
the sixten miles to and from Camden
before daylight, went to both houses,
reported our safety and ascertained
theirs. A very considerable part of
the town was burned before the flames
were extinguished, but there was little
or no looting of private houses. Many
amusing incidents occurred during
the raid. A regiment Of Home Guards
had been mobolized for duty in and
around Camden, composed Of boys
between 16 and IS, and old men be-
tween 55 and go. Their colonel had
them encamped about a mile above
the town. There was no discipline to
speak of, but a show of doing picket
duty was maintained that was rather
farcical, for when Kilpatrick's cavalry
arrived and charged the camp with a
"hurrah" the Home Guards stood
not on the order of their going, but
went at once. The colonel was pur-
sued by the troopers. and he finally
took refuge in large garden full of
squares and diamonds and serpen-
tine walks, hedged with lockwood and
privet, and covering several acres.
The chase was very exciting. They
did not wish to kill the colonel, and
so they ran him down, heading him
of this way, very like boys chasing
a rabbit OF course. they caught him
at last and took away his horse, while
they led him away captive. / saw
him in June of that year, after he
had been losed from prison One or
the old men in his regiment, having
been in camp less than a week, d.
clared on returning home that he could
not sleep in the house-the closenes.
stiffled him-he was so used to sleep
ing in the open air.
Four old soldiers whose famlieg
lived between Camden and CheraN
stole off from Columbia to visit them
intending to join their command at
Cheraw. When they reached a Gel
tain bridge over a stream on their
route they found it guarded by four
boys of about 16 to II. These boys
halted the veterans and refused to
let them pass. The sergeant in
charge said: Boys, we don't want
to hurt you but we are going across
this bridge. You'd better stand aside
and let us pass
The boys stood their ground,
The sergeant said TO his men:
Load" They loaded, Fix bay
onets!" was the next command. They
were fixed Charge" said the ser
geant, and they charged. The boys
got out Of the way and the grim