The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-01-11

! SOutn OF the SLaL1On, now cal1eu
Ninety Six on the Columbia and
Greenville road. This was 1850,
and in the twenty-five years preced-
ing the War Of the Revolution the
region filed rapidly with settlers.
most Of whom came from Virginia
and Pennsylvania. These were the
best type of English yeomen, mixed
with Sctoch and Irish and a few
French Hugenots. They were at
first a. serious-minded race and took
life earnestly at all times.
But even as early as the Revolu-
tom wealth and culture had spread
among them and after the war they
cleared the country and amassed
great fortunes, many of them. In
mediately after the war were found
| ed a number Of schools, at which the
classics were taught, and the inevi-
table consequence was race of Or
ators and statesmen.
Edgefeld had been formed out OF
the original Ninety Six district,
along with Abbeville, Newberry and
other counties in 1885. It became
early center Of refinement and of
culture, being second only to Able
vile in the number Of distiug.
men that sprang from it, and this
was itself high rank, as Abbeville
was called and deserved to be called
"the Athens Of South. Carolina. -
Prior to the Civil War Edgefeld
was rich In notables, first among
whom stood Francis W. Pickens,
chosen by common consent to lead
South Carolina in the greatest crisis
in her history. United States Sen
ator and them Minister to Russia,
grandson of distinguished soldier
and statesman, Gen. Andrew Pick
ems, of the Revolutionary army,
Governor Pickens united the bril-
lance of the age in which he lived
with the storied romance Of times
gone by. There was also Louis T.
Wigfall, one of the most polished
men Of his day; Chancellor Ward
law, Milledge L. Bonham, grand
seigneur of his time and later Gov
ernor; Preston S. Brooks, famous
for his alteration with Sumner and
one Of the most popular men Of the
day among his own people-but why
spin out the lists They were Caro-
linians all and although some OF
them had their feuds and bitter feel
ings to each other, death has claimed
them, and We can say Nune Dimittis
over each and every one.
It was among such men and IN
such scenes that the young Bacon
grew to manhood. All the high and
ennobling influences Of the time were
showerad upon his impressionable
heart. Himself born gentleman,
surrounded by gentlemen and gen.
tlewomen, his lines were laid in
pleasant places. "soft eyes spake
love to eyes that spoke again and
all went merry as marriage bell. -
But like the fateful dance at Brus~
sells, there was to rise a fearful
morn on all that merry-hearted crew.
Like a clap of thunder in a clear
sky war came. Of those distinguish
ed gentlemen many were left upon
the field Of battle and at the close
Of the bloody strife Edgefeld was
called on to mourn her bravest and
best.
Where had been wealth, ease, cul-
ture was now grinding poverty. 10
the war had succeeded its sequelae of
raprne, disorder, bad government,
and the rise of the negro to power.
Nowhere else in South Carolina was
the effect more intense than IN
Edgefeld. Scenes of bloodshed be-
came common, in so much that the
county long enjoyed an evil reputa-
ton, but this was an outcome OF
conditions.
A negro United States marshal
walked up behind a citizen of Edge
field with a warrant, saying, Il
have got you" The reply came from
a Colts Navy and the negro was
stretched dead. For many years be
tween family feuds, and riotous dis
turbance, brought on by the political
condition Of the State, a condition
which the high-spirited people Of the