The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-09-21
COL. ROBERT A. THOMPSON

not enter d big hall. Inc conVenIlon
was called to order by the president.
General Jamison. The ordinance had
been enrolled on parchment and lay on
a table in the center Of the hall. The
ordinance was signed by every member
of this convention, the election districts
and parishes being called in alphabet
order. AS the members attached their
names to the parchment, waves of ap-
plause swept over the assemblage:
J, After the signing had been completed
the president, General Jamisop, arose
and said: 1.-THE ordinance of secession
has been signed and ratified, and pro
claim the State of South Carolina an
independent sovereignty When the
president pronounced the instrument
signed and ratified, there was q scene
of the widest enthusiasm. There was
clapping of'hands, wild shouting, wav-
ing Of hats and canes, and other acts of
unbound exuberance and spirits. Out
side stood thousands, who kindled bon
fires, exploded fireworks and were
otherwise celebrating. There we're lots
of things going on all that time. You
know the convention was in session
several months, and frequently we
would adjourn and the members 60
home for q week or two. During that
time I was struck with the number of
prominent visitors from other Southern
States in Charleston. While the con
vention kept up its sessions, a great fire
visited Charleston and burned the St.
Andrews hall in which the ordinance
of session was passed.
TIMES WERE EXCITING.
Now going back to the secession
convention. Prior to the constitutional
convention counties held meetings for
the r of seeding. Among these
I recall Greenville, Laurens and prob
ably Spartanburg. Times we're redhot
and conservatism was reduced to the
rear ranks. The air was filed with
irresponsible and uncomfortable forces
the forerunner of the great storm soon
to burst in fury. Pendleton, the home
of Calhoun, was a hotbed of politics.
I remember distinctly that in Green
vile, DR.. Furman, a Baptist minister,
defeated Governor Perry for delegate to
the secession convention, and up to that
time ~C7reenville had never failed to give
Governor Perry the full measure of
loyalty and support. DR.. Furman
stood for seeding and Governor Perry,
as O know, was against it. Andrew
P, Calhoun, son Of John G. Calhoun,
was a candidate for the convention
from the Pickens district, but he was
left at home. Yes. you could see the
storm -clouds lowering.
OTHERS THAN MR.. BURT SAID 1T.
81 heard J, c. Chestnut, Jr., at that
time United States senator from South
Carolina, say in a speech at Pendleton
that he would drink all the blood that
would be spilled in the war between
the States"
COL. THoMPsoN's LIFE.
It's the little things of everyday life
trifing, indeed, within themselves that
make the children of men the dice OF
destiny. Just seventy-two years ago a
small barefooted boy was ploughlng q
mule in a South Carolina new-ground
within three miles of the %up-country
home of John Caldwell Calhoun.
Had the 12-year. old plowboy stuck to
the job, he would, doubtless, have the
lesson of breaking up the soil, and
made a successful, independent farmer,
winding up his rural life in a small
competence, the righteous fruit of in
dustry and thrift, just a good, quiet,
unobstrusive citizen. But the die was
cast. That boy was Robert Andrew
Thompson, the sole survivor of the
secession convention. The farm life
was not for him.
Robert Anderson Thompson was
born June 10, 1923, in Pickens district,
about eight miles north Of Pendleton,
on Twelve Mile river. His father was
Charles Thompson, and his mother was
Mahala Gaines Thompson. His grand
father William Thompson, was a ma
tive of Union county, South Carolina
His great-grandfather, James Thomp'
son, was a native of Ireland, as was
also his great grandmother. They
reached America in 1776, and after
landing at New York came on to Union