The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1910-09-03
(By the Rev. John Kershaw in Sun
day News.)
VIII.


ed railway communication wherever
his line of march touched the rail-
roads. 1t was so with the road from
Camden to Columbia, in one direction
and Sumter in another. Owing to
the fact that Sherman was threat
ening the line Of the Wilmington and
Weldon Railway, the only open
route to Richmond was by Charlotte,
n. c., and Greensboro to Danville,
Va. thence to Richmond. The near
est point on the railway from Cam
den that I could reach. going to Char
lotte, was Chester, S. G. An old SOL
dier, a captain in wheeler's cavalry,
was also anxious to regain his COM
mand, and together we set out in
buggy for Chester Our route took
us over that part of Sherman's march
which lay between Liberty Hill and
Camden.
No one who has not followed in the
wake Of an invading army can i'm
agine the reality and completeness Of
the devastation. The roads themselves
were rendered hardly passable by
reason Of being cut up by the artillery
and the wagon train, especially as in
this case where heavy reans aided the
work OF road destruction. Our pace
was very slow.-we drove at
walk most Of the way and all along
the road were strewn the carcasses of
horses and cattle. Old vehicles in
which the negroes had sought to
keep up with the army. and castaway
clothing that had become too heavy
to be carried further. Wherever the
army had encamped. fences had Who'll
ly disappeared, and except in those
few instances In which their owners
had run them off to places Of safety,
all the cattle and sheep had been TAX
on to feed the army. Most Of the
negroes also had followed Sherman,
and this left the country depopulat-
ed except of women and children.
Stacks Of chimneys all along showed
where houses had been burned eth
er by "bummers" or the negroes In a
spirit of revenge, and altogether the
desolation was extreme and most dis
heartening. The passage of a friend
ly army Is bad enough, but that of
a hostile force Is doubly bad. especial
ly where 1t means. as here, the car
rying away of the laborers from the
fields, leaving only the wives and
children. whose husbands and fathers
were gone to the war.
After three days of this slow travel
ling we reached Chester. The town
was full of soldiers-some trying to
rejoin their commands, some return
ed prisoners just exchanged, and some
who could have. given no very clear
account of why they were there or
what they were doing. Among 9TH
ers were numbers of Wheeler's cav
airy, with whom my friend soon
fraternized. There was provost
marshal in charge Of the town, but
a very lawless state Of things existed.
and after several bloody rows had
occurred between drunken soldiers,
orders were issued to close the bar
rooms. This created great excite
ment and was fiercely resented by
ms N nf "a 0f
er's men prepared to smash the doors
of the bar rooms and get what they
wanted In spite Of the orders TO the
contrary. My friend who seemed
thirsty, fell into this scheme. and be-
ing a captain. was put in command Of
the lawless horde seeking a drink. 1
was foolish enough to go along also.
/ did not wish to leave him, and I
wanted also to see the fun. The cap
tain marched his gang up to the
nearest bar room. kicked down the
door. and we all surged in, the men
helping themselves to all the liquor
they wanted. While so employed l
saw through the window a large force
evidently coming to arrest the rioters,
and / so reported TO the men inside.
While they hesitated what to do, I
succeeded in pcrsuadng my friend to
"cut and run" for it. We escaped
through the back door. ran through
the garden, climbed fence and maxi
detour OF more than half the town,
got back TO our hotel on the rail-
road. We thus escaped. out we learn
ed afterwards that after stout re-
sistance the whole raiding party had
been bagged and imprisoned
| got my friend TO bed, where ne
soon fell asleep. while ! Joined n
lady in the parlor. We were at sup