Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-05
RED SHIRT DAY.

terry, which convenes at Bullock's
Creek, today.
RED SHIRT DAY.
Although not so largely attended
yesterday by the veterans of 1876 and
1873 as was generally desired, with its
procession Of uniformed horsemen,
music and excellent addresses, follow
ed by a business meeting at which a
permanent organization was effected,
the Red Shirt reunion yesterday was
an interesting and instructive affair.
The procession was formed at the
Episcopal orphanage on Kings Noun
tain street at about IL o'clock and
marched down that street through
Congress, Jefferson. Railroad and East
Liberty streets back to the court
house. There were in line sixty y-seven
horsemen wearing the old time regula-
ton uniform, and although many Of
the riders were men who had passed
their three score and ten, they gave
frequent evidences of the fact that
they had not forgotten how to cheer.
On returning to the corner Of Con-
gress and Liberty streets the riders
formed in line on the north side Of
West Liberty street with their horses
heads looking south, the line extended
from Congress street to the First Pres
byterian church, and as a carriage
containing Col. A. Coward and Senator
Stewart, the speakers of the day, and
Mr.. ]. c. Wilborn, of the central COM
mittee passed in review, there was
renewed cheering.
The review over and the horses put
away, the Red Shirt riders and sew
eral hundred other auditors, includ-
ing about a dozen ladies, gathered In
the court house to take part in the fur
ther proceedings, the delivery Of ad-
dresses by Col. A. Coward and Senator
Stewart, and the perfecting Of per-
manent reorganization Of the Red
Shirts Of York county.
DR.. ]. H. Saye called the meeting
to order and presided, and In calling
the meeting to order took occasion to
express the pleasure he felt at welcom-
ing so many of the veteran Red Shirt
riders who took part In he stirring
events when all of South ,arolina was
ablaze with the righteous enthusiasm,
which resulted in the rescue Of Anglo
Saxon civilization from q total blotting
out in this state, and the complete
restoration Of white supremacy within
our bounds. He then announced that
Thos. F. McDow, Esq, would introduce
the speakers.
AS the first speaker, Mr.. mellow in
troduced Col. Asbury Coward, gen.
tleman whose name Is synonymous
with patriotism, and whose superior as
soldier, citizen or gentleman has not
yet been produced in this or any other
generation.
Col. Coward was greeted with enthu-
siastic, long continued applause, and
when it had partially subsided.
began with: my fellow-citizens,
would say of York county were it not
for the fact that l have so thoroughly
outgrown the generation, not in supe-
riority, but in age, I will address you,
however, as South Carolinians. be-
there has not been a moment that
have not felt proud of the fact that I
am a South Carolinian, and as South
Carolinians, / rejoice to call you my
fellow citizens. [Cheersl.
Referring to the four years Of war
and the conditions that followed, the
speaker said that a review Of those
times would be a waste Of time so far
as his old comrades were concerned, but
he would briefly rehearse the story for
the benefit Of the new generations
coming on. Then he told Of the terms
that Grant had given at Appomattox.
their side arms and men with horses
that were private property and all were
pledged not to bear arms against the
Union again until regularly exchanged.
How the soldiers came home to find
their once prosperous country In ruins,
widows and orphans starving, and the
pressing necessity Of giving all atten-
tion to the work of rehabilitation. In
this condition, the politicians of the
north first demanded that we submit
to a constitutional amendment abol-
ishing slavery. We accepted that be-
cause slavery could no longer exist
under the changed conditions. They
then demanded that the negro be ac-
corded equal civil rights with the
whites, and when we accepted that in
the belief that the measure of our hu-
initiation was full, next came the de-
mand that before we could be admitted
back into the Union we must be re-
constructed. This was followed by the
establishment of freedmen's bureaus
presided over in many instances by the
scum of the northern army, and soon
the oppression and humiliation became
greater than we could bear. But what
were we to do? The south was full Of
men who would have been willing to
take up arms again; but there were no
we had given at AppomattoX, placing
us in a position where if we should at
tempt to fight at all, it would be with
halters around our necks and against
a victorious government that could
most easily overwhelm us. Then came
the constitution of 1868, the principal
feature of which was the unlimited
power to tax, and with foreign carpet
baggers, and domestic scalawags fill
ing all our offices, state and county
and representing us in congress, op-
preston grew worse and worse. In
time ii became an established custom
that a member of the legislature must
at least bring back a suit of furniture,
and it is told that the negro senator
from York county brought back bu-
reau or q bedstead that was so large,
that he had to tear off the side OF his
house so he could get it inside. The
theory of taxation was to lay burdens
on so heavily that the sheriff would
have to sell all the property and 1t
would pass into other hands. Then
came the promise of the thieves to
give each negro voter forty acres and
mule for voting right The state
debt which at the close of the war
was $6,OO0,0 900, increased in three years
to $7,000,000. 1t was under conditions
like these there first began to appear
that mysterious white army of night
riders and the operations of this army
began to make themselves felt in all
sections. The effect on the thieves
was quite marked, and it served also
to inspire the people of the state with
the idea that after all there was hope.
There followed Il monster meeting of
the white people of the state on the
2Sth of June, 1876, and from here was
propagated the sentiment that crys-
taliZed in the nomination of full state
ticket with Wade Hampton at its head.
The state was aroused from the sea-
board to the mountains. from the At