Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-09-26

the outfits, and when the big outpour-
ings took place at the court house,
they came in droves to add to the oc-
casion and serve meals to the men. 1t
was not simply the ladies of the towns
and cities, but all the rural districts
as well, who took part in the fight. All
in all 1t was a revolt against tyranny,
the like Of which had never been seen
before; a tyranny sanctioned by law to
humiliate the proud people who had
attempted to do what they thought to
be right, a humiliation deeper dyed
than the aftermath Of the French rev.
olution; the placing in power of peo-
pie, not Of the same race, but slaves,
who were not prepared to know the
proper use OF ballot; the act being
done not for the sake Of the slave, but
for the aggrandizement of his political
masters, and the proud Saxon race
rose like his ancestors in the early
days and threw the yoke off Of the
Norman master; like the colonies in
1776 threw off the shackles Of the Roy
alist invaders who followed them into
a free country to keep them downtrod-
den. This revolution was not because
of racial antipathy to the negro as
such, but a revolt against the efforts
of the politicians at Washington to
humiliate the white people Of South
Carolina by elevating the negro above
them. The legal rights Of the negro
is recognized and enforced by the peo-
pie of the south, but social equality
by them will never be tolerated.
And so the popular feeling bubbled
up as Hampton passed from the up
country to the low-country; from the
highlands to the lowlands, adown the
Grampian hills. 1t was like Scot
tish fight in which all classes were
united and taking part; the McDon-
aids and the McGregors alike. When
the red banner was waved below Co.
lumbia, the uprising was as great
in Anderson as in Newberry. Busi-
ness was suspended, homes abandon
ed, occupations given up for the time
being; lawyers closed their offices and
led; preachers prayed but Joined the
procession; merchants sold their goods
cheaper to the people and gave their
money; farmers and mechanics and
artisans left their occupations and
were in the saddle. All were in 1t and
to stay to the end, for it meant liberty
or death. A paraphrase of the colonial
lines truly expresses the Red Shirt de-
termination:
They left the plowshares in the mold,
The fiocks and herds without fold,
The sickle in the unshorn grain,
The corn half garnered on the plain;
And mustered in their red shirt dress,
For wrongs, to seek a stern redress.
To right those wrongs, come veal,
come woe,
To perish, or oercome their foe"
When Hampton reached Blackville
in Barnwell county he was met by
cohort of Red Shirts from all the sur
rounding counties, headed by that
peerless citizen, Johnson Hagood, and
they tramped with him across that
great country almost to the sea. The
spirit of that procession is spoken Of
unto today, as the greatest event Of
old Barnwell county.
Gordon Comes.
From across the Savannah came
that peerless southerner, John B. Cor
don. He was the best stump orator I
ever heard At White Point Garden
in Charleston, Gordon, before an i'm
mense crowd, in scathing terms, ar
raigned Chamberlain as a Daniel come
to judgment. At Columbia, at Aiken
and elsewhere he quickened and
aroused the fires of patriotism as he
knew well how to do; and went home
to return again after the election, by
wise counsel, to assist in guiding the
sequel to full fruition.
The Result and How II Came About.
The day of the election in Novem-
ber was beautiful, but active. Though
martial law had been declared by
Grant in Edgefield, Aiken and Barn
well, because of the Ellenton riot, and
perhaps in other counties, the deter
mined white men came home in their
Red Shirts and tramped the land. The
old saying, "all coons look alike" had
helped the negroes to repeat with
out fear of detection. Red shirts on
men made them all alike, and the
whites had been good students from
sheer necessity. Under the Radical
regime, there was no registration of
voters and the managers were allowed
three days before the boxes were turn
ed over to the county canvassers for
counting the votes. On this occasion,
determined white men, armed to the
teeth, accompanied the boxes and
camped with them until the votes
were counted.
1t is true that great many negroes
voluntarily voted the Hampton ticket;
numerous names could be given; for
example, Billie Rose, the body SER
want of Maxcy Gregg, in Columbia;
lOOle, III NUN 1iiii' 1NAAi
son, in Ridge Spring; Tom Hayne, in
Aiken; Caesar Chisolm, in Colleton,
and Democrat Riley, in Charleston.
Hampton was elected, but Chamber
lain and his men died hard.
Aftermath.
1t would take volumes to tell of the
immediate sequel and its trials. The
gathering of determined, anxious tired
men in Columbia. bent on enforcing
their victory; the supreme control and
cool management of Hampton under
trials without number; the dual houses
in session; the desertion of the sink
ing ship of Radicalism by the rats;
the forbearance and splendid record
of the Wallace house; the legal fight In
the courts, conducted by Col. Youmans
and Gen. Conner.
The gathering Of the investigating
committee from congress, seeking Tor
evidence to sustain Chamberlain, and
the unrest to furnish for our side the
evidence Of the right; the quartering
of the United States soldiers in the
off hNy chow