The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-03-19
A YORK COUNTY HEROINE.
OF THE OLD DAYS
Story of Woman Who Held Her Own Against
Hostile Indians, and Who Moulded Bullets
With Which the Patriots Fought.

Back in the chambers of our mem
cries there are constantly arising
threads of history, tragedy ana
romance that persist in forming
themselves into pictures, and these
pictures seem to demand expression
in order that they may serve TO IN
struct, entertain and inspire others
who may be struck with lessons or
valuable suggestions as they may pre-
sent. In my own memory IND such
pictures as have been formed through
glimpses of the life of Barbara Nc
Kinney, and I'll tell the tale as 1t
was told to me-.
On the banks of Fishing Creek, in
York county, many years ago, or more
definitely speaking in the days OF the
American Revolution, there dWelt a
family of McKinneys. They were OF
Scotch-Irish blood and as hardy,
brave patriotic and loyal as were the
hest of those who upheld the honor
and glory of Scotland in the days OF
Wallace and Bruce.
The elder Mckinney and his sons
had been among the first of that gal
liant band of patriots, of;whom an ola
history of South Carolina published
in 1900, says: Those of the old
Piedmont hills of York were the
bravest soldiers of the Revolutionary
war
Barbara Mckinley was the only
daughter of the Mckinney home. 10
live I'D to the times in those days,
one had to be very brave and fear
less, and Barbara was no exception.
Indeed. from the many stores we
have heard of her fearless daring,
her invincible fortitude, her strength
and courage, when days were the
darkest. when not one ray of nope
frightened her almost isolated h1e'
she must have been quite a heroine.
Living in a comparative wilderness,
far from any other habltatlon, en-
vironed by invading hosts and hostile
Indians; in that trying time that aW-
e6 the stoutest hearts, she displayed
with cold, firm deliberation, quail
ties that were certainly remarkaole.
While her father and brothers
were away with Marion fighting Tor
1iherty. she was the soul dependence
and protector of her mother, and
several small brothers, and bore the
bnrden the situation involved with
Spartana like endurance. She could
use the old flint-lock musket with
unerring aim and ride any horse
that could be mounted. On several
occasions she outwitted British SOL
diers. and often challenged the pur-
suit of Indians.
1t was said of her that one night
she watched a band of Indians Slip
I'D to the little log stable at the back
of the house and steal a young black
mare that she had raised and OF
which she thought great deal. II
was a wild and fractious animal and
had never been mounted by any one
but herself. In the bright moonlight
barbara saw the Indians lead the
mare away, and waiting until they
reached the cover of the woods, she
quietly slipped from the house, de-
termined to follow them, and bring
her favorite possession back or die
in the attempt. -
Keeping the Indians in sight she
followed them through woods,
swamps, and thickets until they,
thinking themselves beyonr pursuit,
halted. Barbara saw them tie the
mare to a sapling and lay down on
the ground at a little distance away
to sleep. Hidden in the underground
she waited until she was sure that
the Indians were fast asleep. She
realized that to attempt to rescue
the mare, she would simply have to
make good on the undertaking or die
in the attempt. She crept softly and
slowly up to where the mare was tied
and deliberately cutting the rope halt
er, sprang upon the mares back. 1t
was done in an instant; but with the
cracking of a twig under her feet an
Indian had the mare by the rope. She
stopped over and gave the savage a
singing cut across his face and eyes
with a stout hickory stick she had IN
her hand. The Indian gave a yell OF
pain and dropped stunned to the
ground while the mare leaped over
his body and dashed away like
flash. Hours after, just as the sun
was topping the eastern hills, bruls-
ed and bleeding and with clothes torn
TO shreds, Barbara stepped from the
mares back at home.