The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-01-05
SOME REcOLLECTIONS OF
FIFTY YEARS AGO
Suggested by Article of Judge w. C.
Benet.

gested to Mr.. Hollingsworth by the
recent article of Judge Benet IN
these columns. Mr.. Hollingsworth
is a close observer, and has an I'M
failing memory. When he was a
boy, and even now, he is IN most
places where things are being en-
acted, whether ordinary or e~xtraordl-
nary happenings, and we make the
guess that what he says is a correct
account of the events as they nap
pened. The following is the COM
munication:
Editor Press and Banner,
Abbeville, S. c.
Dear Sir:-The communication
of Hon. w. C. Benet, in a recent is
sue of your paper has brought to my,
mind r%ecollections of a thousand
things done and seen in the Civil
War. so / have thought it not amiss
to give to your readers an account OF
some of them as seen by me-, even
though the account be in a miscella-
neous, rambling way just as they
now occur to my mind.
Being only sever years old at the
beginning of the war, which ended
more than fifty years ago, you will
scarcely expect me to be accurate
as to dates, but I will give you
facts as I recall them. Mr.. Benet
mentioned the incident of three gen.
tlemen having sent twenty-seven
sons to the War, and he is correct in
that. but the names of the gentlemen
were. Messrs. R. H. Wardlaw, Char
les Haskell , and Bolts, the
father of our townsmen, MI. u. A.
Bolts. I further recall the fact
that four sent forty children to the
schools of this place, at one time,
before and just after the war, MIR.
R. H. Wardlaw being n of the
number.
The Male Academy. was just be-
yond the Power House, on the night
of the Blue Hill, as you leave town.
w. H. White was the first OF the
teachers whose names I recall at this
time. After him came Prof. Por-
cher, Rev. Emory Watson, Robert
Cheatham, G. A. Douglass and Rev.
George Mccarthy in the order nam
ed. Both ministers were pastors
of the Methodist Church here, while
teaching. t~%
The remale Academy, as it was
then called, stood where the Graded
School building nov is, and it was
taught by a Northern lady, Miss Kate
Putnam, the first I remember. She
returned to the North at the opening
of hostilities. Other teachers were,
Miss Pauline Wright, Mrs. Mcdowell,
Rev. DR.. Turner and Miss Fannie
Turner. I attended both schools,
but can recall very few of the pupils
who attended during the a Here
are the names of the survivors as I
a recall them: My old friend,
comrade and patriarch, Patrick
Roche, whose head is now hoary
with age, Charley White, Rev. J. Y.
Fair, James Taggart, Warren Keller,
Jack L. Hill, George Smith, Norwood
Calhoun, Took Graves, Ed. Jordon
and John Syfan.
Mr.. Benet also mentioned that at
Abbeville the first and last meetings
of Secession were held. He failed
or forgot to mention the further
fact that the first martyr of the
war was an Abbeville boy, j. Clark
Allen, who now sleeps at Long Cane
Cemetery. Clark, as he was famil-
iarly called, was a son of Henry, and
Jane Aston Allen, one of the family
of Aliens Of this place. He was a
cadet at the Citadel, and volunteered.
Shortly before the firing upon Fort
ter he. was accidentally killed by
lapIsd Wimbush, the bay
Pove the left
f happened. Allen
Sand his body was
TX to Abbeville and lay 4
his fathers home which
Stood on the site of the Phoenix Real
ty Company's stores Chose occupied
by Henry DuPre, Mrs. Cochran and
l.. c. Haskell.) The house was d
frame building, known as the Aston
corner In it the Misses Cater
kept a boarding house for a great
many years. 1t was finally moved
further back to give place to the
Taggart Hotel, recently burned.
Peace to the ashes of young Clark
Allen! He was a noble youth and
as bright a jewel as ever gave up
his young life for any cause
I also recall very wildly the occa,
sion of the last Cabinet Meeting of
Jefferson Davis at the old Burt
House, now owned by our esteemed
citizen, Mr.. James S. Stark. There
are a great many versions of how
and at what time Jefferson Davis
took his departure from Abbeville.
Here is mine: 1t was a beautiful
morning in the Spring of 1865, at
about $3.50 in the morning. 1 had
started to school at the Female AGA
deny, and just as I arrived at the
large oak tree that stood on the side
walk just in front of the ice house
on Upper Main street, 1 saw some
fifteen or twenty soldiers in uniform
coming down Main Street in front
of the present home of DR.. S. G..