The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-03-14
ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE
NEAR LONG CANE, FEB. /,
1850 BY CHEROKEE INDIANS
(By Mrs. Fannie J. Marshall.)

(By Mrs. Fannie J. Marshall.)
The present generation knows
very little of the first settlers of
our country. Think of moving from
Pennsylvania and Virginia in wagons
with women and young children,
over mountains and rivers, through
dense forests on poor roads and Of
ten none.
Such were the trials of a COM
pany that settled in Granville County
now Abbeville County, in 1855. In
this company were Calhouns, No
bles, and the Pickens family. Cath
crime Calhoun, a widow of James
Calhoun, who died in Virginia, with
her sons William, Ezekiel, James
and Patrick, her daughter, Mary,
widow of John Noble and son Alex
ander, settled on or near Long Cane
and Little River. They had to live
in their wagons until logs were cut
to build houses with dirt floors and
mud chimnies, but these poor houses
felt like palace compared to the
wagon life they had endured for
months.
William, the eldest son, had mar
ried in Virginia, Agnes Long, and
had four children. In July 1853,
four hundred acres Of land was
granted to William, two hundred
acres to Patrick, three hundred to
Ezekiel, five hundred and fifty to
James, all this land and much more
was granted to these brothers on
Little River around Calhoun Mills
Tor years this section was called
Calhoun settlement. Some of this
land is now owned by John Morrah,
Cabel, Wilson and the Watsons.
Patrick, the youngest son, was
commissioned by the General Survey
or to lay out their lands. ..'..
(See Land Records of s. C.) e.
In 1760 the Cherokee Indians be-
gun to give much trouble, the peo-
pIe were obliged to take their fam
lies to safe place. On Feb. 1st,
1760,, thirteen wagons with about
one hundred and fifty men, women,
and children, started to Fort Tobin,
Augusta, Ga. When within a mile
of Patterson's Bridge over Long
Cane, the party was attacked by lou
I Cherokee Indians. In a few mo-
ments Catherine Calhoun, the mo-
ther, was killed. The men fought
with desperation, being out number
ed by the Indians, they were OBJ
iged to fly to the woods, leaving
many killed by the savage foe. In
a few days Patrick Calhoun returned
to this sad scene. There he found
the body of his mother with 22
others, dreadfully mutilated. The
woods around had been burned and
many dead bodies in them.
:, In South Carolina Gazette OF Feb.
9th, 1850, the following account was
given.
"Mr. Patrick Calhoun, one, Of the
unfortunate settlers near Long
+ Cane. who were attacked by the
! Cherokee Indians on the 1st, as they
were moving their wives, children
and best effects to Augusta, Ca, for
. safety, has Just come in town and
i informs us that the whole of these
settlers, $50 souls, 55 or. 60 fight
, ing men, that their loss amounted
to so or 60, chiefly women and
children. They lost even their wa
sons, the others reached Augusta
safely"
Patrick Calhoun, Gather Of John
Calhoun) erected on the site OF this
massacre, a large and small granite
stone with this inscription on the
the large one: $751;. "
sPat Calhoun, Esq. .'.t '.a.
sIn memory of Mrs. Catherine
: Calhoun, aged 76 years, who with
22 others, was here murdered by
the Indians the 1st of Feb. 1880"
.sG(The Stone still stands just be-
yond rPatterson's bridge, on the
road to Troy. It is in a fine state
of preservation.-Editor.)