The Monroe journal., 1922-11-03
MRS. ABAGAIL DURANT HAS
LIVED THROUGH FIYE WARS
Monroe Man Brings An Interesting
Story of Remarkable Woman
Who Is 10l Years Old
HAS VIVID REMEMBRANCE OF
SHERMAN'S FAMOUS MARCH
Probably No One In South Carolina
Has Lived Throp~h So Much His
tory, She Having Been Born Short
ly After the Death Of Napoleon:
As a Girl She Heard the Issues Be-
tween the North and South Dis
cussed.

a
tween the North and South Dis
cussed.
An interesting story of a remark
able South Carolina centenarian, Mrs.
Abagail DuRant of Bishopv lie, was
brought to The Journal by Mr.. ID. W.
Waters of Monroe. "The i0lst year
OF her life,' the Bishopville dispatch,
appearing in the Camden Chronicle.
says, found her in good health, self
reliant, vigorous for her years and
with the fine intellect and keen inter-
est in affairs that has always marked
her.
"Mrs. DuRant is the daughter of
James Rembert, who was Of French
Hugpenot stock. She was born on
her fathers plantation near this
place. A large part of this beauti-
full plantation, which contained more
than 5000 acres, was inherited by
her and has been in her possession for
over 81 years. Mrs. DuRant was mar
RED 81 years ago. Her husband was
John 0. DuRant, grandson of Henry
DuRant of the American Revolution.
Has Lived Through Five Wars
Mrs. DuRant has lived through
the anxieties and sorrows of five
wars. She had relatives constantly
N peril during the Indian war in
Florida in 1882. When the Palmet-
10 regiment marched to the Mexican
war, Caleb Rembert, her only broth
er, was one of it's brave volunteers.
She never saw him again, as he died
from disease and was buried in the
City of Mexico during the siege of
that stronghold. To the Confed-
crate war went her husband and two
sons, David and James. This great
war took its deadly toll, too, as
James died from disease in the Con-
federate hospital at Charlottesville.
Va. Then came the Spanish Ameri-
can war and the anxieties connected
with the peril to her grandsons en-
gagged in it. And finally the World
war, in which were engaged many
grandsons and great-grandsons, one
Hugh Merritt. hav-
ing made the supreme sacrifice. n,
Naturally the Confederate war
made the greatest impression upon
her, and she talks most interesting
ly Of her experiences. Like so many
other brave Southern women, during
that period she worked increasingly
to keep the plantation going, to care
for the young children at home and
to cheer and aid loved ones in the
field
The End of THE Confederacy
"She must have realized that the
end of the Confederacy was nea
when one Saturday night in Marcn.
1868, while she and her five daugh-
.ers were seated at the supper table,
there rushe into the room, en- irely
Unexpectedly, more than a dozen I'm
ion soldiers. They ransacked rhe
house and made merry with bran y
which hey found. They formed pa.
of S.ernar's army, camped a few
N les away.
ION the Sunday following hun
drcds Of Federal soldiers pillaged her
place. Ttay took horses, cured
meats. chickens and everything to eat
that they could find. They burned
he barns and oltbuildings and the
gin with hundreds of bales of cotton,
but they left the home standing. For
a week, she says, nothing was cooked
in the big house, for the soldiers
would stand around the stove while
he food was being prepared ami
would eat it as fast as it was cooked,
SO she had to stop trying to prepare
The only food which she
and her young children had during
that time was brought to them Sc
.retly by faithful negro slaves. She
lid not go to bed for week, but Just |
slept for few minutes a. a time, day |
Or night, in chairs.
Officers Threatened Her
During this week officers inter- !
fiewed her constantly, trying 10 ge. |
Information as to the whereabouts of |
he men of her family and threaten
ng to burn her home If this infoima-
ION was not given. Sometimes they
would make preparations TO carry out
heir threats by pulling brands from
he fireplace and would boast of hav-
ng burned Columbia. With brave
.almness, which she still evidences.
he told them that she did hos konw
where her men folk were and hat if
he did she would not tell.
Probably no one else in South
Carolina has lived through as much
history as Mrs. DuRaft. She was
,orn the year after the death OF the
,reat Napoleon, when the worli had
'een recently torn with wars, and she
ived to see, nearly 100 years later,
the entire world in arms
gain.
"As girl and young woman, she
'eard constantly of the great politi-
al questions that were beginning to
iyide the North and South. she re-
ails vividly when notification was a
ital issue and Sou.h Carolina pre-
ared to resist fore bly, the tariff laws
I the nation, and she, with other
'outh Carolinians took pride in the
ebates of the great Calhoun and
Webster. She remembers, too. the in
ense interest of that day in the ques-
ion Of free and slave states, and how
his finally brOupht nm the Confadar