USA > South Carolina > Marion County > A history of Marion county, South Carolina, from its earliest times to the present, 1901 > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
In 1832 and 1833, Acts were passed reorganizing the militia of the whole State. By those Acts the muster beats (town-
1
9
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
ships) in every county were laid out, and a thorough reorgani- zation of the militia of the State effected. Every muster beat formed a company, eight companies formed a regiment, four regiments formed a brigade, two brigades formed a division, and five divisions covered the State. For each division a Major General was elected, for each brigade a Brigadier General was elected, and for each regiment a Colonel, a Lieutenant Colonel and a Major were elected, and for each company a Captain and three Lieutenants were elected ; also, a staff for each field officer was appointed. The field officers for divisions and brigades were elected by the Legislature. Colo- nels of regiments and all officers below him were elected by the people. An Adjutant was appointed for each regiment, and an Adjutant and Inspector General for the whole State was elected. The Governor for the time being was Commander- in-Chief of the militia of the whole State, including cavalry and artillery regiments. Brigade encampments were provided for in each of the two brigades, to be held for five and six days every two years. The brigade encampment for the 8th bri-" gade, in which the regiment (32d) from Marion was, was held every two years on the west side of Great Pee Dee, near Godfrey's Ferry. At these brigade encampments the Governor and his staff; the Major General and his staff of this (4th) division ; the Brigadier General and his staff; the Colonels of the eight regiments composing the 8th brigade; all the Adju- tants of the several regiments; the Lieutenant Colonels and Majors ; all the Captains and Lieutenants of all the companies in the brigade, were required to attend, each in his prescribed uniform, from Lieutenant up to Governor. These brigade en- campments were for drill, exercise and inspection. The horses of the field officers were required to be richly caparisoned, according to rank, the higher the officer the richer the uniform and horse-trappings. They had their tents and camp equipage. The expense of all this was borne by each officer, so far as his uniform and horse-trappings were concerned. The transporta- tion of all this equipage was in wagons (no railroads in those times).
The subdivisions of the district into company beats (town- ships) in Marion District were as follows : High Hill, Maiden
10
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
Down, Berry's Cross Roads and Harlleesville formed what was the upper battalion; Marion or Gilesboro, Britton's Neck, Big Swamp and Jeffreys formed the lower battalion. The com- panies in each beat were required to meet for "drill, exercise and parade" every two months, or six times in the year. In each battalion there had to be a battalion muster once a year, and a general muster of the regiment, composed of the two battalions, was required to be held once a year. Every able- bodied man in each beat was enrolled and required to do militia service, between the ages of eighteen and forty years. Many other requirements, not necessary to mention, were con- tained in the law. The organization was seemingly perfect- at least on paper-and continued to exist until the Confederate war. The offices, from highest to lowest, were eagerly sought-our people were ambitious to obtain military honors or distinction, notwithstanding they were mere empty titles. There was no money or pay in any of them, except the Adjutant and Inspector General of the State. Every officer equipped "himself and served his country at his own expense. As a general rule, they took pride in their positions and showed off to best possible advantage-and especially the field officers. The writer recollects an illustrative remark made by the late John C. Bethea, in reference to the late Col. James R. Bethea, while he was Colonel of this (the 32d) regiment. He bought a fine horse for $200 and fine horse-trappings, a uniform for himself of fine material, trimmed in the manner prescribed by law for an officer of his rank. The total outfit cost him from $400 to $500. He was elected Colonel while a single man. He was also fond of hunting, and kept a kennel of hounds -- five or six. Pending his colonelcy he married, and in due process of time his wife bore him a son, whom he named Jesse; the Colonel was very proud of his boy. There were four objects which the Colonel delighted in above all things else, to wit: his wife, Mary; his son, Jesse; his horse, Hugh- warra, and his dogs-these were his pets and nearest his heart. John C. Bethea, a relative and neighbor of the Colonel, observing these idols of his, said: "It was difficult to tell which of the four the Colonel worshipped most." Said though, "he thought the boy, Jesse, was first, and his horse, Hughwarra,
11
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
was next; and he did not know which came next, whether it was Mary or the dogs." This play of humor upon Col. Bethea illustrates the martial pride and spirit of the whole State, inclusive of Marion District. It permeated the whole people. The higher militia offices were sought most generally by men of means, able and willing to incur the concomitant expense. They were sometimes sought by men of small means, but such was the militia mania of the people and times, that men with little means would stake all they had or could procure for the sake of the empty honors consequent upon military titles and preferments. Some of the bitterest contests that ever occurred in Marion District for office, were inspired by this military spirit. This was much more commendable than the scramble of the present day, between scheming politicians for office be- cause of the money there is in it. From 1833 to 1860, Marion District had her full share of the high positions in the military of the State. I will name such of them as are remembered since 1833 : Before 1833, Marion had her Brigadier Generals, Thomas Godbold and William Woodberry; Brigadier General E. B. Wheeler, Brigadier General William Evans, Brigadier General Elly Godbold; Major General W. W. Harllee; Colonel Thomas Harllee, Colonel James R. Bethea, Colonel John J. George; Majors W. H. Moody, William Ford, D. J. Taylor, Samuel McPherson, R. G. Howard, James S. Rogers, John A. Breeden, Woodward Manning and D. W. Edwards. The Majors and Brigadier Generals went up by regular gradations from the lower positions of Major and Colonel. The Colonels rose from lower position to that of Colonel. All except Colonel Thomas Harllee, who was the first Colonel elected upon the reorganization of the militia under the Acts of 1832 and 1833. He was elected, as the writer has always understood, from the ranks. By those Acts, all previous commissions were vacated. The election was just after the heated struggle for and against Nullification. In Marion District, the parties for and against Nullification were about equal in strength. The Nullifiers carried the District by a narrow majority. In 1834, when the reorganization actu- ally took place, the smouldering fires of the Nullification struggle were again lighted up and burned with their original
12
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
fury. Each party put up their supposed strongest man for Colonel. The Nullifiers brought out Thomas Harllee, a modest and unassuming man-a man who had never asked for office, and never did afterwards (he had previously been elected a delegate to the Nullification Convention in 1832, unsought by him). He was a man of great natural popularity, a magnetic man. The Opposition or Union party brought out as their candidate for Colonel, John T. Ervin, then a resident citizen of Marion District, but afterwards moved to Darlington. He was a man of wealth, with winning and graceful manners, a magnetic man. They both had many strong and monied friends-either could command as much money as he wanted. These two champions entered the race-the most heated and exciting race, perhaps, the county has never had. The district was stirred from centre to its utmost limits ; in every nook and corner, the aged and decrepit were hunted up and brought to the polls on the day of election. Doubtless, much money was spent by the respective parties during the campaign, and on the day of election. When the votes were counted, it was ascertained that Ervin had beaten Harllee one vote. The elec- tion was protested by Harllee's friends, and of course more than one illegal vote was found. The election was set aside and another election was ordered. The parties entered the second race with renewed determination and vigor, nothing left undone that was within human compass. The second elec- tion was held, and when the votes were counted, it was ascer- tained and so declared that Harllee had beaten Ervin by twenty- six votes. No protest was made, and Harllee became Colonel of the 32d Regiment. Colonel Thomas Harllee was not fitted for such an office-it was not congenial to his nature. He held the office, however, with credit to himself and satisfaction to his numerous friends for a few years, and resigned and re- turned to the pursuits of private life. He was of a retiring dispositon, modest and unassuming-the district honored itself in honoring him. He was older than the late General W. W. Harllee, and never married. In 1844 or 1845, he sold out at Harlleesville and went to Charleston, and there went into a factorage and commission business with a man named Carson, under the firm name of Carson & Harllee. He lived only a
13
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
short while after this, and died universally loved and respected wherever he was known.
Among the Majors of the two battalions, the oldest by virtue of his seniority became Lieutenant Colonel. The writer may not have mentioned all the Colonels and Majors in Marion District since the reorganization in 1834-the omission arises not from intention, but from his want of memory- he has no record to look at.
Other heated contests were common in companies and bat- talions. The most noted of these was between Captain John J. George, of Berry's Cross Roads beat, and Captain H. B. Cook, of the Maiden Down beat, for Major of the upper battalion, which occurred by the promotion of Major James R. Bethea to the Colonency of the regiment. This was about 1842 or 1843. The first election, Captain Cook beat Captain George six votes. George protested the election, which was set aside and another election ordered. At the second election, George beat Cook seven votes. It was protested and set aside, and a third election ordered-at which Captain Cook declined to enter the race, and Captain Henry Rogers, of the High Hill beat, became the candidate. At this third election, Captain George was elected by a hundred majority. This contest, though con- fined to the upper battalion, was exciting, and a full vote was polled. Major George was finally promoted to the Colonelcy of the regiment, which he held for several years.
Enough has been said to show the martial spirit of our people even in times of peace, and it continues down to the present day-though it seems to the writer that the present organiza- tion of the militia of the State is not calculated to awaken and arouse and foster the martial ardor and spirit of the people as did the former organization of the State militia, and especially that of 1833 and 1834, which the writer thinks the best ever devised here or elsewhere for a citizen militia. As already stated, every able-bodied man from eighteen to forty years of age was enrolled. At each petty muster the roll was called, and defaulters marked and afterwards court martialed; and unless he had an excuse deemed sufficient by the court, he was fined, and if not paid an execution was issued against his prop- erty and lodged with the Sheriff ; and if no property sufficient
14
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
to satisfy the execution and costs, he could be arrested and put in jail, and kept there until he was thence discharged according to law. This provision of the law forced attendance, and there were few defaulters without sufficient excuse. Along in this line a ludicrous occurrence once happened at roll-call at Harl- leesville on a petty muster occasion, which I will relate. During roll-call the name of Ephraim Taylor, the father of our late respectable fellow-citizen, Morgan Taylor, was called; he did not answer-was not present. Ephraim's brother, Thomas, was in line, and he (Thomas) hollered out, "He could not come, he had no breeches to wear." This produced a general laugh along the whole line.
Another incident, at the same muster ground, of a different character, had a sad ending. In July, 1842 or 1843, at a petty muster, one Yates Cottingham, the grand-father of our Henry C. Cottingham, at Dillon, was at the muster that day. The old gentleman, a harmless man, had one failing, and but one-he was passionately fond of liquor; if he had any other failing, the writer never heard of it. He went up to a cart or wagon where whiskey was to sell ( for in that day any one might sell liquor with impunity, although against the law), several were standing round ; old man Yates expressed a strong desire for some liquor, and said he could drink a quart, if he had it, without taking it from his head; whereupon some one in the crowd said to him, "Yates, if you will drink it I will pay for it." The whiskey was measured in a quart cup and handed out, the old gentleman took it and turned it up to his mouth, and there held it until he had drained the quart cup. After drink- ing it, he turned and walked off towards Colonel Thos. Harl- lee's store, a few steps off, walked up the steps and to a long board in the piazza ; he lay down on the board and never rose again. In the afternoon the people broke up and left for their homes. About sunset, after the people had all gone, Colonel Harllee closed up the store and went up to his house, perhaps a hundred or more yards away. Colonel Harllee said when he closed his front door, he saw old man Yates lying there on the bench ; did not go to him nor did he call him-that the old man was only tight and was asleep; that the old gentleman would wake up during the night and go home, only a mile or so away.
15
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
That he had seen him many times drunk and asleep upon that bench; that the old gentleman would wake up during the night and go home. Col. Harllee heard or knew no more till the next morning, when a negro went to his house, and told him the old man was dead. He immediately went down to the store and found the old man dead and rigid-so much so that they concluded that he died before night the evening before. An inquest was held and the facts found about as herein stated. The old man, Yates Cottingham, was the uncle by marriage of Colonel Harllee-Yates' wife was his aunt. It is supposed that there are not many now living who were there that day, hence the writer speaks of it as a sad occurrence at a petty muster in that day and time, and that the incident may be transmitted to posterity and have an influence for good upon the present and future generations.
SECTION II.
Its Surface and Soil, Its Rivers and Lakes, Its Inland Swamps.
The surface of Marion County is generally level. It is undulating gently in the upper portion of the county, and is undulating more or less on the rivers and inland swamps in every part of the county, which affords fall enough for proper and effective drainage, but not enough to produce damage to the cleared land by washing from excessive floods of rain. It is a well watered region. It has on its west side Great Pee Dee, its western boundary, and its tributary streams. It is intersected in its whole length by Little Pee Dee, where said river is not a boundary, and Lumber River is a boundary in part on the east. In the upper part of the county it has the two Reedy Creeks, Big and Little Reedy Creek. They both rise in Marlborough County, and running in a southeasterly direction come together just above the town of Latta, and make Buck Swamp, which continues to run the same course, or rather a little more east, for fifteen or more miles, and pours its waters into Little Pee Dee, near or just above what was formerly called Norton's Landing, and is now known by that name, though long since it has ceased to be a public landing. These creeks and Buck Swamp have several small tributaries
16
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
laterally emptying themselves into them, to wit: Hannah Bethea's Mill Branch into the Big Creek; the Clark Mill Branch and Cana Branch into Little Reedy Creek; Gin House Branch and Peter's Branch into Buck Swamp; Robert's Mill Branch and Maiden Down, with its tributaries, into Buck Swamp, lower down. There are good lands on all these streams, and well watered by them. There are, perhaps, other small tributaries not herein mentioned. There are many trib- utaries to Little Pee Dee, on both sides, which water the sec- tions through which they flow. Shoe Heel is one almost as large as Little Pee Dee; Hays' Swamp another; Maple Swamp another; Catfish, another inland.swamp, has its rise in Marl- borough County, and traverses for near forty miles the county from north to northwest to south and southeast, and empties into Great Pee Dee seventeen or eighteen miles below Marion C. H. It has some tributaries, not so many as Buck Swamp, to wit : E. J. Moody's Mill Creek, Smith's Swamp, Bull Swamp and others. Catfish waters a large portion of the country, and has some very fine lands (mostly sandy) watered by it and its tributaries.
Lumber River has a large tributary from the upper end of Marion, to wit: Bear Swamp, with its tributaries, Gaddy's Mill Creek, Cowper's Swamp and Alligator Swamp. It empties into Ashpole, and Ashpole empties into Lumber River just, above Nichols' Depot, in the eastern portion of the county. There are two Reedy Creeks, with their tributaries, below Marion, coming together above Legett's Mill, emptying into Little Pee Dee. There is the Back Swamp, which breaks out of Little Pee Dee not far below Gilchrist's Bridge, and runs down somewhat parallel with the river for ten or fifteen miles and flows into the river again. This swamp may have been . originally, or in the long past, the river itself. Reasons for this theory are only conjectural, not conclusive. Lower down is Cypress Creek, flowing into Little Pee Dee from the west. Upon all of these streams are good lands, with sufficient natu- ral drainage, and aided by the many artificial ones, makes the lands adjacent most desirable for agricultural purposes. Na- ture has done as much for us in Marion County as perhaps any other county in the State, with as few drawbacks, and it re-
17
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
mains for its people to avail themselves of these many natural advantages, and to improve upon them; and if the same prog- ress and improvements are made for the next fifty years as has been made for the last fifty, the county will probably take the highest stand, agriculturally, among the many agricultural counties in the State. They are already vieing with each other for the highest distinction. An ambition to excel in agricul- tural life is everywhere apparent, not only here in Maron, but all over the State.
SECTION III. Its Soil and Productions.
The soil of the county is varied, some parts sandy and light, other parts a dark gray soil or loam, others a dark brown soil, and some places black. The different soils here mentioned rest on a clay foundation, except the sandy or light soils, and even some of these are underlaid with clay. The different soils vary in thickness, as also in fertility, from one inch to six inches, and in some places even more than six inches, to wit: in swamp or bay lands. The lands of every description are more or less fertile, and respond more or less abundantly to the labor of man in plentiful harvests. The sandy or light lands lie mostly on Catfish and Little Pee Dee. The gray soil is mostly found on Buck Swamp, and its tributaries ; and below Marion in all parts or neighborhoods after leaving Catfish and Little Pee Dee for two or three miles, also in the Mullins region, and in Hillsboro and Carmichael, after getting off from the river as above indicated. The dark brown soil is mostly near the Great Pee Dee River, and the Grove lands in Wahee Township. The black in swamps and bays. The agricultural productions of the county are varied-most or all of the cereals, such as corn, wheat, rye, oats, rice and barley. Vegetables in great abundance are successfully grown in every portion of the county, made for domestic use and some for shipment ; of the latter, peas, beans, cabbage and strawberries are becoming, over and above domestic use, a money crop. Strawberries, in particular, are raised for shipment with reasonable profit, and are increasing in value every year. The cultivation of these
18
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
vegetable crops for shipment gives needed employment to many that otherwise would be unemployed. Women and children find work to do, which they can perform, and thus. become contributors to their own support, rather than con- sumers only. Irish and sweet potatoes are generally made mostly for domestic use, some for shipment. Watermelons and canteloupes grow well here, only for domestic use. The great money crops are cotton and tobacco. It is only within the last few years that tobacco has been grown here as a money crop, and its production has been rapidly increased, giving employ- ment to hundreds that formerly were unemployed from July Ist to September in every year. In the cultivation, curing and grading tobacco, to which stemming has recently been added, hundreds in the county, every season, are busily em- ployed. There are perhaps hundreds of tobacco barns in the county and others are now going up. At Mullins, there are three tobacco warehouses; at Nichols, one; at Marion, two; at Latta, two, and at Dillon, two, with prize houses at each point named, in number and size sufficient to accommodate the business needs of the trade. It is estimated that there were made and sold at these different tobacco warehouses in 1899 ten millions of pounds; many of the farmers shipped their tobacco to Danville, Va., Richmond, and other markets. To- bacco is fast becoming one of the staple crops of Marion County, and there is no telling to what proportions it may attain.
Tobacco has been raised as a money crop for export in this country, ever since the first settlement at Jamestown, Va., in 1607. Its cultivation in this State began only a few years ago, and still later in this, Marion County. It has so far, in this county, brought fairly good prices, which, together with the low price of cotton, stimulates its production. Most of the arable lands in the county are well adapted to its growth and maturity, and much of the land makes tobacco of a very fine quality, and it commands the highest prices. Its cultivation as a money crop has, perhaps, come to stay. The leading staple crop of the county is cotton-the lands are well adapted to its growth and maturity. Its production prior to 1793 was quite limited, not only in Marion County, but in the State, and we might say throughout the cotton belt.
19
A HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
From the first settlement of the State, in 1670, to 1793, for near one hundred and twenty-five years, the export of agri- cultural products was confined to rice and indigo. The rice crops were mostly raised on the coast or in tide-water lands, where it is yet the leading money crop. It was never raised to much extent in Marion County ; only raised for domestic use. A few old rice plantations were in the lower part of the county, contiguous to the river. Rice was shipped thence to Charles- ton, the only market for it in the State, and thence shipped to Europe.
Cotton has been the chief money crop of the State for one hundred years or more. It succeeded indigo. Although cot- ton has been known for more than two thousand years, or since the days of Herodotus, who wrote that "Gossypium (cotton) grew in India which instead of seed produced wool" (Ram- say's, vol. 2, p. 119), yet through all ages from that remote period cotton was grown only for domestic use. Now it is an article of universal use, and it may be said, clothes the world. Of cotton, there are two kinds-the long staple, or black seed, and the short staple. The former is restricted as to produc- tion to confined limits, to the sea islands and parts adjacent. The lint is easily separated from the seed, and is used for manufacturing the finer classes of goods. The latter, or short staple cotton, grows well in all the cotton belt in this country, and is used in making the coarser fabrics, such as are in com- mon use everywhere, and the lint is hard to separate from the seed, and can be done with facility only by the use of saw gins. The difficulty of separating the lint from the seed furnishes the reason it was not planted and cultivated as a money crop in South Carolina till about the first of the nineteenth century, or about one hundred years ago. The saw gin was invented in 1793, by Eli Whitney, a Connecticut school teacher, then teaching in Georgia. This invention, and its success in the purpose for which it was intended, suddenly gave a stimulus to the production of cotton in the South. "Whitney's invention has had more influence on the industry, wealth and political condition of this country than any other labor saving machine ever constructed in America." Previous to that time only small quantiites of cotton had been made in the South. Almost
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.