USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. II > Part 31
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of the people; this placed all citizens of the State on the same footing, and Patrick Cuningham was returned to the first General Assembly by the people of Laurens. He served two terms, but believing that he was overlooked in the duties of the House by the malignity of those who governed, he refused to serve any longer. In 1793, he was appointed a Deputy Surveyor, and in that capacity, surveyed much of the land in the upper country. His fine homestead, on the Saluda, near the mouth of Reedy River, he, perhaps, acquired soon after his return from Florida, though it is possible he owned it before the Revolution. His third son, Robert, the subject of this memoir, was there born, on the 18th of Octo- ber, 1786. His father died in 1794 or 1795, his mother in 1796 ; his brother, William, and sister, Pamela, died young. His brother, John, lived till 1817, then died unmarried. The whole large patrimonial estate thus became the property of Robert. His primary instruction was received in Charleston.
Dr. Abner Pyles taught in the vicinity of Milton, Laurens District, during the youth of Robert. To him, who was a rigid disciplinarian and good teacher, he was indebted for a a good classical education. At that school, he met Benjamin C. Yancey, John Caldwell and James Mckibben. After the establishment of Mount Bethel Academy, in Newberry, about 1803 or 1804, he was, for a short time, a student there, under the direction of Elisha Hammond, the father of Governor Hammond, or his successor, Mr. Smith. At these schools he was prepared for the Junior Class of Yale College; for which he started to obtain admission ; but in passing through Virginia, he met with friends, at whose instance, especially of a Mr. Preston, he was induced to enter the college at Lexington, in that State, where he graduated. His gradua- tion address so pleased his family and friends, that it was published in a Charleston paper, which, after a few years, was discontinued or merged in some other journal.
He, although with the hopes, views and expectations of a planter, for a time devoted his mind to the acquisition of legal knowledge, as a fit and suitable preparation to discharge well the duties of an agriculturist and citizen. For a short time,
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he read law in the office of Mr. Cheves, then the leading lawyer of the City of Charleston. Tiring of the city, or fear- ing for his health, he returned home and pursued his legal studies, in the office of Mr. John C. Calhoun, at Abbeville. To him he became personally devotedly attached, and so con- tinued during his life. He completed his legal education by attending, for a season, the legal lectures of Reeves and Gould, at Litchfield, Connecticut. In December, 1810, he was ad- mitted to the Bar in Columbia.
He opened his office as an Attorney at Law, at Laurens Court House, but never resided at the village. He resided at the paternal mansion. He was the partner of Benjamin James, Esq., and as such practiced law until June, 1812, and managed or aided in a few cases, with what success I am unable to say, but I have very little doubt, he did full justice to them. For, he was a well-read lawyer, and the character of his mind was to do well whatever he undertook.
In June, 1812, the second war of independence, that which was waged for the protection of our flag and of our seamen on the high seas against the lawless invasion of the British ships, was declared. Young Cuningham, goaded by the taunts of malice, on account of the association of his name with the leader of the " Bloody Scout," and burning with the desire to wipe out forever the popular stigma, and to win for himself and his future family (if ever he should have one) a glorious immortality, as the soldier of liberty and his country, applied for, and, through Mr. Calhoun, obtained a captain's commission. He filled the ranks of his company in a marvel- ously short period of time and at great expense.
In August, 1812, he marched his company, consisting of the young men of his neighborhood, to Columbia; on the same day, Captain Robinson, from North Carolina, with an- other company of recruits, reached Columbia. Together they took possession of the lot and building once occupied as the Rope Walks; afterwards owned by Judge Nott, and latterly by Mr. Richardson, as their barracks and quarters. I recol- lect that Bishop Gale, of Cambridge, Abbeville District, was the first lieutenant of Captain Cuningham's company. They,
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after a short time, under the command of Lieut. Col. Andrew Pickens, marched for Charleston and Fort Moultrie. My recollection is, that Colonel Wellborn, of North Carolina, had the command of the regiment. After reaching Fort Moultrie, Capt. Cuningham was attached to the 18th Regiment, under the command of Colonel Drayton, who commanded the troops at the fort ; and his company of recruits, who had only enlisted for eighteen months, were distributed to various vol- · unteer regiments. He was soon transferred to the Sth Regi- ment of the regular army, commanded by Colonel Jack. Of this regiment, Lawrence Manning, brother of the elder Gov- ernor Manning, of this State, was lieutenant-colonel. In it, also, were Captains Twiggs, (now general in the army,) M. I. Keith and Edward Tatnall; and in it, or in Colonel Newnan's command, was Major William Cumming, of Georgia. As aid was to be dispatched from this regiment to Colonel Newnan in his expedition against the Indians in Florida and southern Georgia, Captains Cuningham and Kieth offered their com- panies to constitute it, and were accepted. They saw much sharp and exposed service. This service consisted in several partisan affairs, and in traversing swamps and dislodging the lurking enemy from their hidden recesses. In one of these severe contests, Lieutenant Smith, of Tennessee, was killed, as two companies, under Captain Cuningham, were charging into and through a hammock.
The constant exposure of Captain Cuningham, in this harassing service, prostrated him with a violent attack of fever at Point Petre, on the Georgia coast. On his recovery from it, he found that a shattered constitution was the only reward of his active military exertions. He resigned his commission in January, 1814, and sought the restoration of his health on his paternal acres. On the 22d of February, 1814, he married an accomplished lady, Miss Louisa Bird, the daughter of Col. William Bird, formerly of Virginia, and then resident on the Ogeechee, Georgia; and with her and the society of his elder brother, who was still alive, he sat down to enjoy, at the paternal home, now and hence- forward called Rosemont-the blessings of " Home, sweet
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home." His son states he resigned when he was about being promoted to the rank of Major.
In 1820, his friends and neighbors of Laurens put him in nomination for the House of Representatives, in the General Assembly. He was elected by an overwhelming vote, and took his seat in November, 1820. During his term, John Cuningham, Esq., a lawyer of Laurens, was a candidate for the office of Treasurer of the Upper Division. Some malig- nant whispered the falsehood that he was of the Tory family of Cuningham, of Laurens. The slander came to the ears of Capt. Cuningham ; he arose in his place, and denounced it as an unmitigated falsehood. He said-" I, not the candidate, belong to the Tory family of Cuningham, of Lau- rens." The slanderers, whoever they were, shrunk into ob- scurity and insignificance; John Cuningham was elected, and Capt. Cuningham acquired additional honor from his manly avowal. Many remember that the frail man before them was one of the heroes of the war of 1812, and that he had not only perilled life in the service of his country, but that he had impaired his health, in the privations and hardships of an inglorious Indian service, which she had demanded from him.
But this matter, so ungenerously brought before the public, so affected his sensitive nature, that he determined never more to hold public office ; and this determination he maintained to the close of life. In the retirement of his farm, in the enjoy- ment of his wife, children, and friends, in doing good all around him, and in his devotion to religion and its duties, most of his subsequent life was spent.
In the Nullification contest, although his friend, Calhoun, was the reputed father of the scheme of Nullification, he never hesitated for a moment. He was a Union man first and last. He could not bear to think of destroying that glorious flag, under which, in 1812, he had offered up health and perilled life.
Before and during 1850-51, the ill health of his noble and gifted daughter, Miss Ann Pamela Cuningham, (whose name will live in honor and glory as long as Mount Vernon and
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Washington are remembered, caused him to travel much in the Middle and Eastern States. The hostility continually exhibited to Southern slave-owners, and the bitter denuncia- tions of slavery constantly pouring into his ears, made him think the hour had come when disunion should take place. He was, therefore, a Secessionist in 1851; and has since thought a Southern Confederacy necessary. This was, how- ever, I know, a reluctant conclusion of a devoted friend of his country ; and I rejoice that what he thought necessary did not occur, and, hope, never will. In the Union, and under the Constitution, we are safe. Deprived of these safeguards, anarchy, civil war, and ruin, will be our portion.
Captain Cuningham became a member of the Presby- terian Church in '28 or '29 ; he was set apart as an elder in 1831. His Christian and religious principles were opposed to duelling ; yet an ungenerous fling at him as connected with the leader of the "Bloody Scout." in a newspaper publication of a speech made in the Court House, Columbia, by Colonel Wm. C. Preston, during our Nullification excitement, so ex- asperated him, that he thought he was justified in calling him to the field of honor. Friends interfered, and prevented the sad catastrophe of shedding the blood of one or both of two noble-minded gentlemen. It is due now to the memory of the dead and the living, that it should be said Colonel Preston did not utter the charge as published : it was the embellish- ment of the fruitful imagination of the proprietor.
Captain Cuningham, during his services in the army, made himself very well acquainted with surgery and medicine. His knowledge he successfully applied in his family, among his slaves, and to his neighbors.
To his slaves, reared by himself, his brother and his father, he was especially kind and attentive. He took great pains to have them properly instructed in the truths of Christianity ; yet his discipline was strict and firm, to maintain honesty fidelity and obedience.
He died at his paternal mansion and seat, called Rose- mont, below the confluence of Reedy and Saluda Rivers, in Laurens district, on Thursday, the 7th day of July, 1859, in
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the seventy-third year of his age, after a protracted illness of four months, from dropsy. He leaves his excellent wife and two children, Colonel John and Ann Pamela Cuningham, to deplore their great loss.
Thus has ended the day of trial of a good and virtuous man. As a lawyer, he was not sufficiently tried to have acquired that reputation which his talents, honesty and firm- ness might have won for him. As an officer, he served and suffered for his country more than occurs generally to the short term in which he was in active service. He was be- loved by his soldiers, for whom he made many sacrifices. As a citizen, man and neighbor, his works do follow him, and entitle him to the plaudit of " well done." As a master, his slaves will long mourn the absence of his kind face and mild rule; as a husband and father, none can know their loss but the wife and children. He lived to see most of his compeers in the army-Twiggs, Cumming, Hamilton, Huger, Manning, Bond I'On, Keith, Ferguson, Tatnall-enjoying the laurels of worth, valor, and old age, or gathered to their fathers in distinction. His latter days were even and quiet as he looked forward to the closing evening.
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BENJAMIN ELLIOTT.
Amongst the men who flourished in South Carolina within the last half century, there were few more conspicuous than Benjamin Elliott. He was born in Charleston in the year 1786, and departed this life in 1836, being, at the time of his decease, fifty years old. He was the eldest child of Thomas Odingsell Elliott and Mary Pinckney, who was a sister of the late Honorable Charles Pinckney. He was related, on the paternal side, to the Odingsells and Elliotts, and on the mater- nal side to the Pinckneys and the Brewtons-all of whom were amongst the very oldest families in South Carolina. He was educated at Princeton College, where he graduated with dis- tinction. In his early boyhood he exhibited a remarkable inquisitiveness of mind, and a strong disposition for the attainment of knowledge. These qualities pervaded his life. He was ever curious, and diligent in research upon literary and scientific subjects, and always endeavoring, by every means in his power, to add to his stock, not only of useful information, but of mental embellishment. He was not a mere reader, but an ardent and devoted student. He employ- ed all the time that could be spared from professional or official duties, in the improvement of his mind, and the exten- sion of his learning; and the natural consequence of all this industrious application was, that, having an excellent under- standing, thus highly cultivated and enriched by study, he became a vigorous, thoughtful, and elegant writer, as he was also an accomplished speaker.
He was a student in the law office of Mr. Thomas Parker, and was admitted to the Bar in 1810. Soon after, he married Catharine O. Savage, by whom he had six children-three sons and three daughters. Of all his numerous family and progeny but one survives, and the family is represented by his grandson.
Mr. Elliott entered immediately upon the practice of the
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law. He began his career as a lawyer in co-partnership with the late lamented Robert Y. Hayne, with whom he had long been upon terms of the most intimate friendship. His legal learning was extensive, and accurate, and profound. It used to be said of him that he was a walking library, as well of law as of other kinds of knowledge. He continued in partnership with Mr. Hayne until the latter was compelled, by political avocations, to abandon practice. Soon after that, Mr. Elliot was elected Commissioner in Equity, and, subse- quently to that, he was elected Register in Equity, which latter office he retained to the time of his decease. He was several times elected a Member of the City Council of Charleston, and of the Legislature of the State.
Mr. Elliott was the author of numerous literary, historical, and political productions. There are still extant, " Reports of the Historical Committee of the Charleston Library Socie- ty," prepared by him, which contain a large body of valuable information, not only as to the United States, but especially as relates to the early history of South Carolina. This was a species of labor in which he delighted, for he had a remark- able fondness for exploring and illustrating the antiquities of his native State. There is, also, amongst his works, “ A Refutation of the Calumnies circulated against the Southern and Western States, respecting the Institution and Existence of Slavery," being a pamphlet of very nearly one hundred pages. This was written as far back as 1822-the memora- ble year of an attempted insurrection, and was designed to repel the aspersions that were cast by the North upon the South in consequence of that event. It is a production of great research and eminent ability. It traces the history of slavery from its origin-shows that it is sanctioned by Divine authority-shows the agency, both of England and the North- ern States, in its introduction and establishment in the slave- holding States-exhibits the true character of the institution, in its mild and patriarchal form of government-and illus- trates the superior condition and comparative happiness of the negro, in the light labor he undergoes and the liberal indulgences he enjoys, as contrasted with the severe labor
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and physical and pecuniary suffering and privation of the Northern hireling. As this is not only one of the first, but, perhaps, the very first production that appeared in print, in relation to the Northern assaults upon our domestic institu- tions, so it is, unquestionably, one of the most historical, one of the fullest, ablest, and most complete defences of the South, and retaliations on the North that has issued from the press during the whole of the excited and eventful controversy that has been carried on between these two different sections of the Union. Indeed, certainly to Mr. E. belongs the high honor of having been a distinguished pioneer in the sacred cause of Southern defence and resistance against Northern calumny and aggression. . In his political sentiments and feel- ings, he was a very decided and unyielding disciple of the Jeffersonian school. High evidence of this is found in an oration which he delivered before the '76 Association, in 1813, upon " The Inauguration of the Federal Constitution," which contains a masterly analysis of the true principles and struc- ture of our government, showing it to be federative and not national-a compact between equals and sovereigns and not consolidated, elucidating the relative powers and duties of the General Government and the States, insisting on the mainte- nance and exercise of the reserved powers of the States, and demonstrating the absolute necessity, to the continuance of the Union and the peace and prosperity of the country, of a strict adherence, on the part of Congress, to the limitations of the Constitution, and a firm determination never to assume or exercise any ungranted, or merely constructive and doubt- ful power. In this oration there are passages of a high order of eloquence, especially those in which he contrasts a republic with monarchy, and in those in which he alludes to the sufferings of the Whigs, and the barbarous atrocities of the Tories, during the Revolutionary war in South Carolina. War was then raging between the United States and England ; and this oration, able and patriotic as it is, was succeeded, early in 1814, by " A Sketch of the Means and Benefits of Prose- cuting this War against Britain," in which Mr. Elliot again displayed his high ability as a writer, and his deep devotion
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to the honor and welfare of his country. In this essay he undertook to demonstrate the ample capabilities of the nation to sustain the war, by drawing a comparison between her resources in 1812 and the condition in which she conducted the war of Independence, showing the immense superiority of the former over the latter, and then exhibited the happy results by which success would be crowned, in the permanent establishment of a navy, the expulsion afar from us of a dan- gerous foe, by the acquisition of the British Provinces in America, commercial independence, and the strengthening of the Union by those ties of interest and friendship, by which the States would be interwoven, as it were, into one nation. In 1817, Mr. Elliott delivered another oration before the '76 Association, full of eloquence and patriotic ardor and enthu- siasm. His conceptions were always strong, his diction terse and elegant, his delivery manly and impressive. Under the authority of an Act, passed in 1833, " To provide for the Mili- tary Organization of the State," he prepared and published " The Militia System of South Carolina," being a Digest of all the Acts of Congress and of this State concerning the militia. It was, and probably still continues to be, the Mili- tary Code of the State; at all events, it must still be very useful as a book of reference. We are also indebted to him for rescuing from oblivion, and preserving and publishing, the Debates in our Legislature, in '88, by which a Conven- tion was called to consider the Constitution of the United States, then submitted to the States, by the Federal Conven- tion, for their adoption or rejection ; and also the Debates in the State Convention, by which the Federal Constitution was adopted and ratified, as far as they could possibly be procured. These debates are incomplete, especially those in the State Convention ; but, imperfect as they are, they constitute a precious political relic, and, no doubt, every man who pos- sesses them thanks Mr. Elliott for the labor and research by which he was enabled to preserve them.
Mr. Elliott was the author of other works, not now in possession of the writer, and therefore not so well remember- ed. He was a classical scholar, thoroughly instructed in, and
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deeply imbued with, the spirit of the ancient literature of the Greeks and Romans. Amongst other things of a purely lite- rary character, he wrote a beautiful criticism, or commentary, upon a translation, by the Hon. John L. Wilson, of the inter- esting allegory of "Cupid and Psyche," from " The Meta- morphoses of the Golden Alps," of Apuleius.
In November, 1835, he delivered a very beautifuland interest- ing address before the congregation of St. Philip's Church, upon the occasion of laying the corner-stone of their new edifice- their former building having been destroyed by fire. That build- ing was one of the oldest, most beautiful, and most imposing in America. It was filled with monuments of exquisite sculp- ture, all of which were hallowed by the dearest associations and the most sacred memories. When their " beautiful house was burned by fire," the congregation of St. Philip's
were clothed in mourning. It was whilst their sorrow was still fresh, and their tears still flowing, that Mr. Elliott deliv- ered his address. He had a fine theme, and he made admi- rable use of it. Like all his other speeches, the whole of it was eloquent ; but at those parts of it in which he described the ancient and venerable temple, and alluded to the speaking images by which it was adorned, and which never failed to solemnize the minds, and improve the hearts of all who beheld them-the whole of the vast assemblage was bathed in tears. That address, and the interesting circumstances under which it was pronounced, will never be obliterated from the minds of any of that old and highly respectable congregation who were partakers or spectators of the scene.
The legal learning of Mr. Elliott was extensive and profound. He was much attached to the study of political or constitu- tional law. His political writings abundantly manifest his familiarity with it. They are full of able discussions of con- stitutional questions. But though he wrote a great deal, he wrote principally for his own gratification, or for the purpose of taking part in matters of great public moment, in which, as a patriot, he felt an interest.
In his political principles, he was a decided Republican of the Jeffersonian school, and an ardent supporter of our last war
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with 'Britain. Subsequently, when difficulties arose between South Carolina and the General Government, in relation to the Tariff and other usurpations and oppressions by that government, he early adopted the Carolina doctrines, steadily maintained them through the whole of the Nullification contest, and was always ready, at all times and under all circumstances, to assert the rights and uphold the sovereignty of his native State, at any hazard and to the last extremity.
In the family and social circle, he shone with distinguished lustre. Of him it may truly be said, he was most loved by those who knew him best. He was very popular and highly esteemed in the literary and scientific associations, of which he was a member. As a citizen, he was remarkable for high- toned sentiment, elevated principles, ardent enthusiasm, and a generous disinterestedness, and self-sacrificing disposition, almost amounting to a fault. As a man, certainly no juster description can be given of him than in those beautiful words of Horace, " Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus ;" and with equal truth may it be said of him, as a writer, “ Nullum tetigit., quod non ornavit."
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JOHN S. GLASCOCK.
John Sellard Glascock was born near Augusta, Georgia, on the 18th of April, 1788. His parents were from Virginia. He studied law at Edgefield Court-House under Edmund Bacon, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar at Columbia in 1811. Previous to his admission, (on the 18th of August, 1810,) he married Eliza Simkins, the daughter of John Sim- kins.
He resided, and practiced law, at Edgefield Court-House, and was more successful as an advocate than as a lawyer. He was an exceedingly popular man, and was elected to the House of Representatives in 1820, and again in 1822. In the military he was promoted to the highest grade, that of Major-General of the First Division of Militia.
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