USA > South Carolina > History of the Presbyterian Church in South Carolina, Vol. I pt 2 > Part 20
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After the Revolution the Rev. Mr. Edmonds was a nursing father to this church, as well as to many other vacancies in the Southern States. In succeeding years frequent supplies were received from the labors of Messrs. Alexander, Simp- son, Cummins, James and Robert Hall, McCulloch, Robert
533
COL. THOMAS.
1780-1790.]
Mecklin, Humphrey Hunter, and James Templeton. The latter served them as stated supply, commencing about 1787 ; Hum- phrey Hunter also, for a short period immediately after his licensure, which took place October 15th, 1789.
About the year 1787 a new place of worship was erected, about a mile west of the graveyard ; thus separating the place of worship from the place of interment for the congregation. The drawbacks upon the prosperity of this congregation down to this period had been very considerable. First the Indian war-commencing, in 1760, with the murder of many whites along the frontier-broke up the settlement for some time, and a number of the refugees never returned to it. And then the war of the Revolution bore heavily upon it in the destruction of many valuable lives and nearly all the property in the con- gregation.
The congregation had none in it who were not prepared to sign the pledge annexed to the Declaration of Independence. There was not a Tory among them.
"It may not be amiss to give a short sketch of the life of Colonel Thomas, who occupied a prominent place in this sec- tion of the country during a considerable portion of the war of Independence. Colonel Thomas was a native of Wales, but brought up in Chester county, Pennsylvania. He mar- ried Jane Black, a sister of the Rev. John Black, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and first president of Dickinson College. A number of years before the war, Mr. Thomas removed to South Carolina, and his descendants suppose resided for some time upon Fishing Creek. Before hostilities commenced he was residing upon Fairforest Creek, in the lower part of what is now Spartanburg district. He was one of the founders of the Fairforest church, and his wife one of its most active and zealous members. He was a militia captain and magis- trate under the royal government. Having resigned this com- mission he was elected colonel of the Spartanburg regiment in the place of Colonel Fletchall (or Fletcher), who was a Royalist. He directed the movements of this regiment until Charleston fell, soon after which he was taken prisoner by a Tory captain by the name of Sam Brown, and confined at Ninety-Six and in Charleston, till near the close of the war. The said Brown carried off his negroes and his horses. Colo- nel Thomas had four sons, two of whom watered the tree of liberty with their blood. Robert was killed at Roebuck's de- feat. Abraham was wounded and taken prisoner at Ninety-Six and died in confinement. John succeeded his father in the
534
MRS. THOMAS.
[1780-1790.
command of the Spartan regiment, and made his mark in many a well-fought battle. The other son was a youth in time of the war. Colonel Thomas had also four daughters. The husband of each was a Whig, and all held commissions in the war and rendered their country most substantial service in securing victory and freedom. The following may illustrate the zeal and fidelity of the ladies of this family. In the early part of the war, Governor Rutledge had sent a quantity of arms and ammunition to the frontiers for the use of the Whigs. These were deposited at the house of Colonel Thomas and kept under the protection of a guard of twenty-five men. Colonel Moore, of North Carolina, with a party of three hun- dred Tories, was approaching to take possession of the maga- zine. Colonel Thomas deemed his force inadequate to a suc- cessful defence of the house, and retired. But Josiah Culbert- son, a son-in-law of Colonel Thomas, refused to leave the premises. He had been brought up on the frontiers, and was a fine marksman. With William Thomas, a youth, and the women of the family, he remained ; and as soon as Moore and his party came within gunshot a fire was opened upon them from the house, and maintained with such vigor that Moore and his party soon withdrew from the conflict, and left them in peaceable possession of the premises. Some time after the fall of Charleston, Mrs. Thomas was at Ninety-Six on a visit to her husband and two of her sons who were prisoners with the British at that post. While there she heard two women in conversation, and one remarked to the other, "On to-morrow night the Loyalists intend to surprise the Rebels at Cedar Springs." This intelligence was interesting news to her, for Cedar Springs was within a few miles of her house, and among the Whigs posted there were several of her own children. She therefore determined to apprize them of the intended at- tack, though the distance was at least fifty miles. The Whigs were informed of their danger in time to provide for their safety, which they did by withdrawing from their fires until the enemy rushed within their light in the confidence of an easy victory. Instead, however, of butchering a slumbering foe, they received the well-directed blows of their intended victims, and were entirely subdued :- the Whigs in number about sixty, the loyalists one hundred and fifty.
" An incident occurred in this region which may not be devoid of interest. Samuel Clowney, an Irishman, and a most determined Whig, was out on a scout, accompanied by a negro man of remarkable fidelity to his master, and withal a strong
535
ANN HAMILTON.
1780-1790.]
Whig. As Mr. Clowney was approaching the margin of a stream, he heard a party of horsemen approaching from the opposite direction. It was dark. He conjectured that they must be Tories, and determined to try his hand with the whole party. He gave the negro an intimation of his intention, and of the part he should act. They remained quietly at the brink of the creek till the party was within the banks. He then demanded who they were. They answered, friends to the king. He ordered them to come out instantly and give up their arms, or be cut to pieces. They obeyed. He directed his men as though he had a dozen or two, to gather up the arms and sur- round the prisoners. He then ordered them, forward-march, under the direction of their guide, and conducted them safely to his own party. The prisoners were much chagrined when they found their captors to be only two in number, while they were five.
" There lived in this congregation a young lady, Miss Ann Hamilton, of remarkable daring and courage, whose name de- serves to be enrolled among those who bravely defended their country in ' the days that tried men's souls.' A band of To- ries plundering her father's house felt grossly insulted by this young lady, when one of the party seized a firebrand and de- termined to apply it to a pile of flax which was heaped up in one corner of the house. She immediately sprang between him and the combustible matter, and, as he approached, seized him by the collar and sent him headlong down a considerable flight of stairs to the ground. And as he lay bruised and senseless, some of the party became so much exasperated that they determined to take her life immediately. But their leader declared that such a brave woman should not die. The dwelling was not consumed, and her life was spared to do her country much service in the cause of freedom. This is only one among many heroic deeds done by this young lady."
These churches of Union district were in the midst of wars and fightings. Frequent skirmishes occurred about Enoree, Broad, and Tyger rivers. Besides those we have mentioned, on the 12th of July, 1780, Sumter defeated a detachment of British troops and a large body of Tories at Williams's plan- tation, on Broad river. In November following, at Fishdam ford, on the same river, Gen. Sumter, chiefly through the forethought and bravery of the gallant Col. Thomas Taylor, "The Patriarch of Columbia," and one of the early elders in its church, defeated Major Wemyss, commanding a corps of infantry and dragoons, and took this officer prisoner. On the
536
BEAVER CREEK .- HANGING ROCK.
[1780-1790.
20th of the same month occurred the noted battle of Black- stocks, at the crossing of the Tyger river, near the west line of the district, where Sumter defeated Lieut .- Col. Tarleton at the head of a considerable body of horse and infantry. Sumter was wounded, and his services were interrupted for some months. The British suffered severely, while the American loss was comparatively small.
BEAVER CREEK CHURCH and congregation was dependent on transient ministers for supplies during the earlier part of this period. In 1785 it supplicated the presbytery of South Caro- lina, who supplied it with occasional preaching until 1788, when they presented a call for the labors of Mr. Robert McCulloch, who was a graduate of Mount Zion college, and was licensed to preach, December 13th, 1787. On the 14th of October, 1788, Beaver Creek and Hanging Rock presented a call before presbytery for the labors of Mr. McCulloch, which call he accepted. He was ordained April 14th, 1789, as their pastor. It does not appear, however, that he was installed over them, but over the Nazareth church and congregation.
WAXHAW CHURCH .- In 1780, when the British army overran our country, Mr. Craighead fled to Virginia, and never re- turned as the minister of this church. This year, 1780, was a year of appalling distress to the inhabitants of this region. The detachment of the British army under Cornwallis was ordered from Charleston to the frontiers of North Carolina. On his march he heard of the advance of Col. Buford with four hundred continentals, two field-pieces, and a small detach- ment of Col. Washington's cavalry. He despatched Tarleton with seven hundred cavalry and mounted infantry to intercept him. This enterprising officer marched one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, leaving his infantry behind, sur- rounded Buford before he was aware of his approach, and demanded his immediate surrender. Buford, resolved on de- fending himself to the last, sent a note declining the proposal. No orders had yet been given to his men, and they, supposing negotiations were still pending, were thrown into confusion by the instant and impetuous charge of Tarleton. Some fired, the most threw down their arms and called for quarter. None was given. Unarmed men were hewed in pieces. One hun- dred and thirteen were slain; one hundred and fifty were so maimed as to be unable to travel. Fifty-three were reserved as prisoners. Only five of the British were killed and fifteen wounded. It was a cold-blooded massacre, and Tarleton's quarter became a proverb for wholesale cruelty. The wounded
537
1780-1790.]
WAXHAW CHURCH A HOSPITAL.
were taken to the Waxhaw church, a log structure, where they were tenderly cared for by those who had the courage to remain .* A large portion of the women and children fled, however, to the more distant settlements. The army of Corn- wallis foraged freely upon the inhabitants. Horses were taken for the service from the rebels and purchased from the Tories, who were everywhere employed in plundering the Whigs of stock and provisions of every kind. Their first camp was above Lancaster village, near the present residence of Mr. Robert Crockett ; they then moved higher up between Wax- haw and Twelve Mile Creek, in the neighborhood of Major Robert Crawford and Mrs. Jackson, remaining in each place till the country was exhausted-Blair's Mill on the river being convenient to both camps for grinding. It was while Corn- wallis was so encamped that William Richardson Davie, now Col. Davie, performed one of his most daring feats. Corn- wallis's main army was encamped on the north side of the Waxhaw, and the 71st regiment opposite on the south side. A large body of Tories and light troops, who were committing depredations and spreading havoc on every side, occupied Cornwallis's right. His left was covered by the Catawba river. Col. Davie left his camp at Providence, twenty-five miles above the British camp, on the 20th of September, with his own corps and Major Davidson's riflemen, in all about one hundred and fifty men, intending to fall on the Tory camp in the night and check or disperse them. He proceeded by a circuitous route, turned Cornwallis's right flank about two o'clock in the morning, but found that the Tories had changed their position, and retired within the flanks of the British army to the plantation of Capt. Wahab, which was overlooked by the 71st regiment, and that they numbered about four hun- dred mounted infantry. He reached Wahab's about sunrise. The enemy had called. in their sentries, and were preparing for an early march. The colonel sent a company of infantry through the cornfield to attack the houses, the cavalry were sent around the field to gain the end of the lane and charge the force as soon as the firing commenced ; the colonel moved around to the other end of the lane with about forty riflemen.
* Among those who ministered to these wounded and dying soldiers, were Esther Gaston, then about eighteen years of age, who repaired to Waxhaw church with her married sister Martha, and busied herself day and night in ministering to their comfort. After the battle of Hanging Rock, she was found there again. Among the sufferers at this time was her youngest brother Joseph, sixteen years of age, wounded in the face, and her cousin, Jolın McClure.
538
ANDREW JACKSON A PRISONER.
[1780-1790.
The enemy were completely surprised, rushed from the charge of the cavalry down the lane to Davie's position, received the volley of the riflemen, rushed back upon the cavalry and in- fantry, now drawn up at the houses, fluctuated for some mo- ments, then bore down the fences and fled at full speed. The 71st beat to arms and advanced upon Davie, but with great celerity, giving himself time merely to gather up the re- maining horses, he marched in good order out of one end of the lane as the 71st were entering the other. Capt. Wahab was. a volunteer under Davie, and had been for some time exiled from his family. His wife and children were unavoid- ably in the midst of the action. They gathered around him with tears of joy. As the enemy were on the advance he had only time to embrace them. As the detachment moved off, turning his eyes back towards his all, he had the pain of see- ing their dwelling wrapped in flames, and their only hope of subsistence destroyed .-- (Sparks, American Biography, vol. xxv., p. 42.)
Mr. Andrew Crockett, in his eighty-third year when this tes- timony was given, recollects when the camps were near his father's house, that every horse, cow, hog, sheep, the poultry, the beehives, were stolen, his father lying very sick at the time. That he complained to an officer, who told him to send to Lord Rawdon and make his complaint. That his father accordingly sent him to the British camp. That he went, per- severing, notwithstanding the threats of the soldiers; that he found one of his father's mares, which, with Lord Rawdon's leave, he brought away; that the soldiers still interfering and endeavoring to frighten him, he charged a couple of fences and brought the animal off, which he secured by hiding her for some weeks in a thicket, as Lord Rawdon advised, to keep her out of the way of the plundering Tories. He further stated that as the enemy approached, probably some time ' after Buford's defeat, the neighbors assembled at the church for consultation ; that while thus assembled they were sur- rounded by the British, some were killed and some were taken prisoners, among whom was his oldest brother, and Robert and Andrew Jackson, the late President of the United States. The wounded at Rocky Mount and at Hanging Rock were also taken to the Waxhaw church. Among these was John Mc- Clure of Chester district. His mother went thither to nurse him. Thence he was taken to Charlotte, and died in Liberty Hall, where the Mecklenburg declaration was drawn up, Aug. 18th, 1780. It was in the walls of old Waxhaw church that Mrs.
539
THE MOTHER OF JACKSON.
1780-1790.]
Jackson presented her son Andrew to God in baptism, and took him from Sabbath to Sabbath, in hope that some day he would be a preacher of the gospel. To this early training may be ascribed the fact that in his varied and often turbu- lent life, a sense of religion never forsook him. The family Bible, covered with checked cloth, as his mother's was, lay on the stand at the Hermitage, where he ended his days, and he died at last the death of the Christian, in the communion of the church of his mother, a member in full of the Presbyte- rian church. The massacre of Buford's regiment fired his patriotism, and at the age of thirteen he entered the army under Sumter, with his brother Robert. Both, we have seen, were made prisoners. After their release Robert died of a wound received from a British officer during his captivity, and Andrew carried to his grave the scar of a sword-cut received on his arm under the same circumstances. His brother Hugh was slain in battle. Mrs. Jackson left her home on the Wax- haw, where she had buried her husband, and found a refuge in Sugar Creek congregation after Buford's defeat, where she remained a part of the summer. She afterwards went down to Charleston to visit her son, then a prisoner aboard the pris- on-ship, and to carry clothing and necessaries to other pris- oners. Mrs. Dunlap was her companion on this expedition. On her return she sickened and died with the fever, at the Quarter House, six miles this side of Charleston, which was at that time occupied by Mrs. Barton, who formerly lived at Waxhaw. She was attended during her illness by these two women, who closed her eyes, and had her remains interred not far from the spot where she expired. We have before seen that Mrs. Richardson, after his decease, married Mr. Geo. Dun- lap, who afterwards bore arms in the Revolutionary struggle. In 1781, she visited her sister Rachel, the wife of Rev. David Caldwell, D.D., of Guilford, North Carolina, who being an ar- dent Whig, was persecuted by the British and hunted as a felon. At that time the Doctor had ventured home on a stolen visit. Immediately the house was surrounded by armed Tories, who seized him before he could escape, intending to take him to the British camp. "One or two were set to guard him, while the others busied themselves in collecting plunder. When they were ready to depart, the plunder being piled in the mid- dle of the floor, and the prisoner standing beside it with his guard, Mrs. Dunlap, who with Mrs. Caldwell had remained in an adjoining apartment, came forward. With the prompti- tude and presence of mind for which women are often remark-
540
REV. ROBERT FINLEY.
[1780-1790.
able in sudden emergencies, she stepped behind Dr. Caldwell, leaned over his shoulder, and whispered to him, as if intend- ing the question for his ear alone, asking if it were not time for Gillespie and his men to be there. One of the soldiers who stood nearest caught the words, and with evident alarm demanded what men she meant. The lady replied that she was merely speaking with her brother. In a moment all was confusion, the whole party were panic-struck ; exclamations and hurried questions followed ; and in the consternation pro- duced by this ingenious, though simple manœuvre, the Tories fled precipitately, leaving their prisoner and plunder. The name of Gillespie was a scourge and terror to the loyalists, and this party knew themselves to be within the limits of one of the strongest Whig neighborhoods in the State."-(Women of the Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 154, 155.)
Mrs. Dunlap died in 1790, leaving two sons, Dr. David Dun- lap, of Charlotte, North Carolina, George Dunlap, of Wades- borough; and three daughters, Mrs. Andrew Crockett, Mrs. Edward Crawford, and Mrs. Rachel Neeley. They were all members of the church at an early date, and their children and grandchildren have followed their example.
Many of the Waxhaw men were numbered among the pa- triots of the Revolution. Besides Major, afterwards General, and subsequently Governor, William R. Davie, there were Major Robert Crawford, Major John Barkly, and Henry Mas- sey. Waxhaw church was a general place of rendezvous for the patriots. It accordingly felt the malice of the enemy. "Among the many acts of wickedness committed by them during the war," says John Davis, " the burning of our house of worship was one." They left it a heap of smouldering ruins. "The consequence to us," continues Mr. Davis, "was rather unhappy. A number of emigrants from Europe, who had during the last ten years settled on the eastern side of the congregation, wished a new meeting-house built some con- siderable distance from the site of the old one. The inhab- itants from Pennsylvania and Virginia, who had been the old settlers, wished a house near the place where the old one stood, and near the churchyard where their friends were buried.
"On this question we could not agree, and each party built a house where they wished. A warm contention continued until 1784, when Mr. Robert Finley, a probationer from the Orange presbytery, made us a visit and preached to our satis- faction in both houses. We agreed to be one congregation, and united in presenting a call, which he accepted."
541
1780-1790.] PRESBYTERY OF SOUTH CAROLINA ORGANIZED.
A change took place about this time in the ecclesiastical relations of this church, as follows : On October 5th, 1784, a session of Orange presbytery was held at Cathie's church, at which was made known the resolution of the synod of the Carolinas, " That it is for the benefit of the southern churches that the presbytery of Orange be divided, and that the Rev. Messrs. Joseph Alexander, Francis Cummins, James Edmonds, John Harris, Thomas Reese, John Simpson, and Thomas Hill be set off from the presbytery of Orange, and formed into a presbytery as aforesaid, and appoint their first meeting at Waxhaw, the second Tuesday of April next, at 11 o'clock ; and the Rev. James Edmonds to preside at such meeting." The boundary line between the presbytery of Orange and the presbytery of South Carolina was determined to be the line that divides North from South Carolina. Pursuant to this order, the first meeting of the presbytery of South Carolina was held at Waxhaw in 1785. Robert Finley was one of the probationers who presented dismissions from Orange, and was received under its care. At this meeting, a call for his ser- vices was presented and accepted, and he was ordained at a pro re nata meeting held at Bethel, May 23, 1785, and the or- dination sermon was preached by Mr. Edmonds, from Psalm cxxxii. 13.
Mr. Finley had popular talents, and for the space of three years preached to great acceptance to this people. At this period Waxhaw was esteemed as one of the largest and most respectable churches in the State. Just before the war a lit- erary establishment had been in operation in the congrega- tion, where a number of its youth were prosecuting their lit- erary studies, which had been scattered ; but on the return of peace and the restoration of civil and religious order in the society, an academy was again put into operation, to which a number of young men resorted to acquire the rudiments of a liberal education. A respectable proportion were here pre- pared to enter the collegiate establishments that then existed, some ten or a dozen of whom became ministers of the gospel. Mr. Finley continued to be their pastor till 1788, when, at his own request, and the concurrence of the congregation, his relation to them as pastor was dissolved, and in 1789 he removed to the western parts of Pennsylvania, and thence to Kentucky, where he labored for a short time in the ministry, but was at last separated from the Presbyterian church for intemperance.
542
NAZARETH .- MAJOR ANDERSON.
[1780-1790.
CHAPTER VII.
NAZARETH CHURCH and congregation suffered, during the earlier part of this period and before, all the evils of civil war. Indeed the churches of the living God were passing through great outward troubles, and had need of all the support of divine grace. The history which has come down to us, consists far more of traditions of sufferings, of contests for life, pro- perty, and rights, than of direct religious efforts to advance the kingdom of God. This congregation was not the immediate scene of battle, although there were fields of conflict in its immediate vicinity. Only one company of soldiers visited it. This was commanded by Dunlap, a British officer, and their object was the capture of Edward Hampton, which they did not effect. They had an engagement with him and were de- feated. The part taken in the war, by the men, was more of occasional and guerrilla warfare than regular service. Yet the community was represented at Musgroves, Richhill, King's Mountain, Blackstock, Mudlick, Ninety-Six, Brier Creek, Cowpens, and Augusta. Major David Anderson was now frequently absent from home, and for longer periods than any other.
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