In January, 1871, Matt Stevens, a white man who had lost an
arm in Confederate service, was driving his wagon near Union,
S. C. On the public highway he met a negro company of Scott's
militia. Now, Scott was one carpetbagger, the first one of the
many thieves among the carpetbaggers to become the governor of
South Carolina. Tell it not in Gath — whisper it not in the streets
of Askalon. How the mighty carpetbaggers leaked out when
Hampton was elected. The aforesaid militia company shot this
unfortunate Confederate soldier to death because, as they thought,
there was no law to punish them, but were somewhat surprised
when they were put in jail by white citizens, and on the 4th
January a party of Ku Klux shot two of the militia and on the
12th Januarj', 1871, took out of jail eight more of the aforesaid
militia and shot them to death. The mounted men retired as
quieth' as they had come, their ranks well kept and their move-
ments marked by a precision which was strictly military.

From 18G8 to 1876, the white people in South Carolina, their
property, their liberties, their opportunities in life, lay at the
mercy of an ignorant negro majority — under the leadership of
corrupt carpetbaggers and scalawags. But for the white native
judges who happened to hold these high positions, our people
would have .suflfered much more than they did. Such men as
Judge Maher, Judge ]Melton, Judge Vernon, Judge Graham,
fludge Shaw and others, were our protectors so far as they
could be.

I have been reliably informed that the Knights of the "\Miite
Camellia accomi)lished much good simply by keeping quiet and
obeying the law and compelling others to do the same. If a
carpetbagger or a scalawag behaved ])adly he would get a letter
something like this: "The moon drips blood and the Grand
Cyclops was ready to walk, &c." Nothing more was necessary.



356 Stories of the Confederacy

During Eeconstriiction or Radical times the Confederate sol-
diers found themselves in the same predicament that old Preacher
Dicky Woodruff's mourners were. The reverend old gentleman
called up the mourners. They came and all knelt around the
altar for prayer. When the music ceased, he said: "Yes, here
you all are, in a hell of a fix." Now, that was our fix exactly.
Federal soldiers like so many bees all over the South, negroes,
carpetbaggers and scalawags holding all the offices, and the Con-
federate soldier with no more chance for justice before a negro
jury' in a court house than a cat in the lower regions without
claws. Something had to be done.

General N. B. Forest, knowing the negro to be superstitious
and easily frightened about ghosts and other strange things,
organized "The Knights of the "WHiite Camellia," which was
called the Ku Klux Klan for the want of the right name, as none
but the members knew what it was. I have heard negroes say
that the large w^hite things they saw moving about at night were
Confederates killed in the war and had come back to straighten
out things. It was in the brain of this wonderful genius. General
Forrest, that devised the plan to give the South relief.

The Confederate soldier has done his duty and acted his part
well. He has established hundreds of National Cemeteries, which
are his own monuments. He has up to this date placed about one
million names on the pension rolls of his enemy. He has groAvn
old now. This is what Frank L. Stanton said about him :

"Men do you know him? Grim and Gray,
He spfeaks to you from far away.
There he stands on the prison sod,
A statue carved by the hand of God.
And the death he dared and the path he trod
Plead for him a voice that seems
' Wild and sad with battle dreams

And Memory's river backward streams
With its strange unrest and crimson gleam.

"There he stands like a hero — See?
He bore his rags and wounds for ye;
He bore the flag of the warring South,
With red-scarred hands, to the cannon's mouth.
By heaven I see. as I did that day,
His red wounds gleam through the rags of gray.



Ku Klux Klan 357

Men of tlie South, your heroes staud,

Stntne-like in the new-h(irn land.

Will you pass them by? Will your lips condemn?

The wounds on their brave breasts plead for them.

Shall the South that they gave their blood to save

Give them only a nameless grave?

Nay, for the men who faced the fray

Are heroes in trust until the judgment day,

And God Himself, in the far sweet land,

Will ask their blood at their country's hand.

Soldier! You in the wrecks of gray

With the brazen belt of the C. S. A.

Take my love and my tears today ;

Take them and all I have to give;

And, by God's grace, while my heart shall live,

It shall keep in its faithful way

The campfire lit for the men in" gray.

Aye! Till the trumpet blast sounds far away

And the silver Bugle of Heaven play

And the roll is called on the Judgment Day."



358 Stories or the Confederacy

THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

To James C. Brooks :

We, reposiug special trust and coutidence in your courage and good con-
duct, in your fidelity to the State of South Carolina, and attachment to
the Confederate States of America, have Commissioned and Appointed,
and by these Presents do Commission and Appoint you, the said Jrmes C.
Brooks, Captain of Company I, of the Second Regiment, State Troops,
Which said Company you are to Lead, Train, Muster, and Exercise, accord-
ing to Military Discipline. And you are to follow and observe all such
Orders and Instructions as you shall, from time to time, receive from the
Governor, the Commander-in-Chief for the time being, or any of your
Superior Officers, according to the Rules and Discipline of War, pursuant
to the Laws of this State, and of the Confederate States. And all inferior
Officers, or others belonging to the said Company are hereby required and
commanded to obey your as their Captain.

This Commission to continue •during pleasure. Given under the Seal of
the State. ' ,

Witness His Excellency M. L. Bonham. Governor and Commander-in-
Chief of the said State, this 18th day of July in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three and S7th year of the Independence
of the State of South Carolina.

By the Governor, M. L. BONHAM.

Wm. R. Huntt,

Secretary of State.

William Fort,

Colonel Second Regiment. State Troops.

I do solemnly swear that I will be faithful, and true allegiance bear, to
the State of South Carolina, so long as I may continue a citizen thereof,
and that I am duly qualified, according to the Constitution of this State, to
exercise the office to which I have been appointetl. and that I will, to the
best of my abilities, discharge the duties thereof, and preserve, protect, and
defend, the Constitution of this State, and of the Confetlerate States — So
help me God.

JAMES C. BROOKS.
Sworn to before me, this 22nd day of January Anno Domini 1864.

WILLIAM FORT,
Colonel Second Regiment, State Troops.



"Only a private — yet He who reads

Through the guises of the heart.
Looks not at the splendor of the deeds.

But the way we do our part ;
And when He shall take us by the hand

And our small service own.
There'll a glorious band of privates stand

As victors around the throne."







fAI'T. .1. ( . i'.l;< II iKS. ('. S. A.



I'



Mom mi: NTS to IIkroes 359



BUILDING MONUMENTS TO HEROES

In No Other Way Can a People Preserve Its History and Tradi-

ditions — An Address Delivered by Colonel U. R. Brooks, of

Columbia, at the Confederate Reunion at Spartanburg.

A j)L'<)ple by tlu'ir deeds inay write a noble history, but that
history to be of worth to future <>"enerations must be perpetuated
in some lasting form oi- t)ther. It should not be allowed to sink
into oblivion. Indeed, it nuiy be said that those who make their
country illustrious in peace or in war can not enough be iield up
as examples of emulation to posterity. Their memorials, whether
written in story and song or shapen in marble and bronze, are
inspirations to the unborn generations that siiall follow them into
the aicna of life. A nation or peoj^le never amounts to much that
l)reserves not its traditions or permits itself to forget and count
as of no worth the heroic deeds of the men who once made its
name great. It is only by building monuments to its illustrious
dead, with inscriptions ilhistrative of tlieir greatness of soul,
that a people nun' hope to keep the children of their loins for
generations to come up to the high-water mark of ancestral truth
and lumor. Unless this is done, a nation might as well be dead,
for only by remembering the glory of the past is it possible to
glorify the future to its uttermost day.

The Glory That Was Greece's.

Better than Ave, the ancients understood and appreciated the
value of enshrining their country's history in such forms as would
be of utmost benefit to their i)osterity. There is scarcely a nation
of antiquity which has not made the world richer by its monu-
ments, whether expressed in the form of splendid epics or of
memorial stones i:)erj)etuating some great liistorical event or the
namefj of its most illustrious citizens. From such monuments,
left as legacies to the world, it is possible for the historian to
reconstruct the life of almost any ])eople of a past age and bring
them back to earth reanimated with the same thoughts, feelings
and purposes which influenced and controlled them even in the



360 Stories or the Confederacy

twilight of their history. Without the memorials which mark
the departed splendors of world-old civilizations, and with which
all their most cherished traditions were linked, what could we in
the light of the garish present know of Egypt or Greece or
Rome? Their virtues and heroisms, together with the under-
lying principles of their actions, as well as their follies and mis-
takes, would have been forgotten and unknown; and the lessons
■of their histories thus lost to the world would have made us of
.today just that much poorer in thought and life.

For the Truth.

I have always been an advocate of a people's preserving its best
traditions. The principles that their ancestors stood for and
fought and sacrificed for, although defeat came to be their final
portion, should never be ^allowed to fade from the memory, for
a principle necessarily and always embodies a truth, and, as truth
must and will livje, it behooves a people to maintain their prin-
ciples in the faith of their ultimate triumph.

"For truth is truth
To the end of reckoning."

Eegardless of the opinions of the outside world or of what our
aforetime enemies may still think, the Southland generally, and
our own State in particular, can boast of a history of which any
people might feel proud. Here in this old commonwealth, rich
in all that makes for a high order of civilization, there has been
built up a splendid record of achievement, both in the gentle arts
of peace and in the stern duties of Avar. Traditions, the finest in
the world, have come down to the present from generations of
noble men and women; and to us, as the last inheritors of these
traditions, has been committed the duty of transmitting them in
their purity and strength to subsequent generations of Caro-
linians.

No Remote Time.

It is not my purpose to go back to a remote j^ast in the history
of the State to hunt for names worthy of monumental honor,
easy as the task would be, but it is to take up a later day, a day
far this side of the mid-region of legend and history, and, out of



^Monuments to Heroes 361

the many heroes of that time who made South Carolina famous,
to select a few that are most deserving of having accorded to
them the State's gratitude expressed in lasting forms commemo-
rative of their ])atriotic valor and devotion. They were men who
illustrated to the highest degree the courage of their people in
both war and defeat, a courage as fine as any to be found in
history. In preserving their memor}-, therefore, in lasting form
for the good of posterity, the State would simply honor itself,
saying to the world that it proposes in this way to perpetuate
whai it has ever held as its most ©herished ideals.

Monumental Bronze.

But there is a consideration aside from State pride and grati-
tude which, above all others, ought to constrain the present
generation to put forth elforts towards preserving in a fadeless
way the memory of those leaders of the '60s and 'TOs who wrought
so nobly and self-sacrificingly in behalf of the State. For the
sake of unborn generations, in stimulating them to highest
endeavor and inspiring them to hold fast to ancestral virtues,
it is our duty as a people to perpetuate in bronze and marble
their splendid manhood and, at the same time, to preserve those
principles for which they were willing to lay down their lives
and fortunes. There is nothing on which the State could better
spend money than to apotheosize by lasting monuments to its
heroes the principles wdiich we should want to see transmitted to
posterity. We should not want our children's children ever to
forget those principles, dead though they seem to be, nor the
men who fought in their defense; for should they do so they
-would forget the best in their State's history and become an easy
prey to the forces of corruption now abroad in the land. Only
by keeping before the minds of coming generations the ideals of
the "old South" can we hope for the building up of an imperial
"new South."

Men of the Sixties.

AVhile South Carolina has built monuments to some of her
greatest soldiers and statesmen of the past, she has neglected too
much in this way the brilliant men of the war period of the '60s —
those epic days of her noblest heroism, which more than all other



362 Stories of the Confederacy

times in her history called for the girding np of the loins of her
strength. Here and there we find a monument to the Confederate
soldier, commemorating the valor and devotion of a class, but
rareW do yve find one erected to some individual soldier, who,
conspicuous alike for gallantry and generalship, led their people
in the War for Southern Independence, and also in that later
war Avhich the State waged against the ignorance and corruption
of a mongrel rule to preserve her civilization. With the excep-
tion of Wade Hampton, none of the State's leaders in those dark
days of her history has met with the lasting recognition they
deserve; and yet they are worthy to share with him the gratitude
of our people, and to have built to their memory monuments of
granite that shall remind future ages of their services in behalf
of Carolina's homes and firesides.

A Noble Trio.

Were I called upon to designate three names most representa-
tive of our later history, forming a sort of trilogy to evoke State
pride, if not a feeling akin to that of idolatry, I would unhesitat-
ingly point to the names of Hampton, Butler and Gary. Of all
the men who espoused the South's cause and went forth in defense
of it they were easily the first among South Carolinians. Other
sons of the State in those fierce times of war fought just as
bravely, gave themselves to the cause of Southern independence
just as freeh% and suifered the hardships of camp and march just
as uncomplainingly, but none of them developed either their
genius for war or their superb leadership in battle. Far and
away, they were the most typical soldiers that South Carolina
ever sent to any war.

And when at last the four long years of bloodshed and sorrow
ended in defeat and humiliation, when, after the firing of the last
gun, faith and hope were crushed to the earth, and when the flag
of the Confederacy that had crested many a wave leading to vic-
tory, sank in a sea of glory to rise no more, it was no accident
that these three men, who commanded for the most part South
Carolina troops and fought together on the ensanguined fields of
Virginia, should have been impelled by the same patriotic motives
which led them to the defense of the South to come together again
with one mind and purpose, that of redeeming their native State



^lu.NLMENTS TO HeROES 3G3

from tlu' l)li<rlit of m-frro rule. It was they who inspii-ed the peo-
ple of South Carolina to throw off the yoke imposed by hate,
ignorance and corruption and to lly to the rescue of their State
which, like some beautiful woman distrau<zht and distressed, lay
at the mercy of those who would ravish her. It was they who
led in tlu' rcxolution of ls7C>. which redeemed a State and placed
her "clothed in her ri<:ht mind" hack into the position to which
she was entitled by birthritjht, and Avhich she had aforetime
graced by her presence. Others, it is true, shared in this great
work of redemption, but they more than any; for they took the

initiative and consumnuited the State's salvation.

*

Peace Hath Her Victories.

It was said a while ago that it was no accident which brought
Wade Hampton. !Mart Gary and M. C. Butler back from the
wars to take the lead in the redemption of their State from negro
carpetbag rule. It was fate or destiny. As they were together to
illustrate South Carolina in the War Between the Sections, so,
in accordance with the law of Karma, it was fitting that they
should be together in a work for their luitive State, far nobler
than any which had hitherto marked their brilliant way. They
were the instruments in the hands of a higher power to lift their
people out of the slough of despondency and degradation, and
thus save to them and their children the white man's civilization
from the danger of barbarism which threatened it.

Debt of Gratitude.

South Carolina's debt of gratitude to these men has never been
discharged, nor would it have been possible of payment had they
lived a thousand years. For there are some things that men do
in this life, the worth of which neither riches nor honors can
measure. The only thing that can at all approach to a just recom-
pense for their services is the gratitude of the people, for whom
they strove while living, expressed in terms of the utmost endur-
ance. While in this way the State has discharged in part her
debt to Hampton, she still withholds the payment of her bedt
of appreciation from Butler and Gar3^ But, if there be any truth
in the old Hindu thought eml)odied in the law of Karma, these



364 Stories or the Confederacy

two men inseparable from Hampton in patriotism and devotion
when the South called to arms, inseparable also in the work of
redeeming their native State, are yet destined to have monuments
erected to their memory on the capitol grounds like to the one
which commemorates the worth and deeds of the immortal
Hampton. The fate that linked their names together as the
State's most representative citizens in peace and in war, on the
field of battle and in the forum of statesmen, will see to it that
their people shall inscribe their virtues on memorial stones assem-
bled together at the same place for the contemplation and
admiration of future generations of Carolinians.

In Death Not Divided.

Than this there could be no more fitting fulfillment of destiny.
It satisfies, so far as such a thing can, our ideas of the law of
compensation and expresses in a way the most appropriate what
should be the thought and feeling of all the people of the State.
As we can not think of any one of these men without thinking of
the other two, especially in their relation to the troublous times
of 1876, it seems only proper that the people of the State
through legislative enactment, should hand down their names
together to posterity in monumental stone and bronze commemor-
ating the w^orth of their services to the commonwealth. Irrespec-
tive of all past political differences or animosities, now happily
allayed, this is a w^ork in which all may join heart and soul ; aye,
more, it is a work in the doing of which the people of the State
would honor themselves immeasurably.

It is needless to say more than what has already been said
regarding the motives which should constrain our people to build
these monuments, but I can not dismiss the subject without a fur-
ther word as to their duty to preserve the most thrilling and
significant epochs in the State's history by building such monu-
ments as those contemplated for the enlightenment for future
ages. In matters of this kind South Carolina, I am sorry to say,
is far more remiss than many other States. Massachusetts, with
most of the other New England States, guards with jealous care
her sacred traditions and memorializes with a simple stone or
some lofty pile the names of those who in any wise wrought
well and nobly in her history.



Moxr>rEXTS to Heroes 365

Rich in History.

"VVe have a history fully as rich, illustrated bj' the names of
soldiers and statesmen equally as distinguished, and yet our dis-
position is to let it fade out of the minds of even our own chil-
dren. It is a pit}' that it is so; for only by commemorating
through enduring memorial stones or splendid monuments the
achievements of her distinguished dead is it possible for the State
to count on raising up other sons in the future who will shed
lustre on her name. This is the reason above all others why our
people should insist on thus honoring the men who, after the
war. made living worth while and pleasant in this grand old com-
monwealth. We should do as other States have done, build monu-
ments to the memory of our distinguished men of the past, like
Butler and Gary, that their services and deeds may live forever
in the thought of the people. Georgia gave Henry Grady and
General Gordon monuments immediately after they died. North
Carolina erected a bronze statue to Bagh% the first American
killed in the Spanish-American war in 1898. There stands at
Vicksburg a beautiful monument to General Stephen D. Lee,
which was erected before the grass began to grow on his grave.
He, too, went from this State as a captain in the Hampton
Legion, like Butler and Gary. And shall not these last two be
remembered even as he has been? For my part, were it in my
power, I would build a monument to every Confederate soldier
who has crossed over the river, and to every one now gone to his
last sleep who rode with the red-shirt brigade that Hampton,
Butler and Gary led for South Carolina's redemption.

Some History.

Will you pardon just here a little history relating to these
three knightliest men the State ever produced — Hampton, But-
ler and Gary?

On the 23rd of March, 1877, President Hayes wrote a very
friendly letter to General Hampton, asking him to pay a visit to
Washington to talk matters over. So Hampton went to Wash-
ington, accompanied by General M. C. Butler.

Hampton's trip to the national capital was one continuous
ovation. At every railroad station a crowd was present when the



366 Stories of the Confederacy

train stopped to express their admiration. Seldom, if ever, has
such a genuine, spontaneous, popular outburst been witnessed. It
was not confined to places in his own State. The feeling was
equally appreciative in North Carolina and Virginia. When in
Washington, admirers wished to make a great popular demon-
stration in a serenade, but he persuaded them that it was better
not to do this.

On the 29th of March, 1877, General Hampton had a most
pleasant interview with Mr. Hayes. He dined that evening with
Mr. Evarts; and was, during his stay in Washington, constantly
meeting people, turning those hitherto opposed to him politically
into personal friends and warming up to steam heat the hearts
of old acquaintances, for he possessed in a most remarkable
degree, as has before been pointed out, that wonderful influence
over men, a very real, grand power, call it magnetic, psychic, or
what you will.

At length Mr. Hayes was "hypnotized" by Hampton, and on
the 2nd of April he was persuaded to withdraw the troops from
South Carolina and let Hampton take possession of the State
capitol. Hampton renewed his assurance of peace given Hayes,
by letter, and wired Lieutenant-Governor Simpson as follows :

"Everything is satisfactorily and honorably settled. I expect
our people to preserve absolute peace and quiet. My word is
pledged for them. I rely on them."

The withdrawal of troops was fixed for the 10th of April. At
exactly twelve o'clock on that day. these orders were heard in the
capitol :

"Attention." "Take arms." "Unfix bayonets." "Carry arms."
"Count fours." "Twos right." "March."

Thus ended the most deplorable drama, of using troops to carry
elections in South Carolina. God grant that it ended thus forever
in America. In His mercy, this time, He raised up Hampton,