As the Civil War progressed and the country needed more men to fill the ranks, the Confederate Congress considered initiating a draft. It was at this time that a humorous conversation was recorded between Sam Strain and Abraham Smith, a thirty-year-old shoemaker. Supposedly Abe was growing concerned over the possibility of a draft, as he did not fancy himself as “a fighting man.” He expressed this concern to Sam saying, “I don’t know what they want me for, I’m no fighter. Why don’t they take some of the Bolins, or Big Wash Childers, or Jack Wisher, or some of them Martins up the river? They’ll all fight.” Strain reminded Smith, that this was not “the kind of fighting they are use to.” “Well, I ain’t use to it either!” snapped Smith.
“But you are slim and active and would be hard to hit. General Chestnut says that the Yankees can’t shoot.”
“Shoot, the Devil! They make the guns and you know they can use ’em!”
“But those who make guns will not be there; they will be needed in the shops. The Yankees will send their men that they have no other use for but for you to shoot at.”
“That’s what I hate,” said Smith, “If I must be killed, I want to be killed by a gentleman!”
But many men, unlike Abraham Smith, was more than ready to fight in the defense of their country. One of these was sixteen-year-old John T. Scoggins of York County. Aflame with youthful patriotism John ran away from home in April 1864, lied about his age and enlisted into the Fifth South Carolina Regiment. He was sent to Virginia, arriving in time to participate in the Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. His mother notified the unit’s commanding officer of his age and in August he was deemed “illegally enrolled” and was duly sent home. Within a few months he became 17, and in December he re-enlisted, joining the 3rd Battalion of the South Carolina Reserves and sent to guard a prison stockade at Florence. When Sherman advanced into the state, Scoggins was assigned to the command of General Joseph E. Johnston at Smithfield, North Carolina. Soon after his arrival he was stricken with pneumonia and was sent to Greensboro, where he remained until Lee’s surrender, at which time he was paroled and sent home. John’s body was weakened by pneumonia he never fully recovered and died in 1875.
In late April 1865 as the final scenes of the Civil War was being played out, Hampton was under special assignment by President Davis to prevent Sherman’s advance through the Carolinas. When Lee surrendered the Virginia Army, President Davis fled from Richmond, heading for Mississippi in hopes of raising an army to continue the struggle. Some days later General Johnston surrendered at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 26. Since Hampton was on special assignment he believed he was not bound by either Lee’s or Johnston’s surrender. Instead of going to Greensboro to sign a surrender and receiving a parole, Hampton and a few of his staff officers set out to find the President. Davis was about two days travel ahead.
When Davis arrived in Yorkville on 27 April, he was promptly escorted to the home of Colonel J. Rufus Bratton where crowds assembled to see their President. Bratton noted in his journal, “He appeared to be somewhat fatigued in body and depressed in spirits though easily aroused with his native fire. He caressed and spoke kindly to my four boys, Louis, John, Andrel and Moultrie.”
The following morning as Davis’ entourage was preparing to leave the president declined making a speech in spite of the desires of the people. General John C. Breckenridge, the Secretary of War, however, spoke from the balcony of Rose’s Hotel, telling the people to have courage. Leaving Yorkville the column traveled southward on the Pinckney Road toward the courthouse town of Union across the Broad River. Sometime before noon they reached the small community of Blairsville where the escort cavalry was directed to turn off onto the Rutherfordton Road in order to cross the Broad River at Smith’s Ford. Davis, his cabinet and guards proceeded on toward the Pinckneyville Ferry.
Passing within a half mile of the Bullock’s Creek Presbyterian Church, the entourage stopped at a tavern about a mile from the Pinckneyville Ferry. As preparations were being made for their crossing. Davis took time to visit with the local folk who had gathered to see or speak to their President. The sky began to grow cloudy as Davis and his cabinet said their good-byes to the people of York County.
Meanwhile, having heard that Davis was passing through North Carolina into South Carolina Hampton and his comrades set out for Charlotte, North Carolina in hopes of getting to the little village of Yorkville where Hampton’s wife had taken refuge from Sherman’s destructive march through the state. After fording a flooding Catawba a wet, saddle weary Hampton arrived in Yorkville two hours after midnight. Finding the home where his wife had found sanctuary, he tethered his horse and rushed to meet with Mary.
After an expected warm meeting of husband and wife, the general found that his president has left Yorkville two days earlier and probably forty miles away. Wade discussed with Mary his plans to rendezvous with Davis in an effort to continue the war again the Union, but Mary was of a different mind. She labored to make her husband to see the futility of continuing. She reminded him of his lost of home and fortune, having seen their son, Preston, shot down on a battlefield in Virginia and that an entire way of life had vanished. When he would not abandon the struggle, she sent for General Joe Wheeler who was staying nearby. Wheeler and Mrs. Hampton together were eventually able to dissuade the general, appealing to his obligation to a defenseless family and state. In final respect to his leader, Hampton penned a letter to the president and gave it to Wheeler saying, “Tell the President that if in the future there should appear any way in which I can serve him, I will do so to the last.” Wheeler took the message and rode southward in pursuit of Davis. Hampton turned northward, to North Carolina to seek out one of Sherman’s patrol officers and surrender.
Just as Davis arrived at the Pinckney Ferry, his cavalry was crossing a few miles upstream at Smith’s Ford. A little more than a week some of Stoneman’s Union troop destroyed the bridge on the Catawba River; now, a second, and larger force of about three to four thousand of Stoneman’s Cavalry crossed the Broad River into the western portion of York County at Smith’s Ford. The main object of this force was to capture the Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his entourage that supposedly was carrying the Confederate treasury, which was rumored to be about $12 million.
When the Northern troops arrived on the Broad River, Davis had already crossed into Union County and spent their time looting the area. A number of local men turned out to meet troops, small skirmishes ensured before Stoneman’s troops retreated back across the river. By the time the news of the invasion reached Yorkville, the troops had re-crossed the river and were heading toward Limestone Springs in present-day Cherokee County. Nevertheless, a rider under a flag of truce with a dispatch informing them of Lee’s surrender was sent to intercept with the raiders.
With the war over, surrendered troops made their way to their sometimes-destroyed homes. Hampton returned to Columbia with others to survey their damages and losses, and try to figurer how they could began anew. After a short stay in the ashes of Columbia, the Hamptons retreated to “High Hamptons” and shortly changed his residency to Mississippi. Other than short visits he would not permanently return to South Carolina until 1876 on the eve of his nomination for Governor. Although he was spending most of the agricultural year in Mississippi before the Civil War he was a member of both Houses of the South Carolina Legislature, but seldom attended the sessions.
Shortly after the war Wade Hampton went to Mississippi to tend to his plantations in the Yazoo Delta, and did not return permanently to South Carolina for a number of years, until 1876. During the Reconstruction Era he maintained a conciliatory attitude which served him to be elected as Governor of South Carolina in 1876. He was reelected in 1878, and ironically lost a leg in a hunting accident in November when the Legislation met to elect him United States Senator. He resigned the office of Governor in February 1879 and served in the United States Senate until 1891. After vacating the governor’s office, his Lieutenant Governor, W. D. Simpson took the office. Two years later President Cleveland appointed him US Commissioner of Railroads. He served in that capacity until 1897 when there was a change in administration. In the spring of 1899 Hampton’s home on Camden Road was accidentally destroyed by fire, when he was eighty-two years old. Having limited means his friends raised enough funds to build him a handsome home at 1800 Senate Street in Columbia. Over much protesting he accepted the house and resided they’re until his death. Exactly twenty-five years from the day he redeemed his state from Radical rule, he died 11 April 1902. Wade Hampton III was laid to rest in the Trinity Episcopal cemetery in Columbia. At his request he was not buried with the pomp and circumstances of a military funeral. Among the 20,000 that attended his funeral were a large number of blacks that paid homage. His passage was quiet and simply for such a highly praised man who was owed so much by his beloved state.
J.L. West – Author
This article and many others found on the pages of Roots and Recall, were written by author J.L. West, for the YC Magazine and have been reprinted on R&R, with full permission – not for distribution or reprint!
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Sadie Day Pasha says
Where is your source for my ancestor (of Georgetown County, South Carolina) Abraham (Abram) Smith’s conversation with Sam Strain? He spoke in the “geechee dialect” of his community, and was a descendent of West Africans.