Pill (She lift and 1 3>auid person William. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS DAVID ROOERSON WILLIAMS THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS BY HARVEY TOLIVER COOK, Litt. D. PROFESSOR OF CREEK IN FURMAN UNIVERSITY NEW YORK M C M X V I ? V\/6C7 PREFACE Three and one hundred years ago, four South Carolin- ians in the House of Representatives, Williams, Cheves, Lowndes, and Calhoun were called by the Richmond Enquirer "a splendid constellation of talents." One of the stars in the group, David Rogerson Williams, was a large planter in Darlington District. His life was begun March 8th, 1776, and having been nourished through the Revolution by his widowed mother and educated at Society Hill, Charleston, Wrentham and Providence, he developed into a pioneer manufacturer and scientific agriculturist, while at the same time, his superabounding energy and public spirit made him one of the foremost in educational, political and military affairs. It has been the aspiration of the following chapters to retrace the footsteps, often effaced by the ravages of time and of men, and to rehabilitate, in a measure, the splendid figure of a Southern gentleman, with an occasional searchlight thrown upon the times, manners, morals, customs and high ideals which have almost vanished out of American life, in order that the force of his example might perchance "bear fruitage in the present and still richer fruitage in the future," in our farms, our schools, our mills, our homes, our politics and in all our human relations. The inevitable shortcomings and failure to reach the ideal cannot be ascribed to his friends and descendants, who so gener- v 1 89C70 PREFACE ously furnished their credible traditions, manuscripts, rare books, contagious enthusiasm and even the sinews of war. Among those who contributed authentic tradi- tions were Messrs. C. D. and J. W. Evans, of Darlington, Major J. J. Lucas and Mr. N. W. Kirkpatrick of Society Hill and especially Mr. John Witherspoon DuBose of Montgomery, Alabama. Those who furnished manu- script material were Professor Walter Bronson of Brown University, Mr. Bright Williamson of Darlington, Pee Dee materials; Mr. C. C. Wilson of Columbia, Minutes of the St. David's Society; Mr. William Godfrey of Cheraw, Minutes of the brigade under General Erasmus Powe; Miss Mary L. Coker of Society Hill, Minutes of the Welsh Neck Church and the Constitution of the Female Benevolent Society; Professor J. S. Ames of Johns Hopkins University, Governor Williams' Diary, 1815-1816, and numerous letters found in the appen- dix; Mr. David R. Williams of Camden, two letters written to Colonel Chesnut; Mr. A. S. Salley of Colum- bia, letter accepting the governorship ; Mr. J. L. Farnum, Library of Congress Secretary, copy of one Crawford and one Williams letter; Adjutant General George Andrews, Washington, D. C, a copy of General Wil- liams' resignation; Mr. G. M. Salzgaber, Commissioner of Pensions; Mr. J. R. Coggeshall and Mr. Robert Macfarland, copies of important documents. Printed material was furnished by Professor Yates Snowdon of Columbia, Labor Organizations in South Carolina, 1742-1861 and Founders' Day, both issued as bulletins of the South Carolina State University; Mr. N. W. Kirkpatrick, the Newspaper Press of Charles- ton; Major J. L. Coker, pamphlets issued by the Pee Dee Historical Society; Mr. Bright Williamson, articles vi PREFACE relating to Darlington County and its diversified inter- ests; Mr. T. J. Kirkland of Camden, the Camden Journal, 1828-1830; Mr. A. H. Wells, The Mountaineer, 1827-1830, Greenville, S. C; Mr. August Kohn, The Cotton Mills of South Carolina and the Water Powers of South Carolina; Mr. Alfred Moore of Welford, Landrum's History of Spartanburg County; Mr. J. E. Swearingen, State Superintendent of Education, School Statistics, 1913-1914; Commissioner E. J. Wat- son, Sixth Report; the Charleston Library, Miss Eliza Fitzsimons, Librarian, bound volumes of the City Gazette, the Courier, Mercury, and also broken sets of early agricultural papers; the Library of the State University, a bound volume of the Telescope and the account of LaFayette's journey through the state in 1825; the Archives of the State, Columbia, deeds of the early settlers; the legislative records under the control of Secretary A. S. Salley of the Historical Commission; the Furman Collection in Greenville, the correspond- ence of Dr. Richard Furman and Rev. Edmund Bots- ford, 1785-1819. The Williams Family of Society Hill by Professor Ames, the Minutes of the St. David's Society, the Minutes of the Welsh Neck Church, Gregg's History of the Old Cheraws, and the Furman-Botsford letters are the groundwork of the earlier chapters. My acknowledgments are due especially to Professor Ames and to Mr. DuBose, both of whom read portions of the manuscript, corrected some errors, made some sugges- tions, but assumed no responsibility for the narrative; but all this kindly and generous assistance above men- tioned would have been of no avail, if Mr. John Wilkins Norwood of the Norwood National Bank of Greenville had not been an active cooperator in the undertaking. He vii PREFACE was born on the Pee Dee as were his father and grand- father before him. To his admiration of sterling charac- ter, business capacity and integrity wherever found is due the moral and financial support of this memorial of the self-reliant, energetic, resourceful and high-minded Pee Deean, David Rogerson Williams. Greenville, S. C, September 25, 1915. vui CHAPTER II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. CONTENTS PAGE The Great Pedee in South Carolina and Its First Settlers 3 Amalgamation, Characteristics and the Family 13 Slavery 19 The Welsh Neck Baptist Church and St. David's Society 31 The Ancestry, Education and Marriage of David Rogerson Williams . . 42 His Career as an Editor .... 52 His Honored Mother 58 In the Ninth Congress 64 In the Tenth Congress 73 In the Twelfth Congress .... 83 His Military Services 98 Governor of South Carolina . . . 106 The Close of His Governorship . . 129 The Factory 138 The Problem of Transportation and Travel 157 Additions to Society 166 The Family and His Provision for Its Future 174 His Interest in Education .... 190 Cotton Oil Factory 197 ix CONTENTS CHAPTER PACE XX. His Main Business 210 XXI. Unabated Interest in His Country's Welfare 235 XXII. Unabated Interest in His Country's Welfare (Continued) 256 XXIII. His Death and Burial 280 XXIV. His Legacy and Descendants . . . 288 XXV. The Overflow 298 Appendix 317 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS CHAPTER I THE GREAT PEDEE IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND ITS FIRST SETTLERS THE colony at Charles Town began, after the treaty of Utrecht, 1713, to stretch out its hands for the trade with the Indians. One rested at Savannah Town, just below Hamburg in Edgefield District, the other at the Congarees near Columbia. At the former place, a market was opened for barter with the great Indian tribes, the Creeks, the Chickasaws and the Cherokees; at the Congarees, similar arrange- ments were made to accommodate the middle and lower Cherokees and the Catawbas. One trail from the Congarees led northwesterly toward the Blue Ridge and another northeasterly between the Broad and Catawba, toward the hunting grounds of the Catawba Indians (Logan). The Catawbas, once a northern tribe, had been pushed southward until they met on the banks of the river which bears their name, a brave band of Cherokees in a great battle which, having lasted the whole day, was concluded with articles of peace ever afterward to be observed. The territory of the Catawbas extended from that of the Cherokees on the west and southwest far eastward beyond the Cape Fear River, including the upper Pedee (Gregg). South of them and part of them finally, was the dwindling 3 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF band of the Cheraws, who gave their name to the precinct. This upper Pedee, not lying on the main Indian trails which served then as railroads do now, was in the back- woods and not generally known even to prospective settlers. A standard geography in England in 1758 gave the " Wateree, Santee, Cooper, Ashly, Coliton and Savannah" as the rivers of South Carolina. In the period 1730-1765 the great Pedee System, which drains over 17,000 square miles now within two states, was but a speck on the map to British eyes. The mother country was continuing to send out from a populous hive swarms of human beings, as adventurers, traders, and homeseekers; and, as represented by the govern- ment, it was a great radiator of energy and daring, so conspicuous and successful in the efforts put forth in wresting the North American continent and the rich trade in East Indies from its powerful French rivals. But the seemingly neglected upper Pedee was being preserved, unmolested and almost unvisited by white men, for a fresh and vigorous race, who found no fault with the situation. It was brought more prominently into notice in 1732, when the township of Queensboro on the lower Pedee was laid out and offered to settlers in tracts of fifty acres for each man, woman and child who would occupy and improve them and, after the first ten years, pay annually one dollar for every hun- dred acres. When the settlers in the Welsh Tract in Pennsylvania heard of these inducements, several of them came South to investigate and visit the townships opened for settlement. They were hospitably received and at their request 173,840 acres were laid off for the exclusive habitation of the Welsh. The immigrants 4 DAVID ROGERSON WCLLIAMS for this Welsh Tract which was extended in the follow- ing year up the river were expected to come direct from the counties of Pembroke, Carmarthen in Wales, and from the Smaller "Welsh Tract" of 30,000 acres pur- chased in Penn's jurisdiction. It was settled first by Welshmen from the Welsh Tract church, which, be- coming a prolific mother, sent out in thirty-four years successive detachments, north, northeast, south, west, and the colony to the distant Pedee. According to Benedict, there arrived on the Pedee, in 1737, James James and wife and three sons Philip, who was their minister; Abel, Daniel and their wives, Daniel Devonald and wife, Thomas Evans and wife, another Evans and wife, John Jones and wife, three of the Harrys Thomas, David and John and his wife Samuel Wild and wife, Samuel Evans and wife, and David and Thomas Jones and their wives. These thirty members, with their children and households, settled at a place called Cat- fish, on Pedee River, but they soon removed about fifty miles higher up the same river, where they made a permanent settlement, and where they all, except James James, who died at Catfish, were embodied into a church, January, 1738. In eight years the best land on the Pedee had been taken up and the tide of im- migration had turned up the Saluda. The exclusive- ness practiced had the appearance of clannishness, but when so many thousands of acres in the state were waiting for an owner, it loses all its ugly features. It was a useful precaution at the time and passed away insensibly and without the friction which accompanied ecclesiastical and political discrimination. The ques- tions asked were, Is he a Welshman? Is he a desirable character? They were living in the woods, surrounded 5 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF by Indians, with whom one indiscreet white man might embroil the whole settlement. They feared their white neighbors as well as the Indians and therefore kept out of their bailiwick men not speaking their own language. This racial fence was kept up perhaps in the lifetime of the first settlers and until the English language was coming into use. It was long enough to give their principles time to take root and establish a sort of hegemony in the minds of men, to which im- migrants from other allied races assented as an excellent standard for the community. "The country being in a wilderness state,'* said Bishop Gregg, "their posi- tion isolated, and their means limited, they selected such quantities of land, as suited their present neces- sities, influenced also, to some extent, by the consid- eration of compactness, which gratified their social propensities and enabled them besides to concentrate against sudden incursions of the Indians, by whom they were surrounded. Here on a virgin soil, they peacefully pursued their agricultural employments, be- ing richly rewarded for the common toils and hardships endured. In their new and yet wilderness home, drawn together more closely than by the common ties of friend- ship and of blood, surrounded by common dangers, against which they vigilantly guarded, with common wants and necessities sufficiently supplied, and meeting weekly around the consecrated altar to worship the God of their fathers, a more perfect unity, or virtuous and manly life can scarcely be conceived. Such was the scene presented by this infant band of brothers in the early days of their history; with no court of justice in their midst to which conflicting claims and angry dis- putes might be referred, and no frowning gaol for the 6 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS reception of the criminal. Nor were they needed. Few contentions probably were known and the voice of Society, though newly formed in this Southern home, was potent enough to silence the voice of the blasphemer and make evil-minded man pause in his ways." If natural laws were to prevail under these circumstances, the good seed, brought from the old world, winnowed from chaff and noxious weeds and dropped in virgin soil, would bring forth an abundant harvest of good qualities. The Welsh were a branch of the great Celtic race which belonged to the same stock from which the Greeks, Romans, Germans, and English descended. They came long before the Christian era to France and the British Isles, and from time to time they migrated in great bodies eastward and became the terror of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. They made good sol- diers before whom even a Roman army could not stand, but being deficient in political capacity, unattached to their native soil and too vain to labor with their own hands, they were sorry citizens, who preferred military and plundering expeditions to the quietude of peaceful pursuits. "They shook all the states," says Mommsen, "but nowhere did they make a great state or develop a distinctive culture of their own," a parallel to which is found in the misfortune of the Irishman, who has fought for so many countries and so unsuccessfully for his own Erin. Many generations passed and many lessons in the school of experience were learned, before the Welsh became noted for virtues which were conspicuously absent from their brave Celtic ancestors. As to the causes of some of the changes for the better, the remarks found in the biography of J. Glancy Jones, a descendant 7 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF of a Welsh family in Pennsylvania, are luminous and to the point: "The little remnant of the ancient Britons who had sought the security of the mountains of Wales, when they were driven out of England by the Anglo-Saxons, had been drawn closer by their adversities. They became more clannish in their mountain fastnesses, more tenacious of their Celtic language, their Celtic customs, their Celtic traditions; and when their descend- ants went up to London, with their hearts full of this clannishness, to confer with William Penn (himself of Welsh extraction) about the newly acquired lands in America, it was to secure from him the assurance that if they went there, they were to have their bounds and limits to themselves, within which all causes, quarrels, crimes, and titles were to be tried and wholly deter- mined by officers, magistrates and juries in their own language, and by those who were equals, in the same manner as they had enjoyed their liberties and privileges in the land of their nativity, under the crown of Eng- land. They impressed upon him, with all the vigor of their clannish strength, that they desired to be by them- selves in this new and strange land, to live together as a civil society without the intrusion of strangers, to endeavor to decide all controversies and debates in a gos- pel order, and not to entangle themselves with laws in an unknown tongue; as also to preserve their language that they might ever keep correspondence with their friends in the land of their nativity. . . . They knew how the English and the Saxons had supplanted their ances- tors, the Britons, by force, and brought with them to the shores of England and firmly planted there, to the exclusion of everything else, the social and political life 8 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS of their Teutonic fatherland ; and they thought it would be an easy matter for them peacefully, in a new country, to establish a Welsh Colony, where they might retain the cherished associations of their old home and yet reap the advantages of this new and promising land. . . . They had nothing but logs to build their houses with, for that part of the Welsh Tract was the 'back country.' Many of the houses had not even locks or bolts on their doors. There were not many roads and the few they had were little better than trails. . . . The country was rich in soil, climate and beautiful scenery, but the landscapes were mild compared with the bolder landscapes of Wales. The trees were fine, game was abundant and though the conditions were as healthy as could be expected in a newly broken country, it was not long before there were many graves. "Though descended from a brave and warlike people, these Welshmen were devoted to the arts of peace. They were a contented and prosperous little community. They were particular in their personal appearance and in their linen. The men dressed in buckskin breeches and plush coats, and the women in cambric, fine bon- nets and silk. They were clannish and impatient of the intrusion of strangers. "The isolation of the little group of Welshmen in- creased their strength, made them more self-reliant, inter-dependent and concentrative. It developed their strong sense of brotherhood. It made this little valley the nursery of strong men who went out from it in later years to make their mark in the world. So deeply did the strong race that once dwelt there make its impres- sion upon the land, that though they are gone, their unfading memory still lingers there, intermingled with 9 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF the sweet fragrance of its fields, and inseparably associ- ated with the native beauty, fertile stretches and grace- ful undulating lowlands. "They were an emotional, proud, elastic people, with a quick eye for the beautiful and a strong instinct of nobility. They loved nature and everything beauti- ful that was to be found in it. To their romance and their fancy, they united courage and the more prac- tical forms of life. Nothing of the narrowness of fa- naticism was to be found in them. They were broad in their aims and their actions. What we see therefore, in their uneventful lives, is not unimportant. It be- comes valuable to the biographer, when he seeks in it, back through the dim vista of time, the origin of many of those fine qualities that appear afterwards in remote generations of their descendants." An appreciative visitor to the original site and neighborhood of the Welsh colony on the Pedee can heartily assent to one of these statements: "So deeply did the strong race that once dwelt there make its impression upon the land, that though they are gone, their unfading memory still lingers there, intermingled with the sweet fragrance of its fields, and inseparably associated with the native beauty, fertile stretches and graceful undulating lowlands"; but in respect to cloth- ing, it may be surmised that the Welsh on the Pedee did not indulge in "buckskin breeches and plush coats and the women in cambric, fine bonnets and silk," or that they were at first richly rewarded for their toils. They did not suffer for food or other necessaries, but their means of making money were so limited that they confessed in their fourth year that they were too poor to pay the cost of running out and deeding their land. 10 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS The Council at Charleston, to encourage them, offered a bounty of five pounds in currency for each barrel of flour weighing two hundred pounds they brought to the city. In all other respects the delineation of the forests, houses, and characteristics of the Welsh in Pennsyl- vania shows that the South Carolina Colony was a chip from the same block. These emigrants from wild Wales and Pennsylvania transplanted themselves on the wild Pedee, which they found adapted to agriculture and stock raising, leading pursuits in their mother country, and developed their civilization, Welsh in its texture, but modified by contact with hospitable and worthy neighbors. They were no doubt familiar with the prophecy, more than a thousand years old, uttered about their island home, whose name, like its territory, shrunk up from Guallia, Wallia to Wales: "Their Lord they shall praise Their Tongue they shall keep; Their lands they shall lose Except wild Wales." But in the new world they were to lose their tongue and become a part of that English army which, with axe and plough as weapons, helped to wrest the new world from the French and the Spanish. There were no great men in the company which first settled on the east side of the Pedee, but their descend- ants have shown that the pioneers were men and women of sturdy virtues and no mean talents. They built and graced the log cabins which dotted the river margin, made them centres of domestic virtue and happiness, and filled their humble spheres of duty to their offspring 11 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS and, better than they knew, to the state. Their last resting place is still pointed out, where they lie in un- marked graves, overgrown with weeds, overflowed in the great freshets, and forgotten almost as completely as the pater noster they used to repeat in their own dialect. Sources: Logan's History of Upper South Carolina, Gregg's History of the Old Cheraws, and Benedict's History of the Baptists, original in their contents; Jones' Biography of J. Glancy Jones, and Woodward's Expansion of the British Empire. 12 / CHAPTER II AMALGAMATION, CHARACTERISTICS AND THE FAMILY THE settlements of Welsh, English, Scotch, Irish, French and German, dotted here and there, were to expand and cover the whole state and use one universal language. It was history repeating itself. Emigrants to a new country from closely allied races, or speaking dialects of the same language, lose their inveterate antipathy and, after two or three gen- erations, amalgamate so completely by intermarriage that the children of later generations have the blood of three or four races coursing in their veins. The descendants of these early immigrants still make up a large part of the 98 per cent, of the present native-born population. None of the branches of these new settlers remained unmixed. Even the Welsh, with their segre- gating tendencies ingrained for centuries, could not continue in their separateness and clannishness; but in the intermixture along the Pedee they remained the prepotent factor. Their fine qualities and discreet cohesive power were all in their favor; and they were fortunate in their amalgamation with excellent incomers from allied stocks.* *Editor John E. Williams of the American Pioneer said in 1843: "If you will look around and see the Joneses, Evanses, Thomases, Johnses, Edmundses, Enoches, Wil- liamses, Cadwalladers, Davises, Jameses, Robertses, Owenses, Philipses, or any Chris- tian name used as a surname, you more than conjecture the extraction to be Welsh; 13 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF As emigrants they differed in motives and in character from the Pilgrim Fathers, "who emigrated in search of the freedom of worship denied them in their own coun- try." Nor were they like the settlers on Massachu- setts Bay, "where the public opinion was intolerant by conviction and neither politician nor pastor raised a voice for freedom of worship, where a question of church order or biblical controversy was the chief concern of life." The Welsh differed also from the colony at Charles Town with its classes of mixed population and unequal opportunities and from Maryland and Provi- dence, the former accepting religious toleration, the latter restricting the magistrate to the province of politics. They were like the Pilgrims in having "taste mainly for country life, in being inured to self-denial, thrift and hard work, in having common aims and beliefs, animated by high motives and accustomed to act to- gether for their joint welfare"; and they agreed with the men of Massachusetts in their valuation of learning, though it led not to taxation for the schools but to a cultivated private liberality. In short the men and women on the Pedee were noble by nature. Their history was marred by no religious fanaticism which led to burning witches, hanging Quakers or beating dissent- ing preachers; nor by political inequalities made in their own interests. It was a place where Freedom had its sway unconfined save by the moderation of sane public opinion. Had the Welsh in larger numbers settled in a just as sure as son is English, Mac is Scottish, O and Fiti, Irish, Van, Dutch, and Dt and La French." He gave his fellow-Welshman the name of a fearnaught, restless, go-ahead people. The Celtic people were easily moved en masse and their amalga- mation on the Pedee balanced that tendency with the Teutonic sense of individuality, or the Anglican love of personal liberty. 14 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS strategic position like Massachusetts and leavened the new world, the history of the United States might have been a more attractive study. In their social relations there was freedom within legitimate bounds. In the family, the father was the legal and nominal head and in field and farm he was master and director. His primacy in the family rested also on a moral basis. He took to money making as naturally as birds do to the air; and behind all his planning and industry were the love of his wife and children and respect for the community's name and welfare. To the wife as the weaker vessel was ac- corded the highest place in the heart and home and as mother she shone in the graces of her daughters and in the manly virtues of her husband and sons. The mother and the daughters, to whom all paid deference, belonged to the household and were therefore excused from labor on the roads, sitting on juries and from military service. The men belonged to the state as well as to the family and were liable in any emergency to be called out from home. In the earlier times the sons were sometimes more carefully educated than the daughters, whose training in reading, writing, and arithmetic and comely conduct was a sufficient female adornment. The authority of the parents as a rule was exercised with discretion, and in not a few families there was a subordination of parts, due to strength and weakness, affection and reverence, that left no room for friction. Such harmony makes a family become an organism, with its members sympathetically united and contributing each its share to the efficiency and happiness of the whole. In a similar arrangement of its members, an apostle and a pagan philosopher saw, 15 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF one the possibility of a perfect church, the other of a perfect state. Underneath the family and a part of its possessions was a class of colored dependents or slaves, varying in number from one to several hundred. Their habitation was generally in the yard or in small houses conveni- ently situated near the "big house." There was in consequence a division of labor in the master's family. The mistress with her chosen female servants cared for the house and table, the milking, and making of cloth and garments for the establishment. Large numbers of cows filled the pen at night and furnished milk and butter as well as beef, hides, and yearlings to be sold in the market. The spinning wheel made music before the piano appeared in the home, and prepared wool and cotton for the loom. Excepting in the color of the slaves, Penelope in Homer's Odyssey, three thousand years ago, would have been at home on the Pedee with her industrious servants. It was the master's function to plan and plant such crops and direct the labor of his "hands" in a way that the whole family might be self-supporting and that there might be some compensation for supervision. Subservient to this purpose, nearby the home were built blacksmith and carpenter shops, where skilled artisans made themselves useful in rainy weather and in emer- gencies. Early in the nineteenth century, the cotton gin and screw became a necessary adjunct for the preparation of the cotton for sale and exportation. Prior to the appearance of the gin, a flock of sheep and a patch of cotton, with its seed picked out by hand, furnished the material for the use of the spinner and the weaver. 16 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS The woods were kept stocked with swine and the crop of acorns, sometimes killed by the frost, was watched by the farmers with the same interest they noticed their growing corn. When abundant, the mast made the shotes sleek for the fattening pen and less corn needful in fitting them for slaughter on some crisp December morning, when the whole force congregated to convert by laborious processes the living rooters into palatable pork. The hams in the Cheraw precinct attained a celebrity and retained it until cotton and negroes lessened the amount for sale. As late as 1812 it was sold in Charleston, "in small handy casks of 200 pounds, suitable for family use." It was pronounced to be "of superior quality, well saltpetred and war- ranted sound." A full smokehouse was a necessity for the backwoods paterfamilias and some of them continued in the provident mood to the end of slavery. In the forties and earlier Kentuckians had established a hog route to Greenville, South Carolina, with stations ten miles apart, along which were driven fifty to eighty thousand fat swine, averaging 300 pounds, to be distributed among the cotton planters. Among the crops outside of cotton, corn was the great staple. The vine followed the Greeks, wheat the Romans and cotton the Arabs (Humbolt). Maize or Indian corn followed the Indian, while his successor, the white man, in one part or another of his great country, has been followed by all the great crops. Wheat has furnished the best bread, but corn, being prolific and cosmopolitan, is the most valuable of all the cereals. It is the gift of a beneficent Creator who designed that the provident man and his beasts should live in abun- 17 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS dance. The intelligent master said in substance to his slaves: "You must labor and be obedient. In return for your labor, I give you food and raiment and care for your health. You shall not beg in your old age nor fill a pauper's grave." The great majority of the slaves were light-hearted and chafed not at their lot. They lived in the present, were social, musical, and even hilarious where noise was not forbidden. Their wants were few and simple, and having no anxiety for the fu- ture they received at birth the ability to say what cost the apostle Paul much tribulation, "I have learned in whatever state I am therein to be content." But there were evil masters who sinned greatly against their hu- man chattels, and there were both men and women slaves who were insubordinate, not in the interest of their freedom, but out of motives not far from brutish, causing severe punishment. The runaways graduated out of this latter class, both male and female; but as the years passed and they outlived their native wildness, absconding slaves became relatively fewer in number. The lot of the slave under white or colored superintend- ents and in families ambitious to increase their posses- sions was harder than that of the servants who lived under the direct supervision of well-to-do masters. Such was the family on the Pedee and like it on an extended scale was the community. 18 CHAPTER III SLAVERY SLAVERY had its place in the industrial develop- ment of the world. Whether right or wrong, the Creator made the stronger men and animals with such instincts that they used and still use the weaker for their own advantage. On the supposition that the inferior was made for the benefit of the superior, man harnessed the dog, ox, horse, mule, and with Dar- winian philosophy yoked his weaker fellowmen and those least removed from the "missing link," to do his own work and bidding; and as he developed in men- tal capacity, he utilized the wind, water, steam and electricity to take the place of menial and animal labor. Inventions and labor-saving devices and the leavening of society with altruistic sentiments, have aided in changing one phase of slavery for another and gener- ally of a milder form. Great Britain freed her chattel slaves but continued to hold so many millions of free- men tributary that it was said at the time for every person in England there were two hundred and fifty tributary subjects; and when four millions of slaves valued at two billions of dollars were freed in 1865, the money power which made emancipation possible, sub- stituted for it, in its own interests, an annual tribute from the whole country, amounting in the best years 19 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF to a sum equal to the total value of the manumitted slaves; and the masters of slaves became the masters of free laborers. It cannot be claimed that slavery in the past has been incompatible with the highest civilization. Athens, the home of many slaves, not Africans but men and women of better races, has remained for more than two millenniums the intellectual and artistic teacher of every later generation; and Rome, where the legal relation of the wife, son and daughter to the father of the family was the same as that of the slave, is still the instructor in politics and jurisprudence. In the days of American slavery, the downfall of Rome was confidently attributed to her slave system, but to-day other faddists find the cause of her fall in the hookworm introduced from Africa or in the loss of the best men in the con- tinuous warfare, or in the urbanization of the people. It was found out by the Europeans engaged in the business of enslaving their less civilized fellows, that the Africans were the ablest physically and the most suitably endowed by nature to be submissive to the rule of a master. They soon learned to wear the yoke, adapt themselves to their sphere and become attached to their masters and mistresses. The Welsh had no scruples in reference to slavery before they left their northern homes, and now ensconced in their forest possessions they soon found these sable laborers useful in field work and in tending their cattle. Slaves were brought up the river and from more northern colonies byfimmigrants or in exchange for cattle and farm prod- ucts; but the upper Pedee lost its proportion of the 25,000 carried off by the British in the Revolution. The census of 1790 reported that there were 140,000 20 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS whites and 108,805 negroes in South Carolina. The limitation of the period 1788 to 1808 as the lawful time for the importation of slaves, made the traffic lively among the European and northern ship owners. In November, 1803, the legislature of South Carolina removed the restrictions against the trade, and within five hours after the news reached Charleston, two large British Guineamen came into the city and sold their cargoes of human freight. In the next four years 40,000 Africans landed at Charleston to be distributed over the state and as far west as the Mississippi. To be strictly accurate, from January 1, 1804, to December 31, 1807, thirty-nine thousand and seventy-five Africans were brought into Charleston. Of this number 21,027 were brought in by foreigners. Citizens whose states had repudiated slavery imported 14,605; the South brought in 3,443. Of the 202 vessels which brought cargoes, Britain owned 70, Charleston 61, Rhode Island 59; of 202 consignees, 13 were natives of Charleston, 88 of Rhode Island, 91 of Britain, 10 of France. The in- vestments offered by this traffic depleted the banks at Charleston and stretched credit generally to the snapping point. Negroes had also been introduced into the north- ern colonies but their unprofitableness gave slavery an easy death or caused them to be sold in climates where their labor was more valuable. The Quakers were the first to oppose slavery from humane considerations. There was a settlement of them in Newberry District, which suffered in the Revo- lution. Early in the new century, they numbered five hundred, owned farms, supported a pastor and were excellent citizens; but after the San Domingo massacres they were made restless by a visiting minister, Zachary 21 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Dicks, who predicted that similar massacres would take place among slaveholders in this country. They sold out and went to Ohio, where their descendants, opposed to war, doubtless helped to make it necessary for Presi- dent Lincoln to send as voters into Ohio, soldiers from New England and other places, to defeat Vallandigham, the people's choice for governor, and thereby to bring it about that "a government of the people, for the people and by the people might not perish from the earth!" Several families of the Quakers remained in the state, one of which furnished a Chief Justice and a thing of more value now the author of the "An- nals of Newberry and of the Bench and Bar of South Carolina." It has often been claimed that slavery hurt the master more than the slave who had been dragged unwillingly from his haunts of ignorance and superstition and brought into contact with civilization. There was some truth in the assertion. The unskilled laborer hindered the use of labor-saving machinery. Less progress in agriculture and less diversification in the pursuits of life and less accumulation of property were the inevitable results.* The negro was three-fifths of a *The slave was dear to the owner, but profitable to the state. He had to be bought at a high price, fed, clothed, cared for in sickness and in old age and buried when his toils were over; and the more cotton he made the less it brought. The master had cog- nizance of the petty thefts and misdemeanors and corrected them at home and not in the courts. In June, i860, Georgia with a population of 43,684 white illiterates and $00,000 slaves, had 101 in jail, but Massachusetts with 46,262 illiterates had 1,161 in jails. (Dodd.) The difference in the expense of a southern government prior to 1861 and that of a free state did not end here. The state government of South Carolina, for instance, was a model of economy and efficiency and in freedom from graft. Wealthy candidates for office, prompted by the love of honor and success, often spent large sums of money, but they would have parted with their right hands sooner than stoop to crooked ways of replenishing their coffers. Avarice was not a dominating motive. 22 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS man as a slave, and as a freedman he retains about the same relation to the white laborer. As a domestic servant he had no equal. If slavery had not been interwoven with politics it, too, would have found an end by euthanasia, the easy death, which was coming by the unprofitableness of unskilled labor in the pro- duction of agricultural products. Slaves had for the most part to live in the country. There were no large cities in the South, about fifteen-sixteenths of the population being on the farms. Economists of that day calculated that thirty-five or forty to the square mile was about as large a population as slave labor could support. Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia had already approached this average, and slave labor could scarcely support itself. When the popula- tion reached 110 to the square mile, men, whether bond or free, could not support themselves. And on this basis certain economists calculated that the South by 1887 would average 40 to the square mile which would make slave labor of little value, and by 1926 the increased population would make it a positive burden. Whether their figures were right or wrong, the general conclusion was correct and slavery would have found its end by degrees, with less loss to the masters, and more profit and happiness to the freedmen had it been suffered to run its own course under the Constitution of the United States, according to the original "scrap of paper." The invention of the cotton gin multiplied the value of the slave and made him a fixture in the cotton belt. It was cotton and not the negro, or rather it was cotton with the negro, that made too many Southern farmers invest all their earnings in the plantation and hands. Indirectly the negro was in the way of manufactures 23 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF and, therefore, of the poorer white families who would have been employed in them. Prejudice against slavery sent the immigrants in great numbers to in- crease the wealth and population of the free states; but it also acted as a preservative against a European inundation of the Southern States and preserved that section for the descendants of the first settlers. Helper, a Southern writer in the late fifties, endeavored to show what an incubus slavery was to the South, and his effort was rewarded by the sale of near one million copies of his work. And in a higher realm than money matters, a master or any stronger man suffers, when for any rea- son he is cruel to man or beast. His relationship to re- fractory or rebellious slaves was the same in essence as that between a government and its rebels. Both the master and the government have the same temptations to be cruel in the exercise of physical force and to show that they are no nearer the golden rule than their far- off ancestors. Slaveholding was imperialism in small change and it placed in the will of the master a power which few men and fewer governments have been found sane and wise enough not to abuse. An unmoral, not to say immoral, race in the midst of a superior one has its points of unwholesome contact. Inferior in morals and in station, it is bound to exert a deteriorating influence. The three great impulses to human activity are the desire of food, of drink, and love (Plato); and their excesses are called gluttony, drunkenness and licentiousness. The last flourished among the Africans not less than among the more cultivated races. This evil and gambling have ever been evidences of the unity of the human family; but it was the interest of the master and in his power to pro- 24 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS tect his chattels from the other two vices. Had the late comers from Africa had free access to intoxicants, they would have degenerated like the Indians. The allowance of food kept them strong and free from dis- eases to which free men were liable. In trials made with Irish ditchers who were among the best white laborers in antebellum times, as well as voracious eaters, the negroes' superiority, where physical strength counted, was easily established. The leisure afforded the master and his family was not all wasted. It led them to cultivate their minds and morals, and become more useful in society. The bookstores found their best customers at the South, where the leisure and responsibility as imperialists caused them to cultivate hospitality and a high sense of honor. Their very station made them statesmen . Feudalism had feudal obligations and it was this as well as descent from a great race which cooperated in making it possible for Senator Hoar of Massachusetts to pay the Southern gentleman a tribute as generous as it was unexpected: "They have an aptness for command, which makes the Southern gentleman, wherever he goes, not a peer only but a prince. They have the best of them and the most of them inherited from the great race from which they came the sense of duty and the instinct of honor as no other people on the face of the earth. They are lovers of home. They have not the mean traits which grow elsewhere in places where money making is the chief end of life. They have above all and giving value to all, that supreme and superb constancy, which with- out regard to personal ambition and without yielding to the temptations of wealth, without getting tired and without getting diverted, can pursue a great public 25 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF object, in and out, year after year, and generation after generation." Where his lot was cast with a tolerable master, the African was not so unhappy as the corres- ponding free stratum in other countries. The ground for this statement is ample, found in contemporary anti-slavery writings, and from the testimony of some living ex-slaves who look back on slavery days as better than those enjoyed in freedom. A colored speaker declared before the Southern Baptist Convention in 1914 that he would prefer to be a slave of a Southern master than be a freeman in Africa. From the days of Abraham down to the memory of men still living slavery flourished, being recognized by pagan, Jewish, and Christian religions; but there was something unique in American slavery. Slavery in other cases meant degra- dation; but to an African it was the road to elevation. The first steps of improvement industry, obedience to authority, and provident forethought were taught him, but his servitude was too short for the thorough inculcation of these lessons. It was long enough to be helpful and to bring to light some of his better traits. Sincere attachments between the servants and their masters and mistresses were frequent and many of them continued after their relationship ceased. In the settlements where wealthy men kept a colony in the yard, an aristocratic sentiment appeared as in great Roman families and made them look down upon the less favored freemen as "poor white trash." Even the free negro was by some reckoned in a lower scale. In a quarrel (heard by W. C. Preston) between a f reed- man and a slave, the latter's parting shot was, "What are you anyhow? You are nothing but a free nigger. You have no massa." 26 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS It was said by a Greek poet that a slave was only half a man. And yet the African half -man illustrated in one respect the stoic maxims, "Wherever a man can live, he can live well"; "Very little is necessary to live happily." Even in servitude, there was developed and made manifest one racial virtue in times when no white race could have resisted the temptation to for- swear fidelity to his master. When Great Britain began the Revolutionary contest, her representatives were able to incite the Indians to war on the Colonies; but the emancipation proclamation and the opportun- ity to enlist in the Union armies found little response among the great body of slaves whose masters were not made refugees by the invading army. It was in their power to light up fires from Virginia to Texas, but instead of that natural course, they made provisions both for home use and for the army, built the breast- works to defend their masters and with the greatest fidelity protected their unguarded families at home. When the tidings of the burning of Columbia reached the north, Philip Brooks, the great northern preacher, exclaimed, "Isn't Sherman a dandy!" but the un- sophisticated negro looked upon the undreamed of sights with mouth wide open, just as he did when his master used to read to him about the Beasts in Revela- tion! A part of the race was in contact with the splendors of the Pharaohs and might have profited by the civilization of Greece or Rome or later nations, but no part of the negro race has ever threatened with vi- olence a civilized state or built up a civilization of its own ; and to-day the race rises by imitation of the older one, and not yet appreciably from native forces devel- oping within their own activities. 27 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Fifty years have passed since the negroes were freed by no virtue or fault of their own. No wars were ever fought to free slaves; but laws as powerful as gravitation have worked silently to emancipate both men and women. The catastrophe in 1860-65 was wound up in the friction between two great parties centripetal and centrifugal which were trying, the one to make the federal government stronger than the states, the other in trying to keep the states unimpaired in their functions. The freeing of the slaves was done in the passions excited by the war, and to the exigency of party politics must be credited the raising of the African from the state of slavery to that of citizen, above their former masters. It is interesting to note how some of the thoughtful European scholars are thinking on the subject. Hugo Mtinsterberg of Ger- many, now in Harvard University, says in his book on "Americans": "Europe has so far considered only one feature of the negro question that of slavery. All Europe read * Uncle Tom's Cabin' and thought the difficulty solved as soon as the negro was freed from his chains and the poorest negro came into his human right of freedom. Europe was not aware that in this wise still greater problems were created, and that greater springs of misery and misfortune for the negro there took their origin. . . . But all students of the South believe that this hatred (between the races) has come about wholly since the negro was declared free. The slave was faithful and devoted to his master, who took care of him. ... A patriarchal condition prevailed in the South before the war, in spite of the representa- tions made by political visionaries. Indeed it is some- 28 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS times difficult not to doubt whether it was necessary to do away with slavery so suddenly and forcibly: whether a good deal of self-respect would not have been saved on both sides, and endless hatred, embitterment, and misery spared, if the Northern states had left the negro question to itself, to be solved through organic rather than mechanical means. "It is too late to philosophize on this point: doctri- narianism has shaped the situation otherwise. The arms of the Civil War have decided in favor of the North. It is dismal, but it must be said that the actual events of the ensuing years of peace have decided rather in favor of the view of the South." In speaking to a Boston audience, Prof. J. P. Ma- haffy, professor of Greek in Dublin University, said: "That the fact that all the Greek world held slaves is another antiquated standpoint, which prevents them from being fit teachers for modern nations. But to me that question does not appear so simple, and perhaps with the experience of the past forty years, even the American public that has time for reflection may have some doubts on the matter. So great a thinker as Aristotle felt quite clear about it; he believed there were inferior races, fit only to be controlled, not to control, and he held it was for their good when they were coerced by the superior intelligence and education of the Greeks." When the powerful brute force of one side put an end to slavery, a Northern philanthropic element lavished its money freely that the ignorant slaves might be educated citizens; but in this, too, the ardor has cooled itself by actual results. The pot boiling over extin- guishes the fire beneath. A philosophical reason for it may be found in Herbert Spencer's "Psychology": 29 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "One of the reasons assigned in the United States for not educating negro children with white children has been that after a certain age they 'do not correspond- ingly advance in learning, their intellect being apparently incapable of being cultured beyond a particular point.' But this statement, which might be suspected of bias, agrees with that made by Sir Samuel Baker, who says: 1 In childhood, I believe the negro to be in advance in intellectual quickness of the white child of a similar age, but the mind does not expand it promises fruit but does not ripen,' " and more in amplification of the theory. Sources: O'Neall's Annals of Newberry, Judge Smith's Speech on Slavery, December, 1820; the Southern Quarterly Review, 1846, Woodward's Expan- sion of the British Empire, Thomas' Reminiscences, Winkler in International Review, 1874, and Mrs. Caro- line Whitman's Family Reminiscences. 30 CHAPTER IV THE WELSH NECK BAPTIST CHURCH AND ST. DAVID'S SOCIETY THE allotment of lands in Graven County, in which the Welsh occupied the central and strategic position, was made in clear daylight, and notwithstanding the fires, earthquakes and wars which devasted the City by the Sea, the records are still worth the trouble of investigation. George II was the grantor, and names of grantees are yet preserved in the archives of the state and partly in the Charleston library. The provincial government offered induce- ments to prospective settlers and treated them with liberality and exercised patience when dues were slow to come in; but it was either unable or unwilling to extend the protection of the laws over the distant frontiers. The machinery of the government was centrally located, and some twenty-five years elapsed while the frontiersmen were neither under nor outside of the government at Charles Town. It was a situation in which moral and religious senti- ment of the community by its mere weight served, while in this isolation, as a good substitute for govern- ment. Five years after their log huts had been raised, the Welsh met in the house of John Jones* and in due *John Jones lived on and east of the Pedee; William Hughes was his neighbor on the ea$t. He got three deeds for 750 acres in 1743 and 1744. 31 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF time their gatherings were transferred to the meeting house built by the church and community. The Welsh Neck Baptist Church then became and remained for nearly a century by common consent something like an established church in the old country. In Rhode Island, the colony most like that on the Pedee in its general features, unrestricted freedom degenerated into loquacity and verbal dissensions; but on the Pedee where there was a strong "instinct of nobility," able men of other faiths either gave them up or compromised their differences and cast in their lot with their Welsh brethren. In the day of its widest influence, it had no connection with the magistrate, yet its pastor was called upon to preach before the Planters' Club, the ses- sion sermon before the opening of the court, and on other patriotic occasions. The church shared to some extent in the strictness of discipline common to the times, but in no other way was its influence felt to be harsh or stern. Only once in the history of the Cheraw District was a minister beaten for preaching the gospel as he understood it. One Rev. Joseph Cates was severely handled before the Revolution by a magistrate, but the violence stirred up so much indignation that the officer felt that it was necessary to make bad morals the ground of the castigation. (Benedict.) The church was a light shining in the darkness and it became not only an uplifter and transformer of the immediate vicinity, but also a mother church out of which went before the dawn of the new century such organizations as Cashaway, Cape Fear, Lynch's Creek, Cheraw, Beauty Spot, and others. The time came at last when moral suasion and public opinion were not sufficient to restrain the evil men who 32 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS were crowding in upon the unprotected law-abiding citizens. The good people reported their grievances to the government and petitioned for relief; but when entreaties were unavailing, the best people in the county came together, considered the situation and formed companies called Regulators who made it warm for the emboldened horse thieves, negro stealers, and other evildoers. The activity of the Regulators awoke the slumbering authorities in Charles Town to the fact that they were ignorant of the real situation on the Pedee. The machinery of government as a result of official investigation was extended over the men who had been forced to protect themselves. It was not a government of the mob on the Pedee; that arises like miasma, when the laws are lax and law-breakers are unpunished. It was an organization to supply the place of no laws and it fell to pieces as soon as the people saw constituted authority over them. They acted in obedience to the law of self-preservation, in falling back as a last resort on the sovereignty of the people. A coalition of law-abiding citizens against any class of irresponsible evildoers who respect nothing but superior force, is always in order. A court house and jail was built at the Bluff, about 1768, and a judge and jury sat in their midst dispensing justice. It was a new era to the colony, when the resumption of a constitutional government closed the time of insecurity for life and property. The troubles with the mother country were now beginning. The Stamp act and the declaration of the mother country that it had a right to tax the colonies were like an angry cloud rising above the horizon. In the fall court of 1774, Judge William Henry Drayton's ad- 33 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF dress* to the juries and their responses, place Society Hill in the very front rank of the revolutionary patriots. The charge of the judge attracted the attention of the people in this province and in England. A part of it was couched in these ringing words: "English people cannot be taxed, nay they cannot be bound by any laws, unless by their consent, expressed by themselves, or their representa- tives of their own election. The Colony was settled by English subjects; by a people from England herself; a people who brought over with them, who planted in the colony, and who transmitted to posterity the invaluable right of Englishmen rights which no time, no contract, no climate, can diminish. Thus possessed of such rights by all the ties which mankind hold most dear and sacred; your reverence to your ancestors; your love to your own interest; your tenderness to your posterity; by the lawful obligation of your oath, I charge you to do your duty; to maintain the laws, the rights, the constitution of your country, even at the hazard of your lives and fortune." The petit jury returned "our warmest acknowledge- ments for so constitutional a charge at this alarming crisis, when our liberties are attacked and our properties invaded by the claim and attempt of the British parlia- *In his "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," Jefferson Davis refers to this address as an "exhibition of judicial purity and independence" like to that exhib- ited by Judge Aldrich in 1867, when he being ordered to revoke a sentence, replied to General Sickles: "I do not impose the penalty it is the law, and I have no discre- tion." When General Canby's orders did not conform to the laws of the state, Judge Aldrich called the attention of the grand jury to the conflict. He opened the court, read the order suspendng him from office, stated the circumstances and, laying aside his gown, directed the sheriff "to let the court stand adjourned while justice is stifled." (Vol. II, p. 744.) In the same volume is a very interesting account of how the Federal soldiers treated Rev. Dr. Bachman, in 1865, not far distant from the very spot where Judge W. H. Drayton delivered his famous charge and not a hundred years later. 34 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ment to tax us, and by their edicts to bind us in all cases they deem proper; a claim to which we will never submit, and an attempt which we are determined to oppose at the hazard of our lives and property." The Grand Jury was even more outspoken : "We present as a grievance of the first magnitude, the right claimed by the British parliament to tax us, and by their acts bind us in all cases whatsoever. When we reflect on our other grievances, they all appear tri- fling in comparison with this; for if we may be taxed, imprisoned, deprived of life by the force of edicts to which neither we nor our constitutional representatives have ever assented, no slavery can be more abject than ours. . . . This right of being exempted from all laws but those enacted with the consent of our repre- sentatives of our own election, we deem so essential to our freedom, that we are determined to defend it at the hazard of our lives and fortunes." The story of the Revolution is told in histories, but the course of events as they happened on the Pedee is narrated more fully in the history of the old Cheraws. The men of Craven County, and especially in the cen- tral part, stood as if they were one man against the invaders and their deadly associates, the tories. They hazarded their lives and'property in order to be free; and an over-ruling Providence smiled upon their efforts. The Welsh Neck Church suffered along with the com- munity. Her leading member, General Mcintosh, had been one of the captains of the Regulators, had been the foreman of the grand jury which returned the attitude of the British Government as their greatest grievance, rose to the rank of brigadier general, and after a successful campaign in the swamps of the seacoast 35 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF went home to give up his life in behalf of his country, before Cornwallis' invasion. The patriotism of the church is shown not only by the officers, General Mcin- tosh and Colonel Hicks, it presented to the service, but by its losses in the rank and file including Colonel Abel Kolb, the victim of the tories. It is mentioned in the records of the church, that of the 220 white members only 48 were left in 1793, showing the sad havoc of death and the unhappy results of a protracted war. (Gregg.) One of the first public social organizations was the Planters' Club. It began early enough to embrace in its membership some of the earliest arrivals in the woods, but its object is said to have been social rather than instructive in the art of driving the plough. It preceded and paved the way for another organization which proved to be enduring and eminently useful. In 1777 there was a gathering of patriotic citizens at the Welsh Neck Church in the interest of popular education. Thomas Lide was made chairman. Abel Wilds, Robert Lide, Daniel Sparks, Elhanan Win- chester, William DeWitt, Evan Pugh, William Henry Mills, Benjamin Rogers, George Hicks, Thomas El- lerbe, Thomas Evans, Joshua Edwards, Abel Kolb, Thomas James and William Pegues were present. Alexander Mcintosh was elected president, George Hicks, vice-president, Thomas Evans, treasurer, William Pegues, secretary. At the second meeting of this St. David's Society at the house of Mr. Benjamin William- son twenty were present and the rules of the Society were read and a subscription paper for raising a sum of money for the use of the Society was prepared, the gist of which is found in the statement that the Society 36 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS existed for the purpose of "establishing and founding a public school in the Parish for educating youth of all Christian denominations in the Latin and Greek languages, writing, mathematics, arithmetic and other useful branches of literature, who are not of ability without assistance to carry on so useful and necessary establishment into effect." In the first meeting there were, besides General Mcin- tosh and Colonel Hicks, two colonels, two majors, ten captains and two ministers present. It was a patriotic as well as educational gathering, as the subscription paper itself bears witness. Several of the officers and a good proportion of the members were also members of the Welsh Neck Church and congregation; yet it was a district affair, with notices of its meetings posted sometimes in five places within its precinct. "It was fortunate for the healthy progress of the settlement in the Pedee that in the central and most important of them all, the religious element so largely prevailed." (Gregg.) The platform of the Society was equality of oppor- tunity and cooperation in the work of education. They knew that there could be no equality in mental equip- ment and innate qualities, in the bestowment of which nature and not man was supreme; but their interest in education showed convictions that every child should have a chance to develop its mind and that a people worthy to be free from political bondage should also free itself from the sway of ignorance, more to be dreaded than the domination of Great Britain. One hundred and sixty-eight persons subscribed 8,898* pounds current money for the purpose of building *One pound of English currency equalled seven of the Colony, prior to the Revolu- tion. There was probably further depreciation in 1777. 37 189070 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF a house and opening a school. Two names in the list attract attention. David Williams is put down twice for fifteen pounds. One, it is conjectured, was put down by Mrs. Anne Williams, for David Williams deceased, and the other for the child, David Rogerson Williams, toward whom our narrative is leading. The fall of Charleston and the invasion of the state nipped the promising undertaking in the bud, only to show renewed life in April, 1783. From that time, it con- tinued more than half a century with as much regularity as a paid legislature exhibits in caring for the affairs of the state. The St. David's Society was composed of all classes, irrespective of ecclesiastical divisions. Each member paid annual dues and had a voice in electing officers for the ensuing year. During the seventeen years prior to 1800, Society Hill as it was called earlier than 1790 was stealing a march on less wide awake communities by keeping the academy open both for the children of the neighborhood and as a boarding school. North and South Carolina, including Charleston, sent pupils to the Pedee, to enjoy the advantages provided. Its long history is free from unsightly divisions of its patrons caused too frequently by local jealousies and indiscretions. The Society served as a nursery for training young men for public service. Judge Wilds, William Falconer, D. R. Williams, John D. Wither- spoon, J. N. Williams, the Mclvers, Thomas Smith and Judge Evans, are among the number who began their careers either as students in the Academy or as members of the Society. In the effort to help them- selves, they had the great happiness which came from being an educational lighthouse at home and for ad- 38 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS jacent sections. "How much in the end other neigh- boring communities were indebted to their salutary influence, it would be difficult to estimate." (Gregg.) Mr. Craig, Mr. Gully, Ezekiel Hitchcock, Samuel Wilds, Eli King and Thomas Park were the teachers of the eighteenth century. It was not till the time of the last mentioned, that the fourteen constitutional rules of the Society were recorded in the minutes. The first one made it incumbent on all members to meet annually on the third Monday in May and elect by ballot a president, two wardens, a treasurer, and secretary and a standing committee. The second, seventh and eighth dealt with the duties of the treasurer and the safeguards thrown around the Society's funds. The third referred to fines for men elected to office who were either negli- gent or refused to serve. The fourth defined the duties of the standing committee which included the wardens and three members. The fifth rule fixed the fines of each officer for non-attendance at $2, of members at $1. The ninth made twenty shillings the annual dues of each member toward paying the expenses of the Society and school. The remainder enumerated the causes for the exclusion of a member or gave instructions how to enter and how to withdraw from its connection. The contemporary school with which the St. David's Academy can be compared, was the Waddell Academy in Western Abbeville. It became a more celebrated school because of its learned principal and the great men who were instructed in it. The St. David's Acad- emy, organized and supported by the St. David's So- ciety, situated in the St. David's Parish, grew out of a community interest in education, and it is a monument to the wisdom and benevolence of the early inhabitants 39 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF of the upper Pedee. It is worthy of note that the Welsh Neck Church was never filled by a star preacher, nor the St. David's Academy manned by a brilliant magnetic teacher; and yet the steady, intelligent, persevering tenacity of a line of good preachers and good teach- ers, made the community like a city set on a hill. It stands as a solitary community in South Carolina in which there was a school with a foundation antedating the close of the Revolution, conducted by representa- tives of the Society which was open to all citizens, pro- vided with houses and teachers without state aid. If all other knowledge about the upper Pedee had perished, the St. David's Academy, like the exhumed ruins of a forgotten city, would be an unassailable evidence that a high type of civilization once flourished in that region. The emigrant from the old world brought his char- acter with him; but England predetermined how the character of the South Carolinian should be moulded. He should be devoted to agriculture, where the land was cheap and abundant and where a rich soil, genial climate, and government bounties, made it the most profitable and independent of callings. He should be a money borrower, because it paid to be in debt. Slaves bought on time at 10 per cent, interest paid for them- selves in three or four years. He should be absorbed in his farm and leave politics to the few who were skilled in the art of governing. He should be devoted to the production of raw materials and leave manufacturing and sea-faring to the mother country, which sold arti- cles cheaper at Charles Town than at home. He should abound in rustic plenty and enjoy the utmost freedom at his home and in his own possessions. The inhabitants on the Pedee also felt this moulding 40 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS force of the powerful transatlantic hands, in their eco- nomic relations and in the large latitude left for individ- ual effort and personal freedom; but the sense of brotherhood and mutual helpfulness, extending through all the bounds of the homogeneous colony, called clan- nishness by Bishop Gregg, differentiated them from their neighbors. Like the solid South, little Wales had been made solid by external pressure, and when that pressure was no longer exerted or feared on the Pedee, their cohesiveness had become a second nature, a posi- tive asset to be used for their common benefit. They stood together in self-defense before the laws were estab- lished and enforced, they were nearly unanimous in their struggles and sufferings in behalf of political lib- erty, and they worked together in the St. David's So- ciety that the young people might have educational advantages. The original settlers had an eye to the quality rather than to the number of incomers and thus, with better statesmanship than Uncle Sam exhibits in his open-door policy, one ounce of preventive, by shutting the door to undesirable neighbors and their descendants, made the intelligent and patriotic a major- ity large enough to use the whole social machinery in the interest of good government, good morals and of mental improvement. At Society Hill and in the sec- tion of which it was the centre, this type of civilization was dominant, and it was no little good fortune in that early period to become a sharer from childhood in the blessings of a progressive and elevating environment. 41 CHAPTER V THE ANCESTRY, EDUCATION AND MARRIAGE OF DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS AMONG the numerous descendants of the Welsh ZA and their neighbors to whom lands were as- -1 V signed, no one appreciated more highly the advantages of his early surroundings or was more worthy of remembrance than David Rogerson Williams, the son of David Williams and the grandson of Rev. Robert Williams, the founder of the family on the Pe- dee. All the writers on the subject agree that Robert Williams was born in Northampton, North Carolina, in 1717, but they do not agree as to his nationality, the time of arrival on the Pedee or his early religious asso- ciations. In "The Williams Family" by Professor Ames he is put down as of English extraction and of Church of England proclivities; by others including Judge O'Neall he is made of Welsh extraction. The date of his coming to the Pedee is placed by Bishop Gregg about 1738, by Professor Ames about 1746. In this last-named year he bought two tracts of land, each containing one hundred acres, one of them August 20th, from John Evans, an original member of the Welsh colony. It was bounded on the north by the Pedee, south by lands of Joseph Cunningham, and on the day preceding he secured from John Newberry the other 42 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS tract, bounded by the Pedee and vacant land. In June, 1747, he purchased two hundred acres from Cor- nelius Reine, bounded by lands of Nathaniel Evans, Giles Bowers, and John Evans. He took up the same year three hundred acres of vacant land, bounded by the Pedee, John Evans, Samuel Wiggins, vacant land, Isaac Stukman and Henry Roach. Also one hundred and fifty acres from Samuel Wiggins, bounded by lands of Roach, Cunningham, John Evans and James Baber. Another one hundred acres were added within the first two years; it was bounded by the Pedee, John Evans, Samuel Wiggins, James Reaves and Samuel Boykin. The latter was a cousin of Mrs. Robert Williams, whose maiden name was Anne Boykin. Bishop Gregg, in his history of the Old Cheraws, appears to have missed the records for 1746 and to have used for 1747 docu- ments other than those in the archives. He spells the name "Boyakin." In two years Mr. Williams became the owner of 950 acres and his landed possessions had reached 2,300 acres when the present investigation halted. As early as 1746, he was mentioned by Morgan Ed- wards as a member of the Welsh Neck Church and as speaking with Rev. Mr. Brown in opposition to a cus- tom laying on of hands peculiar to the Welsh Neck and its mother church in Pennsylvania. He became pastor of the Welsh Neck in 1752 and besides his work as pastor he had great success in preaching to some churches in North Carolina (J. C. Furman). He con- tinued in his pastorate till 1759 when a letter of dis- mission was called for. Some disagreement having arisen between the retiring pastor and the church, the latter finally cancelled the letter of dismission and ex- 43 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF eluded him and his wife, Mrs. Anne Williams, from its membership. Mr. Williams laid the matter before the Charleston Association in 1762 and "the church received a letter of advice relative to this affair and ad- vised that they should receive a letter of acknowledg- ment made and signed before the Association and thereupon he should be restored." The church chose to add another condition to what the acknowledgment contained and increased the alienation. In reference to their subsequent reconciliation, due probably to the mediation of the Association, the records are silent. Owing to the loss of the early minutes, from 1752 to 1762, it cannot be decided what part he took in the proceedings of the Association. Too little is known of his useful and unpretentious life. In his time was "the silent inevitable pressure of the race into the wilder- ness" when men felled the forests, subdued the wilder- ness and forgot to hand down the names and deeds of themselves and their forefathers. Mr. Williams was a pioneer Baptist preacher who did not depend on the churches for a support. He was a man of some means and wisely cared for and augmented his possessions. He survived his wife, Anne Boykin, and left a good property for his children. He died in 1767 or 1768. A part of the last tribute to his worth, taken from his funeral sermon, has been handed down by Benedict and others: "He was kind to the poor and especially to the afflicted; a man of excellent natural parts and a minister who preached the gospel to the edification and comfort of souls, as many have testified to me, and to crown it all, a sincere Christian." His will was probated in Charleston in July, 1768. David Williams, one of his sons, was born in Febru- 44 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ary, 1739, and became an inmate of Rev. Oliver Hart's home in Charles Town in January, 1756, and received there a classical education. He married Anne Rogerson and apparently made Charleston his home and head- quarters ; but the larger part of his visible property was on the Pedee, where he spent his last days. He, too, in- vested largely in land. In 1772 he sold seventeen tracts known as the Brotherhood Plantation, containing 3,025 acres, to Rev. Edmund Botsford for 35,050 pounds; but two or three months' possession satisfied the minister, who deeded it back to its owner. In 1767 he was a member of the old First Church of Charleston and was selected as a man qualified to be classical teacher of Edmund Botsford, a candidate for the min- istry who remembered affectionately his "dear good friend Williams" fifty years afterward. In 1771 he was trustee of the church and placed in good company by the Association on a committee with Revs. Pelot, Hart and Morgan Edwards, to revise the system of discipline for the use of the churches; and was also nominated with his pastor to receive contributions for Rhode Island College. In February, 1775, he attended the Charles- ton Association and was made clerk of that body. In June he was added by the Provincial Assembly to the Committee of Observation for the St. David's Parish. But the responsible duties of his office did not long claim his patriotic attention. (Gregg.) Mindful of the ap- proaching close of his life, in December he made a dis- position of his property by his last will and testament. He appointed his "trusty friend" Thomas Williamson, and George Hicks of St. David's Parish, Thomas Screven of St. Thomas Parish, and George Savage of Charles Town executors. He named three tracts con- 45 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF taining 1,300 acres to be sold for the payment of his debts with all the cattle and horses not needed for plantation use. To his wife he gave besides household and kitchen furniture and animals needed on the farm, twelve negroes in lieu of her dowry. He was also mind- ful of his youngest sister Ann who had been living with him, and quite liberal to his married sister Mrs. McCall and her large family. If the child not yet born be a boy,* he ordered all the land east of the river and fifteen negroes to be assigned to his daughter. To the boy the lands on the southwest side with the rest and residue of the estate should fall; but in the event the child should be a girl, the greater part of the estate was to be divided between the two children. On the first of January, 1776, he died, and the dwellers on the Pedee and his friends in Charleston regretted his untimely departure. He was a useful and amiable man. (Bene- dict.) Cheraw lost a worthy and useful citizen in the death of David Williams. Cut off prematurely in his thirty-sixth year, his country could illy afford to be deprived of his services. His untimely end was much lamented. (Gregg.) His estate amounted to 4,300 acres, seventy slaves and a large number of cattle in 1793. (Ames.) About two months after his death, his son, David Rogerson Williams, was born; and in quick succession followed the exciting political events, Bunker HiH, Fort Moultrie and the Declaration of Independence. In these larger events were lost or unobserved the distressing experiences of the widows and orphans, sixteen hundred of whom were left in Ninety-six pre- cinct by the war and the strife with the tories. David The right of primogeniture in South Carolina was not abolished until 1791. 46 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Rogerson was six years old when peace returned; no reminiscence of the times is found in his vigorous speeches in later years against the mother country. Earlier than his eleventh year, it is inferred from inconclusive evidence, his home was transferred to Charleston; but prior to that time, his pleasure in the chase which never abated was doubtless kindled, and a brief attendance at St. David's must have been a mat- ter of course. The first positive trace of him is found in 1791, at Wrentham, Massachusetts, where he was preparing for entrance into Rhode Island College. This was the first Baptist College in America and its foundation was due to a Welshman, Morgan Edwards, in 1764. Its founders were active in their efforts to secure the good will of the denomination in Europe and America. The connection by vessel between Provi- dence and Charleston was direct and the agents of the college were cordially received by the pastors and churches in South Carolina. The father of David Rogerson was one of the agents of the college, in Charles Town and on the Pedee; and his efforts with those of Revs. Pelot and Hart secured some cash and turned the minds of younger men in that direction. Rev. Richard Furman, who became pastor at Charleston in 1787, had the pleasure of seeing young Edwards of Society Hill, two Screvens of Charleston, J. B. Cook, J. M. Roberts, David R. Williams and his own son, Wood, reaping the advantages of the school. John D. Witherspoon and James Ervin of the Pedee were also students. The col- lege paid back to the state good interest by furnishing Eh* King, Thomas Park, John Waldo, Abram Blanding, John Holroyd and Jonathan Maxcy to be teachers in a time when they were greatly needed. It was owing to 47 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF this connection with Rhode Island College that Richard Furman could commend President Maxcy to the trus- tees to be the first president of the state college. Both Furman and Maxcy were Federalists, and, Thomas Jefferson now being President at Washington, Chancel- lor James espoused the candidacy of Doctor McCalla of the low country. Colonel Wade Hampton, a leading trustee, made a remark which proved effective against the democratic candidacy: "I know no necessary con- nection between politics and literature/* That Doctor Furman was in a measure behind David's exile at Wrentham, as his mother's pastor and as one interested in the bunch of boys that went with him, is clear from a letter of Charles Screven from Wrentham, just after the voyage hither, September, 1791: "Cousin Tommie gives his love to you; and Da- vid his most respectful compliments and hopes that you will excuse him for not writing to you at this opportun- ity." David entered the college in 1792. The records show that he was a voracious reader, exercising taste and judgment in the choice of his books. That the books read by him can be named in their order one hundred and twenty years later is owing to the assist- ance of Prof. Walter C. Bronson of Brown University: "1793, November 16, Robertson's History of Charles V; Nov. 23, Female Ruin, vol. 1, he kept this out only two days; Nov. 25, Gibbon's Roman Empire, vol. 2; Dec. 5, Shakespeare V. 2; Dec. 12, do, vol. 3; Dec. 21, do, vol. 5; 1794, Jan. 4, do, vol. 6 (for Thomas Edwards), vol. 7, 10 (for himself also Pope's Odyssey, vol. 1, 2; Robinson's America, vol. 3, Vertol's Revol. Sweden, Marshall's Travels, vol. 1 (evidently stocking up for the vacation, then a long one. W. C. B.) ; Feb. 8, do, vol. 2, 48 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS DeWitt's Maxims; Feb. 18, Anderson's History of France, vol. 2; Mar. 2, Robertson's Scotland, vol. 1; Mar. 8, do, vol. 2; Mar. 15, Moore's Travels in France, vol. 1; Mar. 22, do, vol. 2; March 29, Robertson's Inequality; April 1, Moore's Travels in Italy, vol. 1; April, do, vol. 2; April 12, Addison's Works, vol. 1; April 19, do, vol. 2; April 26, do, vol. 3; May 2, do, vol. 4; May 8, Vaillants Travels, vol. 2; Rollin's Roman Hist. vol. 1, 2; June 7, Revolution in Portugal, Vertol's Rev. of Rome, vol. 2; June 21, Queen Anne, vol. 1; July 3, Thompson's Works, vol. 2, 3, July 9, Young's Works, vol. 3, 4 ; July 16, do, vol. 5, 6 ; July 25, Congreve's Otway; Oct. 31, Rollin's Roman Hist. vol. 5; Nov. 8, do, vol. 6; Nov. 15, Rollin's Belles Lettres, vol. 1, 2; Dec. 13, Krames' Sketches, vol. 1; Dec. 20, do, v. 4; Dec. 27, do, v. 3, Spectator v. 1, 2." Wise men lay up knowl- edge. (0. T.) The Spectator was the last volume drawn, for in January, 1795, in his junior year, "the remittances from his plantation in South Carolina failed him and he went south to investigate the cause." (Ames.) His return South was begun on the 11th of January, as he acted as mail carrier for Screven and Cook, both of whom mentioned David's voyage as presenting a favor- able opportunity for writing to their benefactor, Rich- ard Furman. David was in his nineteenth year when he reached his plantation and "was told that his prop- erty was in debt and valueless and should be sold." This he declined, saying, "I will not buy another hat until my inheritance is redeemed." (Ames.) He did not return to college in order to graduate, but the authorities recognized the good work done by the young man and conferred on him the degree of A. M. in 1801. He was 49 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF in Providence on the 14th of August, 1796, to bring home his bride, Miss Sarah Power, a young lady whose favor he had found time to cultivate even while devour- ing so many volumes of the library. The new hat, of course, had to come, for such an occasion, before he had time to sell his second crop, but he saw through the financial cloud before he embarked on the matrimonial sea. He did not return at once to Society Hill. In October following Pastor Botsford informed his friend Furman that some of Mr. Williams' negroes were inquiring the way to Zion. Two of them had been examined and accepted but not baptized, "as Mr. Wil- liams is not returned." But he did return to his farm in his own time; for Mr. Botsford having removed to Georgetown, stated in his correspondence, in August, 1797, that "Mr. David Williams is here waiting for a passage to New England; his lady is in a very bad way; though I suppose better than she has been. Soon after her delivery, she was in a state of perfect distraction; her disorder now seems rather a settled melancholy; of all the disorders to which human nature is incident, the loss of reason appears to me the most awful." The disorder, however, was only temporary. The first born was a son and was well and favorably known in after years as John Nicholas Williams, his birth being at Society Hill, July 2, 1797. From this time till 1801 some uncertainty hangs over the place or places where Mr. Williams and his family were abiding and what he was doing. Using the always reliable minutes of the St. David's Society, one is justified in locating him at his farm January, 1798, till the fall of 1799, or at least in Society Hill at the time of the stated and called meet- ings of that body and he was honored by the legislature 50 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS by an appointment to act as a Commissioner for Darling- ton District to decide a line in dispute on the Chester- field side. (Gregg.) He was probably at Providence in December, 1799, at the time of the birth of his second and last child, George Frederick, who died in boyhood. On the 2d of January, 1810, Rev. Mr. Botsford jotted down this item: "This day I heard of the death of Col. David Williams' youngest son, who died the day after his return from bringing home my daughter Caty" to Georgetown. Sources : In Chapters IV and V, the Archives of the State, Gregg's History of the Old Cheraws, the Minutes of the St. David's Society, the Minutes of the Welsh Neck Church, the Historical Sketch of the Welsh Neck Church, 1888, the Williams Family, Oliver Hart's Diary, Minutes of the Charleston Association, the Furman Collection, O'Neall's Bench and Bar. Prof. Walter C. Bronson's contribution to this chapter is nearly all that is known about David's life at college, except that his roommate was Abram Blanding. 51 CHAPTER VI HIS CAREER AS AN EDITOR IN 1785 John E. Mclver, the brother of the better known Evander Mclver, entered into partnership in the firm of Childs, Mclver & Co., of Charleston. In 1794 his paper was called the City Gazette and Daily Advertiser and was issued by Markland and Mclver. At the end of the year they sold the paper to Frenau and Payne, who continued it the remainder of the century. The presidential election which seated Thomas Jef- ferson in the presidency had just closed and left behind some sincere doubts in the minds of the Federalists whether the new government could avoid a general collapse. The French Revolution made many fear that a government by a democracy would end in the same way. One Federalist declared that the devil knew not what he did when he made man political, he crossed himself by it. Similar periods of uneasiness have been passed through in this state and others are yet to come, but there is always hope in the ultimate result, while the poor and the rich belong to one stock and most of them are native born. Evil men and evil counsels may prevail for a while, but reason and open discussion will guide the people to the better. Frenau and Payne had advocated the democratic side and felt the pecuniary loss entailed by their opposition to the strong Federalist 52 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS sentiment and were not unwilling to hand over their paper and good will to their fellow democrats, Mclver and Williams. Early in 1801 Mr. Williams emerged from the obscurity of the two previous years and be- came, with Mr. Mclver, the joint editor and proprietor of the City Gazette and the Weekly Carolina Gazette. This happy editorial arrangement brought together again the mother, daughter and son and promised congenial and profitable employment; but it was des- tined to be of short duration. The senior partner and brother-in-law endured a protracted illness and died in May, aged thirty-seven years. "It is a tribute," said the Gazette, "due to the mem- ory of this gentleman to say that to a cultivated under- standing he added a most benevolent disposition; that the uprightness of his heart and the assiduities of his manners were such as evinced respect of all who enjoyed the pleasure of his acquaintance. As a member of society, his life, unfortunately too soon closed, has been useful and valuable; as a husband and brother, his con- duct was most affectionate and exemplary; no one was es- teemed more by his friends while living, nor will be more regretted and lamented when dead. He bore the in- firmities of a long and painful illness with firmness and resignation, and died in the hope of meeting the reward due to a well-spent life. He has left a widow with five small children, the eldest yet in its childhood, to experi- ence the loss of that protection and guardianship which would have been so ably awarded to them, had not the afflicting hand of Providence intervened. At the time of his death Mr. Mclver was a member in our state legislature from the united districts of Marlboro and Chesterfield." 53 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF It is well known that the weekly paper established and maintained by Mr. Mclver exerted an important influence in the last fifteen years of his life. Single copies reached the backwoods settlement and were read and thumbed and preserved as if it were a treasure. The only reference to his relationship to the churches is the statement that he was one of seven to frame the constitutional rules and by-laws for the historic first church. During the remainder of the year Mr. Wil- liams continued sole editor, and then the firm of Mclver and Williams was dissolved; but in another sense it continued more than thirty years in his kindness to his widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Ann Mclver, and her chil- dren through all his life. She died in 1834, and of her on that occasion her pastor wrote: "Yesterday I wit- nessed the interment of our aged and excellent sister Mclver gathered in like a shock of corn in his season fully ripe. She had given for nearly half a century the best proof of vital godliness of her being a branch of the true vine. For seven years she had not known what it was to fear death." Mr. Williams, as sole editor and manager, said to his constituents in July that "he felt no small degree of satisfaction in issuing the Carolina Gazette in a style of superior elegance and perspicuity. This pleasing sen- sation is enhanced by the confidence that it will be reciprocated by the friends and patrons of the estab- lishment. This appearance, it is hoped, causes a silent conviction that notwithstanding the mournful and heavy loss he has sustained in his late partner, he is determined by unremitting ardor and the best assistance that can be procured to continue the paper the vehicle of general information and improvement. To that 54 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS public, he feels no hesitancy in pledging his most in- dustrious exertions." At the beginning of 1802 the firm of Frenau and Williams was formed, a strong publishing combination and force in his day. Frenau' s editorial work was in the period, 1785-1816. He was an excellent writer, a mag- netic friend, kind hearted and popular; though there were not a few who thought that he made a tyrannical use at times of his paper. His friend Thomas "loved him next to Heaven." He died in poverty and in debt after having greatly prospered with D. R. Williams and other associates. He was held in esteem by Jefferson and reaped a rich harvest in being an organ of the gov- ernments, both of which were democratic. Editor Williams became also a member of the Charleston Mechanic Society, a benevolent and social organization, formed in 1794 and incorporated in 1798, with the statement through the Junior Warden, "that from the nature of their employment, and the smallness of their capital, they are more exposed than any other class of citizens to the inconveniences and distresses arising from sickness, and such other unavoidable ac- cidents as may deprive themselves and their families of the benefit of their exertions; and that they have unitedjinto a society for the purpose of raising a fund, by means of which such of them as are successful in the world, will be enabled, without inconvenience, to afford relief to the unfortunate."* As no reason has been found for classing him as a mechanic (he was skilled in the use of tools), the alternative is left that he was prompted by purely benevolent motives to pay an ini- tiation fee of ten dollars and an annual fee of eight. It *Professor Yates Snowdon's "Labor Organizations in South Carolina, 1 742-1861." 55 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF was doubtless his way of showing interest in the welfare of his printers and their families. He was so consti- tuted that he enjoyed the annual banquets, with their good cheer and postprandial eloquence. On the 8th of February, after a violent illness lasting nine days, Mrs. Sarah Williams, wife of editor Williams and daughter of Nicholas Power of Providence, closed her brief probation of twenty-nine years. "When character rises to the dignity of example," said the Courier, "its traits of goodness should not be lost to the world. In her the benevolence of a mind, nurtured by religion and virtue, was excelled only by charity, tender and profuse. The accomplishments acquired by edu- cation were in her exceeded by the nobler endowments, equanimity of mind, sweetness of temper, and a strength of intellect rarely to be met with. The period of ex- istence she had been permitted to enjoy in this transi- tory state had been short yet it was wholly passed in the fulfillment of every duty. "As a wife, as a daughter, as a mother and as a friend, her conduct excelled hers was a life without an inten- tional fault, and truly honorable to her friends; the recollections of which is highly consolatory to her be- reaved relatives." A break in the volumes of the Gazette preserved in the Charleston Library leaves the date of Mr. Williams* final farewell to the editorial chair unknown. His pen was laid aside before July, when his election as Warden of St. David's Society before his return indi- cated his next move to Society Hill and Centre Hall. There he began at once to identify himself with the financial and educational interests of the community, and to make it henceforth the point from which he 56 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS sallied forth to do the work of a man, in his day and generation. Sources: The Centennial Edition of the News and Courier, Bassett's History of the United States, the Carolina Gazette, the Charleston Courier, Thomas' Reminiscences, and Prof. Yates Snowdon's Labor Or- ganizations, 1743-1861. 57 CHAPTER VII HIS HONORED MOTHER MRS. ANNE WILLIAMS, the mother of David R. Williams, became a widow in January, 1776. Before December, 1782, she had married Capt. Jeremiah Brown. He came to the Bluff about 1771, from New England apparently, and purchased three acres adjoining the Court House and adjacent to the dwelling of Roderick Mclver. He also purchased two small tracts on the west side of the Pedee. He was one of the early and liberal members of the St. David's Society. In August, 1779, he became a member of the Welsh Neck Church. One of his small tracts answers in size and situation to the one mentioned in the Memoirs of Edmund Botsford: "On a tract of land presented him by a Mr. Brown, on the southwest side of the Pedee about two miles of the church, the church built a house and he called it Bethel." From 1786 to 1789 he was absent from the Society's meetings, having moved to Charleston; but in 1788 Mr. Brown was on the Pedee pushing farm work. Mrs. Brown was in Charleston, where her daughter Mary Ann became, about 1790, the wife of John Mclver, whose death has been recorded above. Both mother and daughter were members of the Old First church and "Pompey a servant of Mr. Williams" was probably 58 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS a colored representative of the family. In 1789 Mr. Botsford, in instructing Mr. Furman how to care for some pamphlets being printed in Charleston, added: "If it is inconvenient or disagreeable for you to receive them, you will be so kind as to request Mrs. Mclver to send them to Mrs. Brown's. Our friend Mr. Brown is restored to health and is very, very but not in the preaching line, though I am informed he considers him- self as an ordained minister by virtue of the call received from the church. He has agreed to take a plantation and nine or ten hands, which is situated contiguous to him on this side of the river, at least I am informed so, and says: "If Mr. Hart* does not conclude to come to Pedee, he will take Mr. Mclver' s land and some hands, as the land joins his place on the other side of the river, and all this to enable him to spare more time for the ministry. He embarked in his own boat laden with corn Saturday for Georgetown. See what it is to be industrious." The pastor at Charleston (Furman) and the pastor at Society Hill and later at Georgetown (Botsford) were correspondents more than thirty years. Mrs. Brown was known and respected by both of them. Mr. Bots- ford had recently married Mrs. Evans, a widowed sister of Mrs. Brown's son-in-law, John Mclver. He there- fore had a double interest in the Brown family as an excuse for writing to Mr. Furman in May, 1793: "I wish to hear respecting Captain Brown and lady; his brother has left these parts for little Pedee." Mr. Furman's reply assumes that Mr. Botsford had already heard Captain Brown's version of the matter: "The *Mr. Hart, pastor at Charleston 1750-1780, was in New Jersey and was considering a return to the state. He died not long afterward. 59 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF affair respecting Mrs. Brown, you have no doubt heard from Mr. Brown himself. I had not much to do in the business and some of your friends here wish you had less. Mrs. Brown, I believe, never was averse to an amicable settlement ; though she for some time seriously apprehended it was his intention to leave her, or at least convey the property he is possessed of, to his relatives exclusively; for the first she had reasons of which it is probable you are yet uninformed; and for the latter, reasons perhaps still exist. In what little I had to say, I was always an advocate of peace on proper (that is reasonable) considerations; and I must say I never found Mrs. Brown averse to it on these terms, and on proper assurances being given, Captain Brown's word and profession, you know, unhappily, has been rendered very light. Mrs. Brown professing satisfaction and he requesting, he was admitted to communion with us; but I confess it was with the utmost exertion of charity, on my part should you ask why? I answer because when he undertook as a penitent to relate these things which had been the cause of the uneasiness, it appeared to be in the style of excuse and palliation, such as is proper for injured innocence. Even the nefarious busi- ness respecting Bainbridge* was represented in this light as goodness imposed upon and kind simplicity deceived. Conversation had with myself at the very time that business was being transacted (or directly after Bainbridge went away to Georgetown) in which ignorance was profest respecting his (Bainbridge's) *Bainbridge, a son of a Maryland Tory, came to Charleston about 1784 and having some gifts in speaking was sent to Society Hill to St. David's Academy where he made rapid progress. He became a minister and soon developed into a bad man and fled from the clutches of the law. His crime is not known, but in New Jersey he suddenly departed with $10,000 not his own. 60 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS design; and his own going away to Georgetown in the vessel which carried Bainbridge away, was represented to be accidental (all which is now acknowledged to be otherwise) is prof est to be forgotten; and an entire different account given of what was transacted in George- town with Delesseline, from what Delesseline related immediately after the transaction. I mean as to cir- cumstances which make a prodigious odds in the com- plexion of a business. I could add more, but " What steps Mrs. Brown took to uncover Mr. Brown's intention of defrauding her cannot be gathered from the guarded words used in reference to the "affair" and the "uneasiness" he had caused. Mr. Brown had pos- sessed himself of a part of her property and had con- ducted himself so as to arouse her suspicion and to lose the confidence of his pastor. The evidence is almost conclusive that his plans were perfected on the Pedee under the forms of law, while Mrs. Brown was in Charleston. Peace, however, was patched up but the intended wrong was only deferred. Three years later, October 12, 1796, Mr. Botsford wrote again: "It is probable you have heard that Cap- tain Brown sold his negroes to Doctor Mason It is said that Mrs. Brown prior to the sale of the negroes to Doctor Mason sold them to David Williams. What gives the report some credit among us is that Captain Brown offered the negroes to David for 500 pounds and he refused them (having previously bargained for them from his mother?), which being interpreted with some misgivings means that Mr. Brown in his eagerness to turn Mrs. Brown's twelve negroes and their increase in the last twenty years into cash, sold them to Doctor Mason at a price which netted the latter in a quick sale 61 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF "300 pounds and a likely boy." Within the next year Mr. Brown was in Georgetown with Pastor Botsford and "seemed at times beside himself respecting the conduct of Mrs. Brown." What had Mrs. Brown done? He was winding up affairs in South Carolina, resigning from St. David's Society, calling for his letter and do- nating a tract of land on the Pedee to the Fund of the General Committee of the Charleston Association. She had evidently given him his "walking papers." Twenty-four years after the donation of the tract the Association appointed a committee to resurvey the tract and establish its claim. A suit was pending several years before the trespasser was ejected. A part of it was sold for $428.50. A letter written to his father September, 1799, by Wood Furman then at Rhode Island College, lifts the curtain from the place whence the adventurer came and whither he went : "I am informed by Captain Brown's relations, that he is certainly married and lives somewhere on North River. It is reported here that he had been divorced. I mentioned that no such thing was practised in our state. It is said at least that he has a paper signed by Mrs. Brown, in which she agrees to a separation from him. I suppose, if this is the case, it is made use of, instead of a divorce, to justify his conduct in marrying again." The statement about the signature rests upon the veracity of Jeremiah Brown. The laws of the state once guarded very imperfectly the property of married women against unscrupulous husbands and their amend- ment must be credited to the publicity given to such conduct as was exhibited in this case. Divorces have never been granted in South Carolina, except in a few cases during the carpet-bag regime, when a plump sum 62 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS of money could snap the ties that were to bind till death. Separation a mensa et toro, from bed and board, has always been honorable, since two cannot walk together except they be agreed. Mrs. Brown suffered in mind, property and rights, but she retained the moral support of Richard Furman her pastor in Charleston where she appears to have been from 1787 to 1803. In December of that last-mentioned year, her letter of dismission was accepted by the Welsh Neck church. From that time till her death, she was at So- ciety Hill, presumably an honored guest in David's house, and mother of his boys, Nicholas and George, together perhaps with her daughter and her five chil- dren. She lived to follow her son with a mother's inter- est in the honors won on the farm and in the forum. On June 1, 1811, the Welsh Neck church showed its appreciation of her worth by appointing "Daniel White and Evander Mclver to write and have published the obituary of sister Ann Brown late of this church, as a testimony of her great piety and zeal and our high es- teem of her." "Dear Woman," exclaimed her former pastor when he heard of her death, "she has left few, if any, behind her animated with the same zealous con- cern for the glory of God. She rests from her labors and her works follow her." 63 CHAPTER VIII IN THE NINTH CONGRESS MR. WILLIAMS' resignation had not been sent to the St. David's Society, although his home had been transferred to Charleston. He was treated as an absent member who paid up dues and remained in good standing. There is a tradition that he sold his entire property to John E. Mclver, but if he did, the death of Mr. Mclver occurred before the transaction was recorded. He was made warden of the Society, and the minutes of that body show that he was at Centre Hall or Society Hill the two years succeeding his return, but nothing has come to light concerning his farming operations. In 1805 he made an excursion through the Northern States, and renewed his ac- quaintance with the good people of Providence. He called on President Messer with the hope of securing a teacher for St. David's Academy. What his private business might have been besides the pleasure of an outing, must be guessed from his well-known interest in the cotton crop and improvements in its manufacture; the first cotton seed oil was pressed about this time and the fifth cotton factory in New England was built. (Thomas.) Possibly his return home was through Washington where his entrance into politics may have received a practical impulse. 64 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS The first representative of Darlington District in the House of Representatives was Lemuel Benton who arrived in Philadelphia on the last day of the session in 1794, presented his credentials, was enrolled on his own condition that he should receive no money for ex- penses or attendance. There had been sickness in his family and a detention by a long voyage. He gave way to Benjamin Huger in 1799 who served in the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Congresses and was succeeded by David R. Williams in the same general election which made President Jefferson his own successor. In his first term, Jefferson had succeeded in giving perma- nency to the democratic revolution and kept politics in a continual simmer. By a fortunate concurrence of circumstances, the President purchased the Louisiana territory at a price which his opponent and critic, John Randolph, declared not too much to pay for the bed of the father of waters. The addition of so much territory on the southern side added fuel to the jealousy already existing between the two sections. When Mr. Adams retired from the presi- dency in favor of a Southern man, it meant that the paramount influence in the executive department was and was to be Southern ; and the keen-eyed Federalists looked on in dismay as they saw the prospect of large additions to the Southern forces, and perceived no es- cape from a secondary position except in secession. Accordingly Hamilton was to be nominated for Gover- nor of New York with the ulterior view of carrying the state out of the union into a contemplated New Eng- land Confederacy. But Hamilton declined and Burr was found with a more pliant conscience. His defeat for the gubernatorial office brought on the collisions 65 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF frequent and varied between Burr and Hamilton and the subsequent disturbing events. In the meantime the United States was becoming the second commercial nation. For twelve years there had been war in Europe and the sagacious and energetic commercial magnates of the New England and Middle States seized the opportunity of becoming the carriers of the world's trade. It was asked in the House, where did they get the money to carry on the world's trade, and it was answered with another question, " A traveller passing through South Carolina and Georgia might ask, 'Whence this immense wealth I see?'" The first five years of the new century were "halcyon days" to the New England merchantmen and in the same years at the South cotton was at a high price and field hands, provided by non-native kidnappers, were brought in in great numbers to cultivate the fleecy staple. It was in such an interesting juncture of affairs that Mr. Williams heard the siren's song and came to the front at Washington, being enrolled in the House on December 2, 1805, in his thirtieth year. He had his views already matured and, as will be seen, ever acted in entire accord with them. He was at first opposed to any steps which would lead to war, or to any action which would curtail the prosperity of the country. He was not a prophet; he judged the future by the past and whenever he erred it was because the weightier reasonings from past experience were not quite applicable to the young nation's development on new lines. The first cold dip administered to the warmth of his patriotism was administered in a part of the President's message: "Our coasts have been infested, our harbors watched by private armed vessels, some of them without commis- 66 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS sion, some with illegal commissions, others with those of legal form, but committing piratical acts. They have captured in the very entrance of our harbors, as well as on the high seas, not only the vessels of our friends coming to trade with us, but also our own. They have carried them off under pretense of legal adjudica- tion, plundered or sunk them by the way, maltreated the crews, abandoned them in boats, in the open sea or desert shores without food." The work of the session and of the Ninth Congress was directed largely by the recommendations of this message, to fortify the port towns, to increase the number of gunboats, to organize the militia and modify its system. The President wanted peace in order to liquidate the public debt and preserve the present prosperity. His course and that of President Madison appear from subsequent points of view to have been timid and almost pusillanimous; but they were sailing in dangerous waters, between Scylla and Charybdis. That they passed safely through dangers within and without to which they were exposed, and handed over the ship of state to their successors, is proof of some fitness for the delicate task of rearing to maturity an infant republic. Mr. Williams' first speech was brought out by a criti- cism of the legislature of South Carolina. That body had removed in 1803 the restrictions against the im- portation of slaves and made South Carolina the only state and Charleston the only port where slaves could be lawfully imported. It was proposed to lay a tax of ten dollars on each imported slave, but Mr. Williams asked that the matter be postponed about a fortnight, as the legislature of South Carolina then in session 67 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF would probably repeal the action of 1803. This course was pursued, but in the South Carolina legislature, the House favored the closing of the port, but in the Senate it was lost by one vote. The subject therefore was reintroduced in the House of Representatives at Wash- ington and discussed with more or less restraint and feeling. Nathaniel Macon said it was an evil for which the wisest man in the nation could not satisfy himself with a cure and Bidwell of Massachusetts said "it will weaken us as a nation," a remark supported by the three-fifth valuation of the negro by the Constitution, a ratio which will probably never be increased as a freed- man. Mr. Williams became restive and made some warm remarks in reply to speeches which were not recorded in the Annual Register: "If the object of bringing forward the business was to give gentlemen an opportunity to vent their spleen against South Carolina, they had enjoyed it, when they had painted her conduct in the most odious and detest- able colors their ingenuity could invent; when they had cast upon the community, in a most unmanly manner, all the opprobrium applicable to an inhabitant of New- gate ; and has applied to a whole community what they dare not apply to a single individual of it. There was not a state in the Union which had appropriated so much money for objects of munificence and improve- ment of literature, for the maintenance of the poor. Was South Carolina backward in the Revolutionary contest, or deficient in patriots or statesmen? There sits a descendant (Robert Marion) of as brave an officer as ever lived, and in the other branch of the legislature is to be seen a man (Sumter) who may be called the hero of liberty; a man who in the worst of times did not 68 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS despair of the republic. Are we now to be anathema- tized as depraved and abandoned?" The debate about slavery continued at intervals through the Ninth Congress up to the passage of the act forbidding the importation of slaves. The rancor ex- hibited in the discussion satisfied John Randolph that "if the time of disunion between the states should arrive, the line of severance would be between the slaveholding and non-slaveholding states." He fore- saw also the danger of the Northern people's becoming an abolition society. Southern people, he thought, were no more to blame for slavery than they were for their own procreation. The tax failed to become a measure. The discussion of the non-intercourse act which aimed at excluding merchandise from England until satisfactory reparation for impressment of citizens and seizures of vessels should be made, brought a speech from Mr. Williams in opposition. As it appeared to him, the non-intercourse act would lead to war, would destroy a great part of the revenue, bring to an end the unexampled prosperity of the country and expose the unfortified seaport towns to fleets of the enemy. Charleston had one four pounder on a crazy carriage in a dilapidated fort as her defence. American success in the competition for the carrying trade was the cause of British encroachments. It was a trade which benefited a few, and their salvation could not be worked out at the expense of everything dear to the nation. The act was passed after a long discussion and the President was authorized to organize, arm, and equip 100,000 militia and have them ready for service at a moment's notice. After March 31st Mr. Williams went to his planta- 69 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF tion and mingled with his people. It is probable that in this summer or fall he began his extensive and costly enterprise of erecting a dam along the Pedee. He re- turned to Washington the first of December on time according to his fixed rule; and on the second day heard the President's message read. The one paragraph which stirred him to opposition referred to the building of gunboats authorized in the preceding session and the large number needed to be built. The remarks, compressed by the editor, were: "We have gunboats enough for use in the places where they are useful. Some gentlemen are disposed to make fun of gunboats, but they originated in federal times and those first built were indeed curious creatures. They were a sort of amphibious animal, they were a perfect nondescript and formed a new era in naval architecture. They had two heads, two keels, and never a stern. We have made some improvements and I hope we shall make more." Mr. Williams went to Congress as a democrat, free as the wind; and in the second session opposed some of the administration policies. He was too independent and ill-suited by his training to become a blind follower of a party. He was characterized by simplicity, candor, courtesy and moved by no ignoble motives. Too energetic to be half-hearted and too transparently honest in his methods to be a politician, he found him- self not unfrequently in the minority when he was morally right. One of his first visits about the capital was to the navy yard to see the improvements being made; and when he inquired under what appropriation they were authorized, the same answer was returned more than once, " Under the Contingent Fund." When 70 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS the naval appropriation came up at the close of the session for approval, Mr. Williams made several at- tempts to have the contingent fund itemized or changed so as to be understood for what it was being spent. His motions as recorded in the Annals present the appear- ance of filibustering, but in the light of his own conduct, when he had the power, it was an effort after transpar- ency in the financial management of the government which derived its power from the will of the people. He was warm-hearted and generous, and had a flow of language which seldom failed to find the exact word, though it sometimes had the appearance of exagger- ation, corresponding to the intensity of his feelings. At one time he spoke when it was "extremely unpleas- ant" to do so; at another time he had a feeling of "ran- corous hostility" to a certain policy. The liberty taken by an architect to make changes in the plan of work he designated as "outrageous audacity." England was a shark and France was a tiger. When opposing a partial appropriation in favor of New York, he de- clared, and it was no hyperbole, that it was already one thousand times better fortified than Charleston. He stigmatized the action of the Georgia legislature in the Yazoo frauds as "enormous villanies." He knew how to pay delicate compliments as well as to effervesce under unfair criticism. From one of his colleagues (Nelson) he differed on a military question, but he had great respect for the man who carried on his body two and twenty wounds received in the service of his country. Of Nathaniel Macon, he said, "a gentleman from whom I differ with more pain than from any other." Notwithstanding his impetuous energy and outflowing eloquence, he was called to order 71 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS but once and to personal account never. When smart- ing under an insinuation that he was in the objective case, opposed to the administration and unpatriotic, his unstudied response was, "I abhor and detest the imputation" etc. His speeches showed a knowledge of the subject and acquaintance with history in general and especially with conditions in this country. He tried to avoid any misunderstanding or misrepresentation of his opponents and his gentlemanly bearing was inci- dentally attested by John Randolph who once inter- rupted him while speaking and offered as his apology that he was about the only man with whom he would take that liberty. The Ninth Congress closed March 3, 1807. Elias Earle, Thomas Moore, William Butler, Robert Marion, O'Brien Smith, were, with the subject of our sketch, the surviving members of the delegation from South Carolina, Levi Casey having died during the session. These agricultural Solons reached home in time to pitch their crops and to look after their political fences, and to prepare for the race which was to return them to Congress or leave them at home to reflect upon the rancor of politics and the vileness of the political animal. 72 CHAPTER IX IN THE TENTH CONGRESS THE physical and mental equipment of Mr. Wil- liams made him a formidable candidate. He had "an exalted combination of intellectual and physical energy energy incarnate and a marvellous vocal power."* Blameless in his reputation, he had nothing to hide in reference to the past or fear for the future. He was a planter and knew just where the shoe pinched his own and his constituents' feet; and he knew how to use the homely and powerful mother tongue to convey his meaning to the humblest man among his hearers. He was too wise and experienced to make promises which could not be fulfilled. Yet he had competition, if our reckoning be correct, which well-nigh deprived him of his seat. A traveller hailing from Connecticut has left in his diary of this year an account of the race in Greenville District of Elias Earle, a colleague of Mr. Williams, who asked the mountain- eers to return him to Congress. The people in that section were fifty years behind Society Hill socially, politically, and in educational and religious advantages; but the political methods were probably similar, dif- fering only in degree. There were good men who would not allow their competitors' jugs to pull them *Mr. J. W. DuBose's description. 73 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF down to the same level; but the beverage, by whatever name it is called, has always played too conspicuous a part in electioneering times. At old Pickensville, about thirteen miles from Greenville, the people met on muster day, September 27, 1807, to hear the candidates talk and speak. One of the candidates was called by his opponents a Federalist, another was too good a doctor to send away from home, and the present incumbent was an enemy to religion because he went to church and stayed out to talk and electioneer. Over in the Darlington District Mr. Williams was damming out from his bottoms the Pedee freshets and the worst that was brought against him was, "A man who attempts the impossible is too big a fool to go to Congress." Edward Hooker, a teacher at Ninety-six, while rusti- cating in the mountains, wrote in his diary the follow- ing description of the proceedings at Pickensville: "The three candidates for Congress, Alston, Hunter, and Earle, were present electioneering with all their might distributing whiskey, giving dinners, talking, and haranguing, their friends at the same time making similar exertions for them. Besides these, there was a number of candidates for the Assembly. It was a sin- gular scene of noise, blab, and confusion. I placed myself on a flight of stairs where I could have a good view of the multitude, and there stood for some time an astonished spectator of a scene the resemblance of which I had never before witnessed; a scene ludicrous indeed when superficially observed, but a scene highly alarming when viewed by one who considers at the same time what inroads are made upon the sacred right of suffrage. Handbills containing accusations of fed- eralism against one, of abuse of public trust against 74 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS another, of fraudulent speculation against a third and numerous reports of a slanderous and scurrilous nature were freely circulated. Much drinking, swearing, curs- ing and threatening but I saw no fighting. The minds of uninformed people were much agitated and many well-meaning people were made to believe the national welfare was at stake and would be determined by the issue of this backwoods election. Doctor Hunter conducted with the most dignity, or rather with the least indignity, on this disgraceful occasion confining himself to a room in the tavern, and not mixing with the multidude in the street; Alston fought for prose- lytes and adherents in the street, but took them into the bar-room to treat them; but Earle who loved the people more than any of them had his grog bench in the middle of the street and presided over the whiskey jugs himself.' ' Mr. Williams was elected, but Joseph Calhoun, John Taylor, and L. J. Alston were sent in the place of three members in the Ninth Congress. A special session was called in October on account of a crisis in international affairs. In June the Leopard had attacked the Chesa- peake, and England had issued her order interdicting trade by neutrals between ports in amity with her. As they stood upon the brink of the precipice, they were compared to "innocent, defenceless sheep, without prudence, and almost without a shepherd, who had been cropping the rich harvest of neutrality on the very field where the wild beasts have been at combat, and pressing unexpected fatness, between the lion and the tiger in the midst of their rage." The first session of the Tenth Congress lasted six months and the second nearly four. The delegation from South Carolina had 75 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF been respectable but not very influential. Mr. Wil- liams was in the lead, but his independence, frank speech, and warm retorts curtailed somewhat his sway over his confreres. He found use for the knowledge laid up in his early reading at Providence and supple- mented it by a library of his own. He was diligent above the average in his efforts to grasp the political situation and serve his country. The farm down on the Pedee satisfied his moderate desires and left him unim- peded in his ambition to serve his country. For him there were no half-formed convictions and no favor of temporizing measures. His speeches were on naval ap- propriations, the increase of the navy, the embargo, its enforcement, amendment, or repeal, and on foreign relations. His reasoning on the subject brought him to a decided opposition to the navy and its increase, because there was no commerce to defend, and that an increased navy would be in the end as it was in Europe, an augmentation of the enemy's sea power. The grand scheme of the administration was to increase the num- ber of gunboats to some two hundred and sixty in number, and to appropriate one million for fortifica- tions of forty-five ports and harbors and nearly half a million for arms and ammunition. A quarter of a mil- lion annually was voted for arming the whole body of militia, and provisions were made for a small addition to the army. Mr. Williams' greatest speech in the Tenth Congress was deliveredjin December, 1808, on the embargo. It was imperfectly reported in the Annals of Congress, which were often a mixture of direct and indirect dis- course. His speeches are not of the epic character in which the speaker is hid from view. They partake 76 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS rather of the lyric subjectiveness which mingles the thought and feelings of the speaker and warms the logic of his discourse; and owing to the feature of egoism, they become bits of autobiography. The selections from his speeches, here and below, are selected to serve as the honest index of what the public servant was. They can give no conception of his speeches as a whole : "Some gentlemen have gone into a discussion of the propriety of encouraging manufactures in this country. I heard with regret the observation of the gentleman from Virginia on this subject. I will be excused by him for offering my protest against those sentiments. I am for no high protecting duties in favor of any description of men in this country. Extending to him the equal protection of the law, I am for keeping the manufacturer on the same footing with the agriculturist. Under such a system they will increase precisely in that proportion which will essentially advance the public good. So far as your revenue system has protected the interests of your merchants, I am sincerely rejoiced; but I can consent to no additional imposition of duty, by way of bounty to one description of persons, at the expense of another, equally meritorious. I deplore most sincerely the situation into which the unprecedented state of the world has thrown the merchant. A gentleman from Massachusetts has said, they feel all the sensibility for the mercantile interest, which we feel for a certain species of property in the Southern States. This appeal is understood, and I well remember, that some of their representatives were among the first who felt for our distressing situation, while discussing the bill to pro- hibit the importation of slaves. I feel all the sympathy for that interest now, which was felt for us then; but I 77 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ask if it is not sound policy to encourage the patriotism of our merchants to support still longer the sacrifices, which the public exigencies call for, with spirit and reso- lution? If they should suffer most from our present situation, it is for their immediate advantage that we are contending. I must be allowed in continuation to say, that although I do not profess to be one of the exclusive protectors of commerce, I am as willing to defend certain rights of the merchant, as the rights of the planter. Thus far I will go : I will assist in directing the physical strength of the nation to the protection of that commerce which properly grows out of the produce of the soil; but no further. Nor am I therefore dis- posed to limit the field of his enterprise. Go up to Mocha, through the Dardanelles, into the South Seas. Search for gums, skins, and gold, where and when you please; but take care, it shall be at your own risk. If you get into broils and quarrels, do not call upon me, to leave my plough in the fields, where I am toiling for the bread my children must eat, or starve, to fight your battles. "It has been generally circulated throughout the Eastern States, in extracts of letters, said to be from members of Congress (and which I am certainly sorry for, because it has excited jealousies, which I wish to see allayed), that the Southern States are inimical to commerce. So far as South Carolina is concerned in the general implication, I do pronounce this a gross slander, an abominable falsehood, be the authors whom they may. The state of South Carolina is now making a most magnanimous sacrifice for commercial rights. Will gentlemen be surprised when I tell them, South Carolina is interested, by the suspension of our trade, 78 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS in the article of cotton alone, to an amount greater than the whole revenue of the United States? We do make a sacrifice, sir; I wish it could be consummated. I should rejoice to see this day all our surplus cotton, rice, flour and tobacco burnt. Much better would it be to destroy it ourselves than to pay a tribute to any for- eign power. Such a national offering, caused by the cupidity and oppression of Great Britain, would con- vince her, she could not humble the spirit of freemen. From the nature of her products, the people of South Carolina can have no interest unconnected and at variance with commerce. They feel for the pressure of Boston, as much as for that on Charleston, and they have given proofs of that feeling. Upon a mere calcula- tion of dollars and cents I do from my soul abhor such a calculation where national rights are concerned if South Carolina could thus stoop to calculate, she would see that she has no interest in this question upon a calculation of dollars and cents, which I repeat, I protest against, it is perfectly immaterial to her whether her cotton, rice, and tobacco go to Europe in English or American vessels. No, sir, she spurned a system which would export her produce at the expense of the American merchant, who ought to be her carrier. When a motion was made last winter for that kind of embargo, which the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Key) was in favor of; for he says he gave his advice to do that very thing, which if adopted would cut up the navigation interest most completely (an embargo on our ships and vessels only) ; South Carolina could have put money in her pocket (another favorite idea with the gentleman) by selling her produce to foreigners at enormous prices; her representatives here unanimously 79 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF voted against the proposition ; and her legislature, with a magnanimity I wish to see imitated throughout the United States, applauded that vote they too said that they would unanimously support the embargo, at the expense of their lives and fortunes. She did not want an embargo on our ships, and not on produce. No, sir; she knows we are linked together by one com- mon chain break it where you will, it dissolves the tie of union. She feels, sir, a stroke inflicted on Massachu- setts, with the same spirit of resistance that she would one on Georgia. The legislature, the representatives of a people with whom the love of country is indigenous, told you unanimously that they would support the measures of the general government. Thank God that I am the representative of such a state, and that its representatives would not accept of a commerce, even at the advice of the gentleman from Maryland, which would profit themselves at the expense of their eastern brethren. Feeling these sentiments, I cannot but say, in contradiction to what fell from the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Gholson) I should deplore that state of things which offers the merchant the lamentable alter- native, beggary or the plough. I would say to the merchant, in the sincerity of my heart, bear this pressure with manly fortitude, if the embargo fails of expected benefit, we will avenge your cause. I do say so, and believe the nation will maintain the assertion." Near the close of this address Mr. Williams alluded to the substance of which was said by another speaker, that "nations like individuals should pocket their honor for money," and said, "Sir, if my tongue was in the thunder's mouth, then with a passion would I shake the world and cry out, 'Treason!'" He was known in 80 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Congress as "Thunder and Lightning Williams," and one may see how Mr. Williams, if he raised his voice to suit the words, both earned his designation and gave some ground for the federalist compliment that he was somewhat theatrical. It happened that the prim professor, Edward Hooker,* who had witnessed the congressional race in Greenville in 1807, stopped on his journey homeward, a few days in Washington and heard the speech just quoted and thus commented on it: "Mr. D. R. Wil- liams of South Carolina made a long harangue of two hours upon it justifying the imposition and continu- ance of the embargo. He recurred much to his notes, hesitated some, drank water freely. Began some sonor- ous and musical sentences which did not close equally well. Began some so long as to lose the connection of words and make bad grammar, but nevertheless had a pretty eloquent speech and highly figurative language, expressed very fair, liberal, national, harmonious sen- tences, expressed himself in many instances in very strong and emphatic language, and was by many people much complimented and much admired. I think though he was hardly logical enough and rather too ungram- matical and incorrect to pass for a complete scholar. For 'effect an insurance,' he said, 'infect an insurance,' and committed a few other errors." At a subsequent day, the observant pedagogue dined with a bunch of these Solons and over a dinner com- posed of "goose, duck, chicken pie, boiled corn beef, roast fresh beef, hominy made of dry corn and beans boiled whole, sweet and Irish potatoes, custards, roast *Hooker was "prone to overestimate the importance of the minutiae of pronunciation excessively interested in rhetoric and gesture." J. Franklin Jameson. 81 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS apples, crackers and butter with cheese, preserves and cyder," they discussed the late speeches. Representa- tive Blount of North Carolina put a higher estimate on Mr. Williams' speech and styled it "transcendently elegant." Mr. Jefferson's second term ended in this last session of the Tenth Congress. C. C. Pinckney of South Carolina was the Federalist candidate and received only forty-seven votes to Madison's one hundred and twenty-two. It is a remarkable showing in view of Mr. Jefferson's pacific policy, the dissatisfaction of the com- mercial interests and the general depression everywhere. The salient feature of Jefferson's administration struck the average man its economy and the large cash sur- plus always in the treasury after interest and several millions were paid on the indebtedness. In his last annual message he reported that more than eight mil- lions would be in the treasury at the end of the year. In this and the six and a half years previous he had ex- tinguished $33,580,000 of the principal of the federal debt, the whole of that which could be paid within the limits of the law. The government was just twenty years old. Honesty and economy in a government conducted with average ability are rare virtues, in this day when the cost of the general, state, county, and city governments amounts to $2,500,000,000 annually. Mr. Williams retired for a season also from the din of the forum and immersed himself in the neglected plantation duties, but not so thoroughly that he was invulnerable to Cupid's shafts. 82 CHAPTER X IN THE TWELFTH CONGRESS THE Tenth Congress adjourned on March 3, 1809, and the Eleventh convened May 22d, fol- lowing. Mr. Williams was succeeded by Rob- ert Witherspoon whose sister Elizabeth he married in November following. (Ames.) The Eleventh Con- gress worked hard but it did not accomplish much in its three sessions. E. S. Thomas, editor of the Carolina Gazette, tells in his Reminiscences this defective story : "I made the best use of the Gazette to turn out every member of the Tenth Congress, with what success the reader will judge when told that eight out of nine were obliged to give place to other men. The ninth barely escaped and good humoredly remarked that if Thomas' lever, as the country people called the Gazette, could have had a little more purchase, he should have gone with the rest. It was on this occasion that Williams, Lowndes, Calhoun, and Cheves were first elected to Congress, forming with their colleagues such a constel- lation of talent as seldom meet from one state in that body." His judgment on the "constellation of talent" was true to the evidence. What other state can point to such a galaxy of great and patriotic men? Henry Clay was elected speaker of this Twelfth Congress and down 83 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF to his old age looked back to it as the most remarkable of all for the talent found in it. It was the Eleventh Congress, and instead of eight out of nine being left at home, there were only eight members, three of whom succeeded themselves; a fourth, John Taylor, went back to represent South Carolina in the Senate. Rob- ert Witherspoon declined to be a candidate, and having retired from public life, gave the benefit of his influence to his brother-in-law, D. R. Williams. The Gazette may have influenced voters near Charleston, but it is not probable that the defeat of Alston by his opponent, Elias Earle, in Greenville, or the conspicuous success of John C. Calhoun in Abbeville District was decisively affected by a weekly newspaper with less than fifteen hundred subscribers. Mrs. St. Julian Ravenel, in her "William Lowndes' Life," says "Calhoun and Lowndes were nine and twenty, born within a month of each other; Cheves about five years older. There was also David R. Williams, a man of much force and integrity, who had wisely endeavored to rouse the spirit of the inert Eleventh Congress. The desire of all these men to awaken the patriotism of the country and achieve for her a place among the nations without regard to political party." Mr. Williams who was in the Ninth and Tenth Congresses, but not in the Eleventh, as is assumed in the quotation, was about six years older than Calhoun and about one year older than Cheves. The Annals of the Twelfth Congress have had the honor of being read as a source of instruction and in- spiration by students of our history. Great and pa- triotic men in the majority and in the minority enriched the records with thoughts that still breathe and stir in the hearts of men. Mr. Calhoun was made or became 84 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Mr. Cheves was chairman of the Naval Committee and Mr. Williams was chairman of the Committee on Mili- tary Affairs. South Carolina, in the persons of her representatives, was in the front of the fray, pointing to the necessity for war and of a preparation for it. Mr. Williams still thought it a waste of money to build a navy of a few ships to be pitted against Great Brit- ain's fifteen hundred. He was still for the embargo or for war; for as he saw the situation, it was that or submission. His first great speech was delivered in reply to Mr. Sheffey of Virginia, who opposed the rais- ing of an additional militia force. It was an effort which elicited high commendation. "No man can conceive," said a reporter of the Baltimore Democratic American, "the impressive manner in which it was de- livered, nor the Roman energy and overwhelming ve- hemence of the speaker's elocution. You have heard Cooper. The voice of Mr. Williams is more vigorous, more powerful, more commanding than that of the celebrated tragedian." (Quoted from Ames.) The Richmond Enquirer commented very happily, too: "The speech of Mr. Williams in reply to Mr. Sheffey is worthy of general perusal. It breathes the fire of an American, the indignation of a patriot, at the wrongs inflicted on his innocent country. You see at once that a warm and generous blood flows in his veins how different from the cold and calculating politician to whom he replies. How highly is South Carolina gifted in the present Congress, Calhoun, Cheves, Lowndes, Williams. What a splendid constellation of talents." On the 25th he inaugurated another contest of wits by giving notice that at the first opportunity he would 85 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF call up the bill for classifying and arming militia. Three days later the House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the bill supplementary to "an act more effectually to provide for the national defence by estab- lishing a uniform militia throughout the United States ; and also an act making provision for arming and equip- ping the whole body of militia of the United States." The proposed bill which came through Chairman Wil- liams divided the militia into three classes, the Minor, Junior, and Senior. The Junior, consisting of such persons as were over twenty-one and under thirty-one years of age, was to be subject to the general govern- ment for a term not longer than twelve months at a time. Each member of all classes was to receive a stand of arms, the right to which was to be inalienably in- vested in him. Four hundred thousand dollars was to be appropriated annually for the purchase of arms. The bill became at once a target to be shot at from many directions. But "Mr. Williams supported his bill with an ardency which did him credit for his perseverance," and with others pressed to the point where it was en- grossed for a third reading. Motions to eliminate a section, to amend it, to re- commit it, to postpone consideration for a stated time or indefinitely, were made and generally voted down; but the appropriation was cut in half. Some of the opposition were in favor of arming and classifying the militia but disliked one or more features of the bill. It was defeated by three votes, seven members favoring it being absent. Numerous minor objections were urged, but the two telling ones were the objection to the phrase, "militia of the United States," since the militia belonged to the several states; and the other that the 86 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS power to distribute and preserve the arms must be lodged in the legislatures of the states. These changes were added before it became a law, but they were not recommended by the Military Committee, because it was desired that the militia in the service of the United States should be freed from state regulations. Mr. Williams got formal leave of absence before the bill became law, but another bill authorizing a detachment of 100,000 militia was passed under his leadership, be- fore he returned home, where in January his barn with five thousand bushels of corn and thirty-five bales of cotton had been burnt. His leave of absence extended the remainder of the session, but in one month he was back at his post. On May the 13th Mr. Williams made a motion for which he found no precedent nor any crisis like the present one to require it. "Resolved, that the Speaker be directed to address a letter to each member of the House now absent, requesting his attendance prior to the first day in June." The purpose of the resolution and the speech to support it is set forth by the reporter of the Carolina Gazette, who considered it "of great im- portance": "The object of the resolution was to in- dicate to the merchants, by way of invitation to absent members, to return at a particular day, that there was a settled determination in Congress to make war on Great Britain shortly after the first of June. The fail- ure of the embargo to convince the mercantile part of the community of this settled determination, some addi- tional admonition was extremely necessary; and it is to be hoped this resolution of Mr. Williams will answer the purpose. There is another view of the subject. This notice to the absentees must be considered not 87 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF only honorable but justified by the thinness of the House, and being given timely, throws the responsibility on the absentees. All pretexts of objection to a declaration of war being sectional (most of the eastern men being absent) are by this course destroyed. On so great a question as will be decided in June, it is very desirable there should be as full a house as possible. If it shall not be so, it will neither be owing to a want of exertion on the part of the majority nor to the absence of a unani- mous and clear indication of their intentions to the minority." The Twelfth Congress was now on the verge of de- claring war between the United States and Great Brit- ain ; and some of the minority complained of the undue haste with which the majority was leading to hostilities. Mr. Williams felt the force of the appeal. On a former occasion when some petition was being read, too late to accomplish anything, a point of order was raised; but Mr. Williams wanted to allow the petition to be finished, and added, "Before God, let's stand con- victed if we haven't talent enough to refute it." Now he says to the majority: "The deportment on the other side of the House had, during the whole of the session, been very gentlemanly toward the majority; and, sir," said he, "will you now refuse to give them an opportunity to express their sentiments upon a meas- ure which, in their view, is important? Policy on the part of the majority ought to dictate the indulgence asked for. The majority now stands on high ground," etc. But his plea was heard and unheeded. "An act laying an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States for a limited time" was passed as a preliminary to a declaration of war, 88 DAVID ROGERSONfiWILLIAMS which was formally declared by proclamation of the President on June 18, 1812. The first session of the Twelfth Congress adjourned on July 6th and Colonel Williams returned to Society Hill. The opposite faction at home, still known as the Federalists, did not look so kindly on the able repre- sentatives in Congress. The reporter of the Courier said in the midst of the exciting session, "If the good people of South Carolina do not shortly request your Cheves, Williams, and Lowndes, notwithstanding their abilities, to stay at home, as soon as they constitution- ally can, they will deserve the evils they must suffer.' ' In reference to Mr. Williams he said: "It is somewhat surprising that such men as Williams should so much dread the naval power of England, yet go to Canada and thus most certainly provoke the exercise of that power on our defenceless maritime towns, New York, Norfolk, or Charleston. However, I don't absolutely censure Mr. Williams; perhaps he is unable to discern the inconsistencies of his own conduct. No man is culpable for the honest exercise of merely such powers as heaven has given. And excepting the magnitude of his voice, I never could discover anything great about him." But the people did not agree with the critic. They were with their representatives. The toasts on the Fourth of July were such as these: " Our representatives in Congress : We have read and admired the magnanim- ity of their sentiments in forensic debate. They have the plaudits of their country." "The members of Congress from South Carolina: A Spartan band, firm and indissoluble. While they add weight to the na- tion's councils, they shed lustre on our individual state." 89 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF In the second session, Chairman Williams' bill "con- cerning the pay of the army of the United States" was read on the 20th of November, was supported by ex- planations with the hope that its discussion would not involve the justice or necessity of the war. "War is now declared; we have thrown ourselves between our country and the enemy; and it becomes us to carry her triumphantly through the war or be responsible for the disgrace a contrary course would incur." The reason for raising the monthly pay of the soldier, the aggregate amount of which would be about one million dollars, having been given, he thought the remaining sections would speak for themselves. Mr. Stow of New York followed in reply and Colonel Williams in turn said among other things: "The enemy are on your western, your northern, your southern, and your east- ern frontier God only knows where they are not. He (I) was warranted in advocating the section upon the great principle of national necessity and usefulness. In all great crises, individual benefit ought not to pre- ponderate against the public good. Militia services are transient; ought not to be solely depended on, and as they are released in that proportion ought your regu- lar forces to be increased. . . . The gentleman's ideas of patriotism are equally novel and mistaken; he contends that individuals enter military service of their country with precisely the same object that they be- come smiths emolument. He had always considered that patriotism was to be found in sacrifice of individual advantages to the public weal, and not, as is fairly to be inferred from the gentleman, in drawing individual emolument from the public coffers. No, sir, patriotism is not to be purchased, it flows from the heart; it is 90 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS based on noble principles, and although soldiers are paid for their services the great stimulus which carried them into the field is that love of country which is inseparable from the real patriot." Mr. Quincy of Massachusetts spoke of the principle involved in reference to enlisting minors as being "atrocious" and closed with what he did not mean to be a threat: "Pass it, and if the legislatures of the in- jured states do not come down upon your recruiting officers with the old laws against kidnapping and man- stealing, they are false to themselves, their posterity, and their country." Mr. Williams found it impossible to keep down the feelings of indignation which arose in his breast ; but he would speak with due respect to the orders of the House and not infringe its privileges. He wished he "had not occasion to speak; but, sir, it is my misfortune to be chairman of the Military Committee, more by your partiality than by any merit of mine. I am compelled to rise. I have been stigmatized by the gentleman as the introducer into this House of an atrocious principle. If such language comports with our rules of order, I must submit, seeing it is uttered where it is protected; but, sir, I must pronounce it a libel on myself, and throw it back on him who uttered it, as a foul, atrocious libel on the committee. Sir, I came here not disposed to use such language; nothing but extreme injury should extort it from me. I wish that the gentleman had kept the resolve he informed he had formed ; as he could not do so I would that he had been good enough to spare me from the acrimony of his remarks. Atrocity! The advocate of an atrocious principle! Let the gentleman recur to those who originated the principle; let him go 91 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF back to the day of the Revolution and damn the mem- ory of the patriots of those times, the fruit of whose labors he so ill deserves to enjoy. . . . The gen- tleman from Massachusetts admits a necessity may exist to justify the course proposed by the bill. Well, sir, was there ever a crisis calling on our people for vigorous exertions, more awful than that which impends over us now? Now when a vile spirit of party has gone abroad and distracted the Union? Now that the state which the gentleman represents is almost in arms against us? And in such a state of things are we to be told that we are espousing an atrocious principle, be- cause we are seeking for the means to defend our coun- try? The will of the President is the law of the land, says the gentleman. How can he expect his arguments to be attended to, when the first word he utters after taking his seat is to insult and abuse every one opposed to him in opinion? I beg your pardon, Mr. Speaker, I ask that of the House for the language I am compelled to use; but so long as I am a man, so help me God, when I am told I am actuated by an atrocious principle, I will throw it back in the teeth of the assertor as an atro- cious falsehood. . . . We ask not for the sustain- ment of an atrocious principle or for the adoption of an immoral law, but for the means to support a just war until we can obtain an honorable peace as much for the convenience and real benefit of that gentleman and his friends as of any in the House. . . . Let Massa- chusetts, as the gentleman has threatened, resist the law; I thank God there is yet no point of contact be- tween us, but if she shall, contrary to our mutual inter- ests, array herself against the general government, I for one shall not hesitate to search for the proof that she 92 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS is only a component part of the Union not its ar- bitress." John Randolph characterized Mr. Quincy's speech as having "more of eloquence than temperance" and as being "answered in a style not dissimilar by 'my worthy friend on the left' (Mr. Williams). They both reminded him of a stroke of perhaps the only comic poet this country has produced : "The more they injured their side, The more argument they applied." Mr. Randolph called attention to the similarity of position occupied by Virginia and Kentucky in 1798 and 1799, when those states would not be "dragooned into measures of the Adams administration," and the good sense and patriotism of the American people rati- fied what they did. Mr. Williams stood reproved but not corrected by his friend from Virginia. "With respect to dragooning Massachusetts, I feel no more disposition to do it than that gentleman; I believe he would shrink with as much intrinsic abhorrence from measures openly advocated in that country as I would. Her leaders dare not tell the people that they refused to grant their physical force to support the country's independence to save it from British domination. The gentleman from Massa- chusetts did not say so. They writhe under the lash but dare not defend their conduct. There is no point of contact between her and the Union God forbid there should be! but if there should be, I would be one to teach her her duty. . . . Yes, sir, I do hope that the authority of the Union and of that state may never come in contact, that we may not be under the 93 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF necessity of putting down the desperate measures of that state. Sir, when we are insulted, when we are * dragooned' for endeavoring to put our country in the armor the times call for, when an attempt is made to deprive us of the means of defense, I, for one, will not refrain from expressing my sentiments of such conduct and of the remedy for it." The bill passed, yeas 64, nays 37. The House again resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole on the bill "supplementary to the act for the more perfect organization of the army" and on the bill "in addition to the act of raising an additional force." As chairman of the Military Committee, Mr. Williams brought up the matter by motion for consideration. He felt embarrassed because of the importance of the subject and a fear that its success might in a measure depend upon him. He was no doubt outlining the ad- ministration's plan of action in this excerpt: "To effect the first great object, defence of the exposed parts, it struck him as of primary importance, that the whole jurisdictional limits of the United States should be divided into military districts, that the command of each should be intrusted to an intelligent officer who should have under his command certain portions of artillery and infantry of the regular army; that in each district there should be a sufficient number of cannon mounted on travelling carriages, etc., and an engineer to devise the plans, and superintend the erection of such works of defence as may be necessary," etc. Josiah Quincy of Massachusetts, while laboring under physical weakness, made the speech of the session in opposition to the administration and of the war. Some of the closing paragraphs show how latent fires of jeal- 94 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ousy were slumbering under the political ashes: "Tak- ing the years for which the Presidential chair is already filled, into the account, out of twenty-eight years since our constitution was established, the single state of Virginia has furnished the President for twenty-four years. And further, it is now as distinctly known, and familiarly talked about in this city and vicinity, who is the destined successor of the present President, after the expiration of his ensuing term, and known, too, that he is a Virginian, as it was known and familiarly talked about during the presidency of Mr. Jefferson, that the present President was to be his successor. And the former was, and the latter is, a subject of as much notoriety, and to human appearance, of as much cer- tainty, too, as who will be the successor to the British crown is a matter of notoriety in that country. To secure the succession and keep it in the destined line has been, is and will continue to be, the main object of the policy of these men. This is the point on which the projects of the cabinet for three years past have been brought to bear that James the First (Madison) should be made to continue four years longer. And this is the point on which the projects of the cabinet will be brought to bear for three years to come that James the Second (Monroe) shall be made to succeed, according to the fundamental rescripts of the Monticel- lian dy nasty.' * Mr. Quincy was called to order, but he gradually worked back to the pain in his heart: "When I assert that the present Secretary of State (Monroe), who is now the acting Secretary of War, is destined by a cabinet of which he himself constitues one-third, for the command of this army, I know that I assert inten- 95 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF tions to exist which have not yet developed themselves, by an official avowal. The truth is, the moment for an official avowal is not yet come. The cabinet must work along by degrees and only show their cards as they play them. The army must first be authorized. The bill for the new major-generals must be passed. Then upon their plan, it will be found necessary to con- stitute a Lieutenant-General. 'And who so proper,' the cabinet will exclaim, 'as one of ourselves!' And who so proper as one of the cabinet?" This interest- ing speech was closed with a crack of his whip: "If in common with my countrymen, my children are destined to be slaves, and to yoke in with negroes, chained to the car of a Southern master, they, at least, shall have this sweet consciousness as the consolation of their con- dition, they shall be able to say: 'Our fathers were guilt- less of these chains.'" On January 14, 1813, Mr. Cheves made the last great speech on "Additional Military Force," and at its close it passed, for the bill 77, against it 42. In the opening sentence Mr. Cheves states that he had entirely aban- doned the idea of speaking on the subject, "but the sudden and unexpected indisposition of this moment of my worthy friend and honorable colleague (Mr. Wil- liams) the chairman of the Committee with whom this bill originated, who was expected to close the debate, has left a vacuum in the argument which I propose to fill. Could he have addressed you as he was pre- pared and anxious, in the faithful discharge of his duty to do, it would have rendered the feeble attempt which I shall make as unnecessary as it would have been im- pertinent and obtrusive." The last bill introduced by Chairman Williams was 96 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS to provide for the appointment of new major and brigadier-generals. He took occasion to say that his illness had precluded his reply to Mr. Quincy's pre- diction. He now declared that no such intention of appointing a Lieutenant-General had ever existed in the minds of the administration. After some con- sideration it was agreed to appoint six Major-Generals and six Brigadier-Generals. In his last term in Congress, 1812-1813, Colonel Wil- liams was invited to dine at a private residence in Washington. Some months before his negro slave, private barber at the Factory, Alex, had disappeared. "The Abolitionists had already begun to operate the underground railroad, of late fame. The street door of the host was opened to the Colonel by Alex! The lawful master reclaimed his chattel, without the least question of the validity of his ownership, and long after- ward Alex still shaved the guests at the Factory in the usually contented mind of his race." (J. W. DuBose.) Sources: For the last three chapters, the Annals of Congress, Minutes of the St. David's Society, Bassett's United States History, Thomas' Reminiscences, Life of Lowndes by Mrs. Ravenel, the Charleston Courier and the Gazette, The Diary of Edward Hooker, who came and went like a meteor, saved him from the common oblivion by shedding a little light on South Carolina, 1805-1808, American Historical Association, 1896. 97 CHAPTER XI HIS MILITARY SERVICES IN COMMON with his fellow-citizens, Mr. Williams on the days fixed by law took his place in a militia company and in the course of time found it the pleasure of his comrades to promote himself to the captaincy of the Second Battalion of the Thirty-eighth Regiment. His regiment, with the Thirty-seventh of Marlboro and the Thirty-ninth of Chesterfield, made up the Ninth Brigade, commanded by Brigadier- General Erasmus Powe. In May, 1809, Captain Wil- liams spent three days, with other officers, acting as a court-martial trying certain offenders against the regu- lations. In September following he was officially noti- fied that his military services would be dispensed with for a time, in order that his congressional duties might not be interfered with. On the heels of this notifica- tion came another missive from General Powe : "Sir: Since your absence from the state to attend your congressional duties, your brother officers of the 38th regiment of my brigade, by their unanimous vote, have called you to the command of the said regiment. Your services as Lieutenant-Colonel are therefore dis- pensed with until your return, after Congress shall be adjourned, to take command of your regiment." Colonel Williams on his return from the Thirteenth 98 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Congress did not offer for reelection. His successor, Theodore Gourdin, was summoned to a called session in May, in the same month that Colonel Williams was made president of the St. David's Society. Had he retired from political life for a season, or had President Madison given a hint of work to be done in another department? Earlier than the date of the subjoined letter, June 26, 1813, two or three South Carolinians had been promoted: "Having accepted a commission in the regular army," General Williams wrote to General Powe, "I hereby resign to you the command which I had the honor to hold under you, as Lieutenant-Colonel, Commandant of the 38th regiment, and remain with every possible regard, your most obedient fellow-soldier. "David R. Williams." President Madison honored South Carolina by giving her one-sixth of the generals authorized by Congress. Thomas Pinckney, a Federalist, was made Major- General and assigned to the Sixth District. The state was largely democratic, but the wisdom of the appoint- ment was fully justified. The minority and the major- ity worked together "as two feet, two hands, two eye- lids, upper and lower rows of teeth," or as one man in the common defence, and showed what the state's motto meant, "Animis opibusque parati." General Williams was assigned to the Northern army. His promotion and early departure became the subject of toasts at the Fourth of July barbecues. At Springtown, one was, "The enlightened and energetic statesman, David R. Williams. He will show himself the hero and the general in the day of battle." Another at the 99 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Washington Rangers' gathering was, " May he prove as much a soldier as he has a statesman." A few weeks subsequent to the declaration of war there was a meeting of the citizens in Darlington in which James Ervin, Major George Bruce, Cornelius Mandeville, Major William Williams, Moses Sanders, Joseph Cantey, Albert Fort, Andrew Hunter, Benjamin Skinner, John Norwood, Sr., William Whilden, John Huggins, Jeremiah Belk were appointed a committee to draught a preamble and resolutions approbatory of the declaration of war. One of the resolutions adopted at this meeting was, "Resolved, that we highly approve of the firm and patriotic conduct of the Hon. D. R. Wil- liams, our Representative in Congress, and that a copy be sent to our delegation in Congress." It was deliv- ered to Colonel Williams on his arrival in Darlington, with an appropriate speech by Lemuel Benton and responded to in a befitting way by their Representative. On the 12th of July the Courier gave out the intelligence that Brigadier-General Williams had left home for the Northern frontier, two days after it was announced in Washington that he had left the city for the northwest- ern army, and his progress toward Fort George as his destination was announced on the 23d by the Ontario Messenger. The scanty knowledge about his location and work as an army officer in the next three months is gained from the Annals of Congress: "War Department "July 30, 1813. "Brigadier-General Boyd. "Sir: I have this moment received information that Fort Meigs is again attacked and by a considerable 100 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS regular force. . . . It is the President's wish that you should communicate fully and freely with Brigadier- General Williams. "John Armstrong." "Headquarters Fort George, W. C. "August 8, 1813. "Conceiving myself at liberty to act offensively on the arrival of the fleet, an expedition was immediately concerted against the enemy, and acceded to by Com- modore Chauncey. One thousand was to embark on board the fleet, under command of Brigadier-General Williams, to land at the head of the lake. The army at this place was to move in two columns against the enemy's front, while General Williams assailed his rear and cut off his retreat. Yesterday morning, the time when the troops were to have embarked, the enemy's fleet were discovered off this place." (Gen. John P. Boyd, to the Secretary of War.) An extract from a letter dated August 29th reads as follows: "The ittack on the 23d inst., was made by the whole of the enemy's force, with the intention, no doubt, should he fail in an attempt upon our entrenchments to draw us into the woods. General Williams, with a part of his brigade, advanced some distance in the plain; but it was considered inexpedient to allow him to pursue into the woods." "August 30, 1813. (Wilkinson to Armstrong) "An intelligencer left Kingston or its vicinity last evening to tell me that Sir 101 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF George Prevost had commenced operations against Boyd and had driven in his pickets and taken sixty or seventy prisoners, but had been repulsed from his line of encampment. " September 17. "In consequence of encouragements from Gen. Boyd that a general and decisive movement was about to be made by the army and that an additional force was desirable, we repaired to Fort George about five weeks ago, with 500 men consisting of volunteers, militia, and Indians. Most of us remained there twelve or fourteen days, but our hopes not being realized, the men con- tinually dispersed and went home; not, however, with- out expectations, again encouraged by General Boyd and Williams, that we should be called on again to aid in operations." (Peter B. Porter and others to General Wilkinson.) The Camden Journal said many years afterward that General Williams served with General Boyd on the Northern frontier. "His services there were of the most active and laborious character and his zeal and gallantry were evincive of the highest chivalry. But we all know the unfortunate mode in which some of our Northern campaigns were conducted. General Wil- liams became disgusted and requested to be employed at the South." General Williams reached Washington on the 29th of September and, according to the National Intelligencer, he declared that he found on his arrival and saw among the regiments during his continuance there (with Boyd) "nothing but one common anxious desire to be led against the enemy." The Carolina Gazette announced in the middle of 102 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS November (1813) that General Williams had left Charleston to join the army against the Creek Indians, and the same fact was reverberated in a toast at Dorchester: "General Williams from the north to the south swiftly he flies, in the defence of his country; as a good soldier he is ever vigilant for her welfare." It was understood at Milledgeville that he was to take charge of General Floyd's army; but there was ap- parently no place for him or men for him to command as the following letter indicates: "Military District No. 6. "Honorable John Armstrong. "Dear Sir: I take leave to address you for the purpose of resigning the commission which the presi- dent of the United States has honored me with. As the reasons which induce this determination are inter- esting only to myself and family, I abstain from offering them, but have requested Col. Taylor to explain them to you. "I cannot take leave of you without assuring you of the grateful sense entertained for your official conduct towards "Your very grateful and sincere friend "David R. Williams. "N. B. This would have been transmitted to you through Gen. Pinckney, but not being in command, have not thought it material he is apprised of it. " The above was copied and sent by George Andrews, the present (1913) Adjutant-General with these words: "Herewith inclosed a copy of the resignation of David R. Williams, Brigadier-General, U. S. A.," which res- 103 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ignation appears to have been tendered, December 8, 1813, but not to have been accepted until April 6, 1914. Where was he and why did four months intervene before his resignation was accepted? General Floyd was in command of a small army sent out against the Creek Indians. He was not superseded by General Williams, for a junction with him was the object of General Jackson's march southward in which, during the month of January, 1814, he crushed the Indians in three great battles. On the 21st of April General Jackson and General Pinckney united with their forces and on the next day disbanded the Tennessee army, General Jackson himself returning home. General Pinckney generously acknowledged General Jackson's worth and recommended that the Sixth Military Dis- trict be divided and that Jackson be made Major- General of the Seventh. Generals Hampton and Harri- son having resigned, Jackson was made Major-General and assigned to the new Military District. General Williams' resignation is without a post- office, so that where he was and how employed are entirely unknown. There is no evidence to be found at Washington that he ever commanded any forces after he came South. The expression "Not being in com- mand" found in his letter of resignation is ambiguous, but it must apply to himself. He probably went home in expectation of an immediate acceptance of his resig- nation, about which he wrote again in January from Cheraw, C. H. No reason need be given for his resignation, outside of what is hinted at in his letter. There was little opportunity for the exercise of military talent and he had too much energy to be satisfied in the tented field 104 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS when no active service was in sight. "I love," said he in 1828, "like Murat in his best days, to lead the charge. I am a miserable poor hand at defence." The last year almost added famine in some places to the curse of war, and no doubt his several hundred slaves needed his personal attention. His retirement was accomplished with no loss of reputation among the people or with General Pinckney. A letter of inquiry addressed to the Pension Bureau brought from the present Commissioner, G. M. Salz- gaber, this information: "Relative to your letter, concerning a claim for pen- sion or bounty land filed in this bureau based on the service of David R. Williams in the War of 1812, you are advised that a search of the records fails to show that a claim for pension or bounty land based on his service has been filed. " Sources: The Minutes of the Ninth Brigade of Militia under General Erasmus Powe, a manuscript in the possession of Mr. William Godfrey of Cheraw, of invaluable assistance on this subject, as also have been the Records of the War Department, the Pension Bureau, and Annals of Congress. The Camden Journal, Carolina Gazette, Charleston Courier, the native news- paper sources of information. The linen tent brought home by General Williams remained in good condition till 1861, when it was presented by Mrs. J. N. Williams to a mess in Company F, Eighth South Carolina Volunteers. (Dr. James Mcintosh.) 105 CHAPTER XII GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA THE remaining portion of the year 1814 was spent on the farm, where in the month of December he had to choose between duty and self-interest. The event has become one of the best known in the history of the state. It changed his name from "Thunder and Lightning Williams" to "The Cincinnatus of Society Hill." The story shall be told with the inevitable variations by several writers, the first introduced being Judge John Belton O'Neall : "In December, 1814, the legislature seemed not to be satisfied to elect either of the avowed candidates for governor. The Mess at Mrs. McGowan's consisted of a large number of upper country members, among whom were Colonel Starling, Major Robert Wood, and others, with whom I was well acquainted. I was then a little over twenty-one, had been admitted to the bar in May and been in service with Colonel Tucker and Major Wood at Camp Alston. I had therefore some of the presumption of youth, with the privilege of acquaint- ance with these eminent men. I had seen by the papers that Gen. David R. Williams of Society Hill had resigned his commission in the United States service and was at home. I took the liberty of suggesting to the gentlemen of Mrs. G's mess General Williams as a 106 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS fit person to be governor. It met with unanimous approbation and on consulting his friend, Timothy Dargan of Darlington, who said he knew the General did not desire the office, but he knew he had never refused to serve when elected, he was put in nomination before the Senate and House of Representatives and was elected by an overwhelming vote. A messenger was dispatched to inform him of his election. The messenger met him driving his own wagon near Society Hill and inquired if General Williams was at home; he was answered that he was not, that the driver was the man. The messenger could hardly believe the fact. He however delivered the written message. The Gen- eral read it and swore he regarded it as the greatest misfortune of his life. He however said to the messen- ger, 'Go home with me and I will send an answer in the morning.' He accordingly wrote that he would be in Columbia, on the proper day, and take the oath of office. The day rolled around an immense crowd was in attendance. General Williams rode on horseback, dismounted, hitched his horse at a rack, which once stood near the wall before the state house. "General Williams was introduced by a Committee of the Senate and House and stood in front of the speaker. I saw him then from the gallery for the first time. He was in blue broadcloth dress coat and vest. His face was a slim florid one. He was not more than four feet eight inches in height, of a full habit, inclining to corpulency. His portrait in the college library by John S. Cogdell is a good likeness as he stood before me that day. His speech was one which went home to every heart. As soon as he had taken his oath, his commission had been read in the Senate Chamber, and 107 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF he had been proclaimed by the Sheriff of Richland from the eastern portico of the state house, I with Capt. John Henderson, Col. James Williams, and Capt. George Creeliss, three of the members from Newberry, started to walk to our lodgings. Henderson said to Williams, 'that is none of your little d d raccoon governors.' " Judge O'Neall's account, found in his "Bench and Bar," was written years after the event, but the next reference to this episode was made on the spot by a correspondent of the Carolina Gazette: "Gen. D. R. Williams," said he, on the 10th of De- cember, 1814, "is our governor the election came off yesterday. He received 137 votes. An Express has been sent to the governor-elect, with an address signed by upwards of 70 members requesting him to accept the office. The general replied that he would not be candidate and greatly preferred a private station; but if called to the important station, his principles as a republican left him no election." On the third day General Williams replied : Addressed: " The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives of the State of South Caro- lina, Columbia. "Society Hill 12M. Dec, 1814. "Gentlemen: The letter which you addressed to me, in to a resolution of the Legislature of So. Carolina is this moment to hand. "Penetrated with profound gratitude for the confi- dence and honour bestowed upon me, I shall proceed forthwith to Columbia at which place I shall await the farther disposition of the Legislature on Saturday next. 108 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "With great personal consideration I have the honor to be "Your most obt & very faithful servant : David R. Williams." The President of the Senate & Speaker of the H. of Repre- sentatives. From the same correspondent of the Gazette: "Columbia, S. C. "Dec. 18, 1814. "We were yesterday gratified with one of the most delightful scenes I have ever witnessed the qualifica- tion of Gen. Williams. To a person commanding and eloquent, he adds a countenance full of energy and intelligence, and a voice melodious and powerful. The address delivered to the legislature was one of the finest specimens of eloquence. The present situation of the country and the horrors of invasion from the enemy, were painted in a manner of which I could give you no idea. The eyes of many were filled with tears and the heart of every patriot beat high. In a word, it was impossible to give you any adequate idea of the impres- sion produced by the scene I have described. I believe no man ever went into office with so much popularity as Gov. Williams and no man doubts but he will fully equal public expectations. There were men who had been led to believe that Gen. Williams did not possess talent of the first order; that he was hot-headed, in- judicious man, not qualified for important trusts. Men of strong passions and ardent minds will ever be regarded in that light by the cold politicians of the pres- 109 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ent day. There is not, however, one man in this place of any party, who does not now admit the talents and virtues of Gen. Williams." Another account embodies the tradition in one branch of the family:* "His usual plantation attire was heavy brown jeans. At the moment the messenger from Columbia rode up, he found the stocky man in brown jeans walking beside an ox-team, bearing a heavy rawhide whip on his shoulder. The apparent driver of the team had just sent the negro driver back to the barn to bring some tool on his shoulder, to go along with the wagon, but which had been neglected. This is the explanation of the tradition: Rather than let the slow-moving team stand still the master kept it moving on until his negro driver could go and return. In reply to the legislature's messenger on the stop, General Williams merely advised him to ride back several miles to his home (Centre Hall) and there await General Williams. When the General appeared later in his parlor, dressed in blue broadcloth coat and brass buttons, buff trousers, etc., the messenger was astounded to see the ox-wagon driver. Like General Jackson, he was a courtly gentleman of society as well as a burly man of different environments." General Williams became Governor on the 17th of December, 1814, at one o'clock p. m., "after having addressed the members in a short speech, in which I took care to guard against promises and professions, and exhorting the legislature to adopt every measure calcu- *Given by John Witherspoon DuBose, a native of Society Hill, a political essayist, author of the " Life and Times]of Yancey, " and other books, as it was received from his Uncle John Witherspoon of Society Hill, who married General Williams' granddaughter, and as a lad saw the Governor almost daily and heard from his family many incidents of the General's interesting life. no DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS lated to defend this state against our revengeful and degenerate enemy."* On the fourth day of his term he received a letter from General Pinckney, showing that the funds of the general government at his disposal had been exhausted and requesting him to recommend the legislature to come to his relief. He did so at once and secured a liberal response. In the "Genuine Book of Nullification," by "Hamp- den," are found these comments: "Let us now turn from New England, at the period when this most patri- otic convention at Hartsford (with a mighty invading force, in the heart of our country and a powerful navy, with reinforcements, hovering on our coasts) is engaged in adopting measures to withdraw the resources of the Eastern States and to embarrass and resist the general government let us turn from this glorious scene to the traitorous and ignoble conduct of South Carolina at this critical conjuncture. On the 22d of December, 1814, the governor of South Carolina addressed the following letter to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States : " 'Executive Department, " 'Columbia, Dec. 22, 1814. "'Sir: On the 21st inst. I received a letter from Major-General Pinckney, covering several others, the purport of which was to inform me that the funds of the general government at his disposal were exhausted and that the troops now in service for the defence of this state could not be subsisted without money, and suggested the propriety of my recommending to the legislature the expediency of Quoted from his diary, the original copy of which is in the hands of Professor Ames. Ill THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF an appropriation, in relief of the finances of the United States at this moment. "T have the pleasure to inform you that two hundred and sixty thousand dollars have been placed at the disposition of the government by the legislature last evening. This disposition of the state manifests the continued good will and faith- fulness which our citizens feel toward (sic) the administration; in return for which I cannot but crave their special care of its defence. I hope it is unnecessary to add that my individual and official efforts will not be wanting in aiding the government whenever in my power. "'Respectfully yours, "T>. R. Williams/ "Thus it is an historic fact," continued Hampden, "that in one of the darkest hours of our country's ex- istence, the embarrassment of the Union was communi- cated to our legislature and before their adjournment in evening, the Representatives of the People of South Carolina freely, and at great sacrifice, opened their treasury to relieve and sustain the Union. To a man of plain understanding it would appear that one such Act in the hour of need would outweigh ten thousand Pro- fessions of patriotism at the present moment of our government's utmost peace and power." The governor's letter does not tell the whole story of the patriotic devotion of the people in the War of 1812; for the people and the city of Charleston especially were suffering in a financial way. The enemy's fleet caused importations to cease, by blockading the ports and capturing the small coast vessels. As commerce 112 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS disappeared, cotton and rice became unsalable, to the detriment of the farmer and the people in the city alike. (Mrs. Ravenel.) The years 1815 and 1816 are for Governor Williams the fullest of service, the crest of the increasing volume of energetic and warm-hearted service of the state and the people; and fortunately his still extant diary of the period, supplemented by newspapers and contem- poraneous records, leads one as in a great white way through that period. On the 22d of December he was elected Major-General of the Fourth Division, and on the next day visited and repaired the arsenal at Camden. After spending Christmas at Centre Hall, he visited Charleston and its arsenal and indited a letter to the Secretary of War, James Monroe, in which was trans- mitted a copy of "an act to raise a Brigade of State Troops,' ' for service during the war, and a discussion of some nice points liable to be raised in the cooperation of state and United States forces: "I am solicitous to have an understanding upon a point before the case arises, which though perfectly clear to my mind may not be to others. If the state of South Carolina shall be invaded during my administration, it cannot be doubted that every effort the Constitution has put in my power to make, will be executed. In addition to the common resort to the militia, limited by the discretion of the United States officer, such an invasion may be made as will call for a force on state account beyond the com- mand of a Major-General with such a force I shall find it my duty as well as my inclination to take the field. While acting in cooperation with the forces of the general government within the limits of the state, can it be doubted what ought to be the extent of my 113 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF authority over all the cooperating forces, seeing the Constitution has made me the Commander-in-chief? The period for settling questions of moment is surely before either the pride of command or the prejudices of officers are enlisted against reason. In the hour of battle or even in immediate preparation for it, there can be no time to discuss calmly who shall have the right to be foremost in the charge, and therefore it is this understanding (which) is sought. I will not add that it is made in the spirit of the most friendly and cordial solicitude for the common cause. If I may not safely leave such an inference to the President's and your bosoms after a long service in a coordinate branch of the government, all professions of mine would be disregarded and superfluous. On this subject I have not communicated with General Pinckney, because it may never be necessary for him to know that I have ever thought of it; we have difficulties enough to en- counter that spring out of the pressure of the times; inevitably such as can be avoided will never be solicited by me. . . . " We are now in an awful suspense, have lost the run of the enemy and know not where he is concentrating. If my actions could be quickened into more activity in endeavoring to repel him should he appear here, by any other consideration than my country's honor and safety, it would be that your successes would have a tendency to kindle toward you the gratitude of the state. Accept my kindest regards. " On the 14th, continues the diary, "almost the whole day was spent in viewing the lines and works erected for the defence of Charleston (weak on the left flank). General Pinckney very politely attended me with his 114 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS suit." A description of the defences as furnished in Thomas' Reminiscences is not only interesting in itself but also needed to make fuller Hampden's account of the patriotism of the little state: "It was determined to fortify the city on the land side by a line of works across the neck, from Ashley to Cooper Rivers, thus completely cutting off the city from the country. The engineer was immediately set to work to lay out the plan, which was soon done, and the citizens determined to carry it into execution with all possible expedition. The work to the best of my recollection consisted of a wall of earth ten feet high and fifteen feet thick, with a ditch in front, ten feet deep and twenty wide, so that it was twenty feet from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the battlement. In the construction of the wall every shovel full of earth was pounded down, until it was as solid as it was possible to make it. It was then handsomely sodded. There were zigzags, equidistant, along the whole line, in which the heaviest guns were mounted to rake the ditch. The guns were all mounted in barbet at first, but it was soon discovered that that plan would expose the men too much. Embrasures were then cut which greatly disfigured the work, but would have been a great safeguard to the men, had there been an attack. The men of small arms were completely sheltered, except at the moment of firing, and then only their heads would have been exposed. There were 78 pieces of cannon on the wall, and the lines were manned by seven thousand men, to which three thousand men could have been added in an hour. This great piece of work was the production of the citizens and their slaves. A large sum was subscribed to pay laborers. All took their turn at the work even 115 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF the ladies, to the number of several hundreds, marched out and carried sods all one day. It was a glorious sight to see the patriotic enthusiasm which prevailed. The British officers that came to Charleston imme- diately after the peace pronounced it the handsomest and best put together piece of field work they ever saw. " On the 15th, while in Charleston, Governor Williams issued a reward for the apprehension of a person who shot at Editor Thomas, sitting after dark in the house of a friend, a circumstance which grew out of a suit against the editor. The suit went against Thomas for accusing publicly a candidate of bribery, and after the sentence was pronounced "a messenger was sent to the governor, who was a hundred miles and more up the country, engaged in reviewing the militia. The mes- senger found him at a review and handed him his dis- patches, which having read, he took out a pencil and wrote, making use of the pommel of his saddle for a desk, a full and free pardon for myself (Thomas) and Doctor Mackey." On the 30th of January the Governor returned to Charleston, after having explored the inland navigation as far as the northern extremity of St. Helena. Selected four points for fortifications i. e.: White Point, Fen- wick's Island, Field's Point, and the extremity of St. Helena; and reviewed the militia of the city, including alarm men. Many men of age and respectability were found in the ranks, officers looked well, but fewer arms and men than he expected. His next serious business was the classification of the militia, but the raising of the new brigade and other contemplated preparations for defence were suddenly brought to a standstill. On the 19th, while at Centre Hall, he received the intelli- 116 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS gence of the arrival at Washington of the Treaty of Peace. He was soon in Charleston where he had peace proclaimed by the sheriff through the city. "The rati- fication of the Treaty of Peace, " he said in his instruc- tions to the forces under him as commander-in-chief, "between the United States and his Britannic Majesty suspends the necessity of holding the militia of the state in the classes as ordered by the General Orders of the 4th inst., they are therefore dismissed and the re- turns dispensed with. Duplicate Brigade returns of the effective militia, their arms and accoutrements; and in conformity with the order, will be prepared and delivered to the encampment, one copy to the Adjutant- General and the other to the Major-General." Orders naming seventeen regiments and the places and dates of review and exercise were issued, at most of which the governor himself was present. At one of the brigade encampments a pair of speeches were reported to the press: "The officers of the Seventh Brigade encampment at Strawberry unanimously request leave to present to your excellency their thanks for the interest which you have taken in their instruction, and the correct and polite manner in which you have personally communi- cated to them much valuable information. In their opinion the character of the Chief Magistrate has re- ceived additional lustre from your military talent." To which his excellency replied: "Such an expression of opinion was as unexpected as it was agreeable. He was sensible the officers had estimated his motives rather than his acts ; they had bestowed a reward more than ample for much greater services. Such conduct on the part of his Brother officers could not fail to 117 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF quicken any man to whom it might be directed in the discharge of his duties, and should not fail to hold him steadfast to them. He requested the Committee would accept for themselves and present to the officers for whom they acted, his sincere thanks. " Letters were transmitted to Generals Brown, Mc- Combs, Scott, Gaines, Porter, Ripley, Commodore McDonough, Captains Warrington and Blakeley and General Jackson, expressive of the approbation of the legislature of South Carolina, with one from himself as follows: "In communicating the sentiments of the legislature of South Carolina as contained in the pre- ceding resolutions, I beg leave to add my own personal admiration of your distinguished valor and good con- duct." In November Governor Williams sent his first message to the Senate and House, parts of which are given below: " To the Senate and House of Representatives. "Fellow Citizens: The circumstances which affect our beloved country and those portions of society of men with which our commercial interest must connect us are so greatly changed since your last session that our nation, then selected by a powerful and enraged enemy as the object of vengeance and punishment, now finds itself, after a great and successful struggle, enjoy- ing the only desirable situation of all that community of states. "The influences of an honorable peace pervade our whole country. The exigencies or ravages of a cruel and frightful war oppress those who were then either careless of our fate or solicitous of our ruin. The ministers of England finding its immense and victorious armies disposable by the peace of Paris and estimating 118 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS our strength as they would that of a power of the old world, by the number of our army, ordered confident of success, the conflagration of our cities, the spoil of our land, and without doubt expected as sanguinely as they wished the overthrow of our government; yet the republic stands erect under the laurels of a glorious war, and encircled with a character, now become valuable to us, diffuses happiness within and presents to our immense borders, for the purposes of defence, all the stability and firmness of the mountain adamant. The distinguished valor and good conduct of the army, the wonderful successful resistance of the militia on land, the brilliant and continued victories on the ocean, above all the termination of hostilities, at the precise moment, most honorable and advantageous, establishing and building upon our happy and free institutions, pros- trating equally to the hopes of the open enemy and the secret traitor, all mark us as a favored people of God, and command our most devout gratitude. "This development of our resources under circum- stances which threatened their destruction has given much importance to our national character abroad, as justifies the hope of security against the repetition of similar wrongs and injuries, as those which induced the war, and in that light given inestimable importance to the occurrence. The brave men who have bled, the widows and orphans of those who have died in such a conflict, ought not to be disappointed of their country's bounty such as belong to the State of South Carolina, I present not to your justice but to your generos- ity. . . . "A consultation was held with Major-General Thomas Pinckney, commanding the Sixth Military 119 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF District, in relation to the most advantageous points to be fortified, for the defence of our maritime frontier; these were reconnoitred by the Executive in person, and in such as were found to embrace the advantages to be expected (substituting others for those which did not), works were either begun or preparations made for them which would have as far as practicable se- cured the objects of the legislature within a very- limited period and at a cost much under the appropria- tions made; this last circumstance, however, is to be wholly attributed to the meritorious and patriotic disposition which influence the citizens within the neighborhood of these works. A gratuitous contribu- tion of labor, more than sufficient for their completion, was made by them. Disbursement of the funds appro- priated were therefore necessary, only for engineers and munitions. "It affords the highest gratification to recollect what were the dispositions not only of those neighborhoods, but of all the citizens of this state, with which the Ex- ecutive had occasion to be engaged during that period which threatened so eminently to try the souls of men. The measures which were secretly prepared, or in train for the defence of the state, depended much for execu- tion on the dispositions of the citizens ; for although the physical force necessary was at his control, the means of subsistance without arbitrary executions, were not. It is now believed no evil would have resulted from such a circumstance before the legislature could have been convened, for such were the zeal and determination every where to defend the state the zealous and patri- otic the sober-minded and virtuous all the citizens with which he communicated on the subject, offered to 120 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS throw open their barns and store houses for the main- tenance of the forces and pledge themselves to support the energetic measures that should be adopted. The exertions made by the citizens of Charleston and its vicinity for the defence of that place, were of the first order. The proof of this is to be seen in the substantial works completed at and near it. The preservation of such monuments of faithfulness to the government and love to the country, is greatly to be desired if only for example, and now cannot fail to engage your attention, etc. " Of the appropriations voted for arms and munitions a small part only has been expended. The contracts which were made prior to the close of the war, for ar- ticles chargeable to that fund, were not interfered with; much the greatest amount of these is not perishable; those about which we were only in treaty, were immedi- ately given up. Although a much larger number of muskets and bayonets ought to be in the hands of the militia than are, the circumstances which induced such liberal grants of money for those objects ceasing to oper- ate, it was considered proper that those funds should not be expended under the altered state of things, but remain in the treasury, subject to such an application as the legislature might make whether these funds ought now to be appropriated for the same objects or applied with others in relief of the citizens for the temporary heavy contribution induced by the war, is with you to determine. "Those arms, which on careful inspection, have been found not worth repairing, have been laid aside; all the others are in good order and fit for immediate use. If an additional number of arms is required, almost any 121 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF number can be procured. Beyond that number neces- sary to state purposes, it is considered just and consti- tutional that the military should be supplied by the general government. An expression of the wishes of the legislature in relation to this subject, cannot fail to receive from the government an attentive consider- ation, and may induce it to enlarge the appropriation now made 'for arming the whole body of the militia,' to an amount bearing some proportion to the magnitude of the object. An expression of the pleasure of the leg- islature is necessary concerning such arms and munitions as have been put into the hands of the militia. If they are not to be called in, legal penalties should be provided to prevent their removal without the limits of the state, as also for their care and preservation." The legislature having promptly acted on these hints thrown out, Governor Williams sent the proceedings of the legislature to the President, and among his own words were these: "The Constitution of the United States vests the power to provide arms for the militia in the general government and its means are ample. Under proper organization and with arms the militia must continue as it has proved the nation's safe reli- ance. The state sovereignties depend on it and the administration of the general government also. It is, therefore, with peculiar force and justice I am directed to call on you for that which a wise forecast and the provisions of the Constitution demand not more, I persuade myself, than your own judgment. The legis- lature believe they are entitled to reap a proportion of the arms that have been procured by the appropriation for ' arming the whole body of the militia' as the relative population of the state will authorize." 122 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "A variety of expenses," continues the first message, "have been incurred and paid by the state, during the late war, which, if right, ought to be discharged by the United States. Property also to a considerable amount has been injured or destroyed in the service of the United States. Such arms and equipments as our law requires the militia should be furnished with, and which had been issued to them, while in the service of the United States, were ordered to be received into our arsenals, although injured and a critical account of the damages taken, such as were not required by law, but loaned to the officer of the United States commanding within the state, were ordered not to be received, hav- ing been injured on the presumption that the United States would return an equivalent in kind. The will of the legislature when expressed on these subjects shall be attended to." In October it transpired that the general government had sent seven hundred and sixty-three stands of arms to South Carolina's quota and that a hitch had occurred between the parties appointed by the state and the Secretary of War. The halt in the settle- ment brought forth a letter from the Governor on the subject to his friend, William H. Crawford, Secretary of War: "Colonel Hayne has exhibited our vouchers for arms loaned to the general government, being receipts from officers in the service and pay of that government, to which Captain M. objects, stating that he must produce the receipt not of the officer but of the United States arsenal keeper to prove the deposit thereof, a certain number of arms, and that for these only can he account. If this be the rule and we are to procure or lose our am- 123 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF munitions according to it only, Captain M. will not have much trouble in this quarter, as I fear, notwith- standing all our loans, we may not have a voucher to fit the rules, however well the rule may fit the conven- ience of the United States. "The liberal and confiding spirit of our legislature during the late war formed the rule by which my pre- decessor in office during that period and myself have been governed. I believe not one of us imagined our duties were accomplished while there remained any- thing undone in our power to do, either for the general government or for its military officers. Hence it hap- pened that loans of munitions of war being asked for by Major General Pinckney of our Executives and were granted arms, tents, camp equipments and everything in our arsenals were furnished on the receipt (I fear sometimes without receipts) of officers receiving them hence also a standing order to our arsenal keepers to furnish on the requisition of an officer of the United States service anything needed for that service. This was the principle upon which I understood my prede- cessor acted and I willingly followed so loyal an example, confident that the legislature would prefer the property should be lost rather than be wanted in the general defence. The wants of General Pinckney were, to our utmost, supplied, the articles receipted for by the offi- cers under his orders, yet Captain M.'s instructions oblige him to consider the receipts as also invalid, because signed by a military officer. It is a fact there was not a musket, bayonet, cartouch box or tent fit for service in our arsenal at Charleston when I came into office, and the state had not a soldier in the field all of the last mentioned articles were in the service of the United 124 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS States, I think fully nine months. You can very well estimate their value when returned. "When St. Mary's fell and fears were entertained for Savannah, General Pinckney called on me for additional troops to cover that city and adjacent country. These were armed from a deposit of our arms at Coosawhat- ehie they were discharged at the Sisters Ferry on the Savannah your personal knowledge evidences for us that the rule now contended for could not be com- plied with had we known of its existence; at that period there was no time to dispute about straws; the arms were issued shall not the receipt for them be now considered valid because they were not signed by ar- senal keepers? Touching these arms they were issued by my orders and I thought proper to inquire of General Pinckney after he had dismissed the troops who bore them. I take leave to add an extract from his letter concerning them and munitions generally: '"The arms delivered us by Colonel Austin were ordered on account of the facility of transportation to be conveyed to Quarter Master's Department at Sa- vannah. I presume that the arms delivered to the 5th Brigade were among them, in which case they shall be returned at your election, either to Coosawhatchie or this place. General Pinckney soon [resigned and we] have not yet received a musket.' . . . The rule which Captain M. now objects had no existence. The troops were not under our orders; we could make no regulations for the preservation of our property. . . . No, sir; we believed we loaned to the United States on much better security than any such regulation could afford. We trusted to the purity of their character and that of their chief officers, at a time when patriot- 125 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ism mourned for their embarrassment we have not yet learned to doubt either." In a second message to the legislature bearing the same date, the Governor, after touching on the attitude of Europe, brought up again a subject nearest his heart, a good organization of the militia, and exposed the evils of the system: "About the time the enemy occupied St. Mary's, for example, the Quartermaster General under my directions ordered a regimental Quarter- master General to remove a quantity of 12 pound balls from the arsenal, to a certain wharf to be sent to Beau- fort. Obedience was by letter deliberately refused ; the officer was arrested on a charge of disobedience, tried and acquitted. No exception could be taken either to the character or intelligence of the officers composing the court. To enable you to see more readily how defective our system is, this case has been alluded to. . . . If there be one right guaranteed by our insti- tution upon which more of our freedom and happiness depend than another, the right to bear arms surely is that one. The state sovereignties hold their militia as a kind of constitutional army, to defend themselves from the encroachments of the general government and not only themselves but the union also against invasion. Here then is the vital importance of the militia devel- oped. It should therefore be armed and equipped, ready to take the field. Hence our institutions become secured in proportion to the correctness and faithful administration of our military organization; for while it embraces, it guards also the interests of life and all the endearments of liberty. If this greatest object shall be neglected during this peculiar season for re- flection and improvement, our posterity, if not our- 126 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS selves, tracing our dreadful catastrophe to that very- negligence, may mourn over the disgrace and ruin of our fallen armies, when there will be no other consola- tion to patriotism than the remembrance of what its glory and prosperity have been. "A wise and faithful legislator, therefore, cannot consider all his duties performed, while the militia is deficient, either in its discipline or organization, for want of the necessary legal provisions. To perfect it is a great work, worthy of the noblest ambition to improve it should be the dream of all it is not without diffidence, this attempt at the latter is made should other and better means be adopted no one will rejoice more than David R. Williams." How times have changed! From the founding of the colony to the civil war, military service was universal. State rights and the rights of the general government magnified the importance of the militia and kept alive the sparks of patriotism in the breasts of men. Even John Adams thought our liberty would be gone when the militia ceased to be. After the mighty struggle which prostrated the state rights advocates, the mili- tary system fell to pieces, and the country underwent changes somewhat parallel to what Rome went through in passing into an empire. The citizens were left to their daily pursuits and the government depended on mercenary native or foreign volunteers. As govern- ments become centralized and the people separated from the affairs of government, peace brings prosperity, prosperity brings luxury and luxury enervates the nation. At this moment of our history the peace ad- vocate is raising his impotent voice and feminine virtues are prevailing more and more over the masculine ele- 127 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ment. Men of wealth become less religious and more benevolent, and the sanguine believe that far-off day is drawing nigh when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together with the lamb on the outside! (This was penned a few weeks before the invasion of Belgium.) 128 CHAPTER XIII THE CLOSE OF HIS GOVERNORSHIP IN HIS term as chief magistrate, Governor Williams pushed to its completion the settlement of a line in dispute between North and South Carolina, and the purchase of some land within the state still belong- ing to the Cherokees. His friend, W. H. Crawford, in the cabinet at Washington, helped to consummate the latter transaction. Governor Williams' messages have been and are to be drawn upon as mines of information which show how much of our past is forgotten or never sees the light in our histories. In December, 1816, the Governor's message contained a resume of the main events within that period and recommendations on several subjects, especially the militia of the state: "The rapid progress of agriculture, accelerated by the uncommon rewards of labor is by constant though by almost imperceptible degrees im- pairing the efficiency of our arms, by lessening the ob- jects for their use, as the forests yield to the axe, the game which they contained disappear, and with them much of the excitement to a dexterous use of arms. Whether these have so far diminished as to require other incentives for the preservation of our skill in gunnery, you best can determine; but surely an honorable re- ward to such individuals as may from time to time 129 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF distinguish themselves in the regiments, by the pre- cision of their fire, would be productive of good, as it might assist to prolong the accuracy and, of course, the efficiency of our fire. The man who knows and feels that he is superior to the enemy is very apt to meet him as the militia met the British at New Orleans. This knowledge always performs wonders. Our measures should be at least as much addressed to the moral as the physical energies of the people. With all armies equal reliance may be placed on the former as well as the latter, and with the infantry infinitely greater. "Two events have occurred during the present year which required resort to military force. A few run- away negroes, concealing themselves in the swamps and the marshes contiguous to Combahee and Ashepoo rivers, not having been interrupted in their petty plun- derings for a long time, formed the nucleus, round which all the ill-disposed and audacious near them gathered, until at length their robberies became too serious to be suffered with impunity. Attempts were then made to disperse them, which either from insufficiency of num- bers or bad arrangement, served by their failure only to encourage a wanton destruction of property. Their forces now became alarming, not less from its numbers than from its arms and ammunition with which it was supplied. The peculiar situation of the whole of that portion of our coast, rendered access to them difficult, while the numerous creeks and water courses through the marshes around the island, furnished them easy opportunities to plunder, not only the planters in open day, but the inland coasting trade also without leaving a trace of their movements by which they could be pursued. 130 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "There was but one more stage to a state of things altogether intolerable: to prevent which I felt it my duty to use the public force and the public money. I therefore ordered Major-General Youngblood to take the necessary measures for suppressing them, and authorized him to incur the necessary expenses of such an expedition. This was immediately executed. By a judicious employment of the militia under his command, he either captured or destroyed the whole body. "The other event happened in the neighborhood of Camden. It appears that a scheme for organizing in- surrection among the slaves had been for years con- templated by a few desperate characters. They had nearly matured their plans when a communication of them was made, in the latter part of June last to a faithful servant belonging to a gentleman in that neigh- borhood. By him I was immediately advised of the plot, whereupon I directed one of my aides, Lieut. Col. James Chesnut, to adopt such a course that would lead to a satisfactory knowledge of their whole project but to its effectual prevention. His measures corresponded with my confidence. They were as successful as they were judicious. Through the instrumentality of the good servant alluded to, he carried on a counter plot by which he was enabled to procure ample testimony to convict the principals without resorting to the evidence of the servant who made the first disclosure, and seize all who were implicated, before the slightest suspicion of their guilt was entertained by any one, except those engaged with him to prevent it. They were imme- diately delivered up to the civil authority and have all been punished except one whom the court pardoned. "The time has passed when all our feelings were excited 131 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF in relation to militia draughts by the general govern- ment. We then saw the efficiency of our institutions paralyzed, the public order threatened, 'the veil of the temple' of the constitution 'rent in twain.' Yet the redeeming spirit of the people without disorder or com- motion, patiently struggled through the difficulties. The period has now come, when we can deliberately and without passion and prejudice review the progress of events, whether it be necessary by timely provision to guard against similar occurrences in the future. It can scarcely be denied that a power ought to be lodged somewhere competent to call out the physical force of the nation in national emergencies. However inex- pedient and dangerous it would be to strip the state government of all authority over the militia and vest it exclusively in the general government, it can be neither to give to this list complete power over it, for the spe- cial purposes enumerated in the constitution. Such a power appears to be a necessary attribute of sovereignty and essential to its preservation. . . . Whatever may be the political character of Congress it ought to have full and entire power 'to provide for the calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, sup- press insurrection, and repel invasion.'" These last words mean more than a casual reading would glean from them. In January, 1812, the regular army was increased to 35,000 men by an Act of Con- gress; in February the President was authorized to call out 50,000 volunteers to be officered by the state gov- ernments. A third act authorized the President to call for 100,000 militia. The governments of Connecti- cut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts refused to heed the call, and were sustained by the state courts. The 132 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Supreme Court of Massachusetts decided that not the President but the governors of the states had the right to decide whether there was any necessity to call out the militia to execute the laws, or to suppress insurrection or to repel invasion. Governor Williams learned in Congress how difficult it was to perfect a militia system. One of his best measures, the provision which made the militia subject to the orders of the President, was lost on the last ballot by the absence of seven men who favored it and thus by the opposition of many and the indifference of a few, the general government could not act energetically. The President called for 470,000 militia during the war, but not more than 30,000 are said to have been in the service at one time. General Williams, however, had no reason to rate below par the militia in his own state and in General Pinckney's military district. Its im- provement seemed to him to be of the first importance. To his way of viewing the compact between the states, the course of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massa- chusetts, and in the next year, Vermont, was unpatriotic and a rending "the veil" of the Constitution. He saw in the militia the support of the state sovereignties and also the defence of the general government against foreign enemies. He went into the war believing that the President ought to have the power to call out the militia, and he came out of it strengthened in the same opinion; but it was left to another son of Carolina to accomplish at Washington what could not be done by one state. Mr. Calhoun became Secretary of War in 1817, and to his fertile mind was due a change in the army regulations which is still in force, viz. : the keeping of a small standing army well-drilled and officered to be 133 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF augmented by volunteers in time of war. Before his time, Congress had refused to vote a standing army, so jealous was that body of the liberty of the people, but after the experiences of 1812, the same body has always supported a standing army. It was used by the Con- gresses, 1868-76, to subvert the liberty of the Southern people, but when their representatives got back into Congress they were so embittered, said a United States general, "that one of their first and most insistent poli- cies was to demand a reduction of the standing army, and under this pressure the strength was fixed and re- mained at 25,000 till the Spanish War began." Governor Williams had been in the public service from 1805 to 1817, excepting two years. He was near the close of his fortieth year when he went back to his farm to resume the toga and pursue the arts of peace. He entered politics with no previous practical training, but he was full grown in his convictions and unchanging in his creed. He was not, therefore, a good party man who exchanged his own conscience for a corporate one when an exigency demanded it. He made it known early in his career that he would never vote to tax one state to build roads, make internal improvements or protect the industries of another, and he adhered to the doctrine when he was himself a manu- facturer. He was eminently fair to others and wished no individual or political advantage over other men or communities. He was for peace on honorable terms and, accordingly, favored the embargo because it bore down equally on all classes and sections; but when one section of the country through its representatives claimed that "interest" alone held the confederation together, his repugnance to such sentiments drew from 134 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS him a confession which showed that he belonged to an- other school: "To me the embargo always appeared a blessing to this country. True it has always operated to prevent us from making money, but that was all that was injurious in its operation; and, sir, I was so much a fool, had so little knowledge of human nature, as to believe that there was patriotism enough, love of coun- try enough in the nation to induce its freemen to be will- ing to abstain from making money for the good of the nation!" It was one of those painful shocks which startle unsophisticated and well-reared youths when it dawns on them that a lower moral temperature abounds outside the paternal roof. Fortunately, as Governor, he was enabled to raise again his opinion of his fellowmen as political and martial animals. When he was called from the ox-team to lay hold the helm of state, he found his countrymen willing to abstain from making money for a season and even to spend what was already made in the service of the state and nation. At the very time the Hartford convention w as sitting with c los ed do ors and deliber- ating about withdrawing from the Union while it was in a serious war, the state~bT]Soutn~Carolina at the sugges- tion of its Governor lent the United States $260,000 and called out a brigade of militia in addition and emptied its arsenals for the benefit of the general government, and voted $50,000 for further fortifications. He found the people to be of one mind. The external pressure of the enemy made the harmonious working together of all parties an illustration of Plato's idea of the best government. In his Republic he likens it to the human body, in which are many parts, and so coordinated and sympathetic that when a foot or hand 135 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF or any part is pained, the whole body feels interested in bringing relief. Capacity, energy, honesty, unsel- fishness, whole-souledness in the leaders who come to serve, call out a like spirit in the body of the people. It was indeed an hour to be remembered when the Cin- cinnati of Society Hill, Governor Williams, finished his work and prepared to return to his farm and family, having seen the flames of the war he had helped to kindle, extinguished with honor to his country and with greater security for the future. He represented the Welsh civilization which grew upon the banks of the Pedee and extended through him its happiest influence to the halls of congress and to the state's executive de- partment. The truly great are always humble in the hour of victory, and such was the retiring executive's feelings, as he laid aside his official robes, conscious of integrity and of patriotic devotion to the state and gen- eral government. The closing words of his message sounded like a psean of victory, a song of thanksgiving and a call to duty : "You are assembled, fellow-citizens, under the most propitious political circumstances. The peace of the nation undisturbed, its character elevated and revered abroad, the empire of the laws perfect at home blessed with a government instituted by the people, and ad- ministered for their benefit; which like the atmosphere pervades everything, yet is nowhere felt, secured alike in the full exercise of our religion and our civil rights, enjoying all the happiness of legal liberty the poor educated, the educated happy, the people virtuous and everywhere industrious, prosperous and contented. That such a rich stream of blessing should be poured 136 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS out to us, at a time when all the nations of the earth are made to eat the bread of bitterness and sorrow, calls for the most grateful and earnest thanksgivings to the great author of every good. Under such circumstances you have come up to the appointed house of the people, with none but dispositions faithfully to do the work of them who sent you, in which may you be so enlightened with that 'wisdom which is from above' that all your acts may advance your personal character and the pub- lic good. "David R. Williams." Sources: General Williams Diary, O'Neall's Bench and Bar, Thomas' Reminiscences, Scribner's Magazine, September and October, 1901. The extract from the rare Genuine Book of Nullification was furnished by Professor Yates Snowden. 137 CHAPTER XIV THE FACTORY PROMINENCE has been given to General Wil- liams' connection with politics, and it is to con- tinue to be important to the end; but before that limit is reached, other phases of his activity must be out- lined, as fruitful branches growing out of the main trunk, until the whole life, rounded and finished, may present to view somewhat of its own symmetry and proportion. It was his good fortune to enter life well endowed by nature and to find a large part of an extensive estate awaiting his arrival at years of maturity; and it also happened that his stay at school in New England and his terms in Congress synchronized with the origin and first twenty years' growth of the cotton spinning indus- try of that section. The first mill was built in Rhode Island in 1790 and according to Gallatin's statistics the second was built in 1795, and the third and fourth were finished in Massachusetts by 1804. In the next three years, ten more were in operation in Rhode Island and one in Connecticut, making fifteen in all before 1808. At that time there were about 8,000 spindles, producing about 300,000 pounds of yarn. The Embargo Act was in force in 1808 and caused capital engaged in commerce to seek other investments. By the beginning of 1811, eighty-seven mills were erected or begun in 138 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS New England, which were to contain 80,000 spindles and produce yarn worth $3,240,000. Congressman Williams was cognizant of all these developments, but it is not probable that he entertained any serious idea of becoming a manufacturer before the debate in the House in 1808, in which he ventured to say that cotton raising was more productive than anything else he had ever heard of. He had been selling cotton at an aver- age of 28 cents per pound; but the same disturbance which ruined commerce also destroyed the cotton market. "Where is the cotton crop of 1810?" he asked in a speech of 1812, and answered: "A curse to him who meddled with it. Where is that of 1811? Rotting at home on the hands of the growers, awaiting Orders in Council to be revoked." The earlier cotton mills had grown up spontaneously, in some instances as the fruitage of skill brought over from the old country. It was a day of individuality and personal initiative. There was no common centre around which they clustered and no common impulse to bring them into existence, before foreign entangle- ments called forth the Embargo Act, and gave to enter- prising and patriotic men, keenly sensitive to politics, a double motive in becoming manufacturers the desire to share in the profit of turning cheap cotton into high- priced cloth, and to contribute to the economic inde- pendence of the country. In July, 1812, this sentiment found expression at a banquet in Greenville District: " An inexhaustible source of independence. The rising manufactures of the United States in lieu of British goods." In this period were erected the South Caro- lina Homespun Company of Charleston* (1808), an- Kohn's "Cotton Mills in South Carolina." 139 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF other in Greenville District and third in Sumter District. The one on Cedar Creek was built, it is generally agreed, in 1812, and kept in operation not far from half a cen- tury. His own forests and sawmills were at hand to furnish whatever was needed in the wood line, and his own carpenters were competent for the work of erecting the frame building, 50 or 60 x 120 to 200, as additions were made to the five-story structure. Weeks were consumed in the time of the blockade in hauling the machinery by land. When it was ready for use, a super- intendent brought from the North managed the mill and trained the negro operatives. (C. D. Evans.) At a later time the superintendent was a full-blooded negro. (DuBose.) Absence in the service of his country was a hindrance to all his financial interests;* but his tact in organizing his forces, even when absent, brought good results. Diocletian preferred the pleasure of raising cabbages to the honor of governing the Roman empire. General Williams regarded it a great misfortune to be elected governor, at a time when his plantations and enterprises demanded his supervision; but he yielded and, depart- ing from the precedent set by Cincinnatus, of letting his little field lie fallow, he continued his work through overseers and superintendents. The encouragement given the enterprise by the public was sufficient to cause the proprietors, Williams and Matthews, to multiply the number of spindles three- fold. The Columbia Telescope, quoted in Kohn's "Water Powers of South Carolina," stated in March, 1816: "His excellency, Governor Williams, in com- pany with Mr. Matthews, has erected in the vicinity of *While acting as Governor his new sawmill was burnt down, May, 191 5. (Botsford.) 140 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Society Hill a manufactory for spinning cotton yarn. The number of spindles at present employed is three or four hundred; but the works are now enlarging and it is expected a thousand spindles or upwards will be in motion in course of the present year. This establish- ment so honorable to the founders, promises, we are glad to hear, a handsome remuneration of profit. . . . Cotton could with advantage be exchanged for yarns, as it is now almost universally done in the neighborhood of Society Hill." To facilitate trade a store was opened in connection with the factory under the firm name of Bruce and Williams, but it must be left undecided whether the surplus yarn went down the river to Georgetown and other places, or was retailed by wagoners in the inland nooks and corners, as was done in the Piedmont section. The lack of facilities for distributing the products kept the mills small or caused them to shut down a part of the time. There were other serious drawbacks in the mill industry. Three panics occurred in fourteen years, and the price of the staple in the earlier years made cot- ton raising more profitable than turning it into thread. About the same time General Williams was enlarging his plant, four emigrants from near Providence, Rhode Island, Leonard and George Hill, Wm. B. Sheldon and John Clark,* came to Spartanburg District and erected a factory, and laid the foundation of the present manu- facturing industry. In 1819, an orphan boy, William Bates, came to the state from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and became the first mill builder in Greenville District. These all may be considered as the war cotton mills and among the last valuable contributions from Rhode *Landrum's "History of Spartanburg County." 141 ' THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Island. The debt is large but it is partly cancelled by the evil which came along with the good. Importa- tions of mm from that diminutive commonwealth and of raw recruits from Africa must be put down as minus quantities in the equation (Chapter III); but educa- tionally (Chapter V) and industrially her help was timely, beneficial and of permanent value. Occasion- ally epidemics of measles or fever disturbed the mill management, although one of the best physicians in the state had charge of the health department on the plantations and at the factory. On the 7th of October, 1820, General Williams wrote to a friend: "The past season with us has been in most places extremely sickly, though not fatally. A few deaths only have occurred. The type of fever has been very mild and in no instance, to my knowledge, when assailed with a vigorous course of medicine at first, has proved fatal. The eastern part of Society Hill now completely exposed to the river, has been extremely insalubrious the wet part and on both sides of Cedar Creek for five miles down the range of sand hills to Centre Hall, have been as healthy as the Warm Spring Mountain, and not a case of fever within the limits has occurred." The next two summers were classed as sickly and they were succeeded by half a dozen healthful years. Cotton came down to 9 cents in 1826 and the speed of the mill had also been slackened. In his "Statistics of 1826, " Mills, who had chances to get his facts from headquarters, said: "During the war, a very extensive cotton factory was established by General Williams which did very well during the Non-intercourse Act; but when trade opened again the employment of the hands was more profitable in raising cotton than in 142 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS manufacturing it into cloth. The factory is now closed, domestic manufacturing are, however, still carried on." The partial suspension did not continue long; for further enlargement in the capacity of the plant was made within the next two years, new stock- holders appeared and the name was changed from the Gheraw Union Factory to the Union Manufacturing Company of South Carolina. Machinery for making coarse woolens and other articles was set up before 1829. Early in that year the mill was offering, in the Camden Journal, "Cotton yarns, cotton bagging, twine, cotton oznaburgs, cotton bagging and negro winter clothing. " They were made of "Cotton of the firmest staple. Customers can have their yarns warped into webs of any length and width they may desire. " In the Columbia Telescope, the editorial commenting on the mill gives the General's political latitude and longitude in this unsettled year: "General Williams will make a thorough experiment on the capacity of slave labor for manufacturing. If it shall be successful and large capital be invested in this way, we may ex- pect an immediate repeal of the tariff. Our northern brethren will no more consent to the competition of our manufactures than to that of Europe. We are well satisfied that whatever direction may be given to the capital and labor of the South, if it is successful, will be legislated upon for the advantage of the North, without the slightest compunction for the injury it may bring us. This is the settled policy of the majority. " In 1832 and 1833, the Saluda and Vaucluse factories began to attract attention. They also used negro labor, influ- enced no doubt by the example and success of the mill on Cedar Creek whose proprietor with Col. James 143 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Chesnut and others found the experiment successful. The Northern Superintendent of the Saluda surprised the public with the announcement that the negro oper- atives were capable and $41 cheaper than the white laborer per year. In August following, General Williams retired to Rocky River Springs, a summer retreat some thirty miles above Cheraw. It was a sickly season in which the mill president's mind was divided between anxiety for the health of the superintendent with the oper- atives, and concern about increasing the capacity of the mill. In writing to his friend, Col. James Chesnut, then at Philadelphia, General Williams mentioned the sickness of his wife, sister and her grandchildren, and added : " I tremble for the effects of a dry September. . . . We are here with very little company. The place has been well attended during the last six healthy years; but now that every indication is against health even life, there are few. It seems as tho' it is useless to fight against destiny. ... I shall visit the factory once each fortnight. Having arranged everything before I left, I hope it will progress properly and believe it will unless Mr. Hopkins shall be taken sick; that is the only circumstance I cannot hedge around. Should this happen, I see no other better course than to stop spin- ning till his recovery. It has given me much uneasi- ness, indeed it is the only circumstance connected with it that does. Every circumstance at my departure was what I wished, and help had begun to be familiar with our wool business that was getting on well. None had arrived from below nor could any prior to the middle of September, if then. You may calculate on 600 yards of negro winter clothes. Be pleased to inquire the prices for each set of (illegible) harness, whether they 144 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS are made with worsted and cotton harness. Also the different prices of such woolen goods as are applicable to negro clothes. If you should stumble on a machine shop either in Philadelphia or Patterson, I wish you to price for [me] looms to weave 42 inches wide and cotton and wool cards each. Our friends below here authorized me to get as many more as I deem necessary, as the crops are gone (in the great freshet). I vote for only 4 more looms and one (illegible) card. This I understand you to consent to. My . . . had no allusion to any- thing but looms and the necessary equipage belonging to them. Your woman, Mary, promises well as a weaver. Not a fire had occurred at the Factory, but the damn measles had broke out at least. Any infor- mation you may pick up in the factory line, any hint you will give, will be very acceptable to your friend, "D. R. Williams." The freshet of this month had greatly damaged the corn and cotton crops on the Pee Dee, but, notwith- standing, the immense crop of more than one million bales had depressed the price of the fleecy staple. Farmers and planters with their usual stoicism were apathetic and disposed to endure what they could not mend; but in this his last full year on earth, General Williams xhibited no little interest and energy in the service of his fellow-planters. A letter addressed to a government official speaks for itself : "Society Hill, Sept. 23, 1829. " To the Secretary of the Navy: " I ask leave with this to present you a small sample of cotton cordage made here, for bale rope. A pound 145 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF weight of it makes so many more feet in length than hemp cordage of the same size, it is cheaper at 25 cents per pound than hemp at 12 cents, for the particular purpose for which it was manufactured. A comparison of prices with tarred cordage will of course be much more in its favor. I think you will admit that it is a beautiful piece of cordage. If you shall see proper to test its strength with new hemp rope, you will probably find it weaker at first but after both have been so long exposed to the weather as to render that made of hemp useless, that of cotton will probably be still as good as cordage. "Cotton fishing lines have been found more durable than any other, both in salt and in fresh water; in the form of twine, wrought into seines and used in rivers, it is alike superior. Coarse shoes made of it and subject to the greatest exposure are much more durable than those made with flax or hemp. Perhaps it stretches too much to be trusted for standing rigging; but for running and especially for light sails, it may possibly prove superior to cordage made of any other substance. I have found it to last longer when served with a coat of warm tar. "How has it happened that cotton cordage has not been tried even among our smaller craft? Is it not wholly owing to a general opinion that it is much more costly? Such I confess was mine until a gentleman, judging more correctly, ordered 300 weight of bale rope, to be made of cotton yarns; for which it has been dis- covered to be the cheapest cordage with which we can rope our cotton bales. "If, contrary to my hopes, it shall be judged unfit for rigging of any kind, there is a great variety of other 146 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS purposes on shipboard, for which small cords are used, to which it may be advantageously applied. "I am too well satisfied that your private wishes not less than your public duties prompt you to the use of this great though depressed staple of our common country, to suppose it necessary to ask the patronage of your department for it. "Yours respectfully, [Signed] "D. R. Williams." The reply of the Secretary of the Navy follows: "Navy Department, Oct 6, 1829. "Sir: I have much pleasure in acknowledging the re- ceipt of your letter of the 23rd ult., together with a small sample of cotton cordage made for bale rope. That you may be fully possessed of the views of the depart- ment in relation to this great staple of our country for naval purposes, I herewith transmit to you a pamphlet containing correspondence on the use of cotton sails of ships of war, &c. "The sample you have sent me I freely acknowledge to be a handsome piece of cordage ; and the information you have communicated, in relation to its strength, durability and cost, in comparison with the same article made with hemp is very acceptable. A fair experiment shall be made of cotton rope for such parts of the rigging and outfits of a ship, as appear most suit- able, from the knowledge at present possessed of its qualities. "Your Obt. Servant, [Signed] "John Branch." 147 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF The correspondence continues: "Society Hill, 13 October, 1829. "Sir: I request you will accept my acknowledgements for the pamphlet you were pleased to send me; as also, for your favour of the 5th inst in answer to mine of the 23d ult. "Several gentlemen having become acquainted with the contents of your letter, insist that it is alike due to the disposition you have manifested, as to the subject of your letter, that the letters should be presented to the public through the medium of the public prints; avering that, both will be very acceptable to the com- munity certainly to those who grow, as well as, to those who manufacture cotton. Notwithstanding I have not the least doubt you would object to such a course, I cannot consider it proper without your con- sent and moreover have it not in my power to do so. Having no such purpose when I addressed you, I kept no copy of my letter to you. If the subject presents itself to your view, as it has to others, I shall be pleased to have your consent and a copy of my letter for that purpose; unless indeed you shall see fit to allow them to appear at once in a Washington paper. " It would have been much more agreeable to me, to have sent you a much larger sample of the cotton rope but was limited by the mode of conveyance & had none other. "Yours respectfully, "David R. Williams." 148 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "Navy Department, "Oct. 21s/, 1829. "Honble David R. Williams, Society Hill, S. Ca. "Sir: I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 13th instant. "Agreeably to the suggestions contained in your communication a copy of your letter of the 23d ulto is herewith transmitted, and the publication of the whole correspondence is cheerfully submitted to your dis- cretion. " I am very respectfully &c. "J. B." "Society Hill, 31st October, 1829. "Sir: I have pleasure in acknowledging your polite attention to my request & return you my thanks for your obliging compliance therewith. The copy of my letter, said to be transmitted with your last, being by some accident or inadvertency, not sent, I am yet un- able to avail myself of your permission to give your sentiments to the public & fearing it may not be per- ceived, I venture to state the omission, in the hope you will be so good, as to cause it to be sent. " I may have placed a very erroneous estimate on this whole subject; as few men are able to discriminate cor- rectly when self interest bears so strongly: all my re- flection and additional facts, however, strengthen this error, if such it be & render it to me the more desirable, that fair experiment shall establish the truth. Accord- ing to the means in my power, two attempts at experi- ment, will be made on board of two of the coasting ves- sels, which are employed between Georgetown and Charleston. You are fully aware how much more sat- isfactory any test by your authority will be, than those 149 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF attempted by any other means & therefore, I hope, will excuse me with you, for the trouble my intrusion on you may have given. "Yours Respectfully, "David R. Williams." The above letters were sent to the Telescope with the accompanying remarks: "It appears to me there is too much apathy among the cotton growers generally, in relation to the consumption of articles made of that material. I believe it might be so increased to affect its price, if there was a more zealous determination, practically enforced, on the part of the growers only, to augment its use. Be this as it may, I am satisfied that a great increase of consumption, in the form of cordage may be attempted at least, to the consumer as to the grower of the raw material. In the early part of my life, I had some intercourse with ship, sailors and rope-makers and if I have not wholly forgotten every- thing in relation to them, there are only a very few pur- poses, in which hemp cordage is applied, in which it may not be advantageously superseded by that of cot- ton. For every object where greater strength is not necessary, it is evidently more economical, at the pres- ent price of yarns, seeing the proportionate weight of tar, \ y indispensable in the manufacture of one, is wholly saved in the manufacture of the other. The durability of cotton compared with hemp and flax is decidedly inferior to the former. How far this property ought to be counterbalanced by the greater strength of the latter at first, is the proper subject of experiment. I am sure no one will rejoice more than yourself that Mr. Branch has promised a fair experiment shall be made of cotton rope." 150 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS There is nothing extant which shows in a clearer light General Williams' method of arriving at conclusions. "Whatever system I adopt, I want to go up to the hub with it," was one of his sayings, and after he had gone up to the hub with it, he passed over to the Secretary of the Navy and to the public, the results of his investi- gations, in the hope that further experiment at Wash- ington and less apathy at home might open new avenues for the consumption of cotton. "The thanks," said the editor of the Telescope, "are due General Williams for the enterprise, perseverance, industry and public spirit with which he has attempted to revive in some degree the drooping energies of this state, which ought to unite the common exertions of every citizen." These authentic letters reveal the mill situation in 1829 and the man behind it. The slave had been on trial sixteen years as a mill worker, and it is to his credit that not a word of disparagement is uttered; but on the contrary, "Every thing on my departure was what I wished and help had begun to be familiar with the wool business that was getting on well" was his testimony. The help was already familiar with the cotton business, and so expert had it become in making cordage that along with the sample sent the Secretary of the Navy went the message: "I think you will pronounce it a beautiful piece of cordage." This implied efficiency of the slave expressed thirty-six years before emancipation is in striking contrast with the scientific conclusions of a Northern writer* forty-seven years after that event. *An intelligent sojourner in the sunny South softened or discounted Copeland's judgment about the negroes by saying, "They were not used as factory operatives while slaves." Yes, they were, and were pronounced equal to the whites. With apparent incredulity came the reply, "Your writers have never mentioned it." An examination of De Bow's "Review of 1847, '850 and 1852" will satisfy any one on 151 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Without any reverence for the shades of Thaddeus Stevens and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and without any fear of infringing the Fourteenth Amendment, he brushes aside the ten million negroes as an impossible source of mill laborers of the future, requiring, as he thinks, more supervision than the labor is worth. The influence of an early cotton mill was local; if it was a financial success in a region where water falls were abundant, other mills went up. In the more level Pee Dee, the first offspring of the Cedar Creek factory, was Burnt Factory in Marlboro, but it exerted influ- ence in other ways. It was perhaps the first mill which secured the aid of capital from Charleston and started uphill a stream which has done more for the state than the Santee Canal ever did for Charleston. General Williams must also be considered the prototype of the best mill presidents. He escaped in the Society Hill atmosphere the narrowing effects of the planter's life, seen in intense individuality and aversion to partner- ships and corporations in which the control of one's property passes over to others. Agricultural conditions were very favorable to the growth of character, but not for diversified industry whose profits often exceed those of farming. Politically he stood on the platform enun- ciated before Calhoun entered Congress: "I am for keeping the manufacturer on the same footing as the agriculturist. ... I can consent to no additional imposition of duty by way of bounty to one description of persons at the expense of another equally meritori- ous." this point so far as South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida are concerned. Mr. August Kohn's works are authoritative also. Copeland was on a scientific, not a philanthropic, errand. The unpalatable fact must be accepted that freedom lessened the value of negroes as laborers in the first fifty years. 152 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Being in opposition to the tariff and to the extreme remedy proposed, he saw a bare possibility of repealing the tariff by the use of slave labor in competition with Northern operatives. In the cotton field, the negro worked for the American and English manufacturers, but as a mill hand he would become a competitor. In the light of later opinions, General Williams had dis- covered a powerful weapon for Southern self-defence. It was declared some years later that it was not phi- lanthropy but fear of slave competition in manufactur- ing cotton, which freed the slaves in West Indies and caused certain machinations against the annexation of Texas. "Uncle Tom's Cabin," furnished to the mill operatives in England, was thought by Charles Francis Adams to have defeated the Southern Confederacy; but no one has investigated how much the fear of slave competition in a cotton Confederacy was a deterrent against the recognition of the Southern States. Eng- land is a philanthropist when her interest and her humanity are not at loggerheads. There were cogent reasons, however, which kept the negro in the cotton field and prevented the employment of any large num- bers in factories. The continued additions of new territory made impossible any boom in manufactures before the new lands were taken up. Wave after wave of emigrants 8,000 annually went from the state, with their families and possessions. "Land, land, more land!" was the cry. "Give us land and negroes and we ask no other favors!" Those left behind became familiar with this doctrine: "South Carolina, from her climate, situation and peculiar institutions, is, and must ever continue to be, wholly dependent upon agriculture and commerce, not only for her prosperity but for her 153 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF existence," and also with the counter reply of the manufacturer: "Is it not the part of wisdom and of pa- triotism to accommodate ourselves to a state of circum- stances which is remediless and from which there is no escape?" This opposition between the people and the factory became tense after General Williams' death. It did not originate in South Carolina. It was felt and expressed in England and by no one more tersely than by Webster in 1820. He and Calhoun followed the behest of capital in their changes of front on the tariff issue. Money rules. Cotton was a great crop and with negroes ever increasing in value the plantation as an honorable and lucrative employment could have no rival. "So commanding is this planting interest," said an observant Georgian, "so engrossing the slave question, and into such utter insignificance have every other question and every other pursuit been driven, that he who, being in political life, would publicly recommend a diversion of capital and labor from plant- ing to manufactures, is in danger of being branded as a traitor to Southern rights." This belligerent attitude was too irrational to con- tinue permanent. Before 1849 the South was pro- viding herself with coarse fabrics and shipping yarn and cloth. "Doubt it who may," said an orator before the South Carolina Institute, "the South is destined to become the seat of the cotton manufacture of the world. The competition has been forced upon us and our people are beginning to be thoroughly aroused from their apathy." The tide, indeed, became more favor- able to manufacturing in the fifteen years before 1860. The state got seven millions of dollars for her cotton crop; the manufacturers got fourteen millions as their 154 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS share of the profits. One pound of superfine sea island cotton brought less than a dollar, but its value was increased from $70 to $500 in the hands of the manufac- turer. The mills near Augusta paid 20 to 30 per cent, dividends; near Camden, 15, and at Graniteville, 8 to 18. Governor Perry's explanation of the rise and subsi- dence of the feeling against manufacturing was given in 1855 in a speech before the most representative gathering in the state: "Twenty-five years ago, when the Southern States were groaning beneath the exac- tions of a most unjust and oppressive tariff, levied not for revenue, but for the purpose of fostering Northern manufactures, the heart of South Carolina and her pride revolted so much at the exactions of the Fed- eral Government, that she actually, through her public men, discountenanced all attempts to engage in manu- factures, for fear that the system of protection might become less odious to the people and they would submit and become reconciled. Thanks to the intelligence and justice of the American people, the principles of free trade are now in the ascendant and we have no such apprehensions to scare us from that line of policy which every people ought to adopt, of making every thing in their power that they consume or need in peace or war." Slavery or no slavery the state was destined to become manufacturing as well as agricul- tural. The idle mill sites, the unutilized water courses, the cotton grown in adjacent fields, and the profits realized by manufacturers, were opening eyes to neg- lected opportunities. As all parties came out on the hither side of the Civil War, the industrial element appeared less completely 155 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS exhausted. The Commonwealth has not been able to rear other statesmen of the same large-minded pattern ; nor have the colleges produced any Thornwells, Car- lisles or Furmans. William Gregg, H. P. Hammett, John H. Montgomery, D. E. Converse and others revived the cotton industry and with their successors made South Carolina second in the galaxy of manufac- turing states and invested with new interest orator Lumpkin's prediction in 1851 that the South was des- tined to be the seat of cotton manufacture of the world. Sources: The letter of Colonel Chesnut was kindly furnished by Mr. David R. Williams of Camden. The correspondence between General Williams and Secre- tary Branch was obtained through the courtesy of the present Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels. In the following will be found interesting references to manufacturing: Southern Quarterly Review, January, 1845, April, 1846; Addresses before the South Carolina Institute, 1849, 1851, and 1856; Kohn's Cotton Mills in South Carolina, Copeland's The Cotton Manufactur- ing Industry in the United States, Landrum's History of Spartanburg County, and Crittenden's History of Greenville, S. C. A Historical sketch of the rise and progress of the cotton manufactories of the United States, found in the October, 1849, De Bow's Review, is fuller and more accurate than Gallatin's report, 1810. 156 CHAPTER XV THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORTATION AND TRAVEL GREAT problems were facing the American people after the close of the Revolution. Among them were, How to travel expedi- tiously over the vast extent of territory, and how to cheapen the transportation of farm products to mari- time markets. A youth who left Boston in 1795 and came to Charleston was surprised to see the harbor filled with shipping of all nations, with their flags flapping in the breeze, and lined with numerous wharves and ex- tensive blocks of well-built warehouses. The men en- gaged in this traffic saw the desirability of opening better means of communication with the immense back country in South and North Carolina and began in 1786 to lay plans to connect the metropolis with the network of rivers which combine to form the Santee. At the session of the legislature in 1786 a charter was granted, and in March of that year Governor Moultrie was chosen president of the corporation, John Rutledge, vice-president, and Stephen Drayton, secretary. Work was begun in 1793, and at the end of 1800 the first ship passed down through the canal to Charleston. As editor in 1801-1803, Mr. Williams showed more interest in the farmers' problems and the waterways leading through the canal than in the stirring events of 157 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Jefferson's first administration. His remarks about the first vessels reaching the city from distant parts of the upper country are still entertaining and suggestive. One came from near Pinckney Court House, built on the owner's land and loaded with his own produce. " When the obstructions of the Broad and the Catawba shall be removed," said he in his enthusiasm, "the superabounding productions of the upper country will flow into Charleston in such full tide and with so much expedition and so little expense as will lower our mar- kets and at the same time fill the pockets of our remote fellow-citizens. And what will be equally agreeable, gentlemen who have so successfully and at such great expense ($40,000 per mile) completed the canal, will possess a property which while it contributed to the welfare of the state, will yield them an income that will amply repay all that they expended in the undertaking unequalled in the new world. " A Mr. James Harrison, who lived in five miles of Spartanburg, built a boat, hauled it five miles to the Pacolet River, loaded it with 13,000 pounds, and with four hands navigated it to Charleston. Events of this kind made the editor see visions of glorious prospects for the farmers of the back country. Wade Hampton's boat also came bearing 124 bales of cotton, weighing 234 pounds each. "Twenty men, twelve wagons and forty-eight horses would have been barely sufficient for the wagonage of this quantity of cotton, the difference in cost being greatly in favor of the water route." And this he showed by an elaborate calculation. A remarkable trip to Charleston was made by a boat from Lincoln County, North Carolina, which was about 158 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS 300 miles distant by land and near 600 by water. Twenty-five bales of cotton and four hogsheads of tobacco were the load thus conveyed from ten miles of the mountains to Charleston. The crew consisted of one man and an assistant. It is said that during nine months of a prosperous season 720 boats brought 70,000 bales of cotton from upper South Carolina to Charleston through the canal. In 1817, the first year after General Williams re- turned to his farm, a scheme for the improvement of the navigation of the rivers in the state was accepted by the legislature, and $50,000 was appropriated. By the fall of 1818, the desire for internal improvement by the state having become perceptible, it caused the legis- lature to appropriate $250,000 for four successive years. In 1819 a Board of Public Works was appointed, of which Joel R. Poinsett and Abram Blanding were made acting commissioners. The following anonymous letter appeared in the first half of 1819, written at Chatham, later Cheraw: "Un- derstanding that a number of mechanics calculated on and are making preparations to locate themselves at Chatham, I was induced to examine the river from this place to Long Bluff; previous to this I had seen the re- port of the engineer of South Carolina, where he had stated that the Pedee was navigable by boats drawing feet of water, as far up as the Bluff, and this is fully confirmed by General Williams who has made the ex- periment in his team boat; this with the full affirmation of all the patrons of the river, put it beyond doubt that there is four and a half to five feet water up to Long Bluff, even at the present low state of the river. I ex- amined the river from this place to the Bluff, found 159 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF some little difficulty at the falls and narrow passages, such as trees lying over the river and a few logs. The water was generally three and a half to four feet deep in the channel, and I soon discovered that the difficulty in getting up and down was not in the river itself, but in the construction of the boat and their bad manage- ment, being for the most part wholly under the manage- ment of the blacks. It is now in agitation to have tow- boats built of sixty tons, drawing three feet of water, when loaded and towed by steam boats as in Savannah River." By January 1, 1820, the Pee Dee had been cleared about half its length and was finished before the close of the year by General Williams with his squad of fifty- three hands, and it was being plied by steamboats. From July, 1819, to July, 1820, 15,192 bales of cotton went down the Pee Dee to Charleston. This was the first business year at Cheraw. The freight by land per bale was about $2, by water formerly $1.25, now 75 cents. "The teamboat, ,, said the American Farmer, December, 1820, "established on that river by our en- terprising and public spirited fellow-citizen, General Williams, conveys three hundred bales of cotton to market, is propelled by eight mules and navigated by five hands, and performs a trip from Society Hill to Georgetown in fifteen days. This arrangement saves poorTpeople the amount of their taxes on one item, salt"; but the teamboat was too slow to compete with its rival the steamboat, which was already on the river. While the clearing of the river was going on, a steamboat named the Pee Dee was being built at Charleston and it was able on its trial trip to make five miles per hour against strong winds and tide. 160 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS In February, 1821, the Pee Dee had made its seventh trip up and back to Georgetown. It carried each time a full load of merchandise and brought back four or five hundred bales of cotton. Its descent occupied two days, not moving at night, and its ascent six days. This bustling activity on the Pee Dee and especially the city that might rise at the head of navigation created a fear in North Carolina lest Fayetteville should be "done over in a commercial point of view." Cheraw had grown from four or five houses and about thirty-five persons in 1819 to a population of eight hundred in 1823. The rapidly growing village was honored in another way in 1825. LaFayette visited the state by invitation and the deputation to receive him was headed by Col. J. N. Williams. General Williams furnished the coach drawn by four horses and rode with his dis- tinguished guest. The secretary of General LaFayette had this to say of the pretty little town : "Twenty-four hours after our departure from Fay- etteville we were met, in the midst of a pine forest, by the deputation from South Carolina sent to LaFayette. This meeting took place on the boundary of the two states. Our good and amiable travelling companions of North Carolina delivered us to the care of our neigh- bors, showing lively expressions of regret at a separation which cost us as much as themselves ; and we proceeded on our way in new carriages, with a new escort and new friends to Cheraw, a pretty little town, which had hardly four houses five years ago, and now contains about 1,500 inhabitants." A reception was given to their honored guest that night, and General Williams was selected to deliver the address of welcome. "The route," continues the secretary, "which we 161 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF had to travel the next day was long and difficult; often indeed it was almost impassable. In some places, we found it entirely cut off by the overflowing of streams ; in others we were able to cross the swamps only by mov- ing slowly over a causeway formed by trunks of trees badly enough placed side by side. At length we pro- ceeded at so slow a pace that night overtook us on the road and it grew so dark that many of the horsemen belonging to the escort strayed from the road, at a place where it was hardly traceable upon the sand, and lost themselves in the forest." At some length he tells how his own vehicle broke down and was late in arriving at the solitary weatherboarded house in the forest where both generals were comfortably quartered and where all found an excellent supper and good beds. General Williams entered the State Senate in Decem- ber, 1824, and was made chairman of the Committee on Internal Improvements, where he judiciously shelved some petitions for cleaning out streams too shallow ever to be navigable. Some $11,050 was allotted for the great Pee Dee and in December, 1827, the House con- curred in the resolution directing Superintendent Bland- ing to survey and report on certain works constructed by General Williams on Big Pee Dee. This was the closing period, too, of the internal improvements which had cost the state about two million dollars. When David R. Williams was at school at Rhode Island College he persuaded his roommate, Abram Blanding, to come South, where he found success and honor awaiting him. He was, 1821-27, the superin- tendent of these expenditures on the public roads, canals and rivers, and in the end brought on himself some sharp criticisms. O'Neall in his "Bench and Bar" is an 162 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS authority on the subject; and General Williams in the legislature palliated the mistakes which had been called "a shameful waste of the public money," in this wise: "Be the errors (which were unavoidable) ever so great, they are redeemed, by the high sense of moral feeling which they prove; not an individual concerned in them has been guilty of corruption; and for the cost, ample consolation may be found in the public motives on which it is bottomed, and on the public prosperity which it advances. No splendid schemes of govern- mental influence and patronage soiled the views of those who originated or sustained the system; and surely every patron will rejoice when he sees the functions of government exerted for their legitimate end, the good of the people." The canaling amounted to twenty-five miles and the falls all told 417 feet. The navigation of the streams was extended over 2,000 miles, 700 of which were navi- gable by steamboats. Perhaps a quarter of a million dollars was spent opening new roads and improving old ones, which are still in use; but the greater part of the expenditure on the rivers was rendered valueless as soon as the iron horse began to traverse the state. In the " Water Powers of South Carolina" (August Kohn) attention is directed to the falls, where the costly canals were built, as being now "the basis of the present day wealth producing water power development, and all of it due to individual effort, without state aid." The excitement about these internal improvements was called by William Gregg, of cotton factory renown, a "convulsion." In 1856, with the announcement that a charter of incorporation of a plank road from Charles- ton to the mountains had been secured, he marshalled 163 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF his arguments in favor of plank roads over against macadamized and rail roads. Mr. Gregg, like General Williams in the previous generation, was the live man of the day, and was listened to with marked attention : " In looking back into the history of the last thirty years in South Carolina, we find that notwithstanding this unpardonable state of things (rude bridges and impassa- ble roads), the public mind has occasionally been ex- cited, and I may say convulsed on this subject. The mania for internal improvement which prevailed in 1820 in this state can be characterized by no more appropriate term than convulsion, for in a state of feverish excitement, she expended millions of dollars in works for which the country was not prepared and which proved to be a waste of money. The amount of capital expended in those useless canals would have constructed macadamized roads to every important section of our State, serving at that period to cheapen the transit of produce to market, and at this time as a basis for the plank road, so admirably adapted to our country, and which in my opinion, is destined to supersede all other modes of transit." All of which points to the truth, that the veil which hid the future from the wisest minds of the past hides it from every generation. In 1818-26 the representa- tives of the state followed the best lights available. Their labor was brought to nought by an invention which was revolutionary. William Gregg, who saw through the cotton situation so correctly, utterly failed as a prognosticator of future internal improvements. The plank road was a short-lived experiment, which used up the best long-leaf pines and soon ceased to be mentioned among profitable and useful investments. 164 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS The railroad has more than maintained its ground, but it cannot be a rival to the newly invented automobile, whose utility has proven to be so great that the long- standing problem of good roads is being forced to the front, as if another "convulsion" was at hand. Will some future writer comment upon the present-day excitement and how its vast expenditures were ren- dered valueless by some new and more expeditious method of locomotion? Aviation at present exhibits no revolutionary possibilities in the arts of peace. Sources: Thomas' Reminiscences, O'Neall's Bench and Bar, the Courier, the Carolina Gazette, the American Farmer, Records of the State Senate, Sydney J. Cohen in the Sunday News. 165 CHAPTER XVI ADDITIONS TO SOCIETY IN A letter written to the Camden Journal (1830) some facts were stated which otherwise might have been forgotten or left as a hazy tradition. "My best days," said General Williams, "have been spent in the attempt to improve the agricultural and mechanic arts; except a few implements of husbandry, I have no reason yet to believe I have in its opinion, added any- thing to society, but in two instances. I was the first person who attempted the use of mules, certainly in the Southern States if not in the United States, for the purpose of agriculture. If I had then been so easily put out of countenance as most young men, I should have given it up in despair, for I was ridiculed by old and young. I have lived to see the only limit to their use is the circumstance of the planter." His claim, it must be noticed, is only that he was the first to use the mule for agricultural purposes. It was still a question whether the ox, strong and docile and nearly as long- lived, or the horse, which lived on grain and lost its value by blindness or lameness, were to be the plough beast. The fast horse was bound to gain on the slow ox in a country of great distances and among a people whose inventions have been mostly in time-saving devices. Mr. Williams knew the value of the ox and 166 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS kept several yokes to the end of his life, and he knew the superiority of the horse over the ox as a plough animal. Was he looking for an animal which had the good qualities of both? The question cannot be an- swered, but it may be assumed that in his visit to Connecticut, in 1804-05, where, the tradition is, he pro- cured the first animal (N. W. Kirkpatrick) he plied the owner with questions, or others who had knowledge of the mule, and found sufficient reasons to make the experiment on his plantations. That he was laughed at and ridiculed by old and young was not an exaggera- tion. Some fourteen years after the supposed date of the importation of the first jack on the Pee Dee, a com- mittee appointed by the Pendleton Agricultural Society on "Farm Stock" reported (1818), in words that might have been used by General Williams himself, before the ignorance and prejudice of his neighbors had been removed by facts: "In the opinion of your committee, the mule is better calculated to answer the general purpose of the farm than either the horse or the ox, as uniting the good properties of each with but few of the bad. Nothing but ignorance and prejudice could have kept the value of this useful animal so long from being known among us. It is, however, very strange that the most intelligent writers upon farm stock appear and acknowledge themselves to be ignorant of them as a beast of the plough. . . . The mule is more easily raised than the horse, more able to bear heavy burdens, equally strong for the draft, more patient, equally docile, will live twice or thrice as long, capable of en- during much more labor, will do as much work in the same time, and will not be more than one half the ex- pense, as they will not eat more than one half the grain, 167 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF will make use of long forage, which the delicacy of the horse will reject, and will bear the heat full as well, perhaps better. Besides all this, they are able to work sooner, and are only in their prime, when the horse has become a useless expense by age. From the smallness of their foot, they may not answer so well as the horse in deep, miry roads, but from the excellence of the hoof, they will never require to be shod, except upon long journeys over rocky roads." The Agricultural Department in Washington was appealed to for information about the origin, spread and growth of the mule to nearly five millions in num- ber, but with all the appropriations for investigation and printing, not a line was to be found. Two men in the West were referred to for information, but nothing has been turned up to throw light on the spread of the first mules. References to them are only incidental, as the saddle animal which went on and left Absalom dangling from a limb, or the fourteen hundred in a torpedoed ship, left to swim in mid ocean, unlamented and unavenged. As General Williams looked back on these early experiences with his first trials with the mule he had what is designated in the well-known proverb, "the sweetest laugh." He lived to see the mule fully appreciated in his neighborhood, and when death knocked at his door, there were found in his stables two carriage horses, one saddle horse, four mares, one jack, and sixty-four mules. "I first attempted," he con- tinued, "to dam out the inundation of the Pee Dee, and consequent thereon, had well nigh been deprived of a seat in Congress, because it was thought any man who believed he could keep the freshets from the low 168 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS grounds was too big a fool to go to Congress. Now there is nearly as much swamp land reclaimed from the freshets in South Carolina as in Mississippi." As has already been mentioned, the first and only time Con- gressman Williams could have been "deprived" of his seat was in the campaign of 1807, but the magnitude of the work caused several years to be spent in its execu- tion. A part of the year had to be given entirely to his growing crop, and his instruments were doubtless the shovel, the wheelbarrow, dump cart, wagon, and other primitive contrivances. The dam was about five miles in length and an average of seven or eight feet in height, the base contracting or expanding somewhat with the height. A reference made by him intimates that it was finished in 1809, as from that time for twenty years the freshets had not done so much damage as the one of 1829. This calculation is supported by Mills (1823- 26), who stated the embanking had been done in the last fifteen years. It was after 1808 that he began his method of resuscitation of old fields, apparently when the dam had been finished. The popular rotation at this time was, "to cut down and fence the land, to grow on them a few years, annually decreasing crops, then to give them up to weeds and briers, and finally to abandon them in quest of new settlements" ; but another rotation and fate, yet to be related, awaited these sterile fields. The inference is clear that General Williams con- sidered his embankments as the first and parent of those that followed. In his "Statistics," Mills says: "The lowlands of Pedee yield the finest crops of cotton and corn. The average crop of lint cotton to the acre on these lands, is equal to a bag of three hundred weight; 169 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF and of corn, about thirty bushels. Such lands are valued very high, and will bring from forty to sixty dollars per acre. . . . Most of the river swamp is under cultivation and protected from freshets. The quantity perhaps may be equal to twenty thousand acres. Within the last fifteen years extensive embank- ments or river swamp land have been effected. Gen. D. R. Williams was first to appreciate the value of such works, which he planned and executed with admirable success. His lands have been thus so perfectly pro- tected, that no freshet has covered his plantation for years. The consequence has been that he makes much larger crops than formerly, and never loses them by inundation. " Three years later there was a freshet the destructive effects of which we have in General Williams' own graphic words: "Rocky River Springs, Aug. 27, 1829. "My dear Colonel [Chesnut]: " . . . My losses* by the freshet exceed in amount the aggregate of 20 years back. Three hundred and fifty acres of cotton, my new mill and dam, constitute the principal items. Some corn, oats, rye, etc., but not to a serious extent, save the low lands being my *"On the night of the 6th of August," said a writer in the Charleston Courier, "the river began to rise and by morning it had risen 30 feet. It continued to rise slowly through the 7th, attaining to its greatest height on the 8th at this time a breach was made in the dam of great height and extent, erected by General Williams; the torrent which rushed in at this point was so great as to snap in two, like a pipe stem, a large log three feet through, which was sucked in across the breach. The tremendous gush of water soon washed down the dam under the wings of the mill, which had been erected about three years since, and in less than five minutes time, tore up foundation, mill, and every thing. Wheeling the mill around, and carrying it into Buckhold's Creek, clearing itself a passage through the trees, with the resistlessness of a tornado, and in less than two hours thereafter, all the cotton of two adjoining plantations, belonging to General Williams, was destroyed." 170 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS seed for the ensuing crop. There was no fault in the construction of either the dam or the mill; the loss of them is owing entirely to the great evil of my life and disposition procrastination. Nick and myself exam- ined both carefully a few hours before they were de- stroyed and both were as tight as I could wish. When the water had nearly or quite reached its height, the pressure was so great as to break in the plank of the side wall; and as the gush of water was into the mill on the sheeting, no further injury would have been re- ceived, had there been any one there who knew what to do. It was about midnight; I was immediately sent to, but Mrs. W. would not allow me to be woke, supposing it to be useless. As the dam was injured solely by the whirl and of the (?) through the wall, which was at the lowest end of the mill, all that was necessary to save the whole was to choke the vent and thereby lessen the suck, but nothing was done and by morning when I got there a little after light, it had drawn in so much of the dam as to allow the river to break through soon after. I had remarked last winter a little appearance of decay on the side wall and had only begun to make brick to put in pier two days before the wall was destroyed. There was in the barn yard in fifty yards of the breach some hundred wagon loads of wheat and rye straw with which the breach could easily have been checked. The mill stood firm till the river had cut down the dam to its foundations; it then lifted the mill, whirled it round and drove it up the woods faster than I ever saw a steamboat ascend the river. The great dam between the mill and the barn yard (?) high and (?) feet broad, was in the course of three hours totally scattered; this is the only injury 171 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF the dam sustained; but it has so mortified and broken up my spirit 'for a hard job,' I shall never attempt the mill again, if I can repair the breach." The hard job was left untouched for nearly a year. On the 11th of August, the year following, he wrote to Governor Miller: "Three weeks last Monday I began to fill the great chasm, made in my dam last August and what you saw. I began with forty-four mules and thirty-five fellows and altho the excavation was quite large enough to make one shrink from the job, nearly a year, I could not arrange to suit my other views, earlier. Although I have lost nothing of the disposition to enter- prise, I freely confess almost all the ability to labor has passed from me." In September, he added: "The breach is repaired and completed, with three days' more work than I anticipated." "My crop," said he in October, "is so so corn abundant but cotton not in the same degree of 'fother of fine chance.' Pumpkins and peas without stint or care. " The loss by the freshet included about one thousand dollars to repair the dam in addition to the loss of the mill and three hundred and fifty acres of cotton. If Mills' estimate holds good, the loss was three hundred and fifty bales of cotton weighing three hundred pounds, valued at nine cents a pound i. e., nine thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, less the cost of gathering. The blow was felt, but it did not cripple him financially. Other plantations were untouched and the corn crop was not ruined. Besides the cash a forehanded and cautious man always has in reserve for emergencies, there was the income from his store, factory and smaller rivulets. 172 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS The interest in rescuing swamp land continued to spread over the state through the next three decades, and the reclaimed land added in harvest time millions of pounds of cotton and of bushels of corn and oats. The vagaries of the Pee Dee did not come to an end in 1829. Now and then when men on its borders began to think they had the monster securely chained, it rose higher and higher and swept away the labors of men and mules. After the great freshet of 1852, a letter from Mr. P. K. Mclver to Professor Mims gives a glimpse of the Pee Dee in its wrathful moods: "The freshet on the Pee Dee has been the most destructive ever known at least since my day. Some planters I hear have lost their entire crop, besides the breaking of dams and washing of land. I hear Mr. T. P. Lide's crop is a total loss. John Mclver has lost his entire crop of cotton and a part of his corn, and his dam broke. All the river planters have suffered more or less." 173 CHAPTER XVII THE FAMILY AND HIS PROVISION FOR ITS FUTURE HIS residence known as Centre Hall is associated with his early manhood and official honors. From the gentle elevation now thickly covered with saplings and from his gentler wife, he went to Congress and later as Governor of the state. The home at the Factory is associated with General Williams as a large planter, manufacturer, an experimenter and as the first citizen of the community. "The Factory" dwelling was built by General Williams and is described as "two stories, about 40 feet square, having four rooms on each floor and two in the attic; and with broad piazzas along both the back and front." (Ames.) Besides himself, in his family proper were his wife, Elizabeth Witherspoon Williams, and his son Nicholas. The young man enjoyed excellent privileges in his youth and profited by them. Although deprived of his mother's care, he developed into a young man of amiable and excellent character, and graduated in 1816 at the South Carolina College, and travelled in Europe in company with John Randolph. While at school he fell in love with a young lady who lived at the Mulberry Plantation near Camden, and was wise enough to make his father his confidant, who at once showed himself to be an efficient helper in the wooing that continued a 174 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS number of years. The upshot of it is gleaned in a letter to Colonel Ghesnut, his partner in the factory, and the father of the young lady: "Factory, 1th Oct., 1820. "My dear Colonel [James Chesnut]: ". . .1 was exceedingly rejoiced to learn from my son that it was your intention when he left you, to be here next Sunday week. On that day, as on every other, I shall be infinitely delighted to see you. Nicho- las improved the first opportunity after his return to inform me that he had applied to you and Mrs. Ghesnut for your consent to his union with your elder daughter, and that before you could accede to such a proposition, it was desirable first on a subject so interesting to us all. "In the close of the Autumn of 1815, he first informed me of the existence of an affection on his part which would lead him to endeavor to present her to me as his wife. Since that period, as far as I have been able to judge, that affection, so early and so promptly excited, has been constantly increasing; and his conduct has been uniformly, too, particular and obvious, to be at any time doubtful. The period of his probation has been long protracted and if time and uniformity afford guarantees in such a case, I trust all that is practicable, has been obtained. Certainly there ought not to be a doubt on any of our minds, that it is possible to remove. Every thing that I have been able to know, has long since satisfied me that his affections were steady and firmly settled, and in such a belief, if I had never seen the object, my course of thinking would have induced me to yield without hesitation, to his wishes; but in the present case, I am infinitely more fortunate and happy. 175 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF I do know the object of his attachment and she fills my heart and wish perfectly. She is as much the object of my choice as she possibly can be of his; for sincerely if I had the world of women to choose from, she then as certainly as now, would be the selected. "Under these circumstances, you cannot fail to be- lieve that my son's union with your daughter, is not merely a circumstance pleasant and desirable to me, but has been for some time back and is now, a subject of absolute and earnest anxiety. He is my only child, not dearer, however, from that circumstance than from the moral rectitude and propriety of his deportment. He is the ultimate object of all my efforts and industry; and possessing my whole heart, of course, cannot be suffered to know a want in my power to gratify. By a union with Serena, he will be yet more dear to me, by uniting me also to an interesting and intelligent lady, whom I have long loved with earnestness and respect; and by strengthening those ties of friendship for a fam- ily than whom none other do I feel so much regard. "Thus, sir, have I opened my whole heart without the least reserve, on the most important subject left for me in this life, and I am so jealous and anxious for the happiness which I so earnestly anticipated, I cannot feel at rest till it be substantiated. The pecuniary considerations which this topic sometimes gives rise to, I shall not touch further than to say that the major is now worth at least $100,000 clear of debt. "Allow me to add, what is scarcely necessary after what I have said, I hope there will be as much pleasure to this union among your family, as among mine and that it may take place without delay. "Be pleased to present me most cordially to your 176 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS family and say to Serena, I have with earnestness and serenity, been long impatient for the right to consider her my child; that I shall receive her as such, with the utmost delight and pledge her all the fondness and affection of a sincere friend and father. I am as usual with great personal regards, "Yours sincerely, "David R. Williams." The expected visit of Colonel Chesnut and the con- sent of all parties to the wishes of the young couple are to be taken for granted ; for in less than two months the marriage was celebrated and the two hearts made one. The young couple settled down, it is supposed, at Centre Hall then belonging to Nicholas, where he was born and where as the residence of a South Carolina nobleman, it was made historic. Colonel Williams was already a wealthy man and a fine farmer and before him and his bride was every promise of a blissful exist- ence. A daughter, Mary Serena Chesnut, and a son, David Rogerson Williams, Jr., came to bless their union, before it was dissolved by her death October, 1822. Only a few months elapsed after the celebration of this marriage, before General Williams devised his will in a spirit as charming as his language was lucid and interesting. It reads as follows : "Feeling aware of the uncertainty of human life, and being convinced of the propriety of arranging my affairs during the possession of my mental faculties, being now sound of health both of body and mind, I 177 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF do hereby publish and declare my last will and testa- ment, revoking all others, if any there be. "Imprimis: I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, all my household and kitchen furniture, to- gether with my carriage and carriage horses and all the negroes now alive and their issue, which she possessed at the time of my intermarriage with her, to her and to her heirs forever, to be disposed of by her in such man- ner as she shall think proper. "2ndly. I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, the use during her natural life, of my planta- tion called the Upper Quarter, together with the use of the horses, mules and hogs, which are attached to the same; the plantation and blacksmith tools of that place and the use of one half of my sheep and cattle. It is to be understood that the portion of my land called the Upper Quarter, is contained within the following limits and exceptions, viz. From my upper line down Pee Dee River to the mouth of Buckhold's Creek, thence up said creek and through the lake to where the said creek empties into the said lake, thence up said creek to the Georgetown River road, thence down said road to Chunkey pike, thence up Chunkey pike, to its inter- section with my outside line that divides Thomas E. Mclver's land, where he lives, from mine; up said line to the Darlington road; up said road to where the upper line of a tract of land, I purchased from the Commis- sioner in Equity, belonging to the estate of Jno. Mcin- tosh, Sr., crossed said road; thence along said line, and my other outside lines which run through the Pocoson and divide Mrs. W. C. Evan's land and mine, to the aforesaid river. Within these limits are my cotton gin, mill and my Buckhold's Creek saw mill, these and 178 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS sufficient land for each of the said ponds to flow for the full uses of the said mills, are to be excluded from the 'Upper Quarter.' My grist, sometimes called Smart's mill on Buckhold's Creek, is to be considered as an appendage to the Upper Quarter and will go with it, to the use of my wife; within this mill are all the fixtures for ginning cotton and which she, my wife, ought to use for that purpose. "3rdly. I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, the use during her natural life, of my late residence, known as Centre Hall; and of my house servants, named, Sally, Ruth, Doll and Jane, to revert at her death to my son and his heirs forever. I con- ceive this change of residence, between my son and wife, will be mutually convenient to each of them. My es- tablishment here, will require the presence of my son; while her plantation will be more convenient to her, at Centre Hall. The Upper Quarter contains an abund- ance of land, to work all the negroes which she of right holds, under her father's will, together with those, I have now left her; and therefore, on account of inter- marriages with the negroes of my son and especially on account of her own health, I hope she will not remove any of them or herself to the Witherspoon place. "4th. I give and bequeath to my beloved wife all the rights which may have accrued to me, to Wither- spoon's Ferry, the lands I have taken up on the South side of Lynch's Creek, at said ferry and those on the North side, purchased of Robert Witherspoon, for her use and after death to revert to my son and his heirs forever. "5thly. I give and bequeath to my dear son, Jno. N. Williams, all the rest, residue and remainder of my 179 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF property, both real and personal, to him and to his heirs forever. "Lastly. I nominate and appoint my beloved wife executrix and my dear son executor, of this my last Will, recommending to them a continuance of kindness, love and confidence. With my blessings to my son, I confide to his best care and attention, my beloved wife, hoping as a tribute to my affection to him and her, he will do every thing in his power for her; and as she has never failed in kindness to him and me, he will not fail in the tenderest care of her, when she shall be de- prived of my protection and love." The witnesses were Elias Gregg, John W. Davis and D. R. W. Mclver. Mrs. Elizabeth Williams was in every respect fitted to fill the place of wife, mother and mistress in this worthy household. As mistress she attended in con- nection with the physician to the cases of sickness among the slaves and became an expert in handling the less serious local diseases and accidents, for which she had the remedies at hand. Several of her letters to sick friends or their relatives are yet extant, in which pre- scriptions were made and kinds of exercise recom- mended. She is better known in her widowhood, after she entered with all her energy into the beneficent schemes of the neighborhood and state. She was a useful member of the Welsh Neck Church, interested in the Female Benevolent Society, in the education of both boys and girls in backward surroundings and in the pastor's family. Her pastor, James C. Furman, had the pleasure and privilege of sojourning with his small family under the 180 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS roof of Mrs. Williams at Crowley Hill,* from January to December, 1834, while his brethren were arranging to build and equip a parsonage. He preached her funeral and, being himself a man of almost feminine tenderness and purity, he revelled in the subject pre- sented by such an occasion. From the manuscript used by him so much only is now to be extracted as is thought especially to develop her character and con- tribute to the subject in hand: "If the possession of an uncommon share of respect and affection from a large circle of acquaintances, relations and friends, if the occupancy of a wide sphere of usefulness and a constant readiness for every good word and work, were sufficient reasons for a delay of the last messenger, our deceased friend had not yet received her summons to depart. Had human wisdom been exercised in determining the measure of her earthly existence, the utmost limit of human life, would have been assigned her; the hearts now saddened by her absence, would have been re- joicing in her society, and you who as listeners are re- ceiving the last lessons of instruction furnished by her life and death would, as beholders, have been gathering continued lessons from her living example. Had it been left to us to decide, we should have prolonged to the utmost possible period such an opportunity of hold- ing up before our own eyes and the eyes of others her bright and beautiful exhibition of whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report. . . . In attempting a description of the character *Crowley Hill is now the home of Mr. N. W. Kirkpatrick, great-grandson of General Williams. 181 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF of Mrs. Williams, I would remark at the outset that whilst it was a striking character, it was as complete and well balanced a character as I have ever known. No one quality appeared in excess and no defective trait met the view, like a blemish in a finished portrait made more manifest by contrast with the general style of the picture, and awakening a desire in the beholder that the hand of the master might be employed to retouch and perfect the piece. There was something in her very appearance which made at first a decided and most favorable impression. The genuine dignity of her aspect and manner, the benignant expression of her countenance and the peculiarly kind tones of her voice, satisfied you at once that before you was an in- dividual who would be at home and respected in the most refined society, and still accessible to the poorest and most depressed. It not unfrequently happens in the intercourse of life that we meet with persons whose rough exterior and blunt and even forbidding address, are incorrect exponents of their real worth. Again we meet with others whose external bearing is not in keep- ing with their real feelings; whose assumed air and arti- ficial tones, and studied phrases, lead you to expect gentleness and kindness and fidelity; but who fill up at last the description of the Psalmist, 'The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.' "The character we are now considering was the happy medium between the two extremes. Your first acquaintance was the perusal of a preface which prom- ised much, and your subsequent acquaintance was a continued perusal of a volume whose every unfolding 182 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS leaf justified the promise of its title page. Her acquaint- ance was sought and formed by individuals who had been led to desire it by the representations of her character made by her most admiring, and though in such cases of highly excited expectation, there is almost always a sense of disappointment experienced when the object aimed at has been gained, yet I have never known a case in which the experience of personal inter- course has not been a delightful realization of previous anticipations. Who, when once introduced into her society, has ever been heard to say, T was disappointed in Mrs. Williams?' " One of the invaluable traits of her character was its beautiful transparency. Like the stream whose pure water enables you to see the very pebbles which floor its channel you saw through her actions to the very motives from which they sprang. The Searcher of hearts, I firmly believe, saw in her the very attributes which drew from the lips of Jesus the encomium passed upon Nathaniel 'An Israelite in whom is no guile.' It was this which led her friends to feel when her senti- ments were once expressed that they knew them per- fectly. There was no concealment, no disguise. If her approbation was given, its virtue was not lessened by a fear that the spirit of flattery had dictated a single syllable. If she saw what was wrong and she felt it to be her office to speak, what was said was the real opin- ion she entertained. Confined to the society of such a person, a tale-bearer would have died from the mere want of employment. The secrets of those 'who take up a report against their neighbors' would have found no more encouragement in her bosom than the proposal of treason in the heart of a patriot. If a deception 183 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF might have served a turn, if it might have relieved her from a perplexity or gained an advantage, she could not have been induced to use it. She would not prac- tice an illusion upon a child, nor would she employ deception even to administer medicine to the sick. A statement of facts from her lips had all the authority of ocular demonstration. "Combined with this invaluable trait of character was a large share of good sense. Her sound judgment was displayed in the whole conduct of her life. Her mind eminently practical formed a just conception of the proprieties of life and enabled her in her personal demeanor and her relative connections to pursue a course which gave constant evidence of prudent fore- thought and wise consideration. "Whatever position she was called to occupy, what- ever demand for action was made upon her, the first questions which received her attention were, 'what is best to be done ' and ' in what way will it be best done?' Her whole life was governed by rules, not for the mere sake of professing to be governed by them, but because of their practical utility. It led her to a wise distribu- tion of her time, and to the assignment of particular duties to particular periods. It made her residence the abode of neatness, order and regularity. It insured her seasons of devotion and secured her ample time for reading. (This led her to subject her appetite to disci- pline and enabled her by a course of abstinence pro- tracted through many years to ward off disease from a feeble and delicate constitution.) This feature in her character gave great value to her advice. Scarcely an emergency could arise, affecting the health, or the estate or the moral interests of others, in which advantage 184 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS might not be derived from her. Some tried and successful prescription, some prudent maxim, some sound principle of action, would be furnished by her ready, thoughtful mind. 'Ointment and perfume re- joice the heart; so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel.' And how often has this effect occurred with many of those who now hear me. In your chambers of sickness you have welcomed her approach. In your seasons of hesitancy and doubt, her opinion has settled the question and ended the difficulty. "This good sense which gave value to her advice was also seen in the activity of her life. The conviction fastened upon her understanding and the impressions made upon her feelings did not end there. They became motives of action and sooner or later the results were seen. In this respect she differed from a large majority of the professors of religion. Their religious character is made up of much more of passive impressions than of active habits. They give much greater signs of emotion than she did, but they fail in future exertion. The in- fluence of the truth in such persons is like the influence of the shower caught upon the leaves and flowers, refreshing somewhat, it is true, and sparkling in the sunshine, but afterwards exhaled. The influence of the truth on her mind was like that of the rain sinking into the earth, penetrating to the roots and to be seen afterwards in the wider expansion and deeper color of the foliage. . . . This leads me to remark upon her uncommon benevolence by which she was distinguished. I have already alluded to the evidences of native sweet- ness of temper furnished by her very countenance and voice. It was impossible to be in her company and 185 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF hear her speak without a delightful persuasion that you were in the presence of one of the kindest as well as most candid of human beings. Whatever was her natural endowment in this respect, they had no doubt received careful parental culture. Deprived of a mother's care in her early years, she became the object of her father's tenderest and almost indulgent regard. The affection thus lavished upon her was ardently recipro- cated. An incident is related, illustrating this mutual attachment. Her father had taken her to Charleston to put her to school. To make the pain of separation more tolerable, he remained sometime in the city to allow her opportunity to become familiar with her new situation so that new associations might come in to fill in some degree the vacuum occasioned by absence. But when the appointed day for his departure had arrived she clung to him and entreated him not to leave her. 'Father,' she said, 'I am your only (child), and if I should die you would be left all alone.' Her plea pre- vailed and she was permitted to return home. She has been known to allude to this as an instance of the great indulgence allowed her in her childhood and as an unwise surrender of an opportunity for scholastic improve- ment, the loss of which she often regretted. To do unto others as she desired others to do unto her was the principle which swayed her words and actions. Kindness to inferiors, liberality to the poor, fidelity in her friendships and the most pleasing courtesy to all, marked the even tenor of her way. Without children of her own her conjugal connection brought her into the exercise of the maternal office, a sphere of action which was afterwards increased by the co-residence of General Williams' family and the family of his sister, Mrs. 186 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Mary Ann Williams Mclver. With several young per- sons thus brought under her care, the real amiability of her temper was fairly tested and the testimony of one of the individuals alluded to would, I am persuaded, be the testimony of all, 'She never said an unkind word to me.' Hers was one of the few cases to which the remark of a pithy writer will apply. 'A mother-in-law is sometimes a mother indeed.' " It affords me pleasure in this connection to make an extract from a manuscript of the sister-in-law, Mrs. Mclver, the sentiments of which do equal honor to both. After mentioning a severe affliction which had deprived her of the use of all her powers for weeks, she says: 'Lord, enable me to profit by thy correction; keep me from dishonoring thy holy name. Whilst I feel all the faculties of body failing, the mind very much enfeebled and impaired, still I feel thy goodness renewed every morning and repeated every evening. My Father, and my Friend, be the same to my dear children and grand-children. . . . Reward my more than sister, my mother, for the thousand instances of affection and care shown me by her untiring patience and affection displayed at all times . . . thanks to God and dear sister too. . . . She is everything to me, child, friend, sister, mother. Next to my God, His cause, her I would not hurt. . . .' " At one season her pastor and his family enjoyed the most hospitable entertainment in her house for a suc- cession of months. And this was the beginning of a series of the most delicate attentions continued for several years. Her annual contributions of money toward the objects specified was by hundreds. If a church was to be built, the solicitors of aid never ap- 187 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF pealed to her in vain; and it is an interesting thought that the nucleus of the fund provided for the erection of a new church of worship here, is the sum of several hundred dollars, an unsought donation from her hands.* The pleasure enjoyed by several persons, how many I know not, of reading religious papers was furnished at her cost. And in multiplied instances her bounty has clothed the poor, and supplied their tables, has minis- tered wood in winter and medicine in sickness. If a case of distress came to her knowledge, with all her equanimity, she was restless until provision was made for its relief. With much truth might she have used the language of Job: "When the ear heard me then it blessed me; because I delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless and him that had none to help him. The blessings of Him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy." Like the dew which descends in silence and darkness and is revealed by the morning light, her various bene- factions will not be fully known till the dawn of the eternal day. J * She survived General Williams ten years and found herself well provided for by her affectionate husband. "He was as kind as he was virtuous" was the sententious judgment she passed upon her deceased companion. And it was no idle phrasing of beautiful words. In the midst of her death scene, she asked of one near her bed, if it was not the 16th of the month, and after an interval she inquired if she knew the reason of her asking that question, adding to-morrow will be ten years since Mr. Williams' death. After making some inquiries about her female friends who had sat up with her, "she re- *She left a legacy of about (1,000 to the association. 188 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS quested a book to be brought to her. It was a beauti- ful copy of the Bible. Calling for one who was par- ticularly dear to her (Nicholas, then in his 44th year) and addressing him, she said : I wish you to accept this Bible as your mother's last best gift. I do not give it to you because I do not believe you read it; but this is one you can put into your pocket, and I wanted to give you something as a token of my affection and I have nothing as suitable as this. I hope it will be the same comfort to you that it has been to me these many years, and particularly in this last trying hour. I have one request to make and I know S. will join me in it, and that is you will read a portion of it daily and I think be- fore three months are past you will thank your mother for making the request. You have seen, she added, my weak hopes and trembling faith, but I would not exchange the comfort this book has given me for all the world." 189 CHAPTER XVIII HIS INTEREST IN EDUCATION THE elevation which the St. David's Society selected for the site of the St. David's Academy received the name, "Society Hill." Nearly a century ago Mills described it as "not the rus in urbe nor urbs in rare, but a group of houses and trees commixed." The present village, owing to its competitive surround- ings, has not kept pace with the growth in population and in modern improvements, but it has been made immortal by its early history, by the succession of noble men and women who lived there and by the two oldest institutions, the Welsh Neck Church (1738) and the St. David's Society (1777). In the latter body, whose organization, objects in view and constitutional rules are found in Chapter III, David Rogerson Williams was enrolled on May 31, 1798, and elected warden, also a member of the Standing Committee, which had visi- torial powers over the teachers and scholars, and the authority to repair the buildings, to engage and con- tract with teachers for the year, and to supervise the treasurer and secretary. Being an absent member for three years, he was made warden in anticipation of his return which took place before the July meeting, 1803. In April following he attended with the Standing Committee a public examination of the scholars and 190 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS found their progress honorable both to the teachers and to themselves. Before the May meeting in 1805 he made a tour of the Northern states in reference to which, Peter Edwards, the efficient chairman of the Standing Committee, reported: "They authorized Mr. David R. Williams, one of their body, during an excur- sion he was about to make into the Northern states, to procure a teacher for the Academy, and directed him to offer for this purpose five hundred dollars; and in consequence of an application made by him to Mr. Messer, president of Rhode Island College, your com- mittee received a letter from that gentleman informing them that for that sum he could not procure a proper person." Having filled the office of warden five con- secutive years he was made president of the Society in 1808, and with a full quorum of members of the Society, he joined in July in the procession of the teachers and scholars to the church and attended the exhibition. In his second term as warden, an office with more re- sponsibility than that of the presidency, he was made chairman of a committee to inspect the lot and form an opinion whether any portion of it could be judiciously sold, or exchanged, and on what terms. The chairman, now Lieutenant-Colonel, reported that in their opinion, "it is consistent with the interests of the Society to dispose of one portion of their land lying westward of Church Avenue and northward of the Camden road, in exchange for the lot of land on which the store of Messrs. House & Company is now situated . . . that it is also expedient to dispose of to the highest bidder the remaining part . . . reserving therefrom the Spring." On his motion Doctor Hawes was permitted to erect and hold for twenty years at an annual rental 191 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF of one cent, a house upon the Society's property, for medical and surgical purposes, and was himself as head of a committee given full authority to protect the school's "spring north of the liberty pole on Society Hill." A committee previously appointed to consider the raising of a fund, reported July, 1810, and submitted this resolution : "Resolved, That the Society petition the legislature for permission to draw a lottery and also to give them the jail and acre of land on which it stands on the Long Bluff for the purpose of assisting in the raising of a fund." The report was agreed to and Colonel Williams nominated the committee to carry the resolution into effect and also to prepare a scheme for the lottery (to be approved by the Society) and to superintend the drawing of the same. He was then added to the committee. No further mention in the minutes is made of the lottery, and they had slept too long on their rights to secure the abandoned jail; but the raising of a fund received an impetus from another quarter. The build- ing was destroyed by fire on February 1, 1813, in the very midst of the war and money stringency. A meet- ing was held the next day; and at a subsequent larger meeting, D. R. Williams, John D. Witherspoon and Peter Edwards were authorized to erect another build- ing. In the meantime the school met in the church, and by motion of Colonel Williams the windows and doors were caused to be shut every evening and the church to be swept and the benches properly arranged every Friday evening. On the 3d of July, 1813, the minutes contain this statement: "Col. Williams, presi- dent of the Society, having been appointed Brigadier General in the army of the United States and not being 192 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS present, Maj. Peter Edwards was called to the chair. A letter of resignation of the presidency was presented," etc. In May, 1814, General Williams, chairman of the Building Committee in a season of individual em- barrassment and national calamity, reported that the finished wooden building cost $1,210, of which $178 was not yet paid. This amount was covered by sub- scriptions; and some years later the chairman presented the Society $98, apparently to pay for globes and other apparatus. As Governor of the state he was ex-officio a trustee of the South Carolina College, and as such he joined in the commencement processions (1815-1816) as he had done at Society Hill. With the exception of one four years' term he served the state as a trustee of the college the remainder of his life. While attending a commence- ment in Columbia he was attracted to one of the speak- ers, William Smith, with whom an acquaintance led the latter to become teacher of the St. David's Academy about 1814. He resigned at the end of 1818 and went to France to study medicine. He returned to Society Hill and became General Williams' family and planta- tion physician. Shortly after his return the Library Society was formed* and the Library building, now nearly one hundred years old, erected. All its records perished; and the brief tradition that Doctor Smith was authorized to purchase the books makes it probable that the movers in the enterprise were also at the head of the school interest. In 1823 General Williams moved in the Society's meeting that the Academy be transferred to a situation offered by D. R. W. Mclver, *About the year 1822. (Mrs. Furman E. Wilson.) In 1835 Mr. Elias Gregg was librarian and John K. Mclver was an officer. 193 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF a little to the southward and westward of Doctor Smith's residence and on the opposite side of the road. The education of the children of the poor received early and earnest consideration. The Society and the teacher cared for five or more annually, and the desire to protect children of improvident parents caused the good women of Society Hill and neighborhood to or- ganize the Female Benevolent Society, the object of which was to secure a lot and house suitable for a Fe- male School of high order, presided over by a female teacher. It was not intended to exclude pay pupils, but their benevolence was stirred by "the ignorance and indolence of many poor children around us who are either destitute of parents to guide them, or whose par- ents are not in circumstances to furnish them the first principles of such instruction as is necessary for their well being." One of the leading objects was to encour- age virtuous industry in any kind of useful labor. The Society founded the school and kept it up twelve or fourteen years and finally in 1833 the Female Academy was given in exchange for the Male Academy with its ground and one hundred dollars. It is to be regretted that so little is known about this benevolent under- taking. Mrs. Elizabeth Williams was one of its sup- porters, and with her husband's acquaintance with the work of both societies, he could reiterate in his old age what he said as Governor: "The poor are educated and the educated are happy." His associates in his third of a century of gratuitous educational work were William Falconer, Thomas Park, William, John and Martin DeWitt, Evander Mclver, Edward Edwards, Samuel Wilds, Jr. and Sr., Oliver Hawes, Thomas, Samuel and Jesse Evans, 194 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Thomas Powe, Adam Marshall, Benjamin Mosely, Gen. R. Ellison, William Zimmerman, Frame Woods, John Kirvin, John F. Wilson, Moses Sanders, T. Chap- man, George Wilds, James and William House, J. Cantey, J. E. Mclver, P. K. Mclver, Jesse DuBose, John D. Witherspoon, John Davis, J. W. Davis, Alex- ander Sparks, Major Pouncey, Charles DeWitt, Rob- inson Carloss, David and Elias Gregg, W. L. Thomas, J. J. Evans, E. Hanford, E. R. Mclver, Alexander Mclver, Peter Edwards, John M. McCullough, Thomas Smith, J. N. Williams, W. Mclver, J. J. Marshall, T. H. Edwards, Charles M. DeWitt, Wm. A. Snipes and others. In the library building was held the last meeting of the St. David's Society at which General Williams was present. John D. Witherspoon, J. J. Evans, J. K. Mclver, Alexander Sparks, D. R. W. Mclver, J. N. Williams, Elias Gregg and the president were managing a village school with less than fifty boys and girls. With talent and financial ability sufficient to endow and direct a college, they willingly employed their time and talent in securing teachers, in keeping the building repaired, and in paying the annual expenses. Through a com- mittee they regulated the details, named the kinds of punishments and their limits, took care of the building with its furniture, and in one case unanimously prose- cuted a man who went to the school and without provocation struck the teacher. General Williams was only one of the number engaged in this laudable but not spectacular work. He was fashioned in a measure in the atmosphere of the St. David's Society in his early days, and in turn as the leading citizen, he magni- fied its work and influence. He had no children to 195 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS educate, and there was no lack of talent to take his place. He had filled the office of Governor, Congress- man and Major-General, but he held on to his place in the Society, not for its honor, nor the pleasure of social intercourse, nor because he was an original Jeffer- sonian Democrat; it was from a sense of the importance of primary education. He had the knack whether by intuition or analytical powers of mind of stripping a subject of its accidents and of finding and knowing the primal and fundamental, the essence of things. This he did in politics, agriculture, manufacturing and in education. His interest in education and not, as it is commonly received of aged men, the love of money, was the last of his endowments to wither under the touch of time and the weight of years. Taken in connection with his large interests and his growing influence in every department open to capable and ambitious men, it is a phenomenon not often seen and not easy of explanation. God had joined together igno- rance and poverty, but by a diffusion of knowledge he believed they might be exchanged for skill and plenty. See in the last chapter what his educational efforts pre- ceded or led to. 196 CHAPTER XIX COTTON OIL FACTORY THE announcement made in 1829 and in 1859 that a cotton seed huller had been perfected caused several scribes to examine old files of papers to see to whom the rightful credit belonged. On the basis of their reports as found in the Columbia Telescope, American Farmer, Southern Rural Gentleman, Pee Dee Gazette, DeBow's Review and the Farmer and Planter, a brief account of the efforts leading to the invention will show how General Williams was sand- wiched in between the chemists and inventors who preceded him and the monumental indifference of the planters of the next thirty years, absorbed in politics and cotton raising. The cotton gin, invented in 1793, gave an impetus to cotton culture such as had not been seen in 5,000 years; and the seed, whose oleaginous qualities had long been known, was piling up in larger quantities every year. The oft-repeated story that cotton seed was dumped into streams must be taken with some reservation. The value of the seed was quickly discovered in neighbor- hoods led by thoughtful men, while the knowledge of its worth spread more slowly in others. How early the farmers in South Carolina used it as a cow food or as a fertilizer direct from the gin is not so well known as the 197 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF fact that agricultural information did not travel over the state with the same speed as political news. In 1804 a chemist and druggist of Philadelphia, Dr. George Hunter, made some experiment with cotton seed oil, and being impressed with the possibilities of the venture, went to New Orleans to put up a factory, but not being pleased with the situation abandoned the undertaking. Another Northerner ordered in 1806 nine bushels of cotton seed from Charleston, and caused an experiment to be made to ascertain the quality of the oil it would yield by the process usually practiced in extracting oil from flax seed. It proved to be both abundant and of a quality quite equal, if not superior, to flax seed oil for painting. About 1818 a Colonel Clarke made experiments with oil of cotton for burning in lamps and pronounced it after actual comparison with spermacetic oil "decidedly the best." Oil was now selling at 80 cents a gallon. "Early in 1822, " said Dr. M. W. Philips, an ex-South Carolinian, "an article appeared in the Pee Dee Ga- zette, a paper published near the home where General Williams lived, called public attention to cotton seed oil and calculated that a clear income of $6,000,000 could then be added to Southern resources by making oil," and then "the remainder of the seed is equal in value to corn meal for feeding cattle." "I remember distinctly," continued Mr. Philips, "of seeing the huller at work in S. C. before I saw Mississippi. . . . Having distinct remembrance of this oil matter, I stated to several editors what was my recollection. After writing the article, I concluded I would turn to mine ancient archives and bring to light the facts. I append here sundry extracts from Southern papers and 198 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS request those now living who remember these news- papers or who may have any proof to the contrary of what I here state, to bring it forth or let it be understood that what I produce are facts. Gen. D. R. Williams has relations living who can perhaps produce all proof needed. He was once Governor of South Carolina, member of Congress, a prolific writer, his heart set on agriculture and all the improvements of the day and a man who deserves more a monument to his memory, by the tillers of Carolina's soil, than all their battle host." What Dr. Philips had been trying to establish about General Williams is not clear, but the next from his archives lands us at the beginning of real progress in the oil industry the advertisement of Follet and Smith in 1829 of their cotton seed huller. Hitherto machinery for expressing flax seed oil or castor bean oil had been used in experiments, but now one made for the purpose is on the market. This firm at Petersburg, Virginia, was soon in correspondence with General Williams and made a liberal trial offer of their machine. He had accepted the offer and ordered the machine in August, 1829: "A machine is to be sent me on account of the patentees to be tried sixty days and if I do not purchase, to be paid for according to estimate of the benefit received in the trial. If purchased the machine to cost $150, the patent rights less $250, but has much less to be settled hereafter, they looking to other cir- cumstances for their reward, in my setting it up as they avow. I have written to Jonathan Coit of New Lon- don, near whom the oil mill is now making by a Mr. Gideon P., for information as to the process, quantity, &c. Also to a Mr. Ruggles of N. Y. patentees of an invention for purifying oil of all kinds, for information 199 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF concerning his discovery." Thus wrote General Wil- liams to Colonel Chesnut. About a month later Gen- eral Williams, being surprised at the silence of the newspaper over so important a matter, wrote to the Telescope in a style intended to excite interest in the cotton seed huller: "I cannot doubt that you have seen the account, somewhere since published in a Petersburg paper, of the machine invented for hulling cotton seed. If my hopes have not deceived my judgment, on the consequences which may result from this discovery, it is a subject of just surprise that its immediate impor- tance to the Southern States has induced no notice of it by the editors of the public prints. "Every one who has had anything to do with cotton seed, knows it contains a great deal of oil. Many persons have, from time to time, made efforts to extract the oil; I among the number to no valuable purpose. The thought had never occurred to me that it might be hulled like rice, so as to separate the kernels which contain all the oil. This is now accomplished by Messrs. Follet and Smith, with all the facility as to attendance and execution, of grinding corn. Their in- vention as I understand it, consists of a granite cylinder, revolving within convex pieces of the same substance, faced and placed in a particular manner. A hopper over the stone supplies the seed; a wire sieve under it separates the hull from the kernel, dropping through the current of air, from a wind fan, is delivered clean and ready for the press. "Every 1,000 pounds of green seed cotton will yield 30 bushels of seed, three bushels of kernels, two gallons of oil. This, in its raw state, has long been known to be only a little inferior to flax seed oil, for all purposes 200 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS to which this last has been applied. The price, true value and ornament which this produces throughout the country, are objects of so much importance that a cheaper substance is extremely desirable. The proc- ess of expressing cotton seed oil is said to be less ex- pensive than that of flax seed. As paint oil alone, the cotton seed oil must be very valuable, at least quite enough so to induce attention; the great consumption of it, however, will probably be for light and machinery, if it can be rendered suitable for these objects, without too much expense, of which as yet I have no doubt. . . . These are some of the circumstances on which I have flattered myself that a new and general source of income is opening to our abused country, and may probably be considered by you, as entitled to your attention. To discover new resources of the state, to point to paths of prosperity not yet trodden, altho' not so animating as to lead the charge of political con- flict, is not less appropriate to your profession and may leave an abiding consolation, to hearts like yours, alive to public prosperity. "I presume then, I am not about to ask a reluctant service of you. As one of your readers, then, I shall be very glad to see the results of such reflections and inquiries as you may be disposed to give in relation to the general views this subject may present; and particu- larly, as the relative value of cotton seed oil, compared with other oils, and the quantity which may be pro- duced in the Southern country. You are near the sources of great knowledge; and possibly, at a word, might have all your questions answered; perhaps, either for practical objects, or as an amusement by chemical experiments, it may have been already satis- 201 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF factorily tested, how far the glutenous matter, in some vegetables and other oils, may be extracted so as to render them suitable for lamps and machinery, without deducting too much from their quality; or the process being too expensive. "Tell us whence comes the oil for lamps and machin- ery? How many thousands are appropriated by Con- gress for Light Houses alone? What does it cost the City of Charleston and Columbia to light their streets? What number of gallons are annually exported? How many whalemen fitted out? What seas and oceans vexed* to procure it? Oil for lamps and machinery has become a great and increasing necessary article of consumption every where. If the enterprising Yan- kees find it profitable to explore all the waters of the mighty deep for it, absurd indeed would it be for us to suffer our exhaustless stock, lying as it were at every man's door, from which we may obtain it, to remain longer unemployed. For myself these inquiries might have been made privately. You can scarcely be at a loss to conjecture why I prefer to see them spread before the public. I believe our cotton seed which has been hitherto used only as a manure, may be converted into oil and sold at a great profit; certain am I, if you will instruct the cotton planter how he may add $10 value to the labor which now produces him a bale of cotton, you will do him a great favor and be moreover the conductor of a reasonable reward to the inventor of a machine which will probably rank in the cotton country second only to the Whitney Gin. " The cotton seed huller reached the Pee Dee, was set up and tested with the seed made in 1829. So well A reminiscence of Horace. 202 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS pleased was General Williams that he indited the follow- ing warm commendation of the machine, along with certain observations and predictions, found in the Camden Journal and in the "Williams Family": "Messrs. Follet and Smith, Petersburg, Va. "Gentlemen: Your favor reached me in due course of the mail. I have not replied earlier, because our oil mill was so nearly finished. I preferred to delay the acknowledgement till I could speak from facts resulting from my own experiments; and although these have not been carried out as far as I propose, they are quite enough as to satisfy my own mind fully. In relation to your 'cotton seed huller', I am gratified to be able to say, it performs all that you have promised for it, and, moreover, is so easily comprehended, ours has been set up and put into operation by persons who never saw one before. Our oil mill is after the Dutch mode, of pestles and wedges. Our grinding stones are not quite four feet in diameter and twelve inches thick. The cotton seed kernels are so much easier to grind than flax seed, these stones as small as they are, may easily grind for two pair of pestles and wedges. That the whole process is simple and not difficult to understand you will infer when I tell you, no person concerned about ours, except myself, has ever seen an oil mill before. You are aware that I attempted last winter to enlist the public generally in favor of your invention by a few pieces in the Columbia Telescope, signed Cotton Planter. These were founded on information with which I have been favored. You may be certain of the satisfaction I feel in having tested by actual experiment that those statements were perfectly cor- 203 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF rect. In relation to the uses to which cotton seed oil may be applied, it is almost superfluous to include painting, as that fact is fully settled. The same proc- ess which is indispensable to make flax seed oil dry produces the same effect with this. There are good judges who pronounce it to have a better body and therefore superior; considering to what extent the adul- teration of linseed oil has been carried, owing to decrease of material, it is not hazardous to say that cotton seed oil ought to be preferred. Without resorting to any of the patented methods of refining oil, I have succeeded by a very simple and cheap process to refine our oil so as to answer all the purposes of the best sperm oil, in our cotton factory. Our superintendent, Mr. Hopkins, has been very careful to compare it with as good sperm oil as I ever saw, and is entirely satisfied with its equal- ity with it. In its present state we find it burns very well by a little attention to the wick. By other means than those I have as yet used, I am satisfied it will be much superior to the best animal oil lamps, it being entirely inodorous, a circumstance of great importance in establishments requiring many lights. " The remainder of the letter deals with another matter of no little importance to the state and the South: "The residue of the kernels, after the oil is expressed, called oil cake, is excellent for stock generally, particularly for milch cows and pigs. If your invention could do nothing more than convert cotton seed into wholesome food for stock, it would still be, in my opinion, of infi- nite importance to the whole Southern country. The planter who makes four bags of cotton to the hand, will now with your aid, have in addition to his grain, forty 204 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS bushels of good food also per hand more than equal to that quantity of oats. In New England, it is preferred pound for pound to oats. No man is so dull as not to see the consequence to his people and to his purse, must be alike agreeable, it being a self-demonstrable proposi- tion, there is no scarcity, where milk and pigs are abund- ant. The only use to which we can now apply cotton seed is for manure. "The same quantity fed to stock may with ordinary care that every planter is competent to bestow, elabo- rate ten times the quantity. Thus much for the facts. You will not consider me an enthusiast when I add I have not the slightest doubt that the time will come when, owing primarily to your invention, cotton seed oil will also enter largely into the food of man. From these considerations, I earnestly hope you may receive a very handsome remuneration for your discovery; more you ought not to ask." To his desire to enlist the interest of the public in the invention which was to open a new source of income, we owe these letters which bring into clear light the very beginning of successful prosecution of the oil business in South Carolina. He was surprised at the silence of the newspapers regarding so great a discovery; and his astonishment must have been greater, when his an- nouncement that the machine was all that it claimed to be fell on unresponsive ears. Why did planters, at whose gins large piles of cotton seed were heaped an- nually, not hail the huller as a friend in time of need? Influential opposition met the huller on the threshold. His article in the Telescope, advocating its general use in the belief that it was to be a source of profit, was followed in the same paper with a confident argument 205 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF that the seed was worth more as a fertilizer; and the same conditions which made cotton manufactories languish also operated against cotton oil factories. The professors in the college were giving tone to society and leading, not to new paths of agricultural progress but in the charge of political conflict, and the tariff burden made the conservative farmers more conserva- tive in resisting innovations. His opportunity of experimenting was limited to less than a year, but in that time he found a use for his oil in lighting his home and factory, painting his establish- ment, and a feed in his meal which would banish scar- city by filling the milk pail and fattening pigs. Just one month before his exit, October 17, 1830, he wrote to his friend Ghesnut: "You forgot your oil barrels again, when your wagons came over. We shall recom- mence making oil in a few days and barrels are just as necessary as cotton seed. Magwood has promised me some. They are not to be had here. I do not expect to make less, before again stop, unless again the water shall fail, than 4,000 gallons at least. Now it is no immaterial affair to find casks to put it in. A new difficulty arose shortly after the water was let into the oil mill canal. The entire foundation of the mill and near about it, is of the coarsest and most porous sand, this suffered the water to ouse through it and rise in the oil mill. I had suspected it, and ditched around the mill and puddled it properly; but the water passed under the puddling and rises in the mill cellar. I am now opening a large ditch around it, below the founda- tion, for the purpose of laying down the trunks, with the bottom board knocked off, that we had made to convey the water to the water wheel, so as to carry off 206 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS the water; and into which I shall insert a small spout from under the mill foundation so as to lead off the water from the cellar, if any shall still get into it. If this fails, I shall be hors de combat. But for this circum- stance, the oil mill would have been at work. When it shall be, I pray you send for some oil. I am satisfied from actual proof, it is better for outside work than linseed, I have not tried it for inside yet. All the buildings belonging to the establishment are painted and as I assure you, they look well at a distance at least. When will you come and see them? The approval of anybody is encouraging yours is to me, animating in the highest degree." Absorbed in farming, manufacturing cotton, cotton seed products and in politics, he had at the same time, unlike the majority of his contemporaries, the power to "contract the sight of his mind as well as dilate it." He saw in the oil and meal products a substantial addi- tion to the planter's income. The drawbacks were getting barrels and finding and opening markets for the oil, both of which tasks he was fitted to grapple with successfully. He was not a discoverer or inventor in the oil business; he may not have built the first oil mill in the state not counting the castor oil concerns in several districts but he was certainly the first one who built a mill, experimented, satisfied himself of its real value to the large planter and openly proclaimed in the face of an unwilling public the great value of the in- vention. Nevertheless his success was so completely forgotten that Governor Seabrook in 1848 and Senator Hammond in 1849 did not mention oil in their memor- able addresses before the farmers as one of the "capabili- ties" of South Carolina Agriculture. The cotton mill 207 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF interest revived but the cotton oil industry passed out of mind. His loss to the state at the juncture was serious in any aspect of the situation; but he above all others was needed to show the way and open a market for oil and meal. Fifty years thereafter were to roll around with the growing bulk of cotton seed a loss to the state and to the world, except as an animal food in some localities and as a fertilizer valued at less than fifteen cents per bushel by some observant planters. After his death a few notices are found about spo- radic efforts in Florida, New Jersey and Rhode Island, with cotton seed quoted at 15 cents per bushel and oil at 80 cents per gallon. In July, 1859, Charles Cist, statis- tician of Cincinnati, wrote an elaborate article in De- Bow's Review to show that the enormous value of the cotton crop, great as it was, was not near what it should be, were the oil expressed from the seed. The 3,600,000 bales of the last crop produced 3,960,000,000 pounds of seed, which contained 87,120,000 gallons worth 88 cents, and 762,000 tons of oil cake, both oil and cake, valued at $106,177,500. The nature and uses of the oil had been ascertained in respect to pharmaceutical and lubricatory purposes and a higher value was put on it than any other manufactured in the United States. William R. Fee of Cincinnati had succeeded in con- structing a cotton seed huller upon "a new principle" of cracking the hulls and separating them from the kernels. It had been "brought to the last degree of efficiency and perfection and is held under letters pat- ent." The oil business was assuming some dimensions in New Orleans and it was causing discussions in the more eastern papers as to whom the credit of the in- vention belonged. The editor of the Farmer and Planter, 208 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Columbia, S. C, summed up the situation in a stand- pat way: "The very fact that the invention has been so long before the public and produced so little fruit, is sufficient evidence of its little value, to our mind; and now that every body has become willing to admit the value of the cotton seeds as a manure, it will hardly pay to convert it into oil and cake.'* The first postbellum mill* in the state was built in Columbia in 1868, but it was soon closed by falling prices and want of a market a fate which could not have overtaken General Williams' cotton seed huller, and other appliances, in the day of small things. Another decade passed before modern mills began their career of so great expansion that in 1914 there were in South Caro- lina 100 establishments, $1,452,027 invested, $15,347,711 in the value of the products, 411,272 tons crushed, 46,980 linters. The highest price paid per ton of seed was $20.92. *Mr. Christopher Fitzsimons in News and Courier, centennial edition. 209 CHAPTER XX HIS MAIN BUSINESS FIVE plantations were under the supervision of General Williams after he had made liberal gifts to his sister and her sons and to his own son Nicholas. The aggregate number of acres at any particular time is not easily ascertained, because of additions and subtractions. In its largest dimensions, the estate included nine plantations with an aggregate of about 12,950 acres; but in the last years of his life, the five plantations, probably over 7,000 acres, com- prised the whole estate on the Pee Dee. He kept a colony of slaves and an overseer, white or colored, at the Upper Quarter, Middle Quarter, Barn plantation, Plumbfield and at the Factory. He had no automo- biles to skim over his weary miles of roads, but was well supplied with vehicles and saddle horses. He was an early riser, and in the work season was accustomed to mount his horse, with umbrella and other articles needed in a sudden change of the weather, strapped to his saddle. With his shotgun or rifle and dogs, he went through the woods and byways to the field where his hands and overseer had begun the day's work. It re- quired no effort on his part as he went by the homes of his friends, situated off the roads, to pass the morning salutation or inquire after the health of the family. 210 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Powerful lungs aided him in the Northern army and served him well in transmitting orders to his hands over his level stretches of fields. Game had become scarce in the new century, but the partridge, fox, wild turkey and the deer* have continued to this day in diminished numbers. It is assumed that he was of too active tem- perament to be a fisherman even on the Pee Dee where his friend David Gregg had extensive arrangements for catching shad and sturgeon which came up the river. There is not a solitary hint that he was ever a disciple of Izaak Walton. For some twenty-five years he re- tired in summer and autumn, after the crops were laid by, to the Rocky River Springs in North Carolina, where he had a summer residence, a billiard table, hounds for hunting deer and congenial neighbors from the Pee Dee for society. Hospitality was as much a part of plantation life as slavery or the culture of corn or cotton. "The latch hangs on the outside of the door'* was the proverbial invitation to neighbors. There were great plenty in the homes and great skill in the kitchen. The barnyard with its fowls and eggs, the dairy with its milk and butter, the pantry with its precious stores and the smokehouse with its hams and delicacies, were all brought under requisition to serve the family and its friends. That was true of the whole state, but at Society Hill, Judge Wilds, General Wil- liams, Judge Evans, Doctor Smith, John Campbell, Robert Campbell, John McQueen, John D. Wither- spoon, Isaac D. Wilson, Samuel Sparks, Thos. Falconer, Caleb Coker, Dr. John K. Mclver, James H. Mcintosh, In conversation with Rev. W. M Hartin of Society Hill and Mr. Bright Williamson of Darlington it transpired that one had killed a wild turkey and the other several deer in the late season. 211 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Boykin Witherspoon, the Greggs, McCullough, et al. all had the same beaten biscuit, the same cooking, beef- steak, gumbo, dry cooked rice, fried chicken, peach, strawberry, blackberry preserves, all had their clothes brushed, their horses groomed alike; all were gentlemen. All used wines and liquors. One or two got drunk. (DuBose.) General Williams was a temperate man but not a puritan; he retained all his life a love for social sports and pastimes. In his last year he wrote to a friend : "I hope some or all your precious daughters will give me a chance to be lively soon. I long to be at a wedding or dance or frolic of some sort or other, no great odds which, if I get a chance to laugh and be happy. To laugh and be fat is a primary duty of life." "The house of General Williams," said the Camden Journal, "was the home of hospitality." In 1827 Martin Van Buren, later President of the United States, spent some time at the "Factory." The friends who had supported him in politics and those with whom he had been associated while serving the public were always near to him, especially W. H. Crawford, John Randolph, and Nathaniel Macon. His connections by marriage and in business also opened out opportunities of social and kindly intercourse. His library, kept in an upper room of the factory (DuBose), where he collected and devoured useful books and newspapers, political and agricultural, served as his ^povxta'nfjptov, his thinking shop, when he had time to withdraw from outside mat- ters. From this retired spot as well as from his own domicile, one must suppose many of his lengthy com- munications to the public were sent forth. He was a prolific writer, and his communications, which often cost him much labor, must be attributed to the same cause 212 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS which made him enjoy the liveliness and hilarity of a banquet, wedding or frolic his social temperament. He read what his fellow citizens had to say and, having profited more or less, he was prompted to reciprocate the favor. Little can be said about the names of his overseers. One of the candidates for the episcopal office on the farm was a young Irishman named John Ross. His ad- vances not being received as cordially as expected, on account of the neck of a bottle protruding from his pocket, "Be jabers," he exclaimed, when he realized what was objectionable, "here she goes," and smashed the bottle. He was sent to Bunker Hill and given a trial. He continued in the office through the re- mainder of the lives of both father and son, until the great revolution in plantation methods and economics came (1865). The faithful overseer's health having become impaired, he was furloughed two months in 1848 and, mounted on one of the General's fine horses, he rode away to the famous Sulphur Springs of Virginia, and returned in robust condition. His salary was about $350 a year with board and a horse furnished. The position was so confirmed in the confidence of em- ployer and employee that Ross had to his credit in 1865 with the Williams' estate $15,000. (DuBose.) The slaves inherited, less than one hundred in num- ber, grew perhaps fivefold in his lifetime by natural increase or purchase. Deducting those he had given his son and Mrs. Williams, two hundred and forty-five remained in his possession. It required no little forethought and industry to pro- vide for the large household, seventy horses and mules, six hundred to a thousand hogs, two hundred cattle, 213 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF fifty sheep, and to be continually increasing the estate in value, in spite of panics which swept away the property of his friends, and the price of cotton which fluctuated from twenty-eight to nine cents. In the first place and foremost in importance, he planned to get full sustenance for everything from his own fields. His plantations, with his hands and stock, formed a tiny empire, in which corn, corn, corn and more corn, was the foundation of plenty and prosperity. "Feed- ing" was the word which stood out before him day and night. "What shall I eat, what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" was so expanded that it embraced his family, his hands and all the animals on the place. How to feed them properly and profitably was the primal problem. Out of this necessity came the exhibition of his ingenuity. First the introduction of the mule or half-ass, as the Greeks called it, with its patient temperament and constitution which fitted it to resist hard treatment and gave it immunity to many equine diseases. Next came the embankments, miles in length, to protect his growing crops from the swollen Pee Dee. This was finished (almost certainly) before the crop of 1809 was planted, and made the large acrea- age in cotton, corn, peas and pumpkins become a veritable cornucopia, a horn of plenty. In 1808 he began a system of feeding the thinner land which in less than two decades made it equal to any on the plantation. The factory was intended to diminish the cost of clothing his extensive establishment and to earn a second profit on the finished products. The last development which grew out of his farming interests was seen in his last year's oil mill, by which his cotton seed was to furnish light, machine oil, paint, cow food 214 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS and fertilizer for himself and others. Sixty bushels of corn at least had to be provided weekly for human consumption, the shelling of which, before a machine was invented, used up one night periodically till bed- time, in the tedious process; and a superannuated negro man was generally detailed to carry back and forth the grain and meal with an ox-team. For his seventy horses corn was his mainstay; but the cereal was used with studied economy, supplemented by native grasses, fields of rye and oats, and by stacks of nutritious peavine hay. Perhaps his greatest expendi- ture of corn was in the feeding of his swine. We are left in ignorance of how he lessened the pressure on his corn crib in winter, but the oats and pea fields with acorns in the fall prepared his shotes in a measure for the thousands of bushels of corn to be poured into the fattening pen. The curtain was lifted twice from his corn cribs and smokehouses, and the sight vouchsafed indicated a crop of corn above ten thousand bushels and the amplest provision in the meat line. Five hundred hogs were fattened and slaughtered in 1828, and in February, 1831, there were 495 on the plantations, with twenty-seven thousand pounds of bacon in the smoke- house. About seven hundred pounds of bacon went out of his smokehouse every week, or over thirty-five thousand pounds per year. And yet there was no scarcity in his day. Besides meal and bacon, there were also peas, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and fresh beef to supplement, or to be a substitute for the usual ra- tions. The lowlands protected against the freshets averaged thirty bushels of corn per acre (Mills) and some of the best acres more than doubled that amount. The 215 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF greatest number of bushels from a measured acre was seventy-five, while his thinner land produced more or less than ten bushels to the acre. Hon. William Elliott preached and practised a different doctrine. Except in the inner parts of the state where freight rates were high, he thought it paid to buy some corn and provisions in order to make more rice or cotton, a practice still not uncommon; but General Williams strengthened as he grew older, in his resolution, that the Goddess of Plenty should have her temple and the homage due her in his little kingdom. Let it be emphasized that he never became so devoted to cotton that he depended on others to raise supplies for his forces, not even when he was getting over eighty dollars for his three-hundred- pound bales. He had in the latter years of his life about sixty-four ploughs, which, according to the usual allowance of twenty-five acres to each horse or mule, cultivated sixteen hundred acres; but under his inten- sive method of preparation, and frequent cultivation, with a view to the improvement of the land, twelve hundred acres may be nearer the actual acreage. The proportion in corn and in cotton varied somewhat in answer to political and economic conditions. In 1828 the Milledgeville Statesman said that General Wil- liams' entire crop of the previous year was two hundred bales, and all of it was spun into yarn at great profit. This estimate is below the traditional number attrib- uted to his scientific farming; but the larger crops of his son Nicholas were probably the cause of some exaggera- tion as to the earlier times. In the absence of more details about the number of bales raised by him or turned into cloth or cordage at the factory, we must be content with the knowledge that he was wise in plan- 216 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ning, energetic in executing and successful in securing good results. Words do not now convey the same ideas as they did when a bale was light (average being about three hundred and ten pounds), the cotton more difficult to pick, and the proportion of lint smaller. He under- stood economic laws and respected them. He did not save at the spigot and lose at the bung; nor was he penny wise and pound foolish. What he touched he turned into gold, because he touched it wisely. "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness." Fortunately, we are better acquainted with his method of raising cotton related below in his own words. He demanded a properly prepared seed bed, an early planting that the season for producing might be as long as possible, frequent shallow ploughing and constant hoeing, amounting to eight or nine workings by the first of August. He experimented with cotton at various distances and decided that maturity was hastened by leaving plants close in the drill and that distance was essential to the length and strength of the staple. His cotton was planted in rows, according to the richness of the soil, from three to seven feet apart, and at a distance of four or five inches up to three feet in the drills. His experiments were not another name for guessing by visual observation. He measured his ground, carefully gathered and weighed what came from his trial patches. He picked twenty-three hun- dred pounds of seed cotton from his best acre, which enjoyed the extreme distance of seven-foot rows with stalks three feet apart in the drills. He was a frequent and valued contributor to agri- cultural papers whose files are now defective. Nothing has been found from him on corn growing, inconceiv- 217 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF able as it is that he was silent on so important a crop. The American Farmer of Baltimore entered his home in the second decade, with its thought provoking treat- ment of live agricultural subjects. After having prof- ited by the experience of other writers, he decided in 1825 to lay before the readers of the Farmer, under an assumed name, his method of raising cotton. It is an interesting bird's eye view of how a successful farmer, within thirty years after the invention of the cotton gin, was struggling like an athlete with his own indi- vidual problems and sharing with his fellows whatever skill he had acquired. It may be called a lecture, didactic in tone: "The cotton plant, while in the seed leaf, is very tender, perhaps as much so, as any, of the most tender, of our garden vegetables; when it has arrived to what we call the cotton leaf, it is probably more hardy than any of them. The product of an acre of rich land is increased, in my opinion, more by the length of time it is allowed to grow, than from any other single circum- stance; hence it is advisable to plant as early as the absence of frost will admit; and being in its early stage very tender, too much care and labor, in preparing the ground for the seed, can hardly be given. My method is to plant in drills, on beds made with the plough and horse rake or harrow, according to the nature and cir- cumstances of the soil. Land that will produce ten bushels of corn to the acre, can yield 500 pounds of seed cotton. The drills on such land I make three feet apart; and thin out the cotton, to the width of the hand between the stalks. If the drills were nearer, the prod- uct might be somewhat greater, but the use of the plough would be more difficult. From land that has 218 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS yielded me seventy-five bushels of corn per acre, I have weighed twenty-three hundreds of seed cotton. This was planted at seven feet distance between the drills and thinned out to three feet between the stalks; these extremes embrace the entire distances of which I have any experience and by which I am governed. When I have land sufficient for these changes, my course of crops is cotton, corn and small grain. My first process is to run furrows as deep with No. 1J plough, as two mules can draw it, at a distance from each other that I mean to have my cotton rows. Into these furrows I draw, with the weeding hoe (we call it fisting), all the stubble and vegetable matter between the rows; hav- ing sprinkled plaister on it, I break up the balks, inter- vals between the rows, as deep as possible, with de- scription of plough. When this is done on old land, or land pretty clear of stumps, I prepare and finish these beds, thus thrown together with the plough, generally with the horse rake, by running them on the beds back- ward and forward, until the surface be pulverized sufficiently to receive the seed. When in new ground, abounding in stumps, the clods are broken and the surface prepared, with the weeding hoe. If the land should be very stiff and cloddy, I prepare the beds with harrows instead of horse rakes. My harrows are made in two parts, attached together by hooks and hinges and when put together form an angle less than a right angle triangle; when at work, the joints and hinges, being over the middle of the beds, admit the teeth to touch and work the whole surface, sides as well as the tops of the beds at once. When the beds are too dry and hard, I find it advantageous to secure on each leaf of the harrow, a block of wood, more or less heavy, 219 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF according to the nature and state of the ground; these are easily worked by two mules. My horse rakes are made of a piece of lumber two feet and a half long, five inches thick and twelve inches wide, worked off at the two ends, and hollowed out in the middle so as to be in a semicircular form, five inches by six inches when finished; into the hollow edge two rows of iron teeth, half an inch thick, three quarters wide, to show five inches, are inserted; the front row placed opposite the intervals of the back row; the rows three inches apart and the teeth four inches in the row from each other; on the top of the semicircular piece, fasten two pieces of oak four feet long three by two inches in size, resem- bling somewhat the hind hounds of a wagon, with a nose iron, where the two forward ends are joined together, for the swingle tree, above these attach two handles, like a common plough. This horse rake I have found very advantageous, not only in preparing the beds for the seeds, but also in covering them when dropped in the drills. When the ground is in proper order for work, they finish the beds in a beautiful and most regular manner. The seed may be covered with them better than in any other way; and as they expedite the work very much, it rarely happens that I may not wait for the ground to be in the best possible state for cover- ing. A man and a mule may prepare with it from six to ten acres a day, and can cover as much, according to the state of the ground and width of the rows. The beds being thus made and the season for planting at hand, I proceed to open the drills; this I do with a drill plough. It is made by fastening to the bottom of a piece of two inch plank, ten inches wide, two feet and a half long, square at the hind end and pointed at the 220 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS front one, a piece of oak, by way of keel, of the same length, one inch thick at the bottom edge and three at the upper. The bottom edge is armed with an iron plate, one half an inch thick, so pointed and squared at the front end, as to enter the socket of a coulter of the common form, the upper edge of which is wedged securely in the beam, the upper fixtures are like those of a plough secured to a plank by a helve; the keel ought not to be more than two inches deep. This plough is very light and is worked by one mule, walking on top the beds and can open as many drills in a day as a horse rake can cover. For several years past I have omitted to cover the seed at the time of dropping it. In stiff land, the advantage results from lessening the chances of the soil being "caked" over it by hard rains, through which the cotton cannot penetrate, and which must be raked some way or be replanted. In light soils, the rain which falls after the seed is dropped will cover them sufficiently, but if this does not happen, by having a proper number of horse rakes, each being capable of covering ten acres in the day, the whole crop may be covered in two days, and of course commenced at the very moment when the ground is in the best possible state for the operation. By this mode of covering, the whole surface of the bed is stirred and dressed nicely, later after the seed is dropped, and in a more expeditious manner than any other I have ever tried. "Having planted my cotton, which I ought perhaps to have said I invariably begin on the last of March or the first day of April, I begin the culture of it as soon as the progress of other business will admit, whether it has got up or not. The first operation is to hoe it. 221 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF This is done the first time by shaving down the beds, as near to the plants and as light as possible; if there be weeds or grass too near the plant to be removed by the hoe, they must be picked out with the fingers; this is indispensable, to save time and labor afterwards. Im- mediately after the cotton is hoed, that is, a sufficient quantity to admit the ploughs ; not waiting to complete the first hoeing, I commence the first ploughing; this is done by running one furrow as close to the cotton and as shallow as possible, of each side of the rows, throwing the furrow slice from the cotton. All the corn I have not hoed previous to the hoeing of the cot- ton (I prefer there should be none) I now hoe; and then commence the second hoeing of cotton. This done by chopping through the rows of cotton, either with the corner of the hoe or to its full width, if the soil be rich, leaving the cotton in bunches of four stalks between the chops, with fine soil drawn up to the sides of the beds. Now follow the second ploughing: reverse the furrow slice of the first plowing, by throwing it towards the cotton, by one furrow on each side of the rows, the mould board next to the cotton of course; the middles are then to be flushed up, either with shovel, skimmer, or double iron mould board ploughs, according to the state of the weather; if it be dry, I prefer the two first, if wet the last is best. Thus I proceed alternately hoeing, always drawing up the soil after the first hoe- ing and ploughing; always with the mould board to the cotton after the first ploughing, until the limbs have grown so much as to prevent both hoe and plough from passing between them, without breaking them off. This happens generally by the first of August, by which time I have generally hoed the cotton eight or nine times. I 222 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS find it necessary to hoe such a portion of the corn, at the end of each hoeing of the cotton, as will give to it a sufficient quantity of work to keep it clean. I also endeavor to have each series of ploughing begin at a little distance farther from both cotton and corn than that which preceded it; thus cutting the principal roots of both, at each ploughing, farther from the stalk than it was cut before. By this process, I believe the small fibers are increased, and additional mouths opened, through which the plants draw their nourishment. "I conclude from examination of the roots, that they grow into small knots when cut, and issue from there, and from between these and the stalks, small fibres, other than would issue, if they were not cut, of course they ought not to be cut back, or a second time nearer to the stalk than they were previously. The last operation in the cultivation of cotton with the plough, should be to run a furrow with a bull tongue or with a coulter plough in the middle between the rows and as deep as may be; these ploughs being very narrow, may be passed between the rows, without injury, later than any other. Except this furrow I endeavor to cultivate as shallow as possible. Cotton should be thinned after the first hoeing. At the second hoeing I chop through the drills, leaving it in bunches; at the third hoeing, I reduce these bunches to two or even one stalk, if the plant be forward or the hoeing backward and the weather favorable, afterwards the thinning should be continued so as to prevent its being crowded; accord- ing to the richness of the soil, I leave it more or less distant in the drills; of this each planter must neces- sarily judge and concerning which many differ. In my opinion, the aggregate product of a field of cotton is 223 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF very little affected in quantity by thinning, particularly if it be rich soil; but the quality of the staple, which is of as much importance as the quantity certainly is very materially. My experiments on this part of the business, have satisfied me this opinion is correct. "As early as the first of August, I top the cotton. This is done by pinching off the bud. I some times extend this to the limbs also; when the plant is large and flourishing, and the pods backward, I think it may be done with advantage. If the seasons be moist, the plant luxuriant in growth, appearing full of sap, sucker- ing is very proper; but if these indications have sub- sided, by the plant appearing more woody and the leaves have become small or are decreasing fast, sucker- ing is unnecessary or may be omitted without much loss. I do not doubt that topping and suckering tend to increase the quantity some and quality much and therefore should be done as extensively as circumstances will admit; the last, however, is so tedious and our crops are now so large, but a small portion of them can be thus treated. "When I have open land sufficient, I have found it advantageous to follow the cotton crop with one of corn and this last with small grain, taking care to plough the corn, the two or three last times the way I mean to have my cotton rows when the field is next planted with cotton, thus avoiding the tedious opera- tion of laying off the rows. Corn grows kindly after cotton, and with less labor. Cotton succeeds to small grain advantageously because of the quantity of vege- table matter left for listing into the deep furrows in- tended to be the base of the cotton beds, and which 224 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS with the use of plaister, amply repays both the labor and the cost. "I will add a little on the subject of manure. We frequently hear much surprise expressed at the quan- tity of manure that is used by particular individuals; indeed there are but a very few, if any planters, who have not at some time or other, complained of the scarcity and difficulty of procuring it. Later expe- rience and more attention induce me to say, there is nothing in the southern country more abundant; at least the materials with which to make it; nor can we ever be in want of them, until black-jack leaves and pine straw become scarce. In truth every man who shall use the means within his power, will find the supply limited by his ability to collect and apply it. Generally when we have carried into the field the droppings of our cattle on our cowpens, and of our horses in the stable, we laud ourselves for the improve- ment we have made in good husbandry; and in fact, this is gaining much, for since my recollection, neither was thought of the first having served only to make a turnip patch and the last remained a constant annoy- ance throughout the year. Now from these alone we may elaborate as much good manure as we can haul into the fields in season for planting. In making this kind of manure, it is only necessary to be willing to collect from the woods, leaves of any kind, pine straw as good as the best, and place them in our cowpens and stables, to find the quantity of excellent manure in- creasing beyond our expectation. If top soil of any kind be scattered among them, so much the better. This may be had from the corners of fences, sides of the roads, ponds occasionally dry, and such parts of the 225 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF plantation as from situation will never be cultivated. There are but a very few planters, to whom any one of these sources of supply would not be abundant; no one can exhaust all of them, convenient to him. I might add weeds : can any one apprehend a scarcity of these? And pond grass; which last winter, with plaister, I have found admirable for sweet potatoes, in very poor land. Should care be taken to carry out into fields of light sandy soil, that which has been collected where clay abounded, and vice versa, so much the better; with or without such care, he who will try it, will find his time and labor repaid with usurious interest. It is not for planters to complain for the want of manure, until they have proved how excellent are even the carcasses of their dead beasts, the very bones of which are valuable. Instead of letting them rot on the sur- face, alike disgraceful to our care and dangerous to our health, if we will not make the best use of them by compounding them with six times their bulk of top soil at least bury them in the field, where they will distinguish the place by superior fertility for many years. "If any man living in a poor sandy soil, will fill a single furrow across one of the plats in his garden, with black-jack leaves, taken from the woods, even in a windy day in March, bed on them, and plant a row of peas, he will require no further encouragement to make a longer experiment; fortunately every additional act to increase their- fertility, by littering with them or by mixing them with dung, will be rewarded with addi- tional returns. By a process analagous to the above, I make every year, an excellent compost, by substituting cotton seed, for animal dung. Beds, rather mounds, 226 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS with alternate layers of cotton seed, top soil and leaves of every kind, or pine straw (are made) in the fields, imme- diately while the ginning of the cotton is going on, in such number and places as the size of the field may require; the whole covered up with the soil nearest to the mound, and patted close with the spade; I have found, on opening them in the spring, to be used for cotton or corn, rich manure. This mode of using the cotton seed, is eco- nomical labor; advantageous, by distributing it through- out the field to be manured, at a period most suitable and convenient; and very abundant in quantity. I think one wagon load of cotton seed thus disposed of is as valuable as ten in the usual way. The entire evaporation of the oily and the other matter of the seed is prevented from escaping during the process of fer- mentation, and arrested and retained by the top soil and leaves. I have used each of the component parts of the compost separately, and so completely was the fertilizing quality distributed I could discover no dif- ference in their effects. While the mounds are kept well covered, and properly patted with the spade, so en- tirely is the evaporation prevented, there is no smell perceived near them; every cotton planter knows how offensive large bulk of rotting cotton seed becomes, exposed to sun and rain. Additional supplies of manure are to be had from feeding our cattle in pens. Colonel Taylor (of Virginia) has shown. in his Arator, how much may be done in this way with dry corn stalks alone. I have derived as much benefit from keeping my cattle out of my fields, by his system of feeding them in pens as from the large quantity of manure made in them. But these processes require labor to collect the material and labor to distribute the manure, and that which is 227 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF more difficult to regulate, time also. When I have done all that my labor and time will admit of in these ways, I complete the course of manuring. I sow such parts of my lands, each year, in oats that I have not been able to manure otherwise. From these I collect only seed enough for the ensuing year, and plough in the rest, having first plaistered it. The seed is gathered by stripping it with the hand, from the stems, standing in the fields. I think this is the easiest and most ex- peditious method of saving oats seed, I have seen tried. The oats straw is best turned under by attach- ing a skim-coulter, or iron bolt, to the beam of the plough, with the outer end turned down; this should project from the beam horizontally a little forward of and beyond the mould board. Oats sown for manure, or indeed for any other purpose, need no other labor than simply sowing; this being done in the cotton field immediately before the hands begin to pick cotton; or in the corn field before it is gathered, will come up very well. It is only necessary to sow them before either operation is commenced to have them rise well. . . . For the encouragement of those who are willing to make some additional efforts, allow me to add, by means of the above hinted at, I have converted considerable portions of my fields, which were literally exhausted, into as productive soil as any I now cultivate and this has been accomplished since 1808, by D. R. Williams." 6-20-1825. His method of curing hay was given in 1828: "When the first peas are nearly grown, or when the vine is in its highest verdure, set up your stack poles, made of any description of small trees, which has numer- ous branches. Cut these off three feet from the body. 228 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Cut or pull the peas and immediately stack them, in the ordinary mode, only do not endeavor, as in stacking dry forage, to press as much as possible into a stack the branches which project three feet from the body of the stack pole, admit air enough to prevent the vines from moulding. When cured, remove them to a house, or restack. The advantage will be found in the quality of the hay, and preservation of the leaves. More long forage may be made to the acre, in this mode, than from the same quantity of land in any other, and paradoxical as it may at first seem, the hay will cure better than when exposed to the sun. Better fodder was never offered to a mule or ox or milch cow." Editor T. D. Legare of the Southern Agriculturist made extended criticisms on the method. He pro- nounced it wasteful to turn horses and mules into ripe grain and condemned his mode of gathering oat seed. The first of April was too early to plant and the prac- tice of not covering the seed and of cutting roots was all wrong. The rotation of cotton, corn and grain was especially displeasing to the editor to whose criticism we are indebted for a fuller exposition of General Williams' methods: "The system I pursued up to 1825 is the same. I still follow the 'enclosing system,' as it is sometimes designated, and with which 'further experiment has satisfied me yet more.' I allow no foot to tread the fields appropriated for cultivation, that from the nature of the soil is susceptible to injury from treading, except those employed to work them and again add, 'I have derived as much benefit from keeping my cattle out of my fields ... as from the large quantities of manure made in the pens.' 229 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF "You have mistaken an incident of that system for the system itself; that incident is the use to which I ap- ply ' certain portions of lands to be sowed either with rye or oats in the fall and to be fed down after the grain is ripe.' These portions of land are additional to those used for the crop. I consider that I was answering your wishes by stating my practice simply, without en- larging on supposed advantages, or attempting to dis- cuss the various opinions that had or might arise con- cerning them, presuming that if any good was to result, it would be from inducing others to test them. Con- cerning this particular incident which I recommended for trial, by all who have open land enough for the proof, permit me to add, to every planter whose system of cultivation is compounded of plough and hoe a pas- ture of some kind or other is indispensable. How is this position to be made most advantageously? That which has proved most beneficial, as well as economical to us, is that which I have suggested ; but it was recom- mended as a pasture, not as a system for fertilizing old worn out lands, and in exclusion of that system which I have long followed and still approve. If to have your butter of the color of gold in winter and enough of it too, instead of that which is always of a pale whitish hue, when the cows are fed wholly with dry food; if an abundance of milk be desirable; if fat calves are wanted, instead of the poor, lean, long-haired little creatures, that have been * knocked in the head with the churn stick'; if rich grazing in the depth of winter be sought, for colts and brood mares, you have only to sow with rye or oats a sufficient quantity of land in the fall, the earlier the better, to obtain these; until the first of March or even the middle, when the soil is rich, 230 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS at which time, the uses here suggested, will have paid you many times told, for the expense of producing them. "When the grain shall have become ripe, your work horses and mules will fatten by giving them access to it, without any other food than that which is always given at noon. When the grain has thus been appar- ently consumed, your hogs, turned in, will increase and multiply and fatten to tenfold the value of the seed and labor you have expended ; and what is not less sat- isfactory, these portions of land thus treated will after three years produce more than they could before you derived all these advantages from them. "On the subject of saving oats seed, by stripping it with the hand from the stem in the field, I have but little to say. It is evident from your comments that is too great a novelty for your belief. I have not said it is the most expeditious mode that can be devised; but to those who may be disposed to try, I will add, that with a convenient sized basket, suspended from the shoulders, in front of the laborer, he can thus gather more oat seed, in my opinion, in the same time, than he possibly can by any of the ordinary modes now in practice. "With respect to improvement of the staple of cotton by thinning, I reply that any species of small grain is accelerated to maturing by thick sowing. This law of nature embraces cotton also. The grain of the first is small and diminutive; so also is the pod and wool of the last. Upland cotton being used by the manufacturer exclusively for the coarser fabrics, I am not aware that any attention is paid by the purchaser to its fineness. Color, strength and length of staple are the chief cir- cumstances that constitute its value. These are in- 231 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF duced in the greatest degree by giving free access to sun and air, while the plant is growing. That which is not thinned at all, on rich soil, sowed as thick in the drill as oats or wheat, will mature first and has produced as often as I have made trials by weighing as much as that which was thinned in the ordinary mode; but the size of the pods and length of the staple are so obviously smaller and shorter as not to be doubted by the most superficial observer." General Williams might be paralleled and contrasted with the farmer-statesman of Rome, Marcus Porcius Cato; the latter, narrow in his views of politics and mor- als, invested his growing capital in so many ways that he declared that not even the gods could deprive him of all of it; the former, broad in his sympathies and char- itable toward all, invested everything in his visible es- tate and the appurtenances thereof; his defense was not a shrewd preparation against the worst that might be- fall him, but a conformity to the laws which lead to competency and independence. Although his losses at times were heavy he could always, like the model wife in the last chapter of Proverbs, smile at the days to come. In 1812 his loss by fire amounted to five thousand bushels of corn and thirty-five bales of cotton. In 1829 the great freshet caused a greater loss, and all through the years, the aggregate loss from going secur- ity for his hard-pressed neighbors is thought to have been the greatest. In spite, however, of these serious backsets and annoyances, he bravely faced the casual- ties of life and met, unsoured, every emergency. Dur- ing the freshet he walked along the levees to see the danger points with his own eyes; and with the same watchfulness he examined the leaks in his pocketbook. 232 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS It required, for instance, several mules every year to keep up the efficiency of his teams, but he did not raise cot- ton to exchange for animals brought in from other states. He made provision to raise them at home on his own fine grazing lands at a nominal cost, and for an encouragement for his neighbors to do likewise. "I have," said he in 1830, "young mules and colts enough to hinder me from buying a western horse and mule for years." Had he transferred his corncribs and smokehouses and colt-raising to other states, he would have forfeited the right to be held up as an exemplar to later agriculturists. Had his example been sedu- lously followed everywhere, South Carolina would now be one of the wealthiest states in the Union. In the first quarter of the last century, bacon, corn and prov- ender went down the Pee Dee and the streams through the Santee Canal to Charleston; in the second, these articles came into Charleston and went up the water courses to the towns and plantations; but many a farmer, "unknown to fortune and to fame," became independent financially, by practising the same princi- ples of household economy, making everything needed, produced by the seasons, with cotton nearly clear money. One would suppose that General Williams spent all his time in supervising his varied and exten- sive interests ; but such was not the case. As he turned aside occasionally from the serious side of life, to social enjoyments, so he sometimes laid aside the oversight of things and took up an implement or tool into his own hands. Near the close of his life when voices in Charleston, Edgefield, Camden and other places were calling him to come forward and seize a second time the helm of the state when she was in dangerous waters, 233 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS he saw one of his gins idle for want of cogs ; and because he hated to see it idle more than he did to labor with his own hands, he began the needed repairs. He went home from his work "dragging his hind legs like a worn down dray horse," and found there a letter proposing to put him in the chair of state. In 1814 he was made Governor on the basis of his reputation by men who had some doubts about the wisdom of the choice; in 1830 the call proceeded from men who knew him thoroughly. Of him as Governor, a portrait hangs suspended in the library of the South Carolina University; of him as a farmer-statesman, one month before his death, the pic- ture is idyllic with its rustic setting. As paterfamilias, he dons his overalls and dignifies labor, by the side of his colored carpenters or paid journeymen, until he goes home in full sympathy with every toiler in the state who welcomes the hour of rest. The scene changes, and he appears as a farmer-statesman, a noble Roman, to whom the eyes of the people are turned, with the question, "Will you not lay hold and see to it that the Commonwealth receives no detriment?" 234 CHAPTER XXI UNABATED INTEREST IN HIS COUNTRY'S WELFARE GENERAL WILLIAMS retired to his plantation and to the bosom of his family, at the close of 1816, fully satisfied with the honors bestowed upon him by the government and the people. He prob- ably did not know at the time how near he was to be- ing drawn out for another eight years' public service. President Monroe had invited W. H. Crawford to be a member of his Cabinet and having failed to secure a Western man to act as Secretary of War, in deference to President Madison, he offered the honor to William Lowndes. The latter declined and left the President free to choose between two men, who were in every way qualified for the office, General Williams and John C. Calhoun. In the previous year Calhoun had gone to the democratic caucus and by active exertions helped to nominate Monroe over Crawford. W. H. Crawford and John C. Calhoun had been at school together and, as it not unfrequently happens with schoolmates, be- came rivals and irreconcilable opponents. Crawford preferred Williams to Calhoun as a colleague, because of their intimate friendship, similarity of views and the General's military experience; but he expressed himself as pleased with the choice made by the President. At the time his official life was about to close, there 235 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF was a vacancy in the United States Senate to be filled; but General Williams was not swayed by the ex- governor's ambition to go up higher. He preferred private life and exemplified William Lowndes' golden rule, not yet formulated, in neither seeking an honor nor rejecting it when offered by the people, however inconvenient it might be. The first year's efforts to return to a peace footing were less attractive to the public than the discussions about the tariff, internal improvements and slavery which proved in the end a veritable Satan, "who brought death into the world and all our woe." His fellow- citizens in South Carolina were more devoted to politics than the members of any denomination were to religion ; and among no people were there relatively more tal- ented and gifted individuals. Indeed the plethora of great men in the state, patriotic and ambitious, each striving to survive, gave a tragical air to the times. When it transpired in 1822 that Robert Y. Hayne had been elected in the place of Senator Smith, a states- rights Congressman, its full significance was compre- hended by General Williams. The passage of the tariff act in 1824, the election of Calhoun to the Vice-Presi- dency and the defeat of Crawford, were potent reasons for his entrance into the State Senate in 1824, to whose humble part in those troubled days, together with the men and the circumstances which throw light upon it, our story must be restricted. Prior to his election to the Vice-Presidency, Calhoun received a letter from a Congressman in Virginia, Robert S. Garnett, asking for his opinion of that part of the Constitution which deals with "the line which separates the powers of the general and state govern- 236 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ments. " The question and its answer are significant at this juncture, and the latter shows what he had thought upon the subject regarded vital by many who lived in his state. His reply is found in his letters, a part of which only is reproduced: " If there is one portion of the Constitution which I most admire, it is the distribution of power between the States and the General Government. It is the only portion which is novel and peculiar. This is our inven- tion and I consider it to be the greatest improvement which has been made in the science of government after the division of power into the legislative, executive and judicial. Without it free states, if limited to a small territory, must be crushed by the great monarchical powers, or exist only at their discretion; but if it ex- tended over a great surface, the concentration of power and patronage necessary for government would speedily end in terror. It is only by this admirable distribution that a great extent of territory, with a proportional population and power, can be reconciled with freedom, and consequently that safety and respectability be given to free states. As much then as I value freedom, in the same degree do I value state rights. But it is not only in the abstract that I admire the distribution of power between the general government and the states. I approve of the actual distribution of the two powers, which is made by our Constitution. Were it in my power, I would make no change." After discussing how the Constitution should be and should not be interrupted, he continued, "I have never uttered a sentence in any speech, report or word in conversation that could give offence to the most ardent defender of state rights. Feeling the profoundest respect for the 237 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF States and believing their honor not to be greater than it ought to be, I have at least never spoken disrespect- fully of them, or endeavored to establish principles that would weaken them. ... I have gone through a short but active political life, and in trying times, and if hostile to the rights of the States, some evidence must be found of it in my speeches and reports. " In refer- ence to the national bank and the system of internal improvements he states the facts clearly and acknowl- edges that he was walking in the footsteps of Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. In the seven previous years Calhoun had been in the majority party and his busi- ness and his thinking had to do with the duties of the general government, but a change had been going on in the sections that was about to isolate him at home and abroad. "The change in Massachusetts and Con- necticut from a defiant particularism and an uncompro- mising free trade policy, during the short years of 1815 to 1830, to a position of nationalism and emphatic protective program parallels exactly the change at the same time in South Carolina from nationalism and a protective tariff to a strict states-rights and an unbend- ing free trade system." (W. E. Dodd.) The change in New England caused the change in South Carolina and Calhoun, like General Lee, with slow and reluctant steps, became a defender of his state against aggression. But Calhoun, the General Lee in the intellectual period of the sectional struggle, was carried around on the circumference of the political wheel, into the very camp of Crawford, Smith, Taylor, Williams and of their powerful and compact party, to whom, owing to his past opposition to their leader and his friends, he was less acceptable than Clay, the father of the un-American 238 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS system. The history of these years in which Calhoun was the central figure had a double aspect, one in con- nection with Congress and the states, the other with the state government and the people of South Carolina. General Williams, who figured mostly in the latter conflict, found Judge Smith in the State Senate, 1824- 1826, and supported his resolutions regarding the right of a State Legislature to "watch over the proceedings of Congress and express their approbation or disappro- bation of the same and remonstrate against any action or legislation of Congress." A school boy in Green- ville, B. F. Perry, criticised this action of the legisla- ture: "The adoption of Judge Smith's resolutions was truly a presumptuous act. The inferior servants were dictating to their masters and attempting to control the proceedings of the superior ones." Not many years were to pass before both Williams and Perry were to be charged with abandoning their positions, the latter waxing warmer about the tariff iniquity, the former recoiling before the prospect of civil war and dissension. Senator Smith, however, looked back upon the resolutions as an eye-opener in respect to internal improvements, "which the favorites of South Carolina were cherishing both in and out of Congress." The legislature by a close vote reinstated Judge Smith as United States Senator in 1826 and General Williams voted for the resolutions declaring that Congress does not have power under the Constitution to adopt a general system of internal improvement and as a national measure, that it was an unconstitutional exer- cise of power on the part of Congress to lay duties to protect domestic manufactures and to tax the citizens of one state to make roads and canals for the benefit of 239 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF the citizens of another." The state was represented in the United States Senate in 1827 by Hayne and Smith, with Calhoun as the presiding officer. The action of the legislature in electing Smith and in ap- proving his resolutions became a visible turning point in Calhoun's political policy, and it was in accord with his answer once to a friend who remarked, "You ought to be in Columbia looking after your reelection. " "The legislators," he replied, "are in Columbia to attend to their business, and I am here to attend to mine." It was during the spring session that as pre- siding officer his vote was decisive against the increased tariff on woolens. In July following David J. McCord used novel language before an anti-tariff meeting called to meet in Columbia: "Should it be necessary to raise a question between liberty and the Union, no man of spirit or sense could hesitate," and his words were almost for- gotten under the force of what Thomas Cooper, presi- dent of the South Carolina College, had to say: "We shall ere long be compelled to calculate the value of our Union, and to inquire of what use to us, is this most unequal alliance, by which the North has been always the gainer and the South always the loser. Is it worth while to continue this Union of States, in which the North demands to be our masters and we are required to be their tributaries, who with insulting mockery, call the yoke they put on our necks the Ameri- can system. The question, however, is fast approach- ing to the alternative of submission or separation." An editor in Greenville unhesitatingly declared that "we would be glad to see the first traitor who should propose a dissolution of the union, sacrificed to honest 240 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS indignation and hung without judge or jury"; but Calhoun in a letter to James Edward Calhoun evidently with more caution and prudence alluded to the recent meeting in Columbia and other anti-tariff gatherings: "The South has commenced with remonstrating against this unjust and oppressive attempt to sacrifice their interest; and I do trust, that they will not be provoked to step beyond strict constitutional remedies." And it may be added that in this same year he had com- menced in earnest to devise the constitutional remedy which he hoped would check a rapacious majority on the one side and the centrifugal tendency, shown so manifestly in the Columbia meeting, on the other. The youthful statesman, Perry, regarded the political situation as most serious in the history of the country; and Calhoun declared that "few men realized the mag- nitude of the present juncture; and that it could not pass away without testing severely the character of those who are prominently before the nation." He had already, in the early part of the year, been under the charge of sharing in the profits of government contracts and after a scrutiny of forty days by a committee, a majority of whom he called his "enemies," he was honor- ably acquitted. He attributed the verdict to a life of spotless purity, but he was not infallible in supposing such a characteristic a shield against slander. Some forty years after the acquittal Jefferson Davis, being a prisoner in Fortress Monroe and in his weakness per- mitted to walk outside with General Nelson A. Miles and Dr. Craven, talked with Miles about the fortifi- cations known as Rip Raps, until Miles in an interroga- tive tone repeated the slander that "Calhoun had made much money by speculations or favoring the 241 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF . speculations of his friends connected with this work." "In a moment," said Dr. Craven, "Davis started to his feet, betraying much indignation by his excited manner and flushed cheek. It was a transfiguration of friendly emotion, the feeble and wasted invalid and prisoner suddenly forgetting his bonds, forgetting his debility, and ablaze with eloquent anger against this injustice to the memory of one whom he loved and reverenced. Mr. Calhoun, he said, lived a whole atmosphere above any sordid or dishonorable thought was of a nature to which a mean act was impossible." Another test that wounded him in the tenderest point was the charge of ingratitude to Crawford by two Georgia papers; but a more serious matter was the effort of Crawford and his friends to side-track him by the nomination of Nathan- iel Macon for the Vice-Presidency. Preceding and connected with it was the tour of Martin Van Buren and Churchill Cambreling, of New York, after the close of the spring session, 1827, through Virginia down to Georgia, to the home of W. H. Crawford, Presidential candidate, defeated in 1816 and 1824. Their mission was to bring about an alliance between the Crawford and Jackson forces, with a view to the campaign in 1828; but that did not exhaust the motives for the journey. Mr. Crawford was an avowed enemy to the man whom Van Buren had most to dread as a successor to President Jackson, in the event of his election; and from Crawford some things could be learned which, at the right time, might be of great service. Crawford and his friends in South Carolina thought Calhoun should not be Jackson's running mate. Crawford could not forget how Calhoun had opposed and thwarted his Presidential aspirations, and Smith knew what 242 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS turned the scales against him as United States Senator. They were in no mood to elevate by their votes their arch-enemy, by putting him on Jackson's ticket. But Van Buren was too wise or too weak to carry out the wishes of his Southern friends. He was for unifying all parties at present in order that Jackson's election might be made certain, as is seen in a letter from Crawford to Van Buren: " Wood Lawn, 21st Dec. 1827. "Hon'ble Martin Van Buren, "Sir: . . . Since you left Gen. Williams' last spring, I received a letter from him thanking me for my supposed influence in securing him the pleasure of a visit from you. In that letter, he expressed (himself) much pleased with the visit. But he expressed regret that you appeared to him disposed to let Calhoun remain in his present situation ; whereas he thought Mr. Calhoun ought to be punished for the mischief he had done. He further informed me that he said as much as (he) could to change your opinion. About the same time Governor Taylor informed (me) that Jackson ought to know and, if he does not he shall know, that at the Calhoun caucus in Columbia, the epithet 'Mili- tary Chieftain' was bandied about more flippantly than it has been since by the partisans of H. Clay, and by none more than by the family friends of Mr. Calhoun. That gentleman is now down in his State and his degra- dation is no where desired (more) than by the leading men in South Carolina. "I think therefore it is extremely desirable that a candidate for the Vice-Presidency should be started against Mr. C. during the present Congress. If he 243 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF should be defeated there will be little danger that he will be taken up by Jackson. On the other hand, the frail health of the latter gentleman makes it very desirable that the Vice-President should be a man worthy of the highest trust. I would respectfully suggest the name of Nathaniel Macon for that office. The friends of the administration would doubtless pre- fer him or any other to Mr. C. And New York, Vir- ginia, North Carolina and Georgia would, I should think, vote for any man against him, the three latter states I am sure of. You know better than I about the first. "Yours respectfully, "W. H. Crawford." The current in favor of Calhoun was stronger than the opposition. Several Northern legislatures nomi- nated him and Virginia, whose votes he always prized high, was in his favor. The mischief for which General Williams wanted him punished was connected with the tariff, internal improvements and the national bank. His opposition to Calhoun was not embittered by any personal animosity and the only punishment he ever wished to mete out to his erring fellow-citizens was retirement to private life where they might be free to work out their own salvation. Benton, John Quincy Adams, Crawford and Smith had no ordinary aversion to Calhoun, but Williams was judicial even when de- feated and frankly admitted that the Calhoun party was directed by superior statesmanship. The year 1828 was notable for the passage of the "bill of abomina- tions" and the presentation of "the Exposition" to the legislature. After the passage of the tariff bill, the 244 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS South Carolina delegation, excepting Senator Smith, met to discuss the propriety of leaving their seats and going home, but the project was defeated by the oppo- sition of Colonel Drayton. Governor Perry uses Con- gressman Mitchell as authority for the statement. It is also substantiated by General Williams' letters and most of all by the Charleston papers which have in them a long discussion, begun by Hayne's answer to a direct question put to him by an editor in Georgetown. Some of the delegation addressed their constituents in wrought-up language on the injustice of the tariff. McDuffie, who was thought by many to be second not even to Demosthenes in impassioned eloquence, was the natural leader in the crusade. Meetings were held all over the state to stir up the people. (Perry.) It was in connection with this general awakening on the subject that five men at Union were appointed to address General W T illiams and seek his advice. The pertinent part of the letter only can be given : "We respectfully ask to be informed by you of the state of public feeling and public opinion in your section of the State in relation to the passage of the tariff and whether the people seem determined to oppose the operation of the law, and if so, what mode of opposition will in your opinion best comport with their views and feelings. We further beg you to communicate to us, your opinions and views as to the policy which under existing circumstances, may be most effective and speedy, in producing the discomfiture and defeat what is termed the protective policy. Give us your advice on this matter of delicate and difficult import. " The reply, by request, was made immediately. It 245 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF is one of the most important of all his communications and was intended to be pacific in its results. Except- ing his pertinent and elegant preface and brief conclu- sion the full text is given: "The state of public feeling in this part of the State is extremely angry and indignant: and the public opinion is that the system which has excited the anger and indignation is founded on injustice, being in its very nature extortion from the many for the benefit of the few only; it is moreover wholly and grossly in vio- lation of the Constitution of the United States. I have not a doubt that this is the opinion of 99-100 of the citizens of this Congressional District. It is not so easy to say what proportion, if any of them, are determined to oppose operation of the law. I fear we have some young and gallant spirits, who, impatient of wrongs, are willing to risk their lives, if not their necks, in a military career, if only for the fun of it; but of the discreet, sober minded or aged, I have not met one, who will counte- nance any other 'opposition' than such as I will here- after describe. We have had since the adjournment of Congress no public meetings on the subject and doubt if there will be any, at least in this immediate neigh- bor hood. Almost all the influential part of the com- munity are for moderating the excitement as much as possible. "As to my own opinions and views (allow me to declare I state them solely because you desire them), they are in perfect union with those of my fellow citi- zens, on the character of the laws complained of. I believe them to be unwise, unjust, unconstitutional. But at the same time, cannot hide from myself that 246 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS there are other considerations, growing out of the sub- ject, that ought not to be disregarded. They were adopted after long deliberation, with all the forms and sanctions of legislative proceedings by a decided major- ity. That the majority ought to rule is a principle on which all our institutions are bottomed. It is just as much the duty of a minority to obey, as it is that a majority shall govern, according to the specific forms granted in the Constitution. Whether the powers dele- gated to Congress have been exercised properly, are questions to be decided by reason, not by force. A difference of opinion will arise on almost any subject; few indeed if any of them ought to be made questions for dissolving the Union; and after all to what can we appeal with so much propriety as to the sense of the majority. Let us suppose the worst, that the tariff laws are unconstitutional and that they will be persisted in by the majority who have passed them; are we not still bound to exercise our best reason, in deciding whether it is such a case that dismemberment of the Union alone can remedy; and if so, whether it shall be resorted to. Let us not deceive ourselves, this in fact is the end, and the only one, to which resistance by the legislature leads. Is it expedient to follow it? I think not. Is there a discreet citizen in Union District, can one be found in the State, who will prefer to take his musket and shoot down twenty-three Kentuckyans and Yankees (the destruction of life must be in this propor- tion or it will be against us) rather than make his vn coarse woolen cloths? For it would seem that the increased duties on hemp, iron, molasses and sugar excite but a small share of anger, our own representa- tives having voted for them. This may be a coarse 247 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF way of stating the case, but strip it naked and it is a fair one. But a very important inquiry remains to be settled before we urge the legislature to resistance. Ought we not to be clearly satisfied that the legislature itself can remedy the evil? I believe the case does not warrant such an appeal, and what is still more, if at- tempted, will not better our situation. I therefore prefer to suffer, while suffering is tolerable, rather than encounter evils much more terrible. I have seen no project yet suggested that to my mind promises suc- cess, in any attempt to coerce Congress into our views. We are all convinced that the system of protection is unwise and injurious to the general interest. We have first discovered this truth not because we are wiser than the rest of the Union, but because it was first made to bear heavily on us. The last law on the subject is wider and of more general operation. Surely it is prudent to wait until there shall have been ample time to produce the same conviction among others equally interested with ourselves. At all events, I believe it better to confide yet longer in the generous truth that 4 error of opinion may be tolerated while reason is left free to combat it.* We were not sparing of our cen- sures when New England meditated resistance to the embargo. We believed Massachusetts recreant to vir- tue and love of country, when she withheld her militia during the war. There was not a man among us who did not pronounce the Hartford Convention a traitor- ous association; indisputably it becomes us to look well to it that we do not tread in the very footsteps which we have denounced with so much bitterness. Let us not forget that at the very time when New England thus acted, the administration of the general govern- 248 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS ment, having exhausted its funds, had not wherewith to keep in the field the troops stationed on our seaboard for its defence. Of this dreadful truth Gen. Pinckney advised the then Governor of South Carolina how did the legislature act? Did it embarrass Congress with reproaches or upbraid the Executive with the failure of its most important constitutional duties? No, it magnanimously advanced, without a dissenting voice, the estimated amount of internal taxes of the ensuing year, before even the law was passed imposing them. Who is there among us who is not in the present proud of this transaction, notwithstanding a portion of this very debt is meanly withheld and for which the legisla- ture has in vain petitioned. Deplorable indeed will be the act, which shall first subtract from the moral force and beauty of so bright an example. I have said I cannot see, should the legislature be driven to take the remedy into its own hands, how it can better our situa- tion. I take it for granted no one will contend that it will be bettering the case, to be at open war with the rest of the Union. If there be any body so deluded and frantic with passion as to think otherwise, to such one I do not appeal. Let us suppose the next step short of war, that we have withdrawn from the Union and that the general government will not resort to open war to prevent it, are there not other and ampler means by which it could enter into the unprofitable contest 'of who shall do the other the most harm,' making our own government to us, what that of every weak and feeble state has been to its citizens or subjects, a very curse. Suppose our delegation withdrawn from Congress, the custom houses taken into our hands and all our sea- ports declared free (my eyes have been nearly blistered 249 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF by looking on such a project on paper). It appears to me that any man who is wicked enough to conceive such a project, must have wit enough to see how easy it would be for Congress to prevent every possible circum- stance, of supposed advantages, from accruing to us. These projects, weak as they are, furnish the most ef- fective resistance by the legislature. With infinite re- spect for the suggestor, I consider the attempt to tax domestic goods, as published in a speech in the Tele- scope, still weaker. Of success from such means of co- ercion, I utterly despair. That which you have sug- gested, as being most favorably entertained in your district, namely, associations for non-consumption of eastern and western articles, I think better of, only because it may keep the two governments, State and United States, from direct conflict. It will only array (bad enough God knows) section against section. Such a course if executed, would probably have a sensible effect, in opening the eyes of those who have had too much success in legislating a goodly portion of the prof- its of our labor to their own benefit. But it is to say the least, much to be apprehended that, resolutions for such objects would be badly executed, and if obeyed at all, would be for a sufficient time, only by the virtuous. I cannot therefore think favorably of any project, that shall lead directly or indirectly to dismember the Union ; or that may, without more time for conviction, render hostile any portion of that family, among which, union and harmony alone can give strength and prosperity. Dreadful must be the times and severe the sufferings of our people, that shall warrant an appeal to the elements of passion and discord for relief. My advice therefore is, to abstain from every act that will add to the present 250 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS excitement, confident that the good sense of the people at large will with moderation and justice on our part, remedy our evils, better or sooner than we can our- selves; most of all, I implore you, not to urge the legis- lature to entertain any discussion on the subject, what- ever. In addition to such a course of moderation and loyalty, I consider it perfectly consistent and moral that we should, with settled and persevering determina- tion to do everything individually that is legal, to take ourselves out of the operation of all the tariff laws, that have been or may be enacted. All that the legislature or voluntary associations can do, with any probability of success, may be better done and ought to be, by individuals. We have ample means to reach the inter- ests of the friends of the tariff, if we will but use them. "It has been ascertained that there are brought into this State, over the Saluda Mountain road, from the west, one and a half million worth of live stock an- nually. If we abstain from purchasing these, can it be doubted that the reaction will extend to every fireside west of the mountains. At least our old friends there, might be induced to remember (the delusion incident to the present contest being over) that they have de- serted us for new, not better friends, even for those who, to say the least, as uniformly opposed, as we have been friendly, to their admission into the family of states. Our influence on New England is of the same nature, but stronger, because, to a much larger amount. No people on earth have been so distinguished for shrewd- ness in discovering their own interest; and perhaps, never harder to drive from it; touch this and our cause is safe. "Let us then manufacture our own clothes, and be 251 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF wise enough to wear them. Let us raise our own horses, mules, cattle and hogs; and if by these measures, we shall become more economical and industrious and thereby relieve ourselves from debt and embarrassment, we shall have ample reason to rejoice and wait with patience and good faith for the time when high duties on hemp, iron, sugar and molasses, and all the other evils of the policy of protection, shall convince the other portions of the Union that the true and inherent character of their system is a tax on the many for the benefit of the few and wealthy. This is the resistance I approve, will practice, to the utmost of my ability. It is a resistance, by which we can live and profit; which the laws warrant; which our consciences justify and which I believe, will soonest repeal the obnoxious laws of which we now so justly complain. "Most respectfully, your fellow-servant, " David R. Williams." The letter to the Union friends increased the fame but not the happiness of its author. It was copied in many papers, read widely and commented on in public and private with and without approbation. It created a sensation in which there was no approach to oneness of mind in the state, except in the dislike of the tariff. To some it reached the dignity of an inspired communi- cation, texts from which served as the peg on which anonymous writers expanded their own views for pub- lic consumption; but the editor of the Charleston Mercury and a swarm of anonymous critics, protested against and ridiculed the sentiments or the past conduct of General Williams. He was pronounced inconsistent with his record in the legislature, 1824-27, in regard to 252 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS negro property, in voting for the state's right to regu- late it and in regard to his support in 1825 of Smith's resolutions, and in his not pouring oil on the troubled waters in 1827. One writer declared the government which cheated the state out of money lent to it in the War of 1812 ought not to be trusted again. "The little Federalist editor of the Mercury" protested in strong terms to the doctrine that the tariff is unconsti- tutional but because it has been passed by a majority it must be submitted to. It was a slavish doctrine never to be embraced in this country. In comparison with the state, it made the majority in Congress om- nipotent. It was the essence of consolidation. Even Crawford had said the situation of the Southern States would justify open and armed resistance. In opposi- tion to this construction put by the Mercury on the statement of General Williams, the City Gazette was a better exegete in its declaration that General Williams never did intend to say that a law passed by a majority in Congress which is a direct violation of the Constitu- tion ought to be submitted to merely because a majority had enacted the law. He on the contrary intends to say that although 99-100ths of his fellow-citizens be- lieve it to be unconstitutional, yet inasmuch as it has been passed according to the forms of the Constitution, and is a law of the land until it is repealed or declared unconstitutional, he would advise a withdrawal, for the present, as far as possible from the reach of the law rather than from the Union. The Telescope in Colum- bia, around which his party friends were gathered, surprised him with adverse editorial comments. His immediate reply was held back, for reasons given below, by his friends in Columbia, but he sent another broad- 253 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF side to the Telescope, which will be drawn upon only in some detached sections. As to the abundant criti- cism passed on him, he said: "From the editor of the Telescope, who first made a powerful pass at my supposed principles, to the gentle- man who has indulged himself in a sneer at my character over the signature of a 'Citizen of Darlington,' all have evaded or wholly avoided the main point of inquiry, to exercise themselves in one uniform strain of increpation about my principles. At this I perhaps ought not to express surprise; older and better men have thus been used before; but I will say I feel deep regret that a disposition to this end has existed anywhere in the state, seeing the palpable object aimed at, was to unite my fellow-citizens to the observation of that modera- tion which becomes men and which is alone to be found within the bounds of reason. Instead of this a stranger, ignorant of the events, would naturally suspect that I must have been guilty of some heinous offence against public morals, or at least, been using in my devotions, the new litany of the Baltimore dinner, praying for war, pestilence and famine. To the gentlemen of the press who have combatted some of my opinions, but have allowed me to be fairly heard, I return my thanks. To those who have abused me, I have been told there are some, without sending me their publications, I must think they have for once omitted the practice of the sublime scriptural doctrine of doing as they would be done by. To those gentlemen from different parts of the state who have sent me their 'thanks,' their 'grati- tude,' I shall have said enough, when I add, that they have given me the blessed consolation of knowing that tried by my 'peers,' I need not dread their verdict." 254 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS To the wily class whom he called "thoroughbred office hunters" and wished to be rid of or even to appease, he said, "I beg these gentlemen to believe that I stand in the way of not one in the whole fraternity. There is nothing in the gift of the legislature, nor of the people, which I seek or wish for. Both have already honored me beyond my seeking infinitely beyond my consciousness of desert. I have declined a reelection (to the State Senate) the place I lately occupied will be filled by an abler man. I have again cheerfully sunk into the mass of private citizens am practically as dead as if I were with Pharaoh's host, at the bottom of the Red Sea. I hope I have disarmed these gentle- men; if not, I can only add, 'Strike if you will, but listen/ " He had spent long and dreary hours trying to find some scheme to get rid of the tariff by coercion, but he could find nothing that was not equally a violation of the Constitution as the tariff itself. The legislature has no power to coerce Congress. It may give cool and deliberate consideration, or do anything which properly relates to argument, "in good faith to our compound system of government, without infringing or infracting the rights of the Union ; but the moment it departs from these, leaving the broad and legitimate field of argument, it commences that resistance, no matter how small or modified, which leads to disunion. To whom is it given to see the final result of any, the slightest conflict between the two governments, with our passions in a flame, and our injuries goading us to fury and madness, who is there to stop this awful surge that must land us in utter ruin and desolation? As well may you hope to obstruct Niagara with a pebble." 255 CHAPTER XXII UNABATED INTEREST IN HIS COUNTRY'S WELFARE (Continued) ON THE 14th of August (1828) General Wil- liams attended an anti-tariff meeting at Columbia and made an eloquent speech against following in the footsteps of the Hartford Con- vention. Professor Henry of the State College moved to strike out of the resolution that part containing the abstract doctrine of attachment to the Union, and was defeated by two votes. It furnished the occasion to the City Gazette to observe that Professor Henry's European education fitted him to be a fine adjunct to Dr. Cooper. The letter to the "Union folks" brought General Williams into trouble with his friends in Colum- bia, who were yet together as undeveloped germs in the parent bulb, to be separated as the political contest waxed warm. Judge Withers was the editor of the Telescope and the author of the critical comments upon the Union letter. Being misinformed as to the real author, General Williams wrote "a warm and lengthy reply"* which was judiciously held back by the Tele- scope and looked forward to as "a great public benefit" by the City Gazette. He, it is inferred from his guarded language, was hitting at Dr. Cooper, Professor Henry Quoted in part at the close of Chapter XXI. 256 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "and other fine writers and men of science and literature in Columbia, who give tone and character to much of the reputation of the state in the walks of literature and belles lettres; but the blow was supposed to be aimed especially at W. C. Preston and D. J. McGord and the allusion to the wrongheaded construction upon his letter could mean only Judge Withers. The letter was finally suppressed and peace restored, in which General Williams was left the only 'wounded pigeon.' The ridicule of his friend Withers, however, 'cost' him all the philosophy he could master to submit to it, but he did and in silence, and was glad that he had enough to suppress the resentment he at the moment was oppressed with." His friend, Senator Smith, also could not agree with him in some of the positions taken in the letter. Smith, like Williams, inhaled an anti- tariff atmosphere with his first political breath, and in 1830 claimed that he had saved more than ten million dollars and had been instrumental in saving from sacri- fice many thousands of acres of land (in 1828). His development was logically in the direction of a seces- sionist, but if he ever was in danger of reaching that goal a certain "monster in politics" diverted his course. A more interesting friendly difference appeared and grew greater between him and Stephen D. Miller. Miller was a candidate to succeed Governor Taylor and was more sensitive to public opinion. He was recog- nized as being an opponent to the nullifiers, but he de- cidedly repudiated the remarks about our institutions being bottomed on majority rule, taking a translation and not the surface meaning of General Williams, who had never dreamed of putting "a majority in Congress" as a substitute for the Constitution. Being an inter- 257 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ested on-looker only and not a candidate, and not wishing to jeopardize the election of his friends, he became silent in their behalf. "I verily believe,'* said he, when he perceived the unexpected impression, "there is no way left but to chain me up by a short tether. I have broke into the public print under the most solemn fears. I will hasten to break out of them; for it would seem, if I succeed in my object to quiet the public excitement, I am likely to excite my friends against myself; or at least give them much trouble." He was active in his interest in the issue of the campaign and was delighted by the election of Miller and equally chagrined at the defeat of Evans. After sufficient time to diagnose the situation, he wrote to Governor Miller: "Able as I have always considered Mr. Calhoun and his friends at political management, I consider them now much more so from the issue of this, as well as some other recent transactions. I do not in the least doubt they prevented Major Hamilton from opposing you, and altho the issue so far as this single election was concerned would have been precisely the same, I be- lieve every other would have been very different. Upon all others save one, I felt no deep interest, while the result of that one cuts me to the very quick. In Evans' defeat I feel not only that the radical party are de- feated, but that, as a party, are humbled and therefore disgraced. Whenever I have thus spoken, and it has always been when I spoke at all, I have been told I ought to take a full share of it to myself. Of this I am unconscious, but it adds nothing to my comfort that any friend I had should think so. This state of things opens to my mind a most gloomy prospect of the future, so far as the doings of the legislature may be affected. 258 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Without doubt the Calhounists saw distinctly the state of things that would probably arise, consequent upon your removal from the legislature; and it is to their foresight this statesmanlike look into consequences that induced them to hold back Hamilton; and by no means to any favorable impression toward you. You had quite too often assailed their principles and routed their hosts, for them not to cease (seize) on any oppor- tunity that should take you out of the array against them. The prospect before us is to me most gloomy. In the Senate we are a thousand degrees below zero and in the House so utterly powerless for want of that conceit incident to united wills, led by a master spirit, that, I fear we shall receed much further from the true principles and able practice, than did the old republi- cans from the days of Mr. Jefferson's ascendancy. All I can say or do is, good Lord deliver us ! " Governor Perry judged that the nullifiers' final vic- tory was due to the so-called Jacobin clubs formed late in 1830 in order to have concert of action throughout the state, raise money, publish campaign documents and distribute them amongst the people. General Wil- liams, the one prominent man out of and not seeking office, saw a different cause for his party's failure inferior generalship. Hamilton, for one example, or- ganized the clubs in 1830 and two years later the Unionists formed "Washington Societies" after they had become a minority. With Calhoun, Hamilton, McDuffie and Hayne on the other side, General Wil- liams' order of battle might have failed, but it was the only one that had any chance of success. He believed that the question of union was the real issue. He was for urging on the people the machinations of the agita- 259 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF tors and pushing the subject rather than waiting "for further developments of the motives of the actors,'* as Miller recommended. The Union party was of the orthodox species in which it is the law of preservation to challenge the reformer or innovator on the thresh- old. The voice of established authority is always heard with respect and it influences the public mind at once. The game cock does not wait for the motives of an intruder into his harem to be developed ; and General Williams expressed a parallel feeling in his human breast in saying: "When I see my enemy in force, my first impulse is to attack. It is but a very short space before the battle must be fought. " In the latter part of the same month he said to Candidate Miller: "I know you will forgive me when I say I am perfectly convinced that your first impressions were much more correct, namely, to put your election and our party on the broad question of union rather than keep open the question. . . . The Legislature cannot avoid the question of union and therefore it would have been better for the radicals to assume it, thereby giving impulse and in- fluence, where they must ultimately receive it." General Williams, as he looked out from his eyrie in the Pee Dee upon the troubled state, was still preferring the tariff to civil war and practising his method of oppo- sition to the tariff: "I shall make within the year more than 20,000 yards of coarse cotton and woolen goods have killed upwards of 500 head of hogs of my own raising and have young mules and colts enough to hinder me from buying a western horse or mule for years." In this off year in politics, he suffered a great loss by the Pee Dee floods, pushed his factory work and began his cotton seed oil factory. As the year passed 260 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS on, the condition of the radical party in South Carolina cleared up somewhat and he determined to carry the war into Africa. Accordingly he penned a letter to Martin Van Buren, Jackson's Secretary of State, which shows incidentally Jackson's negligence in using his legitimate power to help the Union party against a common adversary; and it gives a glimpse of much that otherwise would have been lost. It was marked "confidential" and is preserved in the archives at Washington : [Confidential! "Society Hill, 17th Nov. 1829. "My dear Sir: . . . Your visit through this State convinced you that, however ardent Mr. Cal- houn's few friends were, in his service, they were only few in number, tho' able and active You must equally have been satisfied that, his political adversaries were such on principle. If there has been any change among the citizens here, it is rather adverse to Mr. C's pro- motion, as the great turmoil and excitement amongst us are, I presume, calculated to make you so believe. Mr. C. holds and probably no one will question the correct- ness of his opinion, that no man can be influential at Washington who does not stand high at home. The converse of this opinion is probably equally well- founded. To those who do not know the reason why, it always appears that Mr. Crawford was either wholly ignorant of this state of things in South Carolina or despaired of altering it. You know the truth to be, he had no means to effect such, there being then an in- fluence in the throne and behind it which paralized his power. The party opposed to Mr. Calhoun, believe no such facts exist now. We ask ourselves why it is that 261 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF we have never been recognized at Washington and there are none to answer. We therefore infer that South Carolina is completely surrendered by those who should be in alliance with us, as wholly hopeless. Without a question, state pride and the many motives you will understand, are in Mr. C's favor, and that to shake and supercede them will be difficult, nay impossible, if things are suffered to progress as they now exist, touch- ing his misapprehended influence and an imbecility. Difficult as may be the task, to take from him the vote of South Carolina, it is not impossible, provided there shall be effected a demonstration at Washington, not only at war with his views but indicative of recognition and confidence in his opponents here. To be left alone in the conflict, to fight against our own kin and house- hold, will be as it was before to roll the stone uphill to be crushed by its recoil; but if you will give us a 'scuf- ling stick* to prop our efforts, I verily believe we can get the waggon to the top of the hill. But suppose I am mistaken, that we cannot deprive Mr. C. of that vote, is it not obvious he stands stronger abroad from the confession of that strength, than he would do, if any- thing should arise to start even a doubt among other states that here he is not supreme. To me this appears clear and worth the effort. Fortunately existing cir- cumstances are very favorable to make the effort with the chance of success, and to risk nothing. On the part of the administration who appointed them, never was a greater faux pas than making Middleton and Poinsett foreign ministers, to say nothing of their abilities, that is wholly immaterial. I allude to the acquisition of strength by the appointing power. The former is probably without a private or public friend and the 262 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS latter is scarcely less influential. So also of Mr. Dis- trict Attorney and others. He was a federalist of the most obnoxious stamp whose appointment soured every body, but federalists and Mr. C's friends. The ap- pointment of such men was the clearest demonstration of what was Mr. C's standing at Washington; their removal can scarcely fail of equally clear proof of de- cayed power, if their places be filled with his opponents. Send Judge Smith to Petersburgh, his stamina is as able to contend with the cold of that region, as his purse is with its expenses. Appoint W. C. Preston to Mexico, he is a giant in mind and possesses all the quali- ties that constitute greatness. Smith stands at the head of the radical alias anti-Calhoun party. Preston's influence reaches into Virginia also. In Smith's place we will send you Governor Miller. The president will probably remember he was his friend long since. I am aware that all your correspondents may not write so free and frank nay more, by possibility, it may be esteemed too much so disinterestedness however is not easily alarmed by appearances, and as there is nothing in the gift of government that I want, I am contented to run the risks. I am anxious to make this impression on you, that Mr. Calhoun holds influence here, only because his opponents are not properly recognized at Washington. A display then, adverse to him, will en- able us to triumph over him and his friends here, that we have, so far as State questions are concerned effected that triumph already and can remain superior, if sup- ported by such means as are right and proper. But without these means we cannot. And that according to my judgment, no one else likely to arise, is as likely to receive support here as you are. I have only to add, 263 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF if I am mistaken as to what may be your views, my good will must excuse this intrusion on you and you will burn this letter; but if not mistaken, you may rely on me for frank information and all the little service I can render. "Yours respectfully, "David R. Williams." The references to prominent men in the letter quoted show that the time had not arrived for a definite classi- fication of individuals in their party affiliations. The eloquent W. C. Preston, of whom he had an exalted opinion, had already, if the Spy of Columbia is good authority, aligned himself with the progressives. "Poor Sims of the Telescope and his aids," said the Spy y re- puted to have been Professor Henry who later aban- doned the nullifiers, "were about the same time (1829) brought over to their service by fair promises of thrift, to aid their course, which was then too slow in its prog- ress. But he not having courage enough for a bravo was soon paid his wages, dismissed the service and his press transferred to the estate of Col. Preston & Co. What was the conduct of the Telescope about that time? The influential men of the Union Party were slandered, vilified, abused and black-guarded without mercy or the least ceremony." Preston afterward broke with Calhoun as Labienus did with Caesar and with fortunes somewhat paralleled. Miller, whom he never deserted, went the same way, having developed gradually and normally. Poinsett, Minister to Mexico, was probably on his way to Charleston at the time, having been re- lieved by an under officer, Colonel Butler. Poinsett had become unpopular with the Church in Mexico and 264 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS also had offended by the introduction of Masonry into the country. President Jackson advised, because of Poinsett's influential enemies in Mexico, that "Mr. Poinsett with his secretary be invited home, in such a way as will preserve his feelings and give no cause for exultation by this minority (in Mexico) or his enemies. " On his return to Charleston he spoke and wrote against nullification and was elected a member of the legislature in 1830. It is said that he was authorized by Jackson to obtain arms and ammunition from the government supplies in Charleston harbor, for the use of the Union military companies. Governor Middleton was relieved August 3, 1830, from his foreign post, spent the summer of 1831 in Greenville, and in 1832 was elected to represent that district in the nullification convention (Perry) where he joined forces with General Williams' son and successor in support of the Union cause. About Sena- tor Smith, he made no erroneous inferences; but after his defeat, he left the state, disgusted perhaps not less with the conduct of a few of his former friends than displeased with the tactics of the Calhounites. Fate was hard with him in politics but kinder in reference to the choice of a wife and the accumulation of property. Jackson's offer of judicial honors to him in another state was a late recognition of his services and its dec- lination stands as a witness to the strong-willed in- efficiency seated in the White House. Smith was the reputed owner of fine plantations and about eight hun- dred slaves when Charon summoned him into the boat. The Union leader in Greenville district was only 23 years old, but he had seen enough not to be surprised at anything that happened. His thoughts on this sub- ject were put in the Mountaineer in September, 1830: 265 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF "It often happens that a man who pursues a steady course through life, will at different times see the same person first a long way behind him and then greatly in advance. Just so it has been on the tariff question. We now see many persons at least five years ahead of us on the subject, who were some time since, more than ten years behind us. In 1824, we first began to form our opinion about this matter. We set our face against the tariff and denounced it in private conversation and in public societies. In 1826, we expressed our decided opposition to it. In 1828, we pronounced it contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, highly oppressive on the Southern country and entered into resolutions of non-consumption. During all this time, some of our friends who are now running far ahead of us were either advocating the policy and constitutionality of the pro- tective system, or they were maintaining a profound silence on the subject. They then believed the tariff cheapened articles of domestic manufacture and that it was highly improper for the people to be holding anti- tariff meetings, catching unnecessary excitement. But those persons who then believed it wrong for the people to be informed of their oppressions at public meetings, now think the same people should meet in convention and say what is to be done. In 1828, it was improper that the people should oppose the tariff by non-con- sumption or petition the government for a redress of their grievances or even be informed on the subject. But in 1830, it is all important that the people should meet without delay and declare whether they will submit, like cowards, or right themselves as freemen. " Such and similar experiences were the lot of the steady- going men all over the state. Calhoun's toast in July 266 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS showed that he too saw men moving in several direc- tions: "Consolidation and disunion The two extremes of our system: they are both equally dangerous, and ought both to be equally the object of our apprehen- sion." Some unknown person in a toast exhibited, in the midst of the general excitement, analytical genius: "The Tariff Born in generosity, baptized in avarice, and reared by an amalgamation of heterogeneous inter- ests, we fear its death cannot be natural; whilst it lives, it continually accumulates over us, fearful masses, of combustible material." The voice of McDuffie was heard in Abbeville district uttering hard and melan- choly truths in a train of reasoning that appeared to his hearers unanswerable: "We are in effect slaves, and that the Northern manufacturers are our masters; and that we acted in the capacity of overseers for our north- ern brethren and that they really share a greater profit from the production of our labor than we do ourselves. " The attitude of General Williams on this juncture when the legislators to be chosen should decide about the call of a Convention is also at hand : " I am for preventing all irascibility among ourselves; to treat the resentment and even violence of others, not only with gentleness but respect. I am willing those who have resented loudest and highest shall be permitted to take any course they please that will allow their courage to ooze out of their fingers' ends most agreeably to themselves; but with this understanding, they have reproved and scolded long enough. It has become too serious to keep up the quarrel, 'tis time for moderation and reason. In short and plainly, I am for peace, under any existing state of things that, I think likely to arise, rather than civil war. " 267 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF In midsummer an anonymous writer in Charleston wrote to a daily: "I was delighted to see in your paper of Saturday, General Williams indicated as a candidate for chief magistrate at the next election. How gratify- ing will it be to the people of (South) Carolina to have him at this crisis, in the chair of state. His manly patriotism, his attachment to state rights, his fearless independence, all point him out as the most eligible citizen for that high station. I know but one other who could divide the public sentiment; I need not say it is that distinguished citizen, who when Carolina, during the last war, resolved on raising a brigade of State troops, elected him to be commander of it. These two patriots will not stand in the way of each other. They have but one object the public good. We must have a calm, reflecting temperate governor who 'under the right to fight,' will take care that the rights of the State are not invaded nor those of the government of the United States usurped." "Under the right to fight," was a quotation from Stephen D. Miller's toast: "The right to fight the only law of nations worth preserv- ing. "A native Carolinian" followed up the preceding with : ". . . If there is a citizen who, by the moral in- fluence of character, can restore harmony to the union, in whose support all parties, having in view the true interests of the Country, would unite and who would command the confidence of the people that citizen is General Williams. To him are our hopes and anx- ious anticipations directed. Let this second call of his country be made from every section, decisive, loud and unequivocal let it be made from the people, for the maintenance of those principles which are interwoven 268 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS in our political institutions and which form the basis of our union. A voice so expressed will not be diso- beyed a claim upon his patriotism will not be disre- garded. To him let us entrust the helm of state; and under his guidance all shall be well again." The Couriers containing this call for him to come to the rescue of the ship of state were handed him by a neighbor. He had been wilted, completely prostrated and in a state of lassitude consequent upon bleeding and physicking, "having been severely shocked in the upper region." He did not feel complimented when he awoke to the fact that he was drifting apart from his friends and being praised by his enemies. "What have I done that my enemies praise me?" was his solemn self- inquiry. He had already been requested by letters to go to the legislature, just as Judge Huger and Pettigru were trying to do, to thwart the calling of a Convention ; and he was also requested to come out for Governor; but having no appetite for political honors, he sent his refusal. He had many reasons for declining such honors, not the least among them being the difficulty of sailing under his own colors in a motley constituency. He had now reached that point where he ceased to fear for the Union, but he apprehended that the char- acter of the state would suffer. Under this impression he wrote to Gov. Miller (August 11): "I sincerely hope the state right dinner, to be eaten at Sumter, will mani- fest much less of downright madness, than that of Charleston. If it shall indicate half the same sort of violence and insanity, it will probably put every moder- ate man in the State electioneering. I am deeply interested that this shall not be, for the applications that have been and continue to be made to me, about 269 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF the executive office, will, I fear, in that event, be much more serious. You will pardon this seeming vanity which, in truth, is not such. I wish you should clearly and fully believe that I have no disposition to commence another crusade against all my wishes and interests, and am utterly too little of a salamander to take pleas- ure in the fiery ordeal through which every man must pass, not absolutely a cipher, who, enters upon the public service. I understand I am held up as a candi- date in some papers, do not I pray you, believe for a single moment that, I am such. I think I never will be again under any circumstances; nor again enter public life. No man of correct principles can say he never will; because, under emergencies, a well ordered mind must feel that the public are not to be refused, when a necessity exists. No such thing does now, nor can, so far as my poor self is concerned. I therefore hope you will be very explicit, if chance throws this matter into conversation, where you may happen to be. In God's truth, I had as lieve succeed Preston in a speech as you in the Executive office. I have no other way to make myself understood, but through my friends. " In reference to Miller's Sumter speech, General Williams said to him, "if I had been at your elbow I would have asked you to suppress two ideas which I see in it; and it is not impossible that, the first friend you might have met afterwards would have insisted for the retention of those very portions of it." Within one month of his death, November 17, 1830, General Williams wrote two letters which explain his position in politics and why he declined to be a candi- date against James Hamilton or any other person for 270 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS the Chief Magistracy. The first one was written to Governor Miller: "You are not more opposed to the tariff than I am; the only difference is how shall we resist it. It is clear to my understanding that the vital interest of the whole Southern country has been staken on a system of federal legislation, unwise in policy, unjust in action and at war with the principles of the Constitution. Its progress has been slow but as steady as time and will be, if per- sisted in, as fatal as death. But it is the whole system, not a particular part of it that excites my abhorrence, and merits the deepest censure. That system is made up of the original sin of the Federal government, the bank of the United States; the imposition of high duties for the protection of manufacturers, and the squander- ing of those duties in the form of internal improvements, committing the faith of the government, on a scale of extravagance which all the revenues of the civilized world cannot sustain. When you add to these, the mortifying and ruinous fact that, the central govern- ment takes all it can from us and returns nothing back, you have the story of some of our wrongs that every son of Carolina, not a bastard, must be anxious to relieve her from. But bad as all this is, they are better than dissension and civil war. Do not imagine that I think Major Hamilton, General Hayne, Mr. McDuffie or Governor Miller could design such an issue a moment sooner than myself; or, look with the slightest possible favor on such intent. ... It is, however, my mis- fortune to differ from these gentlemen, not concerning our wrongs, but how we shall get rid of them. I think the heat that has been manifested is too great to last. 271 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF I fear that violence may bring our doctrine into dis- repute. I believe nullification will lead to conflict with the General Government. As to convention, in addi- tion to the objections that have been urged, I feel forci- bly one which I have not seen argued. No man can assign limits to the reaction which the excitement of the public mind has caused. Suppose the convention called and it shall decide contrary to the doctrine as- serted by the legislature, what becomes of opposition to the tariff and the whole vile system? Will it not suffer a total parallisis from that moment? But you may ask, if opposed to all these measures will I fold my arms and submit? Not certainly before the 'argu- ment is exhausted.' I am determined with Governor Miller to ' keep the head of my canoe against the stream of consolidation' as long as it runs. The sublimest political sentiment I ever read was uttered in these words, 'error of opinion may be tolerated, while reason is left free to combat it.' This lies at the bottom of all our institutions. Our governments are founded on reason and it therefore is a fit and rightful remedy. The people, I believe, are competent to self-government, that is, good government. When they (I mean the people of the United States) discover injustice, they will remove it. In this I feel a perfect confidence. But if the people of South Carolina feel that their wrongs are intolerable, and will not wait this progress, altho it has clearly commenced, surely there are other meas- ures still in reserve, without rushing into those that are alike miserable and ruinous. Where are the other Southern States? Certainly not blotted from our sys- tem, nor suffering less than we are. It appears to me that no well ordered mind will seek to commit South 272 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS Carolina alone, with the general government. Let the Legislature then at its next meeting commence the task of concert and cooperation. Let it forbear all further abstract declarations about our wrongs and our rights, but go practically to work. Open communications with the states interested. Ascertain definitely to what extent and how they will cooperate. If they will do anything in conjunction, be it what it may, there is hope; but if they will do nothing, then indeed is our case most serious, but not more ours than theirs. In that event we shall be thrown back for redress on the whole people of the United States, a recourse which, in my poor opinion, ought first to be tried; for although we may bury ourselves in the ruins of our country, South Carolina alone can use no means of forcible re- sistance less burthensome than the evils now inflicted on her. "'The reign of Terror' of the elder Adams made me a republican; a term, according to my understanding, convertible with state rights and radicals. During an alarming period of the last war I had an opportunity of manifesting altho only a few personal friends and the then administration of the General Government knew it, how serious and abiding were the doctrines of state rights, so embraced by me. The subsequent and sys- tematic encroachments of that government on the con- stitution have confirmed my early principles yet more firmly, and therefore have I most heartily expounded the state right doctrines, promulgated by the Legisla- ture. From a cause in which my mind has been thus long settled, I shall not be easily diverted. You tell me that Major Hamilton is willing to consider me a candidate in the field, brought out against him on prin- 273 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF ciple. I have held communications with no man on that subject, but to express my decided refusal. I shun public life with the utmost solicitude and espe- cially the executive office. I am not a candidate nor can any circumstances make me one. This declaration seems a matter of equal indifference to my friends and to their opponents. I receive cold and freezing looks from one, and shameless abuse from the other. I have been denounced as a friend to the tariff, a submission man, and a Tory. As I cannot be enticed from my convictions, so neither will I be driven from them; and in no account will I fight under any colours but of my own choosing. The sole satisfaction which public life has heretofore yielded me, is an introduction to the friendship and esteem of Macon, Crawford, Smith and Miller, while these and a few others, tho' less in the public eye, not less in my heart, kindly tolerate my in- firmities, I will not retort an angry word on those who have applied hard terms to me wholly without provo- cation on my part. All I now seek is practical useful- ness to the state and my family; and that, when I am gone, it may be said of me, he never deserted a friend or injured a neighbour. "Stephen D. Miller, Esq., Gov. Sz Com. in Chief etc., near Camden, S. C. " Society Hill, Oct. 19." On the same day that his principles were set forth he gave his final and definite refusal to be a candidate. Edgefield citizens had seconded the call for General Williams, and a letter persuading him to allow his name to be used by his friends for the governorship came from his partner and friend, Col. Chesnut: 274 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS "In the few hints you have dropped, concerning my yielding to the wishes of my best friends, there is so much of earnestness I very much fear, it may in truth have reached to others, as well as to you that, I ought to be the next governor. I can more easily resist it at a distance than in close contact with my friends. This matter has been very seriously considered there is not a single circumstance in my opinion which prompts me to yield, while thousands upon thousands urge to the reverse. Putting my own wishes out of the case, I fear I should in so yielding raise in my own mind, when too late to repent a cause, not only of re- gret, but of self-reproach. When I induced you gentle- men to hazard your money in the Factory, altho' I entered into no obligation for personal attention, I am as certain as tho' I did, that you all consented under a belief that, I would give it, to the full extent that was necessary. I know without that belief, neither of you would have thought of it, for more than an instant. If I suffer myself to be drawn from home, it will be best at once to put fire to the whole rather than waste the earn- ings of our industry on it. You owners are urging this thing on me, but altho' you might acquit me of backing out, my mind I fear would never after feel reconciled. Is it worth while, then, in me to suffer any consideration to entice me to such a state of reflection? Your fine sentiments of honor can give but one answer. Then my dear Chesnut, let this affair of the next governor be, from this moment, never renewed between us." His death occurred in the midst of this campaign. His policy, however, was continued by his son Nicholas who was elected to the legislature, in which body a speech by him against calling a convention was circu- 275 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF lated as an able document. The issue of Nullification is well known and the views about its wisdom or unwis- dom sharply divided the people in the state. The dif- ference between Calhoun and General Williams was reduced to the single point of how best to resist federal usurpation. Williams wanted to withdraw out of the reach of the predatory law, not from the Union; Cal- houn wanted to "slow down" the government machine, examine and correct its defects, make compromises by which peace and justice might be secured within the Union. It is said in the Encyclopaedia Britannica that Dr. Thomas Cooper, Professor in the South Caro- lina College, "preceded Calhoun in advocating a prac- tical application of the State sovereignty principle." Calhoun was familiar with the nullification principles as applied by the Ephors at Sparta, the Tribunes at Rome, and with its widest application in Poland; but he based his Nullification on the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions brought out by the Adams administration. The government was not yet fifty years old, and it was not unpatriotic to strive to engraft in the working machinery of the government a power somewhere which is yet a desideratum to check a fierce majority; but it presupposed a patriotism in his adversaries that is never found in a majority, a willingness to resign volun- tarily its own advantage in favor of the weaker party. General Williams was six years older than Mr. Cal- houn, and the latter served in the general government more than three times longer than the former and sur- vived him about twenty years. They were both born in the country and became agricultural statesmen. Both were reared in pious families which were able to send them to Northern colleges for their higher educa- 276 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS tion. They were church goers and reverent men, but neither ever became a communicant. Both of our statesmen were men of spotless character and passed through trying scenes like gold seven times purified. General Williams was warm hearted, cour- teous, strong in his power of analysis and synthesis, wiser than Calhoun perhaps in reading men, and not less strenuous in digging down to the naked truth; eloquent, patriotic, and rounded out in other elements of true greatness. He cut short his political career to apply himself to plantation improvements, and having spent his ripest years in devotement to agricultural and manufacturing interests, he passed away and passed out of the public mind. Calhoun was intellect incar- nate, lucid, invincible in discourse. His life was spent in the public eye and his death was spectacular and his funeral obsequies were second only say to Wash- ington's. Both General Williams and Senator Calhoun represented minorities and both of them were prophets. All prophets are out of the swim; they stand on the bank and see things as they are and are unheeded. Cal- houn foresaw what the Abolitionists would do, even to the arming of the slaves with the right of suffrage; and Williams saw what would be the end of the unprof- itable strife to do each other the most harm. Each had his enemies and misinterpreters. Williams' plain and correct statement about majority rule and Cal- houn's opinion about cotton factories in the state, for example, were both misinterpreted,* as if a sentence, *The following extracts taken from Gregg's pamphlet, 1845, in the possession of Mr. August Kohn, probably came under the eye of Mr. Calhoun, but, as usual, he opened not his mouth: "Even Mr. Calhoun, our great oracle a statesman whose purity of character we all revere whose elevation to the highest office in the gift of the people of the United 277 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF a thought, could be treated justly apart from a man's whole life and conduct. But Calhoun being in public life, was the most thoroughly hated as well as the most thoroughly trusted man in the nation. But Providence was kind to him in one respect. After all the agencies, including Von Hoist's biography, had done their utmost, Calhoun's voluminous correspond- ence was printed in 1899 and it at once rendered anti- quated many effusions of his critics, and placed him back upon his own pedestal. Daniel Webster, whom Calhoun pronounced on his deathbed the fairest antago- nist he ever contended with, became unpopular and died almost broken-hearted and deserted by New Eng- land. He had been a poor manager and had been financed in his latter years by manufacturers. (Lodge.) Henry Clay in his old age was so deep in debt that it was a heavy burden to keep the interest paid up. He was surprised at last when his creditor told him that his obligations had been cancelled by friends who were so discreet that Clay never found out who they were. (Wentworth.) Calhoun owed something less than $40,000 at the time of his death but was not bankrupt. When his health began to fail, his friends in Charleston States would enlist the undivided vote of South Carolina even he is against us in this matter; he will tell you that no mechanical enterprise will succeed in South Carolina that good mechanics will go where their talents are better rewarded that to thrive in cotton spinning one should go to Rhode Island that to undertake it here, will not only lead to loss of capital, but disappointment and ruin to those who engage in it." . . . "There are those who understand some things as well, if not better, than other people, who have taken the pains to give this subject a thorough investigation and who could probably give, even Mr. Calhoun a practical lesson concerning it. The known zeal with which this distinguished gentleman has always engaged in everything relating to the interest of South Carolina, forbids the idea that he is not a friend to domestic manufacturers, fairly brought about; and knowing, as he must know, the influence which he exerts, he should be more guarded in expressing opinions adverse to so good a cause." 278 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS gathered a sum of money to buy or lease a yacht in order that the honored senator might rest and recuper- ate in a sea voyage. His death having occurred earlier than was expected, the $40,000 was used by the con- tributors to extinguish the debt which would have swallowed up a large part of the estate. (Simpson.) General Williams lived fifty-four years and packed in that fleeting period a century of achievements which have been already imperfectly narrated; and in addi- tion he accumulated and left a property for his children, abundant and unencumbered, and a name above any- thing that is sordid, selfish, unpatriotic, sinister, or crooked. He never deserted a friend or injured a neigh- bor. Sources: The Records of the State Senate, Perry's Reminiscences, The Spy of Columbia, Calhoun's Let- ters, Landrum's History of Spartanburg, Wentworth's Congressional Reminiscences, Jervey's Robert Y. Hayne, General Williams' Letters and Articles, the Mountaineer of Greenville, the Courier, Mercury, and City Gazette of Charleston, 1827-1830; Articles by Colonel R. W. Simpson, Attorney for Thomas Clemson, son-in-law of John C. Calhoun. 279 CHAPTER XXIII HIS DEATH AND BURIAL ON THE 17th of October, 1830, General Wil- liams wrote to his friend Colonel Chesnut as follows: "I am going to Lynch's Creek to- morrow to arrange for commencing to raise the bridge. I shall be there only a few hours, it being still impru- dent, altho* I think quite safe to stay there. I hope it will suit you to spare me some carpenters. I design to begin work as nearly after the 1st of November as possible. I have imagined as my fields abound in pumpkins and peas, it may be quite as agreeable to you to lend your carpenters a poor mule and cart, as for me to send out for them; if so I shall only have to write when I want them which I will do immediately after my return from the Creek." It was in the Indian summer period of the year when the bulk of the crops had been gathered, early in No- vember, that General Williams collected his teams and hands at Witherspoon Ferry, some fifty miles distant. There he cut the timber, hauled it to the spot, and had already begun to extend the framework of the bridge he came to build over the stream. While under the bridge, a heavy log fell upon him and crushed both legs below the knee and wounded unto death two of the men. One version of the fatal accident represents the 280 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS negro axeman as remonstrating but nevertheless obe- dient when commanded to knock out the prop no longer thought to be necessary. (DuBose.) Another was that "a massive piece of timber escaped unexpectedly from the position in which it had been placed, and falling upon a part of his body, crushed him (Corre- spondent of the Christian Index who had gotten Mrs. Williams' account). The third version agrees with the second, "some portion of the timber, accidentally fell upon him, while in the act of giving directions, brake both legs, etc. " The excruciating shock did not cause the sufferer to lose his presence of mind; his thought was for his injured servants whom he had cared for first. Another, at his command, took out a lancet from his pocket and bled him. Daddy Smart was sent with a message to the family (Furman) over a distance which would require all night and an hour or two of daylight to accomplish it. In the meantime, while these hours were being spent on the road, there were troubled dreams at "the Factory," which were recorded and handed down by men of good repute. One of them rests upon the authority of James C. Furman, who was four years after the event a guest for ten months in the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Williams. It is found in the Historical Sketch of the Welsh Neck Church, 1888, and is told as coming direct from her: "On a given morning (Nov. 18, 1830) at the breakfast table, Mrs. Williams stated she had a very vivid dream the night before. She had dreamed that a special messenger, Smart, one of the General's favorite serv- ants, riding 'the clay-bank mare,' one of the numerous animals taken to the scene of labor, had brought word that General Williams was fatally injured. The table 281 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF having been cleared away, Mrs. Williams took her seat as usual and opened the volume before her, when the noise of the opening of a gate on the eastern side of the lawn attracted her attention, and sure enough there was Smart riding the clay-bank mare. Powerfully im- pressed by the strange coincidence, she cast her eyes upon the volume before her and read the words, 'Be still and know that I am God.' Just then and there, as she subsequently averred, did she bow herself abso- lutely to the righteous sovereignty of God. In the exercise of an unqualified submission, she accepted Christ as of God made unto wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Thus in an hour of deepest darkness, light sprang up. The messenger had brought word that General Williams, though badly crushed by fallen timbers, was still alive, and Mrs. W., accompanied by the accomplished and skillful physi- cian, Dr. Thomas Smith, was soon on the way to the scene of the disaster. May I mention, by the way, that General W. would not allow a thing to be done for his own relief until the servants who were injured had been first attended to. He blamed himself for an un- necessary risk, in raising heavy timbers, involving danger to others, as well as to himself, and then he was a fine example of a type of character which the patriar- chal form of Southern society tended to nourish a just, generous, noble care for the well-being of dependents. " The other dream was related by his grandson, David R. Williams, son of J. N. Williams, and is found in "The Williams Family of Society Hill": "He was then a boy of eight, and his mother being dead, he was living in his grandfather's house. On the night following the accident, he had a vivid dream, in which he saw his 282 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS grandfather, evidently injured, being brought home on the big blue wagon driven by Daddy Smart. So vivid and terrifying was the dream that at four in the morn- ing he awoke his grandmother to tell her of it. She tried to reassure him and he returned to bed. In the morning, however, a messenger arrived, saying that General Williams was seriously injured; and so she and young David hurriedly drove with a physician down toward Lynch's Creek. On the way they met the blue wagon driven by Smart." The news of the distressing accident spread with rapidity, and eclipsed so completely his funeral obse- quies that there is not one word, oral or written, con- cerning it. The day after the burial, logically conducted by Rev. Mr. Dossey, in the presence of a great con- course from all the countryside and neighboring places, a correspondent of a paper in Philadelphia visited Mrs. Williams and furnished Editor W. T. Brantly of the Christian Index the information which drew out the following: "Our correspondent at Society Hill confirms the painful account of the afflictive and unexpected end of this distinguished citizen of South Carolina. He was superintending the construction of a bridge, when the calamitous visitation overtook him. A massive piece of timber escaped unexpectedly from the position in which it had been placed, and falling upon a part of his body, crushed him in such a manner that he died shortly after. From the flush of health, and a most conspicuous station in society, he was suddenly pre- cipitated into the gloomy grave. Our correspondent says, T have just returned from a visit to his bereft widow, and learn that his remains were yesterday deposited in the family burial ground.' General Wil- 283 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF Hams had occupied many public stations with great honor to himself and benefit to others. He was a man of prominent talents and enterprise, patriotic, generous, and brave. He was a kind and affectionate relative, an ardent friend, and a candid enemy. Such a citizen would be a serious loss to any community; but to that in which he lived, his loss in many respects will be irrep- arable.* ' One week before General Williams' death, the Pendle- ton Messenger mentioned that his name had been pro- posed as candidate for Governor. He, however, had promptly disclaimed any intention to appear before the people. Its testimony concerning his official conduct was, "he has ably and faithfully discharged his duties and has left behind him an honorable and enviable reputation." The Charleston Courier remarked that "The premature death of so virtuous, talented, and patriotic citizen, would at any time have been a source of deep regret; but the dispensation is doubly severe at the present political juncture, when the State requires the aid of its ablest pilots to direct its course in the political troubles with which it is surrounded." The Camden Journal's remarks are fuller and are drawn from an intimate acquaintance with its deceased friend and contributor: "It is with no common sorrow that we announce the death of David R. Williams. He died at Witherspoon Ferry on Lynch's Creek on Wed- nesday morning of last week aged fifty-four years. The circumstances attending this melancholy event render it even more peculiarly distressing. He was superintending the erection of a bridge over the Creek, and while in the act of giving directions, some portions of the timber accidentally fell upon him, brake both 284 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS legs below the knee, and otherwise bruised and shattered his frame in the most shocking manner. Notwith- standing this, however, he never for a moment lost his presence of mind, but with perfect knowledge of his situation and with the utmost self-possession he directed a servant to take from his pocket a lancet and bleed him copiously, which was done. After lingering in the excruciating pain for seventeen hours, he expired, and before any member of his family could reach him, the accident having occurred fifty miles from home. "We doubt whether South Carolina (has a citizen) whose loss at this time would be more deeply lamented. General Williams was a favorite and cherished son. There is scarcely an office from the highest to the hum- blest that he has not either filled or been solicited to do so, and always with most distinguished faithfulness and ability. The deceased was educated at Brown Uni- versity and was called in early life to important offices by his fellow-citizens was elected to Congress (in 1805) where he served till 1813 (except 1809-11), and during that time was a distinguished, zealous, and most useful representative, serving for a long time at the head of the most important committee of the House. In 1813 he was appointed Brigadier-General in the United States Army and served for some time with General Boyd on the northern frontier. His services there were of the most active and laborious character and his zeal and gallantry were evincive of the highest chivalry. But we all know the unfortunate mode which some of our northern campaigns were conducted. General Williams became disgusted and requested to be em- ployed at the South, and he was accordingly transferred to the Southern Army. Soon after that he resigned, 285 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF and in 1814 he was elected Governor of the State; the first intimation of which high distinction was given to him on his own plantation by a communication from the legislature. After serving out his constitutional period, General Williams was a distinguished and in- fluential member of the Senate of the State and has been repeatedly and most urgently solicited again to fill the gubernatorial chair. Indeed his fellows have always been urged to obtain his public service, in proportion to the difficulties in which they have seen the State involved. The highest reliance has always been placed in the firmness, energy, and patriotism of David R. Williams. Few men possessed so great a versatility of character, so much, if the expression be a warrantable one, of the stamina of popularity, as General Williams. The isolated excellences of great men were found com- bined in him. He was a gallant soldier, a most courtly gentleman, a firm, ardent, and sometimes, perhaps, an impetuous public functionary, at the same time that he was the blandest and most amiable man in the pri- vate circles of life. The kindest husband, parent, friend, while he was the most active, indefatigable and enterprising citizen. His house was the home of hospi- tality and his great wealth, the fund upon which charity never found a draft dishonored."* The spot where this illustrious Pee Deean was laid to rest is in sight of Robbin's Neck depot. The hal- *An elderly woman who knew him only by reputation came to General Williams one night to solicit aid in saving her son from the clutches of the law for some defal- cation. He furnished the money and the youth went to work, made good and re- turned every dollar. (N. W. Kirkpatrick.) General Williams allowed his neighbor- iiness in the time of no banks to overcome his judgment. After having paid a note endorsed by him, he met Dr. Smith on one of his plantations and said, " Hold up your hands: Swear: 'I will never go security.'" It has been handed down that $70,000 was paid out by his estate on security debts. 286 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS lowed spot is shaded by a majestic elm, and cedar trees draped with pendent moss stand as unwearied sentinels about it. Upon a rectangular brick wall around the grave still kept in good order was placed a marble slab, containing this epitaph : TO THE MEMORY OF DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS who died the 17th day of November, 1830, at Lynch's Creek, Witherspoon Ferry. He died of wounds re- ceived while erecting a bridge at that place of which he suffered 17 hours, aged 54 years, eight months and nine days. Not to perpetuate his worth but to make more sacred THIS SPOT Which retains the memories of him who was as kind as he was virtuous THIS MONUMENT ERECTED BY HIS WIDOW ELIZABETH WILLIAMS 287 CHAPTER XXIV HIS LEGACY AND DESCENDANTS THE last will and testament made by General Williams appointed Mrs. Williams executrix and J. N. Williams executor. After his death J. M. Davis, John K. Mclver and D. R. W. Mclver were appointed to appraise the estate. They mentioned the Factory, the Upper Quarter, the Middle Quarter, the Barn Plantation and Plumfield, only to specify the property left upon them. The number of acres in each and their estimated value did not come under this purview. Other land belonging to the estate was fifty miles distant and it was not to be touched during Mrs. Williams' lifetime. At the Factory, where the family resided, there were 20 male and 24 female slaves, with 19 children. Two yoke of oxen with suitable carts and wagons, 40 sows, shoats and pigs, 7,000 pounds of bacon and one-half interest in a store. There is no appraisal of the cotton factory, grist mills, shoe and hat factories, etc., of cash on hand, bonds, or of the cotton crop of 1830. The house furniture was put down at $2,155, three shotguns and rifles $200, kitchen furniture $200, carriage horses and sulky $300, saddle horses $375, library $400, goods in the store $2,000. The estimates may be considered as low rather than high as only one negro servant in 288 DAVID ROGERSON WILLIAMS 63 was rated as high as $700, and Smart, the favorite servant of the deceased master, and four others were valued at $600 each. Some thirty-six of them were un- der $300. The mules were assessed at an average of $50. At the Upper Quarter there were 27 male and 24 female slaves. Here also were 4 mares, 1 jack, 64 mules, 172 head of cattle, 5 yoke of oxen and 6 vehicles. These animals congregated at the Upper Quarter in the winter time, belonged, it is supposed, also to the other plantations. On this place were found 120 hogs, 70 head of sheep and 7,000 pounds of bacon, 1,500 bush- els of corn, 25,000 pounds of fodder and plantation tools. Five of the servants at the Upper Quarter were valued at $1 each. They were evidently old men and women who were past active field labor and were on the pension list. Only one was valued at $500. At the Middle Quarter there were 25 males and 20 females, 85 head of hogs, plantation tools, 5 carts and wagons, 1,800 pounds of fodder and 2,500 pounds of bacon. At the Barn Plantation were found 23 males and 24 females, 3,300 bushels of corn, 33 stacks of fodder, 100 head of hogs, 5 carts and wagons, 6,000 pounds of bacon. At Plumfield there were 19 males and 20 females, 152 head of hogs, 1,000 bushels of corn, 30 stacks of fodder, 4,000 pounds of bacon, 5 carts and wagons, 4 canoes and 1 boat and tackling. There were all told 245 dependents on the five plan- tations in 1831. Among these servants was not included the number Mrs. Williams brought with her from the Witherspoon estate. Her household was sufficient for the working of the Upper Quarter left for her use. There were all 289 THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF told 7 yoke of oxen, 4 mares, 64 mules, 1 jack, 172 cattle, 70 sheep, 497 swine, two months after more than 26,500 pounds of bacon had been placed in his smokehouses, 7,000 bushels of corn, 26,800 pounds of fodder and 63 stacks of the same. The sum total was $86,475, perhaps not a third or a fourth of the total value of the whole estate. The heir, J. Nicholas Williams, had been a widower about eight years and remained unmarried about a year longer. This period was lengthened somewhat by the age of the girl whom he desired to make his partner. Miss Sarah Canty Witherspoon was in her sixteenth year, just through her course of education, when Col. Nicholas Williams was attracted by her. General Williams was again his faithful ally and in a confidential way asked permis- sion of his friend, John Dick Witherspoon, for his son to address his daughter, on the supposition that the difference between twenty-eight and sixteen years was not an insuperable objection. A courtship, devoted and absorbing, reaching over a period of five years was followed by marriage in September, 1831. From this union were born .six children: Serena Williams, Elizabeth Williams, who died young, John Witherspoon Williams, George Frederick Williams, Constance Williams, and Sarah Power Williams/' ct^l> OJL