Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 16.djvu/9

 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Vol. XVI. Richmond, Va., January-December. 1888.

Heroes of the old Camden District, South Carolina, 1776-1861.

An Address to the Survivors of Fairfield County, delivered at Winnsboro, S. C, September /, 1888.

BY COL. EDWARD MCCRADY, JR.

It is no disparagement of the rest of the troops of the State, in the late war, to say that the Sixth, Twelfth and Seventeenth Regi- ments, which were raised mostly from the districts of York, Chester, Lancaster, Fairfield and Kershaw, that constituted the old Camden district at the time of the Revolution, were pre-eminent for their gal- lantry and soldierly qualities and esprit de corps; nor is this to be wondered at when we recollect that the people of this section, from which these regiments were formed, are perhaps the most homoge- neous of the State a people possessing in a marked degree all those qualities which go to make brave men and good soldiers.

This old town of Wmnsboro has been twice the headquarters of an invading army, once burned, and twice ravaged by an enemy. In each instance the excuse was that its inhabitants were in rebellion ; but as they ultimately succeeded in the first, history has been so kind as to substitute the term " Revolution" for that of " Rebellion" ; as they failed in the second, it has left them to that

" foul dishonoring word,

Whose wrongful blights so oft has stained

The holiest cause that tongue or sword Of mortal ever lost or gained."

But whether "Rebellion" or "Revolution," so it has happened that twice this section of the State from Camden to the North Caro- lina line has been trodden by a devastating foe, whose march has been marked by burned homesteads and blackened chimney-stacks left standing alone amidst the ruins around them. In both instances these invasions followed the fall of Charleston and disaster to our arms elsewhere. The first, however, ultimately ended with the sur-