The Massacre At The Waxhaws: The Revolutionary War Arrives In The SC Backcountry -- May 29, 1780

The British Legion charges Virginia Continentals at the Battle of the Waxhaws on May 29, 1780.
Painting by Graham Turner.

 
The Massacre At The Waxhaws

The Revolutionary War Arrives In The SC Backcountry 
Monday, May 29, 1780
 

By: C.W. Roden

This post is dedicated to the men, woman and children who help maintain the site of Buford's Massacre, and especially to the Continental soldiers from the State of Virginia who were wounded and died there in defense of American liberty in May 1780. 

(Part 1 of a 15 part series)

After five years of largely indecisive fighting in the northern States, the Revolutionary War reached a stalemate in the year 1780. George Washington's Continentals faced off against the combined British and Hessian forces now under the command of General Sir Henry Clinton outside of New York City.

France and Spain had entered the war on the side of the newly independent American States in 1778 and the British Empire reoriented for a worldwide strategy. Losing the North American colonies would be bad; but the loss of Gibraltar, India, or the West Indies would have been a disaster for Great Britain. British troops and naval vessels were needed on other more important fronts.

General Clinton knew that there might still be a way to win the war for America: conquer the South. The region had been largely untouched by the war, and it was felt that in the Southern States there were yet many Loyalists who would rise to support the Crown if the British army established a serious foothold there.

General Sir Henry Clinton, Commander In Chief
of British Expeditionary Forces in
North America 1778-1782. 
Painting by English painter John Smart.

The Southern plan devised by Clinton and approved by Lord Germain was to invade South Carolina, set up outposts across the State, recruit as many as 5,000 Loyalist militia forces and augment them with a small core of several thousand British regulars, training them to fight for the British army. After securing South Carolina, the Loyalists there would remain to hold the rebellious colony for the Crown while the main British regular army marched north, repeating the process in North Carolina and Virginia. The goal would be to catch Washington's Continental Army between two main British armies and crush the colonial rebellion before the French could effectively intervene in America. 

On Sunday, April 2, 1780, a British armada and expeditionary force under Clinton's direct command launched his attack against the city of Charleston, South Carolina. Unlike Clinton's previous attack in June of 1776, this time the British forces laid siege to the city with both infantry and naval forces trapping the main Southern Continental Army under the command of Major General Benjamin Lincoln.

On Friday, May 12th at around 11:00 AM, Lincoln surrendered the city and the entire Southern Continental Army after a six week siege. Lincoln's army included all four of South Carolina's remaining Continental regiments, two North Carolina Continental regiments and six Virginia Continental regiments, as well as a large number of North and South Carolina militia -- overall about 5,000 men.

The surrender of Charleston sent a shock wave throughout the entire continent. Charleston was the largest and most important city in the South -- still the capitol of the State of South Carolina at that time -- and its loss was a huge blow to the morale to the Continental Congress and the cause of American independence. The loss of the entire Southern Continental Army would be considered the worst American military defeat in history until the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in the Philippines in May of 1942.  

Under the terms of the surrender, the Continental regulars were to remain as prisoners of war until properly exchanged, but the Patriot militiamen were to be permitted to return to their homes as prisoners on parole provided they sign a pledge not take up arms against the British Crown again. Many took the offer of parole and went home, feeling that the war was over for them. Other backcountry Patriots upon learning about the defeat at Charleston simply turned around and went home. 

There were still some Patriot troops outside the city under the command of Brigadier General Issac Huger who had not surrendered with the rest of Lincoln's army. These troops also included the remnants of Lt. Colonel William Washington's Continental dragoons and a few companies of militia including a company commanded by Captain John McClure from what are now present-day Chester and York Counties. Having no further use for them, Huger dismissed the militia. Devastated by the loss of their State's capitol, and angered at the loss of their horses in battle less then a week earlier, McClure's company broke camp and began the long walk home. At the time many of them felt that the war was lost in South Carolina.

The remains of Huger and Washington's Continental forces retreated to Lenud's Ferry on the Santee River where they would meet up with a force of Virginia Continentals under the command of Colonel Abraham Buford and North Carolina militia commanded by William Caswell. 


Buford's Virginians and the Retreat

Raised in Virginia earlier in the spring, Buford's command consisted of about 380 Continental officers and men of the 3rd Virginia Detachment which included the 7th Virginia Regiment, two companies of the 2nd Virginia regiment and a small force of artillerymen with two six-pounders. Many of these men were recruits with little battle experience, though Buford himself saw battle before in Washington's Continental Army. 

Due to delays in getting his command organized and outfitted, Buford and his army did not even arrive in South Carolina until the beginning of May and was unable to reach Charleston in time to help in its defense. By the time the Virginians arrived at Lenud's Ferry, the city had fallen to the British. Buford's men were joined by about 40 Virginia Light Dragoons who had escaped the siege. A total of 420 men overall.

A battle flag of Buford's 3rd Virginia Detatchment.
The original banner (one of three) was captured by
Tarleton's British Legion at the Battle of the Waxhaws.

Huger, Washington and Buford met up at Lenud's Ferry that evening. Their combined forces were too small in number to resist the British so retreat was their only option. Huger ordered the Virginians and North Carolina militia to withdraw to Camden, South Carolina retreating north along the river, toward the High Hills of Santee, before the British could cross the river and overtake them. Marching north they came to the Great Wagon Road that led from Charleston to the Camden District and the upstate settlements. Both Washington and Huger went ahead to Hillsborough, North Carolina where the few remains of the Southern Continental Army that was not captured were gathering to regroup and gather into a new army.

On Friday, May 26, Buford, Caswell, and their men arrived in the town of Camden where they encountered South Carolina Governor John Rutledge who'd managed to escape from Charleston before the surrender and took refuge there to assume direction of the remaining soldiers there.

Governor Rutledge informed Buford of rumors that the British army was in pursuit and advancing on Camden in force. He decided the best chance for them to escape was to separate the units and take two different routes. Caswell's brigade was to march northeast to the Pee Dee River and towards North Carolina while Buford's Virginians were to satay on the Great Wagon Road to Salisbury, North Carolina. Rutledge would go with them and establish a government in exile in North Carolina to continue fighting the British from there.
 

The British Advance

Receiving intelligence from Loyalist spies that Buford and Rutledge were in Camden and preparing to retreat to North Carolina, Clinton ordered his second-in-command Lieutenant General Charles Lord Cornwallis, along with a corps of some 2,500 infantry, cavalry, and artillery, to follow Buford and neutralize his force. Clinton and Cornwallis were both in agreement that the pacification of the South Carolina "backcountry" and upstate was of major importance to the success of their campaign. Having an armed force of Continentals close by would only encourage those "rebels" left in South Carolina to continue their resistance to the Crown.  

On Thursday, May 18th, Cornwallis' forces made their way to Lenud's Ferry and crossed the Santee River headed for Camden. Heavy rains slowed the British pursuit and Buford's retreat since both forces were burdened by artillery and wagons on muddy roads.

By Saturday, May 27th, Cornwallis realized that his main army was advancing too slowly to catch Buford, so he detached the British Legion, a mobile force of cavalry and infantry made up of Northern-born American Loyalists from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania commanded by British Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, to pursue Buford's force while he marched the rest of the army to Camden and being the task of establishing British outposts in the upcountry to maintain order for the Crown's forces.

Tarleton's command included 40 British cavalry regulars of the 17th Dragoons, 130 of his British Legion Cavalry, and 100 men of the British Legion's Infantry detachment - riding double with a cavalryman on horseback for this occasion. A total of 270 men overall.

British Lt. Colonel Banastre Tarleton wearing the
green uniform of the British Legion that earned
him the romantic nickname: "The Green Dragoon".
The actions of his men at the Waxhaws on May 29, 1780
would earn him several less flattering nicknames
such as: "Bloody Ban" or "Butcher Tarleton".
Painting by British painter Sir Joshua Reynolds.

At about 10 AM on Sunday, May 28th, then 11-year-old Thomas Sumter Jr., the young son of Colonel Thomas Sumter, was riding his horse through the High Hills of the Santee River when a neighbor rode past in full gallop, crying that British cavalry was on its way. Tom rode his horse home to inform his father what he had heard. Sumter called to Soldier Tom, his African-American manservant, and ordered him to saddle their horses. After donning his old uniform of the 2nd South Carolina Regiment, Sumter bid farewell to Tom and his wife, Mary, and headed to North Carolina with Soldier Tom only a few hours ahead of the British Legion. 

Although Sumter had retired from active military service in September 1778, he was well known to the British and Loyalists in South Carolina as a prominent Continental officer. Tarleton dispatched Captain Charles Campbell of the Legion to bring in Sumter. Campbell's detachment arrived at Sumter's plantation home to find Sumter had already alluded them. The British Legion soldiers then plundered the home and put it to the torch, leaving Sumter's family homeless. 

The destruction of Sumter's home would be just one of several mistakes the British Legion would make in the next two days that would have major long-term repercussions in derailing their overall Southern strategy.

That evening Tarleton reached Camden and wasted no time in setting off after Buford. He departed the town at about 2 AM the next morning on Monday, May 29th.

Buford's forces, along with Governor Rutledge, were camped at a place called Hanging Rock, a small creek overhung by a huge conglomerate boulder just 20 miles north of Camden.

A copy of the terms offer to Buford by Tarleton
on the afternoon of May 29, 1780 prior to the
Battle of the Waxhaws.
Courtesy of the Museum of the Waxhaws collection.

Governor Rutledge decided to ride on ahead to Charlotte, North Carolina with a small escort leaving Buford's force behind to continue on to Salisbury at double time. The men were already footsore and slowed with wagons and two cannons. Early Monday morning they reached the fork where the Great Wagon Road went toward Charlotte to the left and the more direct cutoff straight to Salisbury through thickly forested, lightly inhabited country, to the right. Buford headed right though the area of modern-day Lancaster County known as the Waxhaws after the Native America tribe that once largely inhabited the area.

Around midday an officer of the British Legion, Captain David Kinloch, under a banner of truce, came upon Buford's force with a message from Tarleton -- who by that time was at Barkley's tavern on the road less than an hour behind Buford. The message was clear, Buford could surrender on generous terms -- about the same given by Clinton to Lincoln at Charleston -- or, as Tarleton boldly phrased it in his message: "If you are rash enough to reject them, the blood be upon your head."

Buford and his junior officers conferred. They claim by Tarleton in his message of having 700 men, they guessed correctly, was a lie. In fact, Buford's Virginians actually outnumbered the British Legion detachment close to 3 to 1. Buford believed that the whole thing might be a ruse to bluff them to surrender. Buford declined the offer to surrender with a one sentence reply: "Sir, I reject your proposals, and shall defend myself to the last extremity."


The Battle of the Waxhaws

Virginia Continental Soldier.
Artwork by Don Troiani.

Buford continued to march toward North Carolina in an effort to put the British Legion forces behind him, with his cannons and wagons in the lead.  

Sometime around 3 PM that afternoon, a bugle sounded behind them, and Tarleton's 170 cavalrymen, sabers swinging, charged the Virginian's read guard, commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Pearson.  

In 18th century warfare, cavalry charges against infantry were a terrifying experience for the men on foot. Psychologically such an attack is meant to play on the nerves and strike terror into infantry soldiers. The sight of being attacked at high speed by a screaming, sword-wielding enemy riding a large horse, or other beast, is almost more than most people can stand up to.

Some of the Virginians ran, others dropped to the ground to avoid the British sabers. Lieutenant Pearson himself was not so fortunate. He was mounted himself and was knocked from his horse by a saber blow and then slashed across the face, the sword cutting his nose and lips in half and killing him instantly.

Buford halted his main column and ordered the Continentals to turn and form on the side of the road under the trees facing the enemy. In haste to do so, Buford either had no time to order the wagons to be used as an obstacle, nor get his two cannons in place. Tarleton deployed his men into three elements of combined cavalry and infantry, then attacked from about three hundred yards. The British Legion Cavalry charged the front and flanks of the Virginians.

British Legion Infantry Soldier.
Artwork by Don Troiani.

As they charged, Buford gave what was perhaps a fatal order: hold fire until the enemy was ten paces in front of the line. By that time the cavalry was charging the line at full gallop and could not be stopped. The Continentals got off one volley of shots before the Legion's cavalry crashed into the line, British sabers went to work on the now all-but helpless Virginia infantry who had no time to reload their muskets. The two flanking units of the British line then all but surrounded the Continentals. By that point the charging Legion Infantry joined in jabbing anything that moved with their 15 inch bayonets.

British Legion Cavalry Trooper.
Artwork by Don Troiani.

During the volley, Tarleton's horse was shot out from under him and he fell to the ground with his dead horse on top of him, pinning him down for the next few moments. The Legion's soldiers seeing their young commander shot down and believing him to be dead turned on the Virginians and began to literally hack them to pieces, some even as they tried to surrender.

Buford himself did not wait to see the final outcome of the battle knowing that defeat was inevitable. He galloped away towards Salisbury on horseback with a few survivors leaving the infantrymen to their fate.

Colonel Tarleton -- now mounted onto a fresh horse -- finally urged his officers to get the men under control. This took some time in the heat and confusion of battle with tempers flared and adrenaline pumping. The battle became a bloody melee with the Legion Cavalry slashing at survivors with sabers and the infantry stabbing with bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. Some were hacked to death, or wounded when they raised their hands and tried to surrender.

When the smoke cleared, 113 of the Virginia Continental soldiers were dead -- many of which would die later from wounds -- 150 men were wounded and 53 were captured. Only a handful escaped with Buford. Of the British Legion, 5 men lay dead (probably from the volley by the Virginians) and 12 wounded. 

The entire battle took less then fifteen minutes.


The Bloody Aftermath

Tarleton ordered that the 53 Continentals still standing be transported to Camden where Cornwallis was setting up command of South Carolina. The 150 men that lay wounded -- some too badly to be moved any great distance -- were "paroled" which largely meant in many cases leaving them on the field to die.

By nightfall the British Legion camped closed to the battleground. Tarleton sent messengers over to the nearby Waxhaw community thirteen miles away to inform the residents of the battle. At a distance from the Legion's fires, dead and wounded still lay on the earth, the later screaming in torment. Tarleton sent for surgeons from Camden and Charlotte to help assist the wounded. His own Legion's doctor was busy helping with the fourteen wounded men of the Legion and did not bother with helping the enemy, the Hippocratic Oath notwithstanding.

Marker outside the Waxhaw Presbyterian Church,
site of Waxhaws Meeting House in 1780.

The local population of scattered Scotch-Irish settlers in the upcountry came to the scene to help with the wounded. What they found on Buford's bloody battlefield horrified them. Most of the wounded were so badly mangled suffering mostly from bayonet and saber wounds -- some with a few as four and many others with more than a dozen -- that they died where they lay. Others were pressed into service to bury the dead in a long mass grave that remains on the site. Some of the wounded that could be carried by cart were taken several miles away to Waxhaw Meeting House and nearby homes to be cared for.

Among the local Waxhaw residents who helped with caring for the badly wounded Virginian Continentals was a local widow named Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson and her 13 year old son, Andrew Jackson -- the future 7th President of the United States -- who would later join with local patriots under Thomas Sumter's command to fight against the British and Loyalists in the upstate. 

 

Conclusion: "Tarleton's Quarter"

To the local residents, the sight of so much bloodshed, and young men literally cut to pieces was a scene of horror none of them would ever forget. For the people of upstate South Carolina up until then the Revolutionary War was only know to them from family and neighbors who went off to fight far away through letters or second hand accounts.

For the first time since South Carolina declared her sovereign independence, eighteenth century warfare finally arrived literally in the back yards of the people of the South Carolina upcountry. These people now witnessed first hand the type of war and brutality practiced their new British masters.

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Waxhaws -- or "Buford's Massacre" as its still called in upstate South Carolina to this day -- both frightened and angered many backcountry Patriots, many of whom believed that Tarleton deliberately ordered his men to slaughter Buford's Continentals. The fact that Tarleton himself played up the one-sided battle and encouraged the stories of his men's slaughter of the Virginians would not help to dispel these perceptions.

The one-sided battle earned the young English Colonel the nickname he would forever be known in South Carolina history: "Bloody Ban" Tarleton.

To the upcountry Patriots, the name Tarleton and the green-coated British Legion would be synonymous with terror. Worse for the British and their Loyalist allies, it would plant the seed of defiance in the hearts of Southern Patriots and a determination to expel an enemy capable of such wanton cruelty.

The bloody melee at the Waxhaws would be the prelude to nearly three years of bloody partisan fighting in the South Carolina backcountry, a civil war between Patriots and Loyalists that would reach it's peak from Buford's bloody battleground to the top of Kings Mountain five months later.

"Remember Tarleton's Quarter" would also become a rallying cry for a new wave of defiance in upstate South Carolina among Patriots waiting for the opportunity to strike back against the British and their Loyalist allies.

One of the very first acts of retaliation would come just over a week later at a placed called Alexander's Old Field in modern-day Chester County, which this blogger will tell you about in the next chapter of this series.

The mass grave site of many of Buford's Virginia Continentals
on the site of the Battle of Waxhaws, May 29, 1780.
Others are buried in nearby local cemeteries.
The mass grave is located at the corner of SC 9 and Rt. 522
about 9 miles east of Lancaster, South Carolina.

For more information about the Battle of the Waxhaws please consult the following sources that were used to help with this blog post: 

The Day It Rained Militia by Michael C. Scoggins (2005) ISBN 1-59629-015-3

The Museum of the Waxhaws at their website: www.museumofthewaxhaws.org/

The South Carolina Society Sons of the American Revolution (SC SAR)

and the outstanding organization Friends of the Buford Massacre Battlefield at their website: www.friendsofbufordmassacrebattlefield.com/.

Confederate Park Monuments At Fort Mill, South Carolina

Confederate Memorial Park in downtown Fort Mill, SC.
Note the railroad tracks in the foreground.

Confederate Park in downtown Fort Mill, South Carolina is perhaps one of the most unique in all of the United States for containing four monuments to supporters of the Southern Confederacy during the War Between The States (1861-1865). The park also includes a nearly 120 year old band stand and two large Civil War naval cannons. 

The name of the town originates from a fort that was meant to be built by the British military to protect the local Catawba Indian tribe from Shawnee and Cherokee attacks, though never completed; and after Webb's Grist Mill -- named for a local Anglo settler. Officially incorporated into a township in 1873, it is the only town in the United States named Fort Mill.

The small hamlet of Fort Mill was the site of the organization of one of the first companies raised to defend South independence in 1861. Captain John M. White commanded the York Volunteers, also called the York Guard, which became Company H, 6th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. After the reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1862, it became Company B, 6th SC Regiment. White ultimately rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel of the 6th Regiment. 

The park was established a few decades after the end of the war in 1891 on property donated by local landowner, Captain Samuel Elliott White, Colonel John White's brother. 

Captain Samuel Elliott White (1837-1911)
standing in front of the Confederate Soldiers'
Monument in his United Confederate Veterans (UCV)
uniform not long after the monument was
dedicated in 1891.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill Historical Society.

A former captain of Company B, 7th North Carolina Regiment, Samuel E. White organized South Carolina's first branch of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Association in Fort Mill in 1889 and became its first president. Its membership comprised the men and women who had known the hardships of the war. This group subsequently divided into the Ladies' Memorial Association, the Fort Mill Camp of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the sons  and daughters of the United Confederate Veterans (UCV), and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). 
   
He conceived the idea of a Confederate park, "a semi-sacred spot" for many Fort Mill citizens to remember the sacrifices of the Southern people during the war.

White, who was one of the largest property owners in the area, provided the land for the park and led the efforts to erect the four monuments located there between 1891 to 1900. On the park's completion, White donated it not to the municipal government but to the people of Fort Mill. 

Although he was financially capable of purchasing them himself, White felt that if the people of Fort Mill, especially the Confederate veterans themselves, had a part in the purchase of the monuments, it would result in stronger interest and a deeper feeling of pride. The people of Fort Mill -- many of them former Confederate Veterans and some former African-American slaves -- subscribed to the fund for the monument honoring the Confederate soldiers, the monuments to the women, and the monument to the faithful slaves. White himself purchased the fourth monument to the Catawba Indians. White and his associates designed the monuments and ordered them cut to exact specifications.

The park was built next to the local railroad station and also originally served as a place for visiting travelers to relax. Today Confederate Park still serves as a gathering place for local annual events.

Historical marker at Confederate Park erected by the Fort Mill
Historical Society.

The first monument built on the site was the Confederate Soldiers' Monument, which was unveiled on Tuesday, December 22, 1891.

The Confederate Soldiers' Monument.

The pure marble statue of the Confederate soldier rests on a marble pedestal surmounting a foundation of granite elevations, standing sixteen feet tall. The figure on top stands resting on his rifle facing to the South. White unveiled this monument, intending to honor the Confederate soldiers, both living and dead, whose names are engraved on the monument. 

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1860
Dum Spiro Spero  (Translation: While I breathe, I hope)
(The State Seal of South Carolina)
Spes Animis Opibuscue Parati  (Translation: Prepared In Mind And Resources) 1891
Defenders of  State Sovereignty.

[North Side]:

1865 Image of the 2nd Confederate National Flag flying
at night against stars and a crescent moon.
The warrior's banner takes its flight
to greet the warrior's soul.

The east and west sides of the monument list the names of many of Fort Mill's 170 Confederate Veterans, most of whom served in the 6th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. 

Confederate soldier standing on top
of the monument with musket at
parade rest.

The second monument build on the site was the Women of the South Monument which was dedicated on Tuesday, May 21, 1895.

The Women of the Confederacy Monument.

This monument was actually one of the first erected in the South in memory of the women of the Confederacy, in particular to the women of Fort Mill who worked to support the home front while their men and boys fought to defend Southern independence. 

The following is an interesting excerpt from the local newspaper at the time which demonstrates one of the efforts made on the part of the women of Fort Mill, South Carolina for their husbands, sons, fathers, and brothers fighting in the war:

Yorkville Enquirer, Thursday, November 7, 1861

Fort Mill Ladies’ Aid Association

The letter to the YE noted papers had given notice of “the patriotic munificence of the ladies in behalf of our suffering and needy soldiers” while Fort Mill Ladies had been working to the same end. But they were “cut off by the Catawba river, and thereby somewhat isolated from our sisters of York and elsewhere,” but they had “a deep interest in the common weal.” They were busy working to the common weal, not to praise themselves. “We would fain hope that our vanity, if we have any in this little work, will be readily pardoned.”

The Fort Mill Association met in the Fort Mill Academy and were assisted by “an auxiliary society, composed of a few ladies of lower Steel Creek,” had the following results of their work. They sent “a large box of woolen shirts, drawers and socks, with a variety of other articles” to the 6^th Regiment, SC Volunteers. Mr. A. Huffman was in charge of delivery of this box and it was received safely. In past two weeks this Association made “an entire suit of uniform” for Captain White’s company of the 6^th SCVIR and were about to send “a goodly sized box of hospital stores.” Gentlemen of the neighborhood packed and delivered boxes to the depot.

Officers were: Mrs. T. D. Spratt, President; Mrs. Dr. Stewart, Vice President; Mrs. A. B. Springs, Secretary and Mrs. T. B. Withers, Treasurer.

The Board of Managers consisted of Mrs. Benjamin Massey, Mrs. John Stewart, Mrs. J. H. Faulkner and Mrs. George Truesdel.

The Committee to Receive Donations consisted of Mrs. Dr. Wilson, Mrs, Dr. Cobb, Miss Lizzie Watson, Miss Rebecca Faulkner and Mrs. B. J. Patterson.

The monument itself sits on four pedestals of masonry and two steps of marble, a total of seventeen feet in height. It is a highly polished shaft wrought from the finest grained clouded marble. The female figure on top is shown kneeling in supplication with the flag dropped around her knees with her hands clasped in prayer and eyes turned towards Heaven, was carved in Italy of white marble.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1860
Affectionately
dedicated by
the Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association
to the women of
the Confederacy.
The living and the dead,
who midst the gloom of war
were heroines in the strife,
to perpetuate their noble
sacrifices on the altar of
our common country. Let
sweet incense forever
rise, till it reach them,
in robes of victory
beyond the skies.
1865

[East Side]:

Mesdames
White - Johnston
Spratt - Epps
Springs - Culp
Harris - Graham
Merritt - Coltharp
Kimbrell - Bailes
Armstrong - Garrison
Burns - Stewart
Jones - Massey
and many others.

[North Side]:

1895
Respectfully
donated by
Samuel E. White
to the Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association.

[West Side]:

"Many are the hearts that
are weary to-night
wishing for the war to
cease.
Many are the hearts praying
for the right
to see the dawn of peace."

(Curiously, this inscription is part of the chorus of the Civil War song "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" which was written in 1863 by Walter Kittredge of New Hampshire and a popular song for enlisted men in the Union Army.)

Southern woman on top of the
monument kneeling in prayer.

The third monument erected on the site is often referred to as the Faithful Slaves Monument which was dedicated on Friday, May 24, 1895, three days after the unveiling of the Women of the South Monument.

The Faithful Slaves Monument.

Mr. Solomon Spratt (1839-1894)
was a formerslave on the plantation of
Thomas Dryden Spratt.
During the War Between the States
he led a group of slaves in an endeavor
to care for the women and children left
behind when the men went to the front
lines keeping families fed and
farms running.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill History Museum.

During the war while most of the local able bodied men were away fighting, the local women, children and elderly faced difficulty keeping their farms running. Food was scarce as were other necessities. 

A local slave named Solomon Spratt took it upon himself to organize other African-American slaves in the area to help tend the farms, harvest and distribute food supplies, and provide work when and where it was necessary. Their actions kept the local population from starvation and ruin. The surviving Confederate veterans from the area returned home to find their families provided for and (unlike much of the rest of the now devastated Southland) their farms and homes virtually untouched by the hard hand of war, all by the actions of Spratt and the other local slaves. 

This monument is largely dedicated to the memories of those slaves and what they did and the names of at least ten of these men are listed on the monument, including Solomon Spratt. It is considered somewhat unique as it specifically commemorates a group of African-Americans loyal to the South -- if not specifically to the Confederate cause.

The thirteen-foot pure white marble obelisk monument is supported by four steps of masonry. 

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[West Side]:

1860
Dedicated to
the faithful slaves
who, loyal to a sacred trust,
toiled for the support
of the army with matchless
devotion and sterling
fidelity [and] guarded our defenseless
homes, women and children during
the struggle for the principles
of our "Confederate States of
America."
1865

[East Side]:

1895
Erected by Sam'l E. White
in grateful memory of earlier
days. With approval of the
Jefferson Davis
Memorial Association.
Among the many faithful:
Nelson White - Anthony White
Sandy White - Jim White
Warren White - Henry White
Silas White - Nathan Springs
Handy White - Solomon Spratt

[South Side]:

Engraving of an African-American field worker resting on a log under a tree with a sickle in his hand.

[North Side]:

Engraving of an African-American woman holding a child and sitting on porch steps.

The Catawba Indians Confederate Monument was unveiled on Saturday, August 4, 1900. 

The Catawba Indians Monument.

 

The town of Fort Mill, originally called Little York, takes its name from a colonial-era fort built by the British. Fort Mill began as a gift from Native Americans in the 1700s to whites that were passing through the area. Thomas Spratt was the first European to settle here around 1750. 

 

Before the Revolutionary War, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Spratt spent a night among the friendly Catawba Nation, were invited to live there, and given a large tract of land. The local Catawbas nicknamed Thomas Spratt "Old Kanahwa". Many of the Catawbas served with Spratt and other local Patriots during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.

 

The Catawba Indian Monument commemorates the bravery of the Catawba Indians who served in the Confederate army and lists the names of seventeen of them. 

Originally, the monument held the statue of a Catawba brave holding a bow and arrow as if stalking game. Over half a century ago, a storm blew down a large oak branch, which served both of the brave's arms and the bow and arrow. The damage was never repaired. 

John McKee Spratt, who was preparing to join the Confederate army at age sixteen when the Confederacy collapsed, helped White with the purchase. Spratt, the great grandson of "Old Kanahwa," had interests in farming, lumber, fertilizer, and the cotton mill in Fort Mill after the war.

The inscriptions on the monument are as follows:

[South Side]:

1600

Erected to the
Catawba Indians 

by
Sam'l Elliott White
and
John McKee Spratt
The latter is a descendant of Thos.
Kanawha Spratt and the former a descendant
of Wm. Elliott a descendant of Kanawahs
two of the first settlers in this portion of
the Indian Land, 1755-60.
1900

[West Side]:

Engraving of a forest.

CATAWBA

Some noted Catawbas, King Hagler - Gen. New-River - Gen. Ayers 

Gen. Jim Kegg - Col. David Harris - Major John Joe Cap - Billy George

Lieut. Phillip Kegg - Sallie New-River - Pollie Ayers - Peter Harris 

The latter being made an orphan by the small-pox scourge was raised by "Kanahwa".
He received a pension for services in the Revolution of 1776 at 70 years of age. He died at the Spratt homestead and at his own request was buried in the family grave yard.   

[East Side]:

 Engraved image of a Bison.

Some of the Catawbas who served in the Confederate Army
Jeff Ayers - John Scott - Alex Timins - Bill Sanders - John Harris - Wm Canty - Billy George - Gilbert George - Jim Harris - Robt. Marsh - Bob Crawford - Nelson George - Peter Harris Jr. - John Brown - John Sanders - Epp Harris - Bob Head

[North Side]:
The Catawba Indians, although a war
like nation, were ever friends of the white
settlers. They aided and fought with the
Americans in the Revolution and the Confederates
in the Civil War.
Tradition says they immigrated to this 

portion of South Carolina from Canada 

about 1600, numbering some 12,000. 

Wars with the Cherokees, Shawnees, and 

other nations, together with the small-pox 

depleted their numbers greatly. 

In 1764, the province of South Carolina allotted 

them 15 miles square in York and Lancaster 

Districts. About 1840 a new treaty was made, 

the State buying all their land, and afterwards 

laying them off 700 acres on the west bank 

of the Eswa Tavora (Catawba River) 6 miles 

south of Fort Mill. Where the remnant, 

about 75, now live receiving a small annuit 

from the state.

Chief Samuel Taylor Blue (1871-1959) examines the
Catawba Indian Monument at Confederate Park in the 1950s
not long after the storm damage to the monument.
Mr. Blue was chief of the Catawba tribe from 1928-1939 and
again in the late 1950s. He was active in tribal affairs and
advocacy, and was also known to be the last speaker
of the Catawba language. He is buried at the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints Cemetery in York County, SC.
Photo courtesy of the Fort Mill Historical Society.

The old bandstand in the background was built in 1900.

The bandstand at Confederate Park has a rather amusing history. 

It was built in 1900 with municipal funds left over at the end of the mayoral administration of W.B. Meachem. Town regulations required any surplus funds to be spent before a new administration took office and Mayor Meachem used his $50 surplus to fund the building of the bandstand to solve a longstanding problem. 

Town Hall at the time was right across the alley in a building that sat where the lawn and deck area for nearby Hobo’s restaurant is now located. Along the side of Town Hall was a long covered porch where local men used to sit and whittle to pass the time.

Unfortunately, many of the men were avid tobacco chewers, necessitating the need for regular spitting. The combination of tobacco juice and wood shavings made for quite a mess on the mayor’s front porch. Meachem thought the $50 could be best used to building a new structure where the men could engage in their pass time and he could finally get the spitters off the porch.

No evidence exists that proved it worked, though the beautiful bandstand constructed at the park remains to this day, and hosts a number of annual local events every year. 

The two large 6.4 inch (100-lb) Naval Parrott Rifle Cannons in Confederate Park were added in 1901, when cannons that once guarded the South Carolina coast in the defenses around Charleston were given away decades after the war as obsolete surplus and the town of Fort Mill requested two of them for the park.  

The town of Fort Mill continues its yearly U.S. Independence Day tradition of firing the cannons on July 4th. 

The two Confederate Naval Parrott Rifle Cannons.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed this article. Special thanks to the folks at the Fort Mill Historical Society and Fort Mill History Museum for their efforts in providing information for this article. 

Have a wonderful Dixie day, and y'all come back now, ya hear!