February 9, 1928, page 1, col. 1-3 -Chesterfield County First in State to Secede; New Evidence Found.

An important historical document has been found that settles a question which has for some time been agitated in Chesterfield as to when ??? secession meeting was held here. Mr. W. D. Craig of Chesterfield ??? ended all the while that it ??? held here before that memorable meeting held on "Magazine Hill", now known as "Secession Hill", in Abbeville, although Abbeville claims to have held the first secession meeting of the state which was on November 22, 1860.

Gen. Craig attended the Confederate Soldiers’ Reunion held in Abbeville a few years ago and while there he discussed the time of the Secession meeting with some of the men who were leading figures in that important event. However, Mr. Craig did not remember the exact date of our meeting, but knew it was held before the one in Abbeville and those Confederate men there admitted to him that they believed he was right.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy coming upon the scene and desiring to be loyal to their motto to "Keep History Straight". Became active on the question and after numerous efforts a true copy of the Secession meeting held in Chesterfield was found in the Charleston Mercury, filed in the Public Library in Washington, D. C. and below is an account of that historic meeting as it appeared in the Charleston Mercury of November 24, 1860.

"The State of Public Feeling in Chesterfield" (Our Cheraw Correspondence) Cheraw, SC Nov. 19, 1860.

"Knowing the deep solicitude you and many of your readers feel in the movements of the people of the State ??? this momentous period. I have ??? inform you and them of the events in Chesterfield in the last few days. Last Thursday there was a parade for the upper battalion, there was quite a large turnout. After the parade the people were addressed by the Hon. J. W. Blakeney, our Senator and our Representatives Colonels MacFarlan and Prince, and also by Col. S. Jackson. At the close of Col. Jackson’s speech he submitted the question of submission, or resistance by immediate Secession to a vote of the battalion, and requested all in favor of the latter to advance four paces, the whole battalion advanced four paces leaving not a solitary man for submission. The course of our Senator and Representatives was unanimously and most enthusiastically endorsed. Saturday last was parade day for the lower battalion. I had the pleasure of being present. The same speakers with Major A. McQueen and F. M. McIver, Esq., addressed the people. The addresses were received with enthusiastic applause. After the speaking the military spectators were requested, if they approved the action of the Legislature in calling a convention, to make their approbation known by advancing four paces to the front, a unanimous forward movement was the response. Immediate separate Secession, and a Southern Confederacy were vociferously demanded. At both the upper and lower battalion the lone star flag graced the fields.

I this evening returned from our Court House where one of the largest meetings ever assembled in the District was held today. The object of the meeting was to nominate candidates for delegate to the convention. The meeting was organized by the appointment of Hon. J. W. Blakeney, Chairman, a committee of twenty-four, three from each beat, were appointed to nominate a ticket, the committee retired, and after due deliberation returned having unanimously agreed upon a ticket, and reported the following ticket: Hon. John A. Inglis, Col. Stephen Jackson, Henry McIver, Esq. During the absence of the committee the meeting was most ably addressed by Cols. Prince and Macfarlan. At the conclusion of Col. Macfarlan’s remarks, the committee made their report, whereupon the nominees were severally called out in the following order: Col. Jackson, H. McIver and Chancellor Inglis. All the nominees in the most emphatic language declared themselves in favor of immediate separated Secession. The whole question was fully discussed in a clear and forcible manner, and with a clear and forcible manner, and with a fervency and eloquence that could only have been inspired by a due sense of its vast importance. At the conclusion of the speeches of the nominees, the nominations were submitted to a vote of the meeting, and it was unanimously concurred in. The Honorable J. W. Blakeney, Col. A. M. Lowery, and Gen. E. B.C. Cash were then called upon to address the meeting. Their remarks though brief were to the point. They fully endorsed the action of the Legislature in calling a convention, believing the immediate separate Secession was the only remedy, and that nothing short of that could save the honor, and protect the rights and interests of the State. The meeting was not only the largest and most enthusiastic, but also one of the most harmonious ever held in the District. The people, including beardless youths and grayheaded grandfathers, were eager and interested listeners from an early hour in the day ‘till a late hour in the evening, and for the first time in my recollection, a goodly number of the fair sex graced with their interesting presence, and encouraging smiles, a political meeting in Chesterfield District. The ticket nominated will certainly be elected without opposition. For talent, integrity and firmness of purpose it will not be surpassed by that of any other District. Our delegates will represent a District that is a unit in opposition to Black Republican domination, and in favor of immediate State Secession. Indeed we have but one party in the District. Ex-Senator Chesnut and Mr. Mullins of Marion among others were invited to attend and address the meeting, and our people were greatly disappointed that neither attended. A neatly gotten up flag of medium size, having on it a Palmetto tree with a rattlesnake curled around it, with its rattles sprung and in the attitude of striking, a lone star in one corner, and the inscription, "Immediate State Action," floated over the public square. After the adjournment of the meeting the whole concourse of ladies and gentlemen assembled under it and saluted it with three deafening cheers. Altogether it was one of Chesterfield’s most glorious days. Her citizens a unit in their stern resolve to resist to the death the domination of Black Republican fanaticism - to die free rather than to live slaves" - Charleston Mercury, Nov. 24, 1860.

It is not our desire to take away from Abbeville the glory and distinction which she feels she rightly deserves for she is to be highly commended on her forward movement. Our motive was to get the facts and history straight.

If Abbeville, believing they had held the first Secession meeting can erect such a handsome monument in commemoration of the event there as they have done why can we not erect a monument here in Chesterfield in commemoration of this famous meeting held here when we know we held the first one in the State? We can and must do honor to those noble patriots who soon after this meeting marched away to the front and proved their allegiance and devotion by freely giving their lives for the "Lost Cause."

Today this noble band of men who wore the gray are conspicuously few and let us show our loyalty and devotion to them while we can.

March 23, 1961, page 1, col. 4: Chesterfield County in the Confederacy by W. Bernette Burch, Killarney, Florida.

Chesterfield County was a leader in the days of Secession and shared a prominent place in those stirring days a hundred years ago. The world knows that South Carolina was first to break away from the Union by declaring her independence on Dec. 20, 1860 by her Ordinance of Secession, but few know that Chesterfield County was ahead of the state by a full month (November 19, 1860) with a Secession Resolution. There is a monument on the Court House grounds commemorating this event. If any one man can claim to have been the first to secede from the Union, that man would be Colonel Stephen Jackson. The records say that "At the close of Col. Jackson’s speech he submitted the question of submission, or resistance by immediate Secession to a vote". Others speaking were: Gen. James White Blakeney, who was the present Senator, Colonels McFarland and Prince, members of the Legislature, Col. H. McIver, Chancellor Inglis, Gen. E. B. C. Cash, and Ex-Senator Col. Alfred Lowry (Gen. Blakeney was Col. Jackson’s uncle, and Col. Lowry was Col. Jackson’s brother-in-law).

Chancellor John A. Inglis, Henry McIver and Stephen Jackson were delegates to the State Convention and signed the Ordinance of Secession at Charleston, Dec. 20, 1860.

Gen. J. W. Blakeney, Senator and Allen McFarland and W. L. T. Prince, Representatives, were members of the Legislature which, in November 1860, authorized the Secession Convention.

John A. Inglis was Chairman of the convention’s committee to draft all ordinances to be voted on by the convention, and presented the Ordinance of Secession to the Convention, although he was its author. (JCP note: probably meant although he was not its author.)

Chancellor Inglis was a fugitive from Sherman’s Army, with a price of $10,000 on his head.

Henry McIver was a captain of a troop of cavalry.

Maj. J. C. Coit commanded the Chesterfield Battery.

E. B. C. Cash was Colonel of Eighth Regt. SC Infantry.

Stephen Jackson was State Treasurer and Tax Collector during the War, he was Sheriff of Chesterfield County before the War, member of the Legislature for 10 years, serving his last term after he was 70 years of age, Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners for 10 years. He was an extensive landowner and owned 60 slaves. Col. Jackson’s lithographed copy of the Ordinance of Secession is now owned by his great grandson, Dewey Burch, Cheraw. A biography and picture of Col. Jackson is carried in "South Carolina Secedes" by John Amassa May and Joan Reynolds Faunt. This book is just off the press and may be obtained by sending $4.00 to University of SC press, Columbia.

It was that last of Feb., or early in March. On our long, hard tramp from Charleston, SC, to Greensboro, SC, we were halted for a night and day at Cheraw. On the evening of Februrary 17^th, 1865, the troops of the Confederacy, in and near Charleston, began to withdraw under Lt. General Hardee, by orders of Gen. G. T. Beauregard, Commander-In-Chief. My Reg., the 2^nd SC, Artillery (but now Infantry) left James Island about dark, crossing to the main land over the Pontoon Bridge, "Wapoo Cut", a deep stream running Southwest from the Ashley to the Stone River. We knew that the city was being evacuated (never captured) and that all commands defending Charleston were now moving out. Sherman and his reckless, cruel men entered and burnt Columbia on that same memorable night-Feb. 17, 1865-and then accused the peerless Hampton of the uncivilized act! My regiment, in which I was the "baby boy" of only 17 years, went up the coast across Goose Creek, Monk’s Corner, Kingstree, Florence, Darlington, and on to Cheraw. Excepting the distance from the Santee River to Cheraw, which, which we made in filthy old freight cars, we walked finally to Greensboro-say, 4 to 5 hundred miles-fighting Sherman for 4 days in the two battles of Averysboro and Bentonville, March 16, 19, 20 and 21, 1865. At Cheraw (my point of emphasis) we camped a night in the suburbs-sleeping in the open fields and woods and on the wet ground, without tents or other shelter. This we had to do for three months-Feb. 17, to middle of May. (I had shelter only two nights during those three months-one night in a plain house and the other in a freight car box.) Early in the morning, at Cheraw, hasty orders reached my Co. G, to "fall in" quickly and move at rapid pace to a creek on the road to Chesterfield-several miles out-to meet Kilpatrick’s cavalry at the ford. By some happening, however, the men in blue did not appear, as we expected, and thus we had no battle or skirmish at this place. We were hungry; and instead of minnie balls, we had the joy of drawing very scant rations of cold beef with little or no bread. Then came orders to go at a "double quick" back into Cheraw and across the Pee Dee Bridge, and to hurry on towards Rockingham, NC. Barrels of rosin had been placed along this bridge to which the Confederates applied the torch as soon as our men had all passed over. Pickets, meantime, guarded the Eastern (or Northern) banks of the River, in order to prevent any crossing, above and below, by Sherman’s troops. A skirmish soon took place in Cheraw in the effort to the enemy to capture the bridge. My command was then several miles beyond the town; but we heard the crack of rifles in Cheraw. Our men burnt the bridge to retard the march of the Union Army, and we moved on to Fayetteville, NC, where some fighting took place between our brave and skillful Gen. Wade Hampton, who successfully encountered some of Kilpatrick’s troops, with but a very few Confederates against overwhelming numbers. After crossing the Cape Fear River at Fayetteville, far into the night, we moved on to Averysboro, Bentonville,-and later to Smithfield, Raleigh, Hillsboro, to Greensboro, at last. After Gen. Lee’s surrender, April 9, 1865, Gen. J. E. Johnston, arranged an armistice with Gen. Sherman at the Bennett House, and terms were signed April 26, 1865. Thus it was that our fighting ceased, but our hard tramping had to continue, for we went in squads on foot, for a long, long trudging to our homes. My own little band of "foot passengers" marched about 350 miles to old "Barnwell District," SC. Our hearts were sad, on the way, to behold the ruins of former homes and much other property, all the reckless barbarous work of the army in a struggle of four years, incorrectly called "The Civil War". Robert W. Sanders, Greenville, SC.

My grandmother, Elizabeth "Betty" Gaskins Sellers, and her family were living in a house about three quarters of a miles on Highway 265 west of the junction with the present SC 9. The house was on a knoll where the home of Garland Sellers in now.

My grandfather was a prisoner of war, having been captured at Armstrong Mills, Va., Dec. 10, 1864. He was a corporal in the South Carolina Partisan Rangers, which was a cavalry regiment. He had lost his horse and was with a dismounted battalion when he was captured.

Grandfather was confined at Point Lookout, Md., and was not released until June 19, 1865 when he began the journey home on foot.

My grandmother told me that the Confederate cavalry, fleeing before Sherman, stopped and asked her to give them her horses because Sherman would get them if she did not. She agreed, but told me it broke her heart to see her saddle horse taken.

The Northern army did not burn her home but camped in and around it, eating all the food to be found and using her cooking facilities. She said the family was confined to one room and had a guard stationed at the door for their protection. An officer, she said, brought a ham to her and told her to feed herself and the children.

After the war, they were left destitute. They captured a steer, or perhaps it was an ox, and began planting a garden and food crops. I’ve heard my father tell of how near they came to starving.

It seems one neighbor had a barn of corn that Sherman’s men failed to find and he had the corn ground and gave his starving neighbors some.

My father recalled a time when his mother went for some meal and the children were watching eagerly for her return. When she finally got back, she backed some cornbread and father claimed it was the best food he ever had eaten.

All the family managed to survive except the oldest, Mary Elizabeth. She died soon after the war ended. They said it was tuberculosis but more probably it was malnutrition.

For several years there were no schools so the family had no opportunity to get an education. My grandmother was not illiterate, but probably had no time to help the children.

My father had no schooling until after the death of his first wife a year after their marriage. He then attended a school somewhere in the Ruby-Mt. Croghan area and, having paid for it himself, secured a very good education for those days. He learned to read and to spell, and was very good in arithmetic. He became a merchant in Chesterfield. He kept his own books with a very fine hand. I could never add up a line of figures as quickly as he.

Anyway, Sherman continued his march and completed his plan, uniting his forces on the east side of the Pee Dee. I understand he spent one night in Chesterfield, calling it "a dirty little town." He said it consisted of about 20 houses, one hotel and a courthouse, which he burned. He also spent at least one night in Cheraw. There he found many valuables shipped from Charleston on the Cheraw and Darlington Railroad for safekeeping.

The Union Army crossed the Pee Dee in several places by pontoon bridges in Cheraw and upstream at Sneedsburgh. The covered bridge at Cheraw had been damaged by the Confederate cavalry. Sherman’s cavalry under Kilpatrick, having gone by Wadesboro and Lilesville, crossed the river where it was wide and shallow at Grassy Islands. There was only weak resistance at Thompson Creek and along the Pee Dee at Cheraw.

An infantry detachment sent to Florence to destroy the depot, trestles and bridges, encountered Confederate resistance and did not accomplish all of its task so it rejoined the main Union force in Cheraw.

Grandfather Williams Braddock Sellers walked all the way from the Yankee prison in Maryland and arrived home late in 1865.

All of Sherman’s march through the Carolinas has been recorded in history so this is not to be considered as history. I’m only writing about my own father and his family’s involvement.

My grandmother, my father, and his sister, Martha Sellers Griggs, were together a lot while I was a girl from 8 to 12 years old. (My grandmother died in 1914.) They talked a lot about those war years and the reconstruction, and I wish so much I had written down what they said, or could have recorded more in my memory.

Among the York County Confederate veterans eagerly looking forward to the reunion in Charlotte next week is "Uncle" George Melton, 90 negro survivor of the Civil war, who is counting the days that intervene between now and the great gathering of soldiers of the ‘60s.

A genuine veteran of the Civil war is Uncle George. He was in it from first to last, as the servant of the late Major Samuel Melton, his master. He was an eye witness of many of the great battles of the army of northern Virginia - Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and many others - and was present at the surrender at Appomattox when the curtain went down on the red drama of bloodshed. His war record, even to his presence at Appomattox, is fully verified by surviving York county veterans.

After the war, Uncle George turned his hand to cooking, and in this capacity served for long periods at York hotels and other institutions. For 18 years he was cook at the famous Kings Mountain Military Institute here, during the superintendency of the late Col Asbury Coward, who was afterward placed at the head of the Citadel. As cook at the Kings Mountain Institute he was known to the students as "Battercake George," because of his exceptional skill in making battercakes. "He cooked the best battercakes I ever ate in my life," relates R. J. Herndon of York, a cadet at the institute when Uncle George held sway in the kitchen.

"It’s my last chance to go to a reunion," he said today in talking of the Charlotte gathering, "and I’ze gwiner go if I has to walk ebry step of de way. I wants to see the flags flying and deah the drums beating wunst mo’befo’ I die."

An exceptionally good program was carried out practically as published last week, and conducted by Miss Cora Craig, president of the U.D.C. An added number being a song, "The Boys Who Wore The Gray," by the oldest veteran present, Mr. John C. Baker, of Mt. Croghan. The speaker of the day was General W. A. Smith, of Ansonville, NC, Commander of the North Carolina Veterans.

A brief impressive memorial was given for Mr. George W. Freeman, the one veteran who departed this life during the past year.

Of the thirteen Confederate Veterans of Chesterfield County now living there were twelve present, including one who has moved to North Carolina. There were also several widows of veterans. Veterans present were: Gen. W. A. Smith, of Ansonville, NC, Mr. C. H. Rivers, 85 years of age, formerly of Chesterfield Co., now living at Marshville, NC. From Chesterfield County, Mr. John C. Baker, age 90; Mr. Daniel Campbell, age 89; Mr. Monroe Gaskins, age 87; Gen. W. D. Craig, age 86; Mr. U. A. McManus, age 85; Mr. J. T. Funderburk, age 85; Mr. James Sullivan, age 85; Mr. W. T. Hendricks, age 87; Mr. Robert Douglass, age 85; Mr. E. B. C. Funderburk, age 84.

Mrs. Rob Godfrey, Mrs. P. B. Huntley, Mrs. J. E. Funderburk and Miss Claud Godfrey, representing the Old Cheraw Chapter U. D. C. and Mrs. Thomas Duncan of the James M. Miller Chapter, Pageland, were also guests.

In all more than one hundred plates were served, including the Daughters, C. of C., contestants for 10^th grade essay and Boy Scouts who helped in various ways.

Rain interfered with the exercises at the cemetery in the afternoon, but in spite of the weather, the departed veterans’ graves were decorated, an abundance of beautiful flowers being presented for the occasion.