Marlboro County ScArchives History - Books .....Chapter XV Operations On Pee Dee, 1781 1897
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/sc/scfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 5, 2007, 11:59 am

Book Title: A History Of Marlboro County

CHAPTER XV.
OPERATIONS ON PEE DEE, 1781. COL. KOLB.

  The presence of Gen. Greene upon the Pee Dee opposite Cheraw for several weeks
had encouraged the spirits of the people, and awed the disaffected into
comparative order.

  Col. Kolb was in favor with his countrymen and exercised a commanding
influence in all the Cheraw district. Murphy down the river, Benton on the west
side and Marion, from Lynch's creek to Georgetown, held in check the marauders
and gave some security to the people. The stay of Greene was brief. The
movements of Cornwallis in the upper part of the State induced Greene to move in
the direction of Guilford court house, and the Whigs of the Pee Dee were again
left to their own resources. The Tories, ever ready to seize on any advantage,
now made frequent incursions on defenseless persons and property, concealing
their plunder and themselves in the swamps. It was a hazardous service that
devolved upon the Whigs. It is said that a band of Tories had a hiding place in
the "Three Creeks" at no great distance from where Blenheim now stands, and,
this fact becoming known to the Whigs, it was determined to break them up. The
assaulting party came quietly to the edge of the swamp, but could see no signs
of the enemy's presence. They had reason to believe that they were near the
camp, but they knew not exactly its location and had no guide. Amongst the Whig
party was a daring young man, Harry Sparks, who volunteered to enter the swamp
alone, locate the enemy and report the situation to his comrades. He found the
camp, but returned not to his friends. The treacherous foe had discovered and
captured him. His friends became uneasy at his stay and, following his tracks,
they soon reached the deserted camp where hung the lifeless body of their daring
comrade. Of course the fleeing Tories were pursued for miles, far into North
Carolina. One of the pursuers was wounded and two of the mulatto Tories were
killed, and sometimes afterwards another of the party was caught and charged
with aiding in the murder of Sparks. He confessed it and was instantly hung.
This was the sort of warfare that was common in all this region for months and
years.

  Not long after returning from his chase of the murderers of Sparks, Col. Kolb
made an expedition into what is now Marion county. Some outrages had been
perpetrated there—in the neighborhood of Hulin's mill—now Moody's mill. Several
Tories, who had made themselves especially obnoxious were caught; some punished,
some "discharged on promise of good behaviour", and two or three killed. Kolb
returned to his home at Welsh Neck, and dismissed his men in the belief that
things would be quiet for a time.

  Instead of awing those turbulent spirits into order his retaliatory measures
awoke a terrible spirit of revenge, and especially against the leader of the
Whigs. No blood but his would slake their thirst; no life but his atone for the
lives he had taken. Suspecting that he would dismiss his men for a time his
enemies made haste to perfect their plans, collect their forces and set out on
the hunt for revenge. It was less than forty miles to the happy home of Col.
Kolb. At a late hour of night they surrounded his house. Roused from slumber
thus suddenly, the first impulse of a brave spirit was to defend his property
and loved ones to the last. Mrs. Kolb and an only daughter, who became the wife
of Major Pouncey, and two sisters, one of whom became Mrs. Edwards, and was the
great-grandmother of Mrs. Dr. Bonchier, lately of Bennettsville, and another
sister who afterwards married Evander McIver, constituted the family. Two young
men named Evans were also present as guests of the family. Kolb knew his
foe—that they had come for his life—and he was determined to resist. The house
was strongly built, the party inside well armed, and might have had some hope,
although an overpowering force surrounded them. But in the darkness the stealthy
foe had fired the house. Resistance was useless. The ladies saw the peril and
entreated the Colonel to surrender himself as a prisoner of war. He made the
proposition, it was accepted, and, accompanied by his wife and her sisters and
his daughter, he stepped out ready to surrender his sword. A traitorous shot was
fired by a Tory named Goings and the gallant Colonel fell at his own door and at
the feet of his loved ones a martyr to his country's cause. One of the young
Evans was mortally wounded. The dwelling was hastily plundered and the Tories
quickly fled in the direction from whence they came, doubtless exulting in their
successful exploit and wishing for another victim. Nor had they long to wait. On
the route to Catfish was "Brown's Mill," about a mile above the present crossing
at the old Rogers mill.

  Here was a military post, at least a point sometimes guarded. The guards were
surprised, and Capt. Joseph Dabbs, a noted Whig, whose home was in the
neighborhood of Evans' Mill, was killed, and Ned Trawick was wounded, but
escaped. On this same eventful day, April 28, 1781, an old military prison near
the residence of Col. Kolb was assaulted, and several prisoners were released.
Moving down the river a short distance, two of the released Bristishers entered
the home of Mrs. Wilds, a widowed lady, whom they supposed had money secreted
about her person, and violently robbed her of her coin. But it was destined that
their ill-gotten gain should serve them but a few brief hours. Living in the
marshes was a frail old man named Willis. Nobody thought it worth while to
trouble him. Silent and solitary he was allowed to occupy the position of a
neutral. Making a scanty support upon his little patch, and upon his shoemaker's
bench, he had nothing to tempt the cupidity of anybody, his poor little money
was not worth stealing. The robber Britons on their way from Mrs. Wilds
encountered this singular old man. He had seen the columns of smoke ascending
from his neighbor Kolb's house, had heard the firing at early dawn, had,
perhaps, seen the fleeing Tories, and his smothered patriotism was kindled. His
old long barreled fowling piece was taken from the rack, heavily charged, and as
the redcoats drew nigh he pulled the trigger at the instant they doubled before
him, and the two lay dead in the road. Hearing a few days later that Mrs. Wilds
had been robbed, he called to see her, and put in her hand "the package of coin,
101 guineas," the exact amount which the soldiers had taken. In vain did she
nsist [sic] upon dividing the precious treasure with him whose needs were as
great as her own.

 "Nay, nay," said the old man, "the money is yourn, it's reward enough for me to
be lucky enough to git it back for ye." The tradition has not told where the
ashes of Willis lie, some quaint oak or elm may stand at his head and overshadow
his unknown resting place, or the swollen waters of the Pee Dee may long ago
have ploughed a deep furrow through his lonely bed, and washed his decaying
bones away, never to be found until the voice of the archangel shall awake a
slumbering race to life— but let the generous deed of the humble, solitary old
man live in the memory of generations yet unborn. "Full nany a gem of purest ray
serene," etc.

  In this connection Bishop Gregg gives his readers a thrilling narrative from
the lips of the venerable Lewis Malone Ayer, of Barnwell. Mr. Ayer was the
father of Mrs. Judge A. P. Aldrich, and of Gen. L. M. Ayer, a member of the
Confederate Congress. He was quite young when the events occurred which he
related, but they were of a character to make a profound impression upon his mind.

  Young Ayer was on a visit with his mother at the house of a neighbor, close by
Col. Kolb's, on the morning the Colonel was killed. Young Ayer had been sent out
on a fleet horse at early dawn by his mother to carry tidings of the death of
one of her relatives to Col. Kolb, knowing nothing of the tragedy at Kolb's
house. Meeting old Mr. William Forniss, together they rode up to the burning
building, having seen smoke and the returning horse tracks of the assassins.
They saw the weeping wife and sisters with their dead, whom with their own hands
they had dragged to a safe distance from the flames. But young Ayer could not
tarry with those whom he pitied, because information had reached him that his
brother-in-law Mr. James Magee, was that very day to visit Col. Kolb by
appointment. Magee lived in the Brownsville community and must travel for a part
of the route over the same road which the Tories would travel on their way to
Catfish, from whence they came, and if they met Magee it would be the last of
him. To get ahead of the Tories and turn Magee from the track was the exploit
before the boy Ayer. Excited by the scenes before his eyes, and impelled by the
desire to save his friends life, he tried the well-known mettle of his mare, who
had done him good service of the like kind before.

  He had not calculated, however, that the Tories would stop on the road for
breakfast until he was almost within their power, when he wheeled around and
fled for dear life. They fired too high to reach the boy who lay close to the
mane of the splendid mare, which they desired to capture unhurt. Fortunately,
however, there was a cow trail with which Ayer was familiar, close at hand. Into
this he dashed and cross a boggy marsh, into which his pursuers plunged, but,
not knowing the track as he did, they were soon floundering in the mud, and were
glad to get out again on their own side. Afraid that the youth would dash ahead
and warn the party at Brown's Mill of their approach, the Tories, after this
incident, increased their speed and fortunately passed Magee's road before he
entered theirs, and this excellent citizen escaped their hands, and lived for
many years to see his children's children, and died in his old age, sitting in
his chair, with the Bible lying open upon his knees. His ashes lie at old
Brownsville. The first wife of the writer's father was a daughter of James
Magee, and died in 1820, the mother of nine children, all of whom have since
followed her to the grave.

  That was a sad day to the people of Cheraw District when Abel Kolb fell by the
hand of the foe. He was recognized as the leader of the patriot influence. In
command of the regiment, in the prime of life, vigilant, active, daring, he
commanded the respect and confidence of his countrymen far and near, and men
were looking upon his fast-developing abilities with admiration and hope of a
bright career, not only upon the field of strife, but in the pursuits of peace
as well. Already before the war came on he was accumulating property and
exhibiting energy, enterprise, and skill in the management of affairs. It is
.not surprising, therefore, if his loss produced despondency in the hearts of
some, and a burning for revenge in others.

  About this time, or a few weeks before the death of Kolb, there was a skirmish
of some importance at Cashway Ferry. A short distance from the landing on the
Marlboro side there stood a Baptist house of worship where such men as Brown and
Edwards had held forth the Word of Life. It seems for a time to have been one of
the posts held by Kolb or Benton, his Lieutenant-colonel and successor in
command of the regiment. It was also a convenient shelter for Tories when
dodging around in that region. Which party held the building at the time, and
which it was that made the assault the tradition does not tell. An entry in the
journal of Rev. Mr. Pugh, of Welsh Neck, dated April 17, says: "Bad news of the
Tories at Cashway." The writer remembers an evening's conversation under his
mother's roof, between Col. Ben Rogers and Uncle Nathan Thomas, in which the
affair was talked over. One of the old men had been a participant in the fray,
and amused the party as he told how the Tories "took to the swamp."

  After the war ended portions of the old "meeting house" were moved to "Brown's
Mill" and entered into a like building erected there.

  The writer has heard numbers of the old people of the community tell how they
had seen the "bullet holes in the doors and shutters as long as the house stood."

  It gave way to a better building about the beginning of the present century.

  Near this old church site there lived a number of staunch Whigs. Capt. Moses
Pearson, the Coxes, Burketts, and others who often made it hot for the Tories on
Muddy creek. About this time a party of Tories came over from North Carolina
into what was then called "Piney Grove settlement," now Adamsville, and caught a
young boy named William Adams and demanded of him information as to the locality
of certain treasure and persons. Adams knew but determined that it would be a
wrong to the cause of the country and the safety of his friends to tell what the
foe desired to know. They tried to frighten him with threats of hanging, but he
would not be frightened. Finally a cord was procured, but still Adams was firm.
Around his neck they tied it, but no disclosure would he make. The cord was
thrown over a limb, and he was drawn up and choked and let down and ordered
again to speak. Still not a word of information could  they extort from his
lips. The second time his feet were drawn from the earth. Again they let him
down and told him this was his last chance for life. Speak the word and life was
his; refuse, and hang till dead.

  Firmly he stood. To die was better than to live under a burden of shame. Once
more the cruel gang drew him up, tied the cord, and went off and left him
hanging. Fortunately for him and for Marlboro, too, his mother came along in
time to let him down before life was extinct, and he lived to raise a large
family of excellent people, and to-day a host of young and old people are proud
to have descended from him.

  On the eighth day of September of that year was fought the battle of Eutaw
Springs, and a portion of the Pee Dee militia was engaged. Capt. Claudius
Pegues, of Marlboro, with his company, was on the ground. Joshua David, the
ancestor of the family among us, was permanently disabled by a wound in the
hand, and Capt. Pegues was shot in the leg. Here it was that Thomas Quick, an
humble private in the ranks, seeing his officer's failing strength, though he
still stood in the line, seized him as he was falling, bore him off, and with
the aid of Nero, the Captain's servant, took him to a place of security and then
begged to go back and get another shot at the red-coats who had shot so good a
man as his Captain. Never will the Pegues forget the Quicks, and never ought they.

  On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. Charleston
was still held, but Governor Rutledge, feeling that the time had come for the
more formal establishment of civil government in South Carolina, issued a call
for the election of members for Senate and House of Representatives. Since the
capital of the State was yet under British power, the meeting was held at
Jacksonborough, Colleton county. Tristram Thomas, Philip Pledger, William Dewitt
and William Pegues were elected from Cheraw .and took their seats in January,
1782. But peace was not yet. It was not until July of that year that the British
Parliament passed a bill to enable the King to consent to the independence of
the colonies, and not until November, 1782, were the articles signed by the
commissioners.

  In the meantime many irregularities and lawless deeds were committed doubtless
by both Whigs and Tories. Hard it was for the former to forget the insults
offered their families and the injury done their property by their Tory
neighbors. Hard for a Tory to feel safe in his house in the immediate vicinity
of men he had wronged. Hard for men to settle to pursuits of peace and meet each
other as friends who for a long time had been enemies in war. It was long after
their officers had dismissed them to their homes, and charged them to bury past
emnities and go home to forgive and forget. Long after the Legislature had
proclaimed amnesty to such as would come in and swear allegiance, and enjoined
the observance of civil order, that Whig and Tory watched and feared each other
with many heart-burnings and jealousies. Many a poor fellow was whipped or shot
and some hung without judge or jury long after the last "red-coat" had gone, and
no doubt but that many a cow, hog or horse was stolen in revenge for deeds of war.

  The American cause had triumphed, but loyalty died hard. Not until George III.
said: "I was the last man in the Kingdom to consent to American independence,
but now that it is granted I shall be the last man in the world to sanction any
violation of it," could all men recognize it as an accomplished fact.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF MARLBORO COUNTY,
WITH
TRADITIONS AND SKETCHES OF NUMEROUS FAMILIES.

REV. J. A. W. THOMAS, AUTHOR.

A wonderful stream is the river Time
  As it runs through the realms of tears 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme,
And a broader sweep and a surge sublime
  As it blends with the ocean of years.
                        —TENNYSON.

ATLANTA, GA.:
THE FOOTE & DAVIES COMPANY,
Printers and Binders.
1897.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/sc/marlboro/history/1897/ahistory/chapterx23gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/scfiles/

File size: 17.7 Kb