Mobile Advertiser & Register
Page 2
Messrs.
Editors: I am deprived of the pleasure of being able to announce that a good
rain has fallen in this vicinity, insuring an abundant harvest. There has evidently been rain all around this
place, and thee have been most promising signs here, but as usual in dry
weather, all signs have failed and planters still have to want and hope. One good visitation would suffice to make the
corn crop. The wheat here, as in parts
of
The subscription of cotton to the Confederate loan is going on in this county most satisfactorily. The proposition is from a fourth to a half, the number of holes each planter expects to have. Some subscribe grain as well as cotton. At present about 3,500 bales have been subscribed, and it is thought by those best able to make a correct estimate, that between 5,000 and 6,000 bales will be obtained in the county. The Hon. Turner Reavis has been mainly instrumental in forwarding the good work. He is untiring in his efforts, and is constantly at work, visiting all parts of the county, setting forth the terms of the loan, and by his zeal, eloquence and personal influence inducing liberal action on the part of citizens.
Sumpter county has done her duty in support of the government. She has sent two fine companies of troops to
the field, fully prepared for action, and has at this time another company
awaiting orders. This last, the North Sumpter Rifles, Capt. Vandegraaff,
numbers about one hundred men. It has
been in camp for sometime past, about half a mile from town, and has been put
through a course of instruction which fits it for immediate duty in the field. Fortunately the services of three Cadets from
[missing phrase] men, the county has subscribed [missing phrase].
[missing phrase] armies that have gone hence [missing phrase] with by the citizens, and the North Sumpter Rifles have been the recipients of an endowment amply large enough to equip them throughout and keep them provided with all they desire, but have a fund of some $5,000, which is on deposit and will be turned over to them on their departure. Capt. G. B. Mobley has been most active in this matter, and to him belongs the credit mainly of this handsome donation. This gentleman has not only subscribed his own means liberally, but has given time and influence to the work.
The Rifles being all from the northern part of the county are, of course, objects of special interest to citizens of this place and vicinity, all of whom have relations or friends in the ranks.
While the male population has been prompt in the discharge of duty, the fair daughters of Sumpter have also given countenance and approval to the defenders of their homes, and to-day presented the corps with a beautiful silk flag, under which to win victory or die in the attempt. The flag is of silk, trimmed with gold fringe, and is similar to our national standard, except that the blue field has on it a remarkably well executed and like-like figure of a game-cock trimmed and “heeled” for battle. Under this emblem the sons of Sumpter will emulate the example of the game-cock General whose name their county bears. The flag was presented, on the part of the fair donors, by Miss Lucy Reavis, daughter of the Hon. Turner Reavis, whose appropriate and feeling remarks, together with those of Ensign Dillard, who represented the Rifles, I have been furnished with at my particular request, and which follow:
Miss Reavis’ Address
Captain
and Gentlemen of the North Sumpter Rifles:
As soon as our beloved country was wantonly invaded by a hateful foe, you promptly, gallantly and patriotically volunteered to assist in repelling the invaders, and conquering a peace which shall permanently secure our independence, as one of the great Nations of the World.
The Ladies of North Sumpter, not for the purpose of stimulating your patriotism or courage, which needs nothing but the presence of the enemy to excite them into action, but as a token of their high appreciation of the gallant manner in which you have come forward in defense of all that is worth living for, and of their kindest regards and warmest sympathies for you, present you this beautiful banner. The significant and expressive emblems emblazoned upon it, you all understand and fully appreciate. Under such signs, you cannot fail to achieve glory for yourselves and renown for your county and your country, and, to conquer the myrmidons who have invaded our glorious Confederacy. Take it gentlemen-bear it high above yea, and follow it wherever honor and victory may be found: Let it wave proudly over you, wherever the battle shall rage hottest, and the danger of defeat shall be greatest: and may it, like the miraculous pillar of cloud, which led the Israelites of old, shield and protect you against all your enemies, and at the same time, bring dismay and defeat to them. And, may you soon win victory and peace from our enemies, and return among us, without the loss of one brave man-and receive all the applaudits, and all your honors, that can be bestowed upon you by your grateful country.
Ensign Dillard’s Reply
In behalf of the North Sumpter Rifles, I return you and through you to the patriotic ladies whom you represent, our warm and sincere thanks for the beautiful banner which you have done us the honor this day to present. Emperors and kings have established various honorary badges to fire the breast of their soldiers in the hour of battle. But these fall far short of the inspiring effect of a banner presented by fair women. If anything could inspire the timid with courage and infuse zeal into the lukewarm, it seems to me that consciousness that they were fighting beneath the folds of a banner presented by women would accomplish it more effectively than the cross of the legion of honor or any of the honorary badges- In the name of the Rifles, I give you a solemn pledge that this banner shall never be trailed in a field of dust or soiled with the breath of dishonor, but that every member of the company shall feel that the defence [sic] of your honored gift is a sacred duty.
And as we look up at its folds, we shall travel back in memory to the loved scenes and companions whom we are now on the eve of separating, and amid the smoke, tempest and din of battle will nerve our arms with fresh strength and lift us above all fear of personal consequence. This flag shall be our pillar of fire by night and our pillar of cloud by day, through the tangled wilderness of our soldier life, and as we gaze up at its folds and think from whom it was received, each heart will throb with a firmer courage and a more unconquerable purpose to perform our duty as the custodian of this flag. I give you my personal pledge that it shall never whilst in my care be trailed in the dust or sullied with the least taint of dishonor, and when it goes down amid the carnage of the battle or is captured by the enemy, you may rest assured that these arms of mine have been ____ , or that my life has been ____ out bearing it proudly right in the front of the battle. The horizon is now blackened with the storm cloud of war and we may soon be called upon to take our places in the battle field to roust the ruthless and insulting invaders from our Southern soil. Our cause is a just and holy one, and we must win the glorious triumph over those who have wantonly and unjustly assailed our honor, our liberty and prosperity, from a morbid fanaticism or an insane political jealousy. We go forth not to fight for an empty punctilio of honor nor to ____ to the unhallowed ambition of any military leader, but to maintain our constitutional rights, vindicate our equality, defend our property and shield the fair ladies of the South from the polluting touch of the ruthless, insulting invaders “who would give our houses to the flames and our bodies to the Eagles.”
Fighting then in so holy a cause, cheered and encouraged by the beaming smiles, the warm good wishes and the fervent prayer of women, defeat is impossible. We have already struck from our vocabulary the word defeat. We hope soon to see our bars and stars floating proudly aloft from every Southern fort, and feared and respected in every portion of the globe where truth and justice is loved and admired. Would that I could call to my aid words of sufficient eloquence, address you in befitting terms on this occasion, but it is action and not words you may expect from a soldier. Again I return you our warm and sincere thanks for this beautiful flag, and renew the pledge to cherish and defend it, and bring it back unstained with dishonor and shame, or perish around it and leave our bones to bleach upon the battlefield.
Judge Reavis, Judge Dillard, W. Little, Esq., Private Ramsey, of the Rifles, and Capt. Vandergraaff, were called out after the ceremony of presentation was over, and each made short but appropriate addresses. The Livingston Mounted Guards, Capt. Stone; the Gainesville Mounted Guards, Capt. Speight, and a company of boys (the war is rife with all ages and classes) were participants in the military display.
To witness the presentation a large number were gathered, and the bold soldier boys were honored by the approving smiles of beautiful women whose presence renders every occasion so agreeable and interesting. Sumpter can boast of some charming representatives of the “salt of the earth” and although I had not the opportunity to state the fact to any of them, I kept up a “devil of a thinking” on the subject, in spite of the fact that I had much else to attend to.
In
conclusion, I have to say that although I came here a total stranger I was soon
made to feel at home by the hospitable people of the place and vicinity. I have never been in a community where
natural kindness was so profuse or where evidences of the fact were so
spontaneous and constant. I shall not
forget
It affords me great pleasure to state that wherever I have been the junction of the Advertiser and the Register has met with approval. The subscribers to the two papers agree with you that there is no point of difference now existing among us, and as we all have in view one common object, i.e., the support of the government in its policy, it is the best arrangement that could have been entered into for the production of a better paper than either could publish otherwise. News, early, ample and reliable from all points of interest, is what your friends want, and they expect you to furnish it to them.
I
enclose you a cotton bloom plucked on the plantation of Messrs. Bell and
McMahon on Saturday last. The field from
which it came is on the banks of the
Yours,
NOW AND THEN
P.
S.-Your correspondent is indebted to J. D. Hill, Esq., editor of the
Independent, for courtesies extended. He
kindly made me at home in his office, where I had access to