1 10 98 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/475631bf4c68f12b8b06ad6ccb2b58a6.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=j1jTXqaut4iVXIRHhnIfoHrA1gMRVfZv1ccIuaua6PL32tYZBR3zp6rlTe82t%7E5o-BMgcFidi-3WFac%7Ezvi4%7EdgIv17DZlhAtCDINMy5CTeRd8ZnTNjJZw-WprcSwTT4iDIbj7xKzTiJ5r5LLKVxUiVyuPfFKf9W0qtjsyHXTR%7EpeZIVKLncn7rDQGvNfzEmPOqC3v6P44r5c7kwd6fVdcBg4I3OsNjl11SXxspXOBgjI6gLx-ATzKQK2yx0gudA-zVR80pnmkAJNYwv1cokFQUsZMznmYsiBq05Wb%7E0zcDjM9VgJUcVDmEXHjQIqm2JvKIqawAHp6S2liYOyY0bpQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b9283caa09d4d1f2ebdb831e94d0c9b6 PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Typed transcription: Military Academy. Charleston Jueves no hubo vapor embarcara sabado [sic]. Graupera *** Translation by Christian Mateo Mérida: Military Academy. Charleston. Friday there was no ship will leave Saturday. Graupera Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Telegraph from Graupera to Asbury Coward, October 6, 1904 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Description An account of the resource Telegraph from Graupera to Asbury Coward, President of The Citadel. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Graupera Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1904 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource Spanish Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Havana (Cuba) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1712 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/6375e5c582706f11b8cf261e42e4dd01.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=mAQHB8jBbE%7ErjADrIZPgw9W10XZP6cW1YgyaHS6nUQnTTHwJ3bBM-Qoe6Xf90HkH6sqtjg2v3NBqB1c0xrx6oY8Zq88N-fzoCLxgw%7EhX5SNf3ip%7Ebqo1GyDrFxDbTyLGzyKrjHptd-4dzdc6sIUrbH8cDSYsjXdFWxkoPfMBLMhr0ZdjZ4iU3gKwJdR86usluuMHoyIbBu9oBFK8uy-KltVKRSau%7EBQIlT9FqdWv2lB1yz5tjANuJszS1b-XAHt7WfFh8idK3-BsFUtDZ-cf1wF3Lg1U6AWKDMbw4Mt1E%7Ef73Xgc9Ugp9a7mXkO7ZZOpEhunjVIjKsjT%7ECtxDJPrsQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM ce10726154bd48be141ce36e40b649b8 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] - Third Decade – [Illegible words] my life found Yorkville [illegible words] the King’s Mountain Military School [illegible words] of excitement over the approaching celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the battle of King’s Mountain. [Illegible words] and extensive preparations had to be made and great difficulties to be overcome, or at least [illegible]. The battle ground being fifteen miles distant from Yorkville and over thirty from Charlotte N.C. the next nearest railway point threw practically the whole bulk of the difficulties upon the citizens of our town. As our school bore the title of the historic battle it behooved us to take an active part in the work of preparation and to be in evidence on the occasion. Our Corps of Cadets numbering between sixty and seventy had to be drilled [illegible words] expertness; all the paraphernalia for military encampment had to be provided, class-room work to be regular, attended to much incidental correspondence carries and then, fifteen long miles of rocky road to be tramped. It was surely a busy time, we had this our first year’s experience as manager’s of a pioneer military school. Military [illegible] came from Charleston, and Columbia and Chester [illegible words] or representatives of military [illegible words]. With all of these we had [Page 2] we had to establish at least military relations. Practically all the military organizations were on the ground on the evening of the sixth of October, and rules for the government of the camp were hastily prepared and circulated. But alas, the spirit that had brought these troops together was too much like the spontaneous gathering of the clans that fought the battle seventy-five years before. We had come to celebrate, they had come to fight, and both without any central controlling authority. The rules for camp government were based on strict military principles, such as real disciplined soldiers are expected to follow, but as they were to be applied to make-believe soldiers on this occasion it is easily understood that sentinels, camp guards and officers of the guard had a very lively time until daylight and breakfast considerations afforded new subjects of attention. Perhaps the most exciting incident of the night was a volunteer serenade of the camps tendered by two well known citizens of Yorkville, Mr. Richard Hare, a well known celebrated performer on the kettle drum, and his uncle, Mr. Tom Palmer, shoe-maker, and expert with the use of the fife. As they were not content to stand in one place and “waste their music on the desert air”, they proceeded to perambulate through the encampment to the rhythm of their own music. [Page 3] “Halt! Halt!! Halt!!! Who goes there?” were the yells heard all around. Finally the cries to halt, were followed by the bang of Mississippi rifle and a howl accompanied by vociferous imprecations. Tom Palmer had been shot and the missile had penetrated the most prominent part of his voluminous anatomy. It required a great amount of personal influence and expostulation to prevent further bloodshed; but reasonable quiet was at last secured and Mr. Palmer was carried to his home in Yorkville. Fortunately the missile was a wad of paper instead of a bullet of lead, and Mr. Palmer recovered after several weeks of suffering. – The next morning everybody was early astir, and, notwithstanding the comfortless, restless night, began preparations for breakfast and the military review and inspection. The larger trees and the underbrush had been cut away over a space of five or six acres, but the ground was very rough, rocky, and full of stumps. As there was no officer of higher rank present with his uniform, W. H. McCorkle Colonel of the York County Militia, was placed as reviewing Officer. The Colonel went through the function successfully and won applause for maintaining his seat on the beautiful [Page 4] fiery horse he bestrode. This animal was of a bright chesnut [sic] color, with three white feet and a white streak down his face; of light but perfect shape and as graceful as a gazelle in all his movements. As he went down the line he seemed to be doing a “Cake Walk Dance” to the music of the band. Every body expected horse and rider to come tumbling to the earth at every moment; but no such calamity befell. I fixed my heart on that horse, then and there; and during the following spring, I succeeded in buying him. After the Review there was a general movement towards the Grand Stand, erected on the southern flank of the mountain, near the spot indicated by tradition as the “Grave of Ferguson”. While the crowd was gathering around the Stand, and the speakers and specially invited guests were already upon it, a detachment of the artillery company from Columbia began firing salvos in honor of the day. But few shots had been fired, when in one of the pieces the blank cartridge exploded as it was being rammed down, and the rammer and the arm of the gunner were sent flying towards the stand. The shattered arm fell near the gun, but the rammer went just over the [Page 5] heads of the occupants of the stand and was broken in pieces on the rocks of the mountain. The young artillerist was immediately cared for and the programme [sic] for the day was continued. Among the distinguished men on the grand stand were Hon. John S. Preston, of Orator of the Day, Hon. George Bancroft, the Historian, Hon. William C. Preston the renowned Orator, and others whom I do not now recall. The oration was very fine, and so was Mr. Bancroft’s address, but the most thrilling occurrence on the stand was the appearance and action of Mr. Wm. C. Preston. After urgent calls from the audience this venerable man assisted to his feet and supported by his crutches, attempted to address the people. His emotion was visibly great as he began in quavering voice to say “There was a time, my fellow citizens, when my tongue could interpret the emotions of my heart in viewing this scene and contemplating the event which you celebrate, but now, this (holding up a crutch), and these (touching the scanty fringe of white hair on his head) must be my excuse”. Mr. Sam’l W. [illegible], a young lawyer of Yorkville, and at this time, one of the eleven Editors of the Yorkville Engineer made a very fine address, by way of introducing the first speaker. I recall the eloquence and graceful delivery of this address [Page 6] and also the pretty general criticism that the speaker, from the length and scope of his address, must have assumed that he was the principal feature of the occasion. – Then came the barbecue, managed by Mr. J. Starr Moore of Yorkville and his many assistants from York County. Roasted quarters of beef and pork and mutton, corn bread, wheat bread, and biscuits, chicken pies, other pies, and a profusion of cakes of every kind adorned the long tables, and apparently every body “got a bite”. Immediately thereafter nearly everybody began the homeward journey and the grand celebration was over. It required some time for the excitement consequent upon the affairs of this event to subside in the quiet community of Yorkville, but finally, matters readjusted themselves into the accustomed grooves, and the celebration came to be regarded as only an episode in our lives. To us, with our designs for building and contracts made, there was serious work to hand. To see the foundation planned, excavations made, brick making begun, rock and lumber brought in and prepared, and at the same time to do our class work and take oversight of our pupils, while we attempted conscientiously [Page 7] to read the Law course, filled every minute of our waking hours. Nevertheless, I managed to write two letters a week to “Pink Mantel [sic]”, - although I had often to trot the silent streets of Yorkville at two o’clock in the morning to insure their going by mail. – The insistent demands of our patrons led us to add Latin and Greek to our curriculum, and this necessitated the employment of an assistant whose college diploma covered those languages. Both Jenkins and I had studied Latin and Greek at our preparatory schools, but our Citadel diploma did not cover any study but French, Mathematics and English. – We selected Mr. Cato Ashe Seabrook of Edisto, a recent graduate of the South Carolina College. He was a cousin of Jenkins; but he and Jenkins had not been previously thrown much together. His clean-hearted, unselfish manliness soon won upon us, and established fraternal, rather than merely friendly relations between us. During the latter part of January I noticed that my friend Jenkins was given to fits of abstraction and restlessness, especially when he saw me writing my weekly letters to Charleston. [Page 8] Finally, he announced that it was necessary for him to be absent a few days. I knew that he had one or two sisters at Rev. Legare’s institution at Orangeburg, S.C. and as the time he expected to be absent was not sufficient for him to go to Edisto Island and back, I concluded that he had gone to the former place. On his return to Yorkville he imparted to me the secret of his trip by slapping me on the back and saying, “Ah ha, old fellow, you are no longer the only one to write weekly letters”. He had become engaged to Caroline, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Gen. D. F. Jamison of Orangeburg. He was so boyishly exultant over his success that I found it necessary on more than one occasion to remind him of his professional dignity. He seemed to think that he ought to get married right away, - that it was all nonsense to wait – he did not believe in long engagements anyhow, &c, &c. I repeated to him my uncle’s advice to me about the cage and the bird. To this he answered that they would only have two months to [Page 9] wait for the completion of his wing of the building, and one of those months would be our summer holiday, and he would board in town the other month. This sounded all very well, and began manfully to compete with me in the letter writing and we agreed to alternate in carrying the letters to post at night. As the warm weather was increasing and the night’s growing shorter, his energy began to flag. I often had to wake him up to finish a letter. One night in June and summer fully set in I noticed him nodding over his unfinished letter. “Wake up, old sleepy head. I am almost ready”, I said, giving him at the same time, a somewhat imphatic [sic] kick. “Stop that! you confounded fool! “I don’t see why you inflict all that trash on the girl you profess to love”. “Why man, I think, I am sitting by her side, and am just talking to her. When my prose is too tame, I resort to poetry”. “See here” (I held up a page of doggerel) all metered and rhymed accord. to strictest rules of prosody”. “Poor-i-try, you mean”. I would not insult my girl by asking her to read such stuff”. “Pshaw!” I answered I you are afraid your Carrie might send you a Sapphic ode in Greek, letters and all, and you would have to call on Cato over there to translate it for you? Just then [Page 10] the said Cato, with a great guffaw, shouted – “Can’t you heathens shut up, and let a man sleep in this room? That brought an end to the controversy. I closed my epistle; Jenkins closed his. I said to him “Fearing that you might fall asleep on the way to the post office and be found on the side walk, or someones door stop at daylight. I’ll take the letters tonight, although it is your turn. ‘To bed – to bed, Old Sleepy head! before Reveille catches you”. On my return, the room was in darkness, and apparently both were asleep! I believed he blew out the light purposely in revenge. June approached its end. In consideration of his approaching marriage, Seabrook and I were to remain until the boys were all gone to there [sic] homes, and Jenkins would leave a day or two earlier so as to be in Orangeburg to meet his engagement for the 1st of July. We were to meet him at the Mills House, Charleston on the Fourth First of July. Of course being in possession of my fine horse, which I had named Hero, I desired to have as a part of my holiday pleasure. As he was too precious to travel on foot to Charleston, a distance of over two hundred miles, he had to go as a passenger on rail-road. Putnam cars had not then been invented. Seabrook and my Hero-horse met [Page 11] in Charleston as planned, - so also, the groom and bride. The horse was given accommodation at a public stable, and we people at the elegant Mills House. The next morning we saw the young couple safely on board the steamer bound for Edisto Island, and promised to visit them in few days at the summer home of the Jenkins family on Eddings Bay on the sea shore. Col. J. Charles Blum, my prospective uncle in law, having invited me to join his staff on the Fourth of July parade of his regiment, gave me the much appreciated opportunity to show off my fine horse. Hero seemed to live over the glories of his performance at King’s Mountain battle field, the year before. The way he showed the Charleston people and horses how the Cake Walk step should be expected was a thing to linger in memory. A visit to my Uncle, whose summer home was at Cordesville, and frequent rides on horse-back and buggy about Charleston made my holiday pass all too quickly. I had to go back to Yorkville to get every thing in readiness for the opening of the next sessions. Jenkins and bride go into their wing about the promised time. The cadets and proffessors [sic] moved into barracks about a month later. My wing of the building was being [illegible] towards completion by [Page 12] the whole working force of the contractors. By October the school was transferred in [illegible] to the new quarters and work progressed smoothly. In November, however, a painful shook came to us. One of our most attractive young pupils was seized with a severe cold; was at once put under medical treatment; but he grew steadily worse and on the fourth day, died. The Doctor said he had never known a case just like it. It resembled Quinzy [sic], as described by the medical works, of which Washington died. I had read about it but was always in doubt as to whether Washington died of the disease or of the excessive blood-letting he insisted on. Both Jenkins and I knew the brothers and sisters of the loveable boy, - the youngest, I think, of the family, and determined that one [of] us ought to accompany the body to his home in Pineville, S.C. On reaching Moncks Corner we were told that I and young Abbott (one of our older cadets who I carried with me to represent to the corps of cadets) were to spend the night at Pinopolis with Mr. Wm. Cain. This venerable, and dignified gentleman was there with his carriage, but the body was carried to a station further on. I spent a very profitable evening in Pinopolis, for Mr. Cain was [an] intimate friend and enthusiastic admirer of Mr. Calhoun and gave me [Page 13] much [illegible] on his views and personality. As I had been a diligent student of Calhoun’s works as a cadet at the Citadel, and could recite pages of them from memory. The evening passed most profitably to me at least. The next morning we were carried to Pineville and the church near the R. R. station of St. Stephen’s, to spend the night with Mr. J. J. Palmer. So ended my sad mission. Young Abbott was sent back to Yorkville by way of Sumter, so he could spend a day at home and I took the Charleston route, to encounter the less sad duty of equipping my “Cage”. My prospective Mother-in-law laid aside her many duties to go with me to Furniture, Carpet, and Crockery stores, and it was well for me, she did. For I should have run myself into irretrievable debt, had I attempted the job alone. In the distribution of my fathers Estate most of the furniture, table and bed linens were assigned to his widow and as we two boys would have no need of them for many years. Besides, I thought a new house ought to have every thing new in it, and every space appropriately filled: “Get every thing needful for immediate use and no more”, she said. “All other things – can be provided as needed, and you will know just what to get, and be sure to get them with an eye to service and not for mere show”! Bless her heart and good sense. [Page 14] When I came to add up the bills I found she had saved me from initial bankruptcy. On my return to York., I found no time for idleness and even less for reading law. There was one book in the prescribed course I had not yet opened, [illegible] on Remainders, I think it was. But Col. Wilson who was our director said that it was rather a book for Reference than of fundamental principles and that in a month of reading at any time we could be ready for examination. As the 19th of September was now past I was all intent on taking the Degrees of Masonry. Before I could send in my application I had to give the assurance that I was a man, free born, of lawful age, and under the tongue of good report. As I could now give this assurance in full, Seabrook and I took the First Degree in November. Jenkins had to wait until after his natal anniversary Dec. 1st. As the 20th of December was rapidly approaching, I was almost in a fever of impatience to get my wing of the building in good order for the coming of the bridal party. Carpets were laid, furniture unpacked and settled in their places, and irons, tongs and shovels, fenders, polished and wood cut, for quick fires and servants quartered and instructed as to their several duties, all these to be personally looked after, and the daily grind of school duties religiously discharged made me think with Bacon, “The duties of Life, are more than Life” [Page 15] Life”. – In those the journey from York to Charleston took about 24 hours. I arrived there and took quarters in the Charleston Hotel, where all my groomsmen were to join me at dinner, on the momentous 25th of December A.D. 1856. The morning of that day I had to hunt up Uncle James, and notify the interested party in Mary Street. As the telephone had not come into existence the most expeditious way to discharge this duty was to hire a carriage and go in person. I found Uncle James at the house of his married daughter, Mrs. O. F. Folker. He promised faithfully to be on hand at the appointed hour. My visit to Mary Street, was not so free from embarrassment for when I announced my arrival, it was intimated to me social customs, of age-long sanctity, forbade the meeting of the engaged couple, until or before the minister for the performance of the ceremony. While I was trying to digest this ridiculous custom I heard a step and a laugh on the third story landing of the stairway. Of course it took but a few flying steps to reach that landing. I went to the hotel to interview the chef about party for dinner charged him to to have everything secundum artem. My groomsmen were promptly up to time. I remember how solicitous they were about my sobriety. Seabrook [Page 16] had brought a bottle of twelve year old Madeira wine from his father’s cellar to grace the occasion. This was sipped around in thimble glasses; but when I began to order champagne and sauterne, there was a general kick. Finally they compromised one bottle of champagne drunk from sherry glasses. They seemed to think that it was their duty to see that I was safely delivered to the minister’s presence in a safe sound, respectable condition. By 5 o.c. p.m. we had [illegible] through the dinner and it was about time to take a bath, and begin to put on the wedding garments. Doubts about the boots flashed in my mind as I went to my room for I was now to pull them on for the first time. Mr. Derrer, our shoemaker in Yorkville, had asked the privilege a making them a month before I left York, and sent them in the night before I started for Charleston. It was and dandy pair, - patent-leather footing and morocco leggings, and done up in the finest work of sartorial art. After sorting out my supply sacks to find the [illegible], and thanks to the liberal supply of powdered soapstone, I, at length succeeded in getting my [illegible] securely [illegible] and completed my [illegible]. Some of my groomsmen road with me to the house so as to take away all excuse for dodging such as the driver missed the way, etc. etc. [Page 17] Uncle James was already on the spot, and was pleasantly engaged in chatting with the sprightly, handsome, married sister of the bride. I heard him say to her “But why did you select this day of the whole year”. Hundreds of negroes on the plantations have three day holiday now, and in the absence of the white people, they are apt to run into trouble. Did you fear you would forget the day? I was married on the – day of February and never did forget it”! I felt in [sic] was time to break in. “But you, Uncle, your anniversaries were purely selfish; nobody celebrated them but yourself. Our anniversary will be celebrated every year by the whole world”. The call for the Groom was made just then, and I left him to digest that until I came down with the Bride and stood up solemnly before dear old Doctor Bachman. Just as the ring was adjusted he began a solemn lecture and boots began to make themselves felt. By frequent shifting my weight from foot to foot I managed to hold my position until the blessing and the kissings were over. After this came the supper which [illegible] really a feast. Walking about the boots too busy to confine themselves to one spot; but laid up trouble for the pulling off that had to take place about 2 o’c. in the morning. My advice to young folks is – Don’t trust [Page 18] to undertake the marriage ceremony unless you have a well tested, comfortable pain of footwear. Otherwise, you will have a very distracting time in getting through with it. The next day we were told that not [illegible words] to be seen on the streets the “morning after” and the afternoon was taken up entirely in receiving the visits and congratulations of the “sisters and the cousins, and the aunts”. The First Appearance, still according to social rule, was made of course, in the Lutheran Church so that Dr Bachman could see for himself that the knot[illegible], he had so elaborately tied Christmas night, was still securely fast. The next day was devoted to piano for of course the [illegible] would not be complete without provision for music. Should fingers that had been kept busy for at least ten years following the intricacies of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Talberg [sic], [illegible] and many others in instrumental work, and voice that had been framed by the methods of Bajioli and La Blache and sang in the [illegible] of Hayden, handel, Rossini and work of that class drop everything all at once because the owner of the voice and fingers was to take up the duties of a wife and – a mother after a while? No indeed. [Illegible] if I must, but music I must have. So we bought a Dunham, of full resonant tone [Page 19] and reported durability on the recommendation of Mr. L. Hambruch, her late teacher on the piano. As I had promised to be back at work, Jan. 1st we started for Yorkville on Tuesday. For company Mrs. Blum carried her grand-daughter, Florence [Illegible], a somewhat precocious little chit about six years old, whom I claimed, to be my chaperone. At Columbia where we stopped for the night, I thought Mrs. Blum’s countenance began to have, a serious cast. The next morning she inquired, How much farther do we have to go? I told her about 88 miles if the links did not break, or become unpinned. At Killians Mill 10 or 12 miles beyond Columbia this very thing happened. A link of the connecting chain of the cars broke and the locomotive, followed by its tender was making its way towards the next station beyond; and we in one of the cut off coaches found ourselves come to full stop. While every body was commenting on the mishap, blowing their fingers (for it was becoming cold) and felicitating ourselves that we had passed a mill without falling in it we heard the whistle of the returning locomotive which discovered that the tail was not following her after [illegible words] light several miles. The President of the road, Mr. William Johnson, was among the cut off. By this incident we lost only about a half hour of [Page 20] schedule time. When we arrived at Chester and were told by the conductor to change cars for Yorkville, Mrs. Blum could not refrain from asking “Where is the man carrying my child?” I suppose she felt very much as the men who accompanied Columbus on his first voyage to America when they discovered that their magnetic needle had gone dead, that they had reached the rim of the world. She was told that the distance was only twenty-two miles, and we would be there by four o’clock. The journey was shortened by the many [illegible] jokes of conductor [Illegible]. Although the jokes were mirthful, they were always told with a mirthless face. I always considered him a true friend. The train finally stopped, not to change cars, but because it was then the terminus of the K. M. & R. R. -. York’s private coach to travel into foreign parts. The hotel bus driven by Primus Whitt invited us to take seats, our trunks &c would be delivered by wagon. Primus evidently regarded this as a red letter day of his life; and often reminded me that he was the first man in York to put me and my bride on the threshold of my home. I confess a feeling of pride surged through me as we turned into the front gate of the lot, and got a full view of the majestic building we two boy’s had erected. I say, boys, for I was then three months passed my twenty first birthday and now a man, a voter, a Mason, and a married man. Jenkins [Page 21] had been a married for just six months, - a voter for just one month and not yet a Mason. I did not neglect to twit him for his boyish greediness in taking his cake first. However, the bubble of pride was somewhat pricked as I entered the door. The rooms insufficiently furnished, the [illegible] bare, white walls, the total bareness of a new unoccupied house, - the want of anything like hominess was oppressive. However, my good mother-in-law, so relieved that I had not gone over the rim of the world with her child, took everything in good part, assuring me she would have it all homey in a day or two; - all except the chimney, which the bricklayer only could remedy. The wood was all oak, and the smoke quite pungent was puffing out in little wisps from too many side drafts, and unwilling to travel up the cold flew provided for it. The next morning, Jan. 1st 1857, we were up early enough to see the white frost glittering every where around, and our first breakfast in the house was to be eaten. This breakfast was worthy of remembrance, for the bride was to learn her first lesson in housekeeping and homemaking. The young wife had to summon up all her courage and self-control, Ma had said we must begin as we expect to continue. She went at the task with such meticulous care, that if any of us had summarily specified [Page 22] how much sugar we like in our coffee, she would counted [sic] grains one by one. The ordeal for her was passed, - and for good. Breakfast over, I went over to the office to start work. I had promised that I would be back on the first of January, and here I was. It was all a silly notion that a man had to have a month, honey mooning after so simple a thing as a marriage ceremony. Seabrook grinned, Law chuckled, and Jenkins frowned, and his lips put on the determined look of an intention to pay me back in some way. The morning was soon passed in arranging the daily scheme for recitations, examining new pupils, assigning them to classes, rooms, and companies, &c. Dinner time came and went back to the Cage to see how my bird was getting on. I found the “Bird” with a work apron on, and every body, especially the servants working at something. Her energetic mother had found something for every one to do, and the bleakness of the new house was changed into well ordered comfort. We progressed every day, and as the piano arrived and articles of furniture arrived, - all found their appropriate place ready for them. [Page 23] * Little Florence was left behind to keep company for her aunt during the absorbing hours her busy husband was engaged in schoolwork. It would have been a dreary time for her to be all alone so many hours a day. I, of course, was too busy to stay in the house except at meal times. Florence kept her quite busy. I recall that on one occasion, she was told to remain in the room for some naughtiness, she sat in the window and called to cadets passing on the lawn, “See me, I am in arrest to-day”. [Page 24] By the first of February 1857, Mrs. Blum, and little Florence * had gone back to Charleston. A garden had been laid out, a small orchard had been planted, a fowl house provided with occupants, a cow was introduced and a pig or two put in a pen to keep the food scraps from accumulating. Many social calls had been received and returned and we began to feel that we had married all our lives. In this sweet serenity we passed the snows and blizzards of March and looked towards the coming of spring with nothing but hopes and satisfaction. But alas! Absent the middle of April there came a rude awakening from my dreams of comfort and ease. While busy with our classes the cry of Fire! Was heard, and a moment we saw flames breaking out in the roof of the Mess hall directly over the cooking stove of the kitchen. Of course it was easy to account for the origin of the fire, a defective flue of the stove pipe, between the ceiling and the roof. In about half an hour the Fire Department appeared with their little fire apparatus worked with hand breaks. But our wells were too deep to be available and the engine had to be filled by bucket-brigade. Fortunately, only the roof and part of the [Page 25] ceiling. All the tables and chairs, and most of the crockery ware was saved, - even the cooking stove. Thanks to the activity of Quarter Master and the town baker, Mr. [Illegible] and his energetic wife the boys did not lose a meal. For the dinner, which was due at the time the fire was going on, an abundant snack was substituted. The Mess Hall was was [sic] transferred to one of the large class rooms at the foot of the stairway. By some compacting and easy rearrangement of the scheme of Recitations, work went to the end of the session without further interruption. That evening we decided to rebuild at once of brick and stone. The next morning I had the plans all drawn for a new Mess Hall, with a separate kitchen absolutely fireproof, and ready to submit to contractors. Mr. Hare bid for the Masonry work. In fact, for the whole work. and lumber for the Much of the quarried stone and much of the lumber left over from the Main Building was already on hand and a very [illegible] days the bids were in our hands. Besides the mess hall, the two wooden kitchens, one to each wing were to be moved farther from the main building and replaced with brick [Page 26] was burnt. The tables, chairs, & all the crockery and even the cooking stove were saved. As you all have seen this amendment to our ambitious venture, it is not necessary to describe them. The whole cost of this amendment was about $6000. Some of it could be met by our school revenue, - the rest by tapping again our home revenue. At any rate this fire and consequential expenses was a good lesson to both of us in the chapter of prudence and economy. On the destroyed property we had no insurance. Work was immediately begun, and we arranged for a longer vacation between the sessions of that year. When the second session opened with a hundred and twenty pupils the work was practically complete; - we had reached the limit of our accommodation, and experienced the luxury of a waiting list. We were all glad for the coming of vacation. The vacation was signalized by Jenkins becoming a Father. He was absent at the time; for the momentous event took place in Orangeburg. She had gone there to be with her mother on the first anniversary of her marriage. Naturally, this put a new feather in young father’s cap. We did not see the new prodigy before the vacation of six weeks was over. [Page 27] We spent that vacation in Charleston, to assure your mother’s friends and relatives that I had not taken her beyond the limits of civilization. She had been beyond the limits of Charleston atmosphere, it is true, but the change had produced no injurious effect. We were just a well suited pair of newly weds, still satisfied that we had made no mistake in choosing each other, and ready to receive all the belated congratulations of our friends. There were many enjoyable incidents of this vacation, such as our visit to Uncle James’ summer home in Cordesville, and a few days at a the splendid new hotel, The Moultrie House, located a short distance from Fort Moultrie, on Sullivans Island. This hotel was then under the personal management of Mr. Nicholson, who had made the Mill’s House in Charleston, so famous as a house of entertainment. Nevertheless we were glad enough to get back to the home cage in Yorkville. Of course the opening number of the new session was the making the acquaintance of the young Micah John Jenkins. So named in honor of himself, Micah, - of his Father, and of his oldest brother, John. The latter did not like the combination, and thought it would be better as one word, - Mr. John [illegible], easier to say and [Page 28] to remember, as one word, than as two, the two did not coalesce readily. But two it was, - and two it remained. Things proceeded smoothly, as the session went on. Nearly every day brought some new fact of pedagical [sic] experience for us to meet. So we were still learners, - if professional teachers. The old adage, “Live and Learn”, seemed to have a special application to the teacher’s profession. Here, I am tempted to turn aside and prosily moralize a bit: But I forbear. This writing was to give only a brief narrative of my life, about things of which you could know nothing, because you were yet unborn. About About the middle of December, Mrs. Blum came back to us on a short visit ostensibly to see for herself how we young folks were getting on and to further instruction we needed on the important subject of homemaking. Then the atmosphere of the place seemed gradually to change. A feeling of expectancy became to creep over us. New arrangements were suggested as necessary, in fact, that a great event was about to occur and all proper arrangements must be made to meet it. It was not merely to be with us on the first anniversary of our wedding day, nor of the day of our first occupancy of the new home. Both of these days came; but the expectancy [Page 29] cloud was deepening every day. Finally, on the 13th of January I was told to send for the family physician, Dr. Barron, to help solve the mysterious dread. After many hours of patient prudence the mystery was solved by the appearance of a perfectly formed, healthy looking girl baby. As the names of Father and Mother had come to us, it was natural that a name should be promptly found for the newcomer. It took but little time to find this name, Sarah Rebecca, it should be, after the dear Sister who had such influence over me during my boyhood. The addition of the title father, to my other attained titles, namely Man, Mason, Husband, Father, seemed to complete the stages of complete manhood. It remained now only to show what I should do with the completed structure. Being now a man of family it seemed proper that I should put everything on a strictly family footing. Hero should have a companion, the buggy should be laid aside and a family carriage substituted therefor. The latter requisition could be easily filled; but it was difficult to find a match for Hero, in point of grace and and [sic] character. I had to content myself with similar of coloring, and bought from Maj. Brigg a horse of [Page 30] approximate color marking. In spite of evening colics and sprouting teeth the little girl grew in cuteness, weight, and precocity right along. Of course, when summer vacation came, she had to see Charleston, and Charleston had to see her. So there we went, and also to Cordesville for Uncle James and family to properly appreciate what the Coward crowd could do. Throughout the visit Miss Sally behaved like a well bred little lady and won [illegible] every where. Mrs. Blum promised to visit us again in December and bring a child’s nurse with her. She was very particular in choosing one, for scarlet fever had broken in Charleston about that time. She arrived with Heloise Massot her oldest grand daughter early in December. In two or three days Heloise showed signs of cold with slight fever, in a short time little Salley [sic] showed similar symptoms and the Doctor was summoned. He said the symptoms indicated scarlet fever. Heloise recovered entirely in about ten a week, but little Sally grew steadily worse; but lingered on until Jan 8th 1858, when she left us. I can’t attempt to describe the grief and desolation that followed her departure. In the fall just before Mrs. Blum came and much for her satisfaction, we got Mr. Schorb to take a daguerreotype picture of her, which Mrs. H. [illegible] of Charleston amplified in a pastel which you all know. The colors are as fresh to-day as they were [Page 31] when I received it from her hand. The latter part of February or early in March I received notice that Uncle James was very sick. I left home at once and reached Charleston the same night. Mr. Massot kindly proffered his stout pony to make the rest of the journey crossing over to Mt. Pleasant by the first trip of the ferry boat. I took the road to [illegible] on the Wando River, and had to wait a half hour for the ferry flat. Across the Wando, the country and the roads were familiar to me and I rode steadily but carefully to save pony. I arrived at Fishbrook where the uncle James was now staying, about 4 o’c. in the afternoon. He had [illegible] his nephew, John Coward, to take charge at Silk Hope, in January. He had already resigned all his engagements along the river. The physician in the city had given no hope of his recovery. It was evident to me that he’d but a short time live; but with care he might last a couple of weeks longer. I spent the night by his bedside. In his wakeful moments he told me many things he wanted me to remember after his death. Among other things, he told me to stop at [illegible] plantation and [illegible] the head carpenter to look in. The right hand [Page 32] corner of the barn loft for the pine boards he had laid away several years ago, out which he the carpenter was to make his coffin. He wanted made plain, I advised him to make his will so that there would be no confusion after he left us and also begged him to forgive his daughter [illegible]. I left about sunrise, so that I could catch the train next day for York., and promised to be back in a week or ten days if I did not hear of his being better. In a few days after reaching home a short letter from Mr. Folker, his son in law, told me that it was, thought, the end was near at hand, and his wife Eugenia had gone that day to be with him at the last and he himself would follow in two or three days. I immediately took measures to keep my class work going, so that might be absent for a fortnight. Arriving in Charleston I had to impose again on Mr. Massot for the use of the pony. On reaching Fishbrook I found Uncle James [illegible] weak, but entirely conscious. He needed constant attention. He thought the medicine was far too active, but I was convinced that it was the last stage of a [illegible] and I did [illegible] he expired the next night. He had made his will and [Page 33] was ready to go. The house was somewhat crowded for the members of both families – his and Aunt Martha’s – that could come were there. While every one was willing to assist they seemed to look to me for directions. With the assurance of Old Jane, the cook and the house boy, Peter, I cleansed dressed and prepared the body for the coffin. The coffin was brot [sic] during the next day. It was made of the boards he had himself selected. It was neatly lined with white cloth. The handles were silvered and the screws were all silver plated, and the simple name plate. The wood on the outside was stained walnut color. I found myself near the point of nervous collapse, - three whole days and three nights without a wink of sleep was bringing me to the brink. I went to bed leaving the others to meet the neighborly calls and the details of the funeral. (You must forget that neighbors meant, to people resident in the country, a ride in buggy, carriage, or horseback of rom three to fifteen miles at least. He was interred by the side of his wife at the plantation graveyard, in front of the house of her uncle, Mr. Phillips, and probably the house from which they were married. [Page 34] * The words perhaps needs some explanation. It is quite common in York; but I do remember hearing it elsewhere. It is an observed fact that in late springtime, a gander will be found standing on one leg by the margin of a brook, or pond, apparently lost in contemplation, of the additional mouths to feed, bodies to look after and little brain’s to train in all important goose-like ways. He anxiously estimates how long each pond and brook will supply the daily demands for frog [illegible] tadpoles and minnows; every now and then he steps with dignified steps to count the number of eggs [illegible words], and that mother-goose is faithfully doing her duty in keeping the yellow goslings warm. To say, of a man that was Gandering [sic], or standing on one foot when he was in analogous condition of expectancy was well understood in York. This condition occurred to me so often that I must refer you to the family Bible where they are recorded. [Page 35] After the burial, I went home with Uncle Sam. Lynes and pony was called on to carry only himself, the saddle being carried in the buggy. Uncle Sam was then living at his own plantation, Kebbleworth, about three miles from Monck’s Corner. The next morning Pony and I took the train at Oakley, N.E.R.R. and arrived Charleston about ten A.M. The next day Mr. Folker and I met at Probate court to prove the will and qualify as Executors, &c. These things done, now to return to Yorkville and resume my regular work. I found plenty to do, - and soemthings to undo. But things went on without incident to the time for vacation. I was not in a hurry to go to Charleston on the first day of holiday or even the first week for there was some uncertainty about when I could come back, - To tell the truth, I was gandering * again. When we did go back to the city, there were a few things I had to attend to as one of the executors but they were easily and satisfactorily attended and the thing was in the waiting – standing on one foot – even after the session had started in Yorkville. Finally the 9th of September came and with it came, another little Sally, perfectly developed and normal in size; but unfortunately some important [Page 36] valve in the heart had failed to close properly. After a few struggles to breathe, the baby closed its eyes became quiet, and then pale. The Doctor pronounced it dead. The three deaths that befell us in the nine months of the year 1858, made memorable as the year of sorrows. The only distraction, not mitigation, was found in the intensity of work, varied work, - work as a student as well as an operator in my chosen profession. Jenkins in the north wing had been more fortunate in his family experience. Both of his little boys were strong and healthy restless and active. The winter holiday being limited to Christmas week we spent in Yorkville. The following 1859 found us still with a full school and still enjoying a waiting list. About February a startling issue came upon us in the shape of an epidemic of measles. As the rooms in the main building were now filled to capacity we had to use a building on a neighboring lot which I had bought a few months before and the thirty or more affected boys over there. We were fortunate also secure Mrs. Whitt to take charge of the hospital, and give what servants and facilities as she might need. Only one serious case gave us much concern. A boy from Newberry Co. supposed be convalescent. In a few [Page 37] Hour after he had sneaked out of his bed and helped himself to a handful of snow that boy on the floor of [illegible words] his became insensible from congestion of the stomach. After the measles abated, he got strong enough to go home and I thinks got ultimately well. Matters went on smoothly the rest of the year. In the last half, we had Dr. Gillmore Simms to deliver before the school his course of lectures on The Ante-Colonial History of South Carolina. Several gentlemen of the town became interested in them and requested him deliver some of the lectures in the York Court House. Among these gentlemen I remember were Col. W. B. Wilson, Mr. W A Latta, Col. R. G. McCaw, who had him to dinner parties at their homes, as well as Jenkins and I. His talks at these dinner parties were greatly enjoyed, for he was a ready and fluent talker on such occasions; - sometimes he degenerated into a monologue. In January, the first year of my third decade, 1860 new issues began to excite the public mind throughout the State, in fact throughout the United States. It was the year for the Presidential nomination, and there general [illegible] of the fires of feeling that was only partially [illegible] and [Page 38] By the compromise of the nullification question, and had agitated the [illegible] in great cooperation attempt that was about to close when I entered the Citadel in 1851. Other States declined to cooperate then and another compromise had been invented. There had been new party alignments made. The Democratic was to be held in Charleston and the State was getting into a political [illegible]. Early in the this year I was called to make the annual Address to the Association of Graduates on Commencement Day in April. I jotted down some notes in pencil, but with my habit of procrastination I had not copied the half of my speech before pneumonia broke out in the school. The most serious of the cases were [illegible] R. K. Thomas, a recent graduate from the Citadel, one of the assistant professors, a modest, loveable fellow, and cadet from Fort Motte. Of course there being no trained nurses to be had in those days, even of the [illegible words] order Jenkins and I had to do the best we could. With the cadet the threatened to take on the Typhoid character and Dr. Barron resorted to the treatment recently introduced, of reducing the hearts action with the administration of Veratrum [illegible]. This required a careful dosing of two or three days every half hour as the symptoms indicated. The boy’s mind was wandering and threatening to jump out of [illegible]. [Page 39] With the assistance a helper, Ellison Burton, an intelligent colored man, and the effect of the medicine the fever abated and he became rational. Convalescence began but progress was slow. Young Thomas was still quite sick and I thought I would have to give up the speech I was to make. Law kindly offered to put it ink for me, so I put of [illegible] the decision about going to Charleston to the last possible moment. The morning preceding Commencement day at daylight I went over to see the conditions existent and found all favorable; young Hane had slept well and was and [sic] entirely sane, Thomas had passed a very quiet night and his fever had considerably abated, and gave me some message for his brother. I left in the early train and reached Charleston about two o’clock the next morning. Well I made the speech and was proud to note that one in the graduating class of that year was one of our former Cadets at K.M.M.S. During the afternoon, I attended the business meeting of the Association. The secretary had just read a resolution of thanks to me for the “able, thoughtful and eloquent address” I had delivered before them that day and requesting a copy for publication. Of course, I modestly suppressed my gratification, a telegram was announced for me, and one for the secretary [Page 40] Capt. J. P. Thomas. I was almost aghast to read in mind that R. K. Thomas had died that morning. A sudden change, and had sank rapidly. The body would be taken to Winnesboro S.C. for internment the next day. This sad event cast quite a gloom over the whole atmosphere of the school; which was not lightened until the close of the first session of the year. The second session opened, there was a slightly diminished number in consequence of the class just graduated; but more by the loss of several older boys having been elected officers of their home companies; for these companies were being formed in every part of the State in anticipation of serious political trouble. The Democratic Convention, had nominated J. C. Breckinridge of Ky. A section of it has nominated Stephen A. Douglas of Michigan. Another party made of fragments of the old Whig party nominated _ Bell of Tennessee. The Black Republicans made of abolitionists and the scum that had drifted in from foreign countrys [sic] put in nomination Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. This last party were the most dreaded, and seemed to have the best prospects of success. [Page 41] * note. Read the following books – viz. Elliott’s Debates on The Constitution, in the Convention Elliott’s Debates on The Constitution in the States Calhoun’s, On Government and Treatise on the Constitution of the US Curry – The South and Constitution. Woodrow Wilson, State and Federal Constitutions Story – on the Constitution History of So. Ca. – under colonial conditions. Proprietary, Royal, and State Ramsey, Simms and McRady. [Page 42] The issue was now clearly drawn, and it only the final decision of the general election in November. * But I am not discussing political history, I am simply trying to make you acquainted connected with some of the facts, incidents, &c. in the life of your father, before you knew him… Capt. R. H. Glenn, of a volunteer company, in the Bethel section of York County invited us to participate in a public meeting to be held at [illegible] Hill Church, to memorialize the heroes from that section who were killed during the Revolution, and were buried in the graveyard of that Church. We promptly accepted and with the Jasper Light Infantry of the town undertook to march there. (about eight miles with all the paraphernalia and ceremonies of actual service. We pitched tents and established sentinel posts with all the serious particulars of regular soldiers. The next morning we rendered the solemn tribute to the long dead veterans who had been buried without the farewell honors by valleys of musketry. This duty performed, we were getting ready to attend the speaking when a [sic] unpleasant occurrence took place in the camp of the cadets. A group of three or four large men from the neighborhood sauntering about thought they would see how the tents looked inside, how they slept and generally how the little boys were fixed up, [Page 43] to sleep out of doors, - a mere visit of curiosity. The sentinel called Halt! as he was instructed, and came to the “charge bayonet”. One of the men, persisted in advancing and in a rather amused way, took hold of the bayonet to push it out of his way. A prompt explosion of the musket was heard and the gentleman found himself with a burnt hand a lost finger. Of course, there resulted quite a commotion, and thoughtless threats were made. It seems that the blank cartridge was in a gun used in firing the volleys at the grave. The wounded saw that he had foolishly caused the accident to himself. Matters quieted down and the signal was sounded for assembly at the stand. I think the speaker was a Dr. Campbell of the Bethel neighborhood. The address tinctured with the prevailing feelings of the times, was followed by a dinner of the usual Barbecue type. That afternoon we marched to Yorkville without further incident. Later in the Fall we thought it would be well to make a personal canvas through the Eastern part of the State. Accordingly, I took my wife to Charleston, I began my itinerary in the following places, which in these days could be reached by rail-road. Camden, Sumter, Darlington, Cheraw, Marion and Georgetown – (by stage from Gourdin’s) In all of [Page 44] one or more old acquaintances which made my trip very enjoyable. Seabrook met me in Charleston to make the trip to Florida. We took in Fernandina, Jacksonville, Palatka, St. Augustine nearly all of them by steamboats, and started by rail from Jacksonville to Savannah. Seabrook had arranged for his fathers row-boat to meet a Jacksonboro on the Edisto, to spend two or three days with his family on Sampson’s Island. The pleasure that row-boat trip I can stop to describe. The boat from a single cypress stem, lines [illegible] as if for races propelled by eight sturdy taught how to handle oars. As they started singing their boat songs, half religious, half funny, we slid down the river as if in a poppy dream. I was sorry when the eighteen or twenty miles came to an end. A duck hunt the next day with gratifying success, a home Sabbath when Episcopal Morning Prayer was read by the oldest Sister and a pleasant neighbor from an adjoining island left me ready to start for Charleston Monday loaded with wild ducks, and beautiful [illegible] flower. The return trip being against the current of the river was slower than than [sic] the other and required more effort at the oars, but the singing took on a more vivacious temp and time [Page 45] for the train to be at Jacksonboro Station was safely made. On arrival in Charleston I learned that both the Gen. Assembly, and the Convention that had been ordered by it were holding sessions in their city in consequence of the prevalence of small-pox in Columbia, and that the Ordinance of Secession was passed. The formal signing of the Ordinance was to be in the Institute Hall on the night of the 20th of December – the night after my arrival. It was a solemn impressive scene – this dignified withdrawal from union with other states with whom we had associated for over three fourths of a century. An immediate call upon the citizens of the State, by Proclamation by the Governor F. W. Pickens was made, to create an Army, Navy, Treasury and an invitation to other slave holding States to unite with us to and and [sic] agree upon terms for the formation of a league of independent States, separate from the United States. It was a protest against the [illegible] upon the Constitution as understood by our forefathers when the [sic] made that instrument. All the Volunteer Companies in the State immediately proffered services to the State and were accepted promptly and were grouped [Page 46] into regiments as soon as possible. Generally they were assigned to regiment by the old grouping of counties for Congressional representation. The Jasper Light Infantry of the town, and, of course Jenkins and Seabrook at the same time, were entered into the service of the State and subject to the order of the Adjutant General of the State. This left the entire management of the school upon me. Arrangement were made to supply Seabrook’s place by the employment of a Dr. Read, an Oxford man, who came with Rev. J. Stoney, as [illegible] of his boys, Jenkins’ work was provided for by the redistribution of classes. The latest addition to the corps of teachers, J. D. Jamison who had returned from Paris where he had spent several months to acquire the latest and best in the way of current pronunciation and colloquial [illegible] to take up French. Relieved entirely of teaching French, I took charge of the advanced Mathematics. The companies were to elect Field Officers. Jenkins was elected Colonel, of the Fifth Regiment of Volunteers. The [sic] were ordered to rendezvous at Washington Race Tract, Charleston early in April, and in a day or two sent over to Sullivan’s Island and to occupy Fort Moultrie and other strategic points in the neighborhood. You may well imagine [Page 47] my state of mind, when and after the bombardment of Fort Sumter began. But I was restrained by obvious duty to the parents of boys at our school and [illegible] to hold on until the end of the session in June. A great pressure was brought to bear on me to continue the school for the year, but I could not bring myself to continue it in operation longer than six weeks. Accordingly, I [illegible] for the six weeks prolongation of the of the [sic] session. Meanwhile a Provincial Government of the seceded states some eleven in number, had been made with a tentative Constitution had been made. Virginia had seceded, and it was evident the war was to begin in that state. All State troops had to be re-enlisted for one year and in the Confederacy. The Fifth Regiment was in consequence re-organized and sent to Virginia. In camp near Richmond a few at Richmond and now at Manassas Station near Bull Run. On the last of June I carried my wife to her family in the city, and hastened to Virginia. Every body seemed to think the one big battle would [illegible] the issue between the two sections of the country. I was afraid the battle would be over before I could get there, in other words, I was suffering from the common craze – “spoiling for a fight”. A fight had occurred at [Page 48] at Big Bethel Va. and public excitement was now at white heat. Troops were hurrying to Yorktown, Manassas and Harpers Ferry. I found Jenkins and his regiment forming a brigade with two regiments from Mississippi. The camp was named Camp Walker, about a mile from Bull Run Creek and about two miles N.E. from the R. Rd. Station. I had carried no arms and expected to borrow a spare gun and go into the fight as a private in the 5th Regiment as so told Jenkins. The next morning he took me to visit Gen. D.R. Jones his brigade commander, whose tent tents [sic] were a few yards in rear of his own and on a slight hill which gave a fine view of Camp Walker. When we were about to leave the General kindly invited to act as Volunteer Aide-de-Camp. I told him I had no arms, or horse, or suitable uniform. He said that he had two riding horses and seldom had use for than one at a time, and I that could use the other at any time needed. I gladly accepted his offer, and make use of me in any capacity. He said he would have the order published the next day announcing my position on his staff and further invited to join his staff mess. Jenkins had his man servant Old Ben with him to look after his horse and as chef of his mess and he suggested that I send for [Page 49] Charles [Illegible], a young colored man, whom we bought from Mr. William Latta of Yorkville the year we occupied the new building. Charles was wild to come and take care of me, and I must say for him, he staid [sic] with me faithfully to the last. A day or two after my interview with Gen. Jones he told me that he was making an application for my appointment as his Adjutant General in the field and would like for me to take it in person to Mr. Davies. I had already written for Charles and my horse. Charles and the horse passed me on the road to Richmond. I know that Charles would a great addition to the mess and would thus earn his keep. The President received me with courtesy, read the note, asked me a few pertinent questions, endorsed something on the note, dropped it in a large basket and smilingly offered his hand. This I knew ment [sic] I wish you well, make room for someone else in the crowd at the door. I bought a saddle, bridle, sabre [illegible] and a red sash of red [illegible], and to bed still dreaming that fighting was going on somewhere and was not doing my share. I was at the Station an hour before time for the train to start. On arriving at Camp Walker [illegible] the tents all empty a dozen or more soldiers scattered about care takers of the tents and company property. Putting [Page 50] my new Mexican saddle and bridle on Pythias. I mounted and hastily rode toward Bull Run. Going along at an easy gallop, I saw three or four men covered with canteens coming from the front. All at once, I found myself standing on both feet with arms in my hand. Pythias was [illegible] inquiringly at the men as if inquiring of what the [illegible] flash meant that struck him in the eye. Of course it was the reflection of the afternoon sun from an uncovered canteen. I heard one of the men say as they passed “By [illegible], fellows, did you see that?” “That was the greatest gettin off a horse at half speed I ever seen”. I was busy adjusting my stirrup leathers, as if nothing [illegible] had happened. Now let me introduce to the General and his staff. Brig. Gen. David Rumph Jones, born in Orangeburg Co. S.C. His father moved to Dooly Co. Ga. when David was an infant. Got a Congressional appointment to West Point Academy, - graduated from there in time to enter the war with Mexico, made [illegible] Capt. U.S.A. – was at some post with West Company when the State seceded. Beauregard requested his appointment a Adjutant on his staff while he was in command in Charleston. Was made Brigadier when the Confederate Army was sent to Virginia. [Page 51] His wife was a niece of Gen. Zachary Taylor, and cousin of Pres. Davis first wife. Joseph W. Ford, aide de camp, was from Georgetown S.C. E. N. Thurston, of Charleston, ordnance officer. Phillip Jones, Volunteer Aid, had to the V.M.I. His father a plantation on the Rapidan Va. Erasmus Taylor, a planter on the Rappahannock, Ass’t. in the Qr. Masters department F. G. Latham a first lieutenant in 5th Regt S.C. Vols, detailed to officialize [sic] all orders from Brigade headquarters, as acting Adjt. General [Illegible words] from N. Orleans as volunteer aide. I found the General and staff occupying the McLean house a short distance from the run about a half mile from the [illegible] of that name. The three regiments and a section of the Washington Artillery, two smooth bore four pounders, were in bivouac in the flat land around the house. The enemy was now in sight, about one mile from [illegible] Ford, at the margin of the [illegible] S.E. of Centreville. Gen. Bonham with his brigade was parked at Mitchell’s Ford, Gen. St. George Cooke at the [illegible words] and the ford on the left; Gen. Evans with the brigade of Bee and [illegible] at the Stone Bridge. Some cavalry for observation was [Page 52] in position at [illegible] Ford. Manassas Station was evidently his strategic point in his onward march to Richmond. Two routes were open to him for attaining this point; e. c. by turning our right flank at Union Mills [illegible words] the of McLean’s Ford; - or our left at Stone Bridge on the 16th of July he began a reconnaissance by advancing on the road to Blackburne’s Ford by advancing his troops after Artillery fire and found Longstreet there to stop him. Unfortunately the creek in its binding [illegible] had its concave bend next to the enemy, a bluff of considerable height. If he could reach it he would be able to control for considerable distance the territory beyond. His troops failing to move Longstreet from his position and [illegible] the tree covered bluff commenced a heavy bombardment which inflicted much damage on our part of reserved artillery and reserved our own artillery was too light to reach him. The next two or three days he spent in getting in position to attempt the other route by the Stone Bridge. The battle order we received the night of the 20th of July [illegible] the following viz: Ewell’s brigade was to advance from his position at Union Mills taking the main road to Centreville, Jones with his brigade to follow and support Ewell, Holmes to occupy [Page 53] Union Mills Ford. [illegible] to occupy McLean’s Ford as Jones moved out. Jones to follow and support Ewell on the road to Centreville. Both to have an eye for any advance from Fairfax and Fairfax Station. Of course we could hardly wait until 5:30 in the morning we got a cracker and a cup of coffee. Those troops were to be in readiness at that hour. By six o’clock we were across the river, and were ready at the road to Centreville; but Ewell was not there. We waited half an hour for the return of the messenger we had sent to notify him of our readiness. Sending [illegible] in the direction of Centreville and Fairfax R. R. Station, he went to Union Mills to compare orders. Gen. Ewell said [illegible] his orders only to be in readiness to move and was waiting and would a [illegible] longer; but advised Jones to wait where his troops were until further instruction from Headquarters. After o’clock or a little after the troops were allowed to return to return to their bivouacs of the night before to get their dinner; for many had no breakfast that morning. About 2 o’clock, a courier arrived with note without indicated the time it was sent, stating “Heavy pressure on the left. “Why don’t Jones attack”? This question stung like a whip lash. [Page 54] The three regiments were immediately ordered to form on the Centreville road, scouts were sent out to look out the [illegible] position and staff officers sent to Union Mills and to Gen. Longstreet, and Gen. Bonham the staff messenger sent to Gen. Ewell did not return. Ewell, Holmes, and [illegible] had all been ordered to the field around Stone Bridge. I carried the message to Longstreet and Bonham. They both their willingness to cooperate with Jones’ movement, could not advance for the enemy in their immediate front [illegible] making [illegible] for an advance. Both were being heavily bombarded with superior artillery. I hastened back to me own General with this information. I found him on the top of an immense fodder of rock giving direction for the two pieces of cannon. He told me that he had ordered the three regiments into the attack of the battery in front. Jenkin’s on the right, the 17th Miss. next and the 18th Miss. on the left. His artillery was to keep up brisk fire to distract the enemies fire from the infantry movement until they had crossed the flat before and at the bluff of the [illegible words] and then he would join them and charge the enemy’s battery. Observing some confusion on the left of 18th he asked to go down and endeavor to straighten them out. As the hill [Page 55] was very steep on the side I attempted to go down I had to proceed very slowly and my horse could not go much faster than a walk, without danger of breaking his legs or my neck. I was longer in making the trip than my impatience could tolerate. On reaching the [illegible] at the foot of boulder and on the flat land, I saw the regiment was retiring in great confusion. They had reached the Thoroughfare brook but had crossed. Some had fired off the guns and were attempting to reload their guns and some were trying to fire bayonets. To add to the confusion, the enemy’s battery now opened on them with all their guns, paying no further attention to our two little four pounders for the missiles of them, did not go half way. I found Gen. Jones and several of the staff and the officers of the regiments reforming the companies, all talking about how it happened, and many offering to go back. He asked if I had seen Jenkins as he had sent a messenger to recall him. I offered to after him as I got half way I saw him with regiment in good order coming the path he took going into the attack. He said went far enough to see masses of troops behind batteries. I was told after this that just after the attack was that a courier arrived saying he had been riding for hours [Page 56] to find Gen. Jones Longstreet and Bonham with order to hold their positions at the fords assigned to them and to be on the alert. Generals Holmes, Ewell and [illegible] had been ordered to the left where things seemed to be going against us. From what we learned afterwards, the messenger had been sent at the time that Gen’s. Kirby, Smith, and [illegible], having their trains, marched directly to the scene of battle. On account of the similarity of the two flags when seen at a great distance these troops were suppose to be Patterson’s from the Valley, whom Johnston thought that he had eluded. Beauregard had in the meantime taken immediate charge of all troops and was prepared to make an immediate charge along the whole line. The enemy found their mistake for these Valley troops were now attacking their rear right flank. The forward charge swept back and plunged the enemy into confusion, which soon degenerated into a panic rout. The morning boast of “On to Richmond” was changed to “Back to Washington”, and this cry was executed in a tune “[illegible]” spirit. Leaving proper [illegible] out towards Centreville and Fairfax the Brigade was taken back to bivouac at McLean’s Ford just as the sun was setting. Every body was dead tired from the unusual excitements of the day and clamors for coffee and something to eat. Gen. Jones had one of his raging headaches. [Page 57] Let me say that he was a well man, while I knew him. Having been overtaken by blizzard on the plain out west, he was still in a hospital in St. Louis, I think, when he was called for by Beauregard, to be his adjt. General, when the former was in command at Charleston. He had further recovered from the pneumonia or pleurisy. Any severe exertion brought on these severe headaches that almost prostrated him. He was about six feet in height, well set up, wore a tawny beard extending from his blue eyes almost to his sword-belt. When mounted on his black stallion Voltaire, he looked like a model of a heroic, historical figure. He knew that he would be expected at the conference of Generals at [illegible] to discuss events of the day, but not fit to ride again to-night; and that I had the best opportunities to make an informal verbal report of the days work [illegible] me and asked if I would go. I said certainly I would go. My young horse was nearly knocked up by his service all day and no food since the night before. He told me to take the Red Eye mare as she had less work than any horse in the staff. Red Eye was promptly saddled and I was on the way to Hd Qrs at the Station. As my interview with this distinguished assembly was described in a letter I wrote to General [illegible] many years ago will be found in evelope [sic] – I will refer you to it. (Envelope) [Page 58] A few days following the battle was mostly spent in learning the true efforts of the victory and its numerous mistakes [illegible] to the hastily assembled army of volunteer troops. Nearly of our higher officers were West Point men and many of them had learned musketry and cannonry in the war with Mexico. The same was pretty nearly the case with our opponents. But they had besides the bulk of the enlisted Army of the United States accustomed to obedience and familiar with tactics. They too had learned that the soldier was looked after by a regular ambulance corps; and that all the cousins and “in laws” were not needed to carry a wounded man off the field. That business fell to the litter bearers of the ambulance corps. The casualty list showed that our [illegible] in killed and wounded were less than the enemy’s; our number actually engaged was also less; so we felt justified in claiming a victory. But would the victory stop the war, - was it decisive in bringing about peace? By no means; each party had only stopped to lick their wounds and consider plans for another fight. The Federals were back at their [illegible] camps at Alexandria, [illegible]. Washington and Georgetown, and other points along the Potomac and Harpers Ferry. We moved to better points for watching them. In carrying out this plan our brigade was encamped about a mile and [Page 59] half S.E. of Centreville and about two miles from McLeans Ford. The movement was just completed when Gen. Jones invited to go with him to Manassas Sta. to meet his wife and to bring her out to the new camp. She came with their little daughter and a servant [illegible] Eva, the daughter was about four years old, and the hired colored girl was 13 or 14. Of course, Mrs. Jones was given the floor in the matter of conversation. She was, I estimated, about 28 or 30 years old, free and easy in manners, and very outspoken. I recalled a sotto voce remark she made while we were crossing the Ford. Gen. Jones observing that I noticed the lowered voice said, “Coward did you hear what she said about you? I shook my head in negation. “Tell him Beck” he said. She then said “I only told him you look like some one I knew, but I could not recall who it was until that moment. It was, President Davis. Are you in any way connected with him”? No, I replied; for I don’t know any person for whom as a political thinker and skillful soldier I have a greater admiration. And the conversation drifted into the battle at Buena Vista and doctrines of Calhoun until we reached the new camp. Tents for the staff were pitched in the yard by sacrificing the flowers. Mrs. Jones was accustomed to camp life and soon got things in working shape. The composition the Brigade was now changed. The two [illegible] [Page 60] Regiments were transferred to Barksdale brigade and Jones brigade was composed as follows, viz. 5th S.C. Vols. Col. M. Jenkins; 6th S.C. Vols. Col. C. S. [illegible] 9th SC Vols Col. J. D. Blanding; 4th S.C. Vols. Col. J.B.E. Sloan. The only memorable incidents, I recall while we were in this camp were staff visits to Lu’s Hill, overlooking Alexandria; [illegible] Hill, overlooking Washington, where I saw the Capitol for the first time and the incomplete monument, and the observation balloon. Fairfax [illegible] also in [illegible] of courtesy. At the latter place I met Mrs. Stewart the wife of Col. J. E. B. Stewart, and many others who afterward became distinguished in the war. The other incident that I recall was purely a staff affair. The first Sunday Mrs. Jones came many officers she knew called pay their respects. They were generally received by Lathan and entered the hall way. I was in the room used as office entering up the reports from the regiments and trying to write out the General’s report of the battle on the 21st as he requested me to do. My commission a Captain the Adjt. Generals Department in the Field has now come and I was an officer in the Confederate Army. Just as I stepped on the piazza, Lathan took a chair in that part of the piazza that had no railing or baluster he sat down backwards and found the chair and himself about three feet below the piazza in the dust. Every one on the piazza [Page 61] sprang to their feet to go to his assistance, fearing that he was seriously injured. But he sprang to his feet, exclaiming “Pon [sic] my word General I never took but three,” and showing their fingers as proof of his assertion. Nobody could vouch for the correctness of his count. Poor [illegible], to who Lathan was a new species was particularly appealing to his risibilities [sic], could not control spasms of laughter until night fell and then got another shock. Ford had a cot he did not like, and Lathan thought that the cot was built on scientific lines broader the top, the room to lie comfortably. The cross-legs were not more than nine inches apart where the rested on the floor. Lathan extinguished candle and threw himself on scientific [illegible] cot. There immediately sounded the most agonizing howl over heard in civilized community. Sentinels of the different camps began calling for corporal of the guard to investigate the cause of the commotion. – The next notable event was the arrival from Maryland of the namesake of [illegible words], Mr. Asmun Latrole. He had gotten across the Potomac by one of many under grown ferries of that now famous river. He had just about attained his majority, tall, well proportioned, polished in manners clean headed and sufficiently jovial to be a good companion. He knew most of the relatives and friends of Mrs. Jones and [illegible], much their conversation at first was confined to family affairs. He and I took to each other at once. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Memoirs of Asbury Coward, circa 1855-1865 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Diaries Description An account of the resource This journal, written by Coward in 1910 for his children, chronicles approximately the third decade of his life. He describes his experience of running and teaching at the King's Mountain Military School in Yorkville, S.C., his marriage and family life and his service in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived A2009.6 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives and Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S. C.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1340 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/65c516703de30ddf2b1811865e1eaae0.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=jJpvigwpEKYO-6wqTPvCHag4P2iaXmL3r1DcA7BhPimyvtV1z4i8Kh4K5N0fUXzvIz5EW0UmMeFdcbVrOAdzJ5eAkD29tVmxHQRyp8j%7EuQ9UF9%7EXSphJZ1xTthdNz32EFkC2d6DHG47apNK1n4IsKO7i5yc7rEUDQkqSXD1teQyZW6GObPtJwMbqG-ToIMHYDUldkOddngY3TjxSHLwB321zsBSTFNYxrY42qaeBXooT%7EG18jJktrDpiyonwCJVfs0sYRKoPBFS6ytAXxqNRHgX91IxFTxYVejqTc03o-cQGJ6qJxQBuHPZWrHERXNU3UIQIZcUiNQ2GwY7faySIsA__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 243b8fcdbe480f50b7270f3a40068faa PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] be able to help her, prevailed on sister to visit Cousin Eugenia (Mrs. Octavius F. Folker) in Charleston. She consented to go, and, therefore, a few days after my arrival we carried her to the steamboat for Charleston and my painful parting with her there was the last I saw of her in life. After three or four days of apparent improvement, a severe hemorrhage came on and her sweet spirit took its flight to the longed for spirit home. We laid her by her mother’s side, near by her father’s still fresh grave. My uncle kept me busy gathering up my father’s cattle, and attending to plantation matters, for there was no under overseer on Quimby plantation, as on the others under my father’s superintendence, because it was his place of winter residence, and, therefore, immediately under his personal over-sight. About the first of December, Uncle Solomon came to visit Uncle James, and it was suggested that I go back with him to Williamsburg to visit my Grandmother and other kindred around the old home place. My thoughtful Uncle no doubt saw that the household gloom was pressing heavily upon me and that this was a good way to give my spirit a change to reach, or at least to recover some of its normal tone. You can readily understand, my dears, that every thing animate and inanimate about the house and [Page 2] and the plantation had some association with one or both of the loved ones who had so recently left me. It was a long journey of about eighty-five miles across the country. Uncle Solomon rode in his own buggy, and I in a new buggy he was taking home for his son, drawn by my own horse which I was to ride back after the visit. - I found my grand-mother to be a tall, rather spare old lady about eighty years of age, still clear eyed, self-reliant and active. She lived on a small farm to which a grist mill was attached; and she had for a companion an old lady who was called by everybody, Aunt Clarkie. I think she was my grandfather’s widowed sister. Of course, Grand Mother was greatly affected on seeing me and had me tell her all about my father and sister. Every now then she would fix her clear blue grey eyes on my face and say, as if to herself, “And this is my dear boy, Jesse’s child”. She had not seen my father in several years, and his children she had never seen. I spent a week visiting among among my relatives and then set out alone on horseback for home. As my pony was strong, active and easy going I ended my journey by mid-day the second day. and that During my absence my step-mother [Page 3] and the servants and household belongings had been moved to Windsor plantation. This plantation had been owned and planted jointly by Uncle James and my father during the previous three or four years. The services of a Miss Martha Margaret Johnson of the neighborhood had been secured as nurse and companion; The overseer, an old white man, named Donnerly, had a shed-room in the house, where he slept and had his meals served to him. My step-mother was now confined to bed, and continued so for several weeks. Uncle James who had taken letters of Administration for my father’s estate and had been made guardian of James and myself, now expressed his preference for my completing my education at the Citadel, the Military College of the state, on account of its being located in Charleston, and of the practical character of its course of studies. That it was his wish and judgment was sufficient for me; boys of fifteen in those days had not advanced to the idea that their judgment was sounder than that of their elders. He calculated that the wages of my share of of slaves would be ample to defray my expenses [Page 4] barring reckless extravagance. - All the formalities for my admission as a pay cadet having been completed, I presented myself as directed to the Superintendent at the Citadel at 9 o’clock of the morning of January 1st, 1851. An outline of my experiences at the Citadel is given in an impersonal way in an Article in the Sphinx, the Citadel Annual, of 1910, headed “Cadet Life at the Citadel before the War”. For the sake of historical continuity, as Dr. Shepherd used to say, it would be well for you to read that article just here. Of course knowing that it was written by me, you will have no difficulty in reading between the lines what relates to my personal experiences of the Citadel. (See Appendix). But there were some other experiences not common to all cadets of my class or time. I visited ad libitum on leave hours Cousin Eugenia’s family, also that of Mr. Leman. At the latter, I met the family of your grand-father, Mr. Andrew Blum, and received invitation to call upon them. As the daughters of this family were all music loving, i naturally found the society quite congenial and spent many happy hours there in their company. The youngest daughter, two years younger than I, was [Page 5] studying under private tutors in English studies, under Mr. Guinebault in French, and under the best teachers in vocal and instrumental music in the city. In going to the French and the vocal lessons she had to pass by or through, the Citadel Green, now Marion Square, and I felt it incumbent on me to join her as far as my limits would allow. This practice did not long escape the observations of my cadet cronies; who made it their business to notify me whenever the “little pink mantle” was in sight. As she had become a member of the Philharmonic Society, I shortly after became a member also, and together we assisted in the chorus packs of such Oratories, as Mendelsohn’s “Spring,” and “Athalie,” Handel’s “Messiah,” Haydn’s “Creation” Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” and choruses of the most popular operas of the day. The musical standard in Charleston was then very high, as was also its literary culture. It was the day of Sims, Grayson, Hayne, Pettigru, Memminger, - of Mrs. King, Catherine Poyas and others. The decade from 1850 to 1860, was the brilliant, beautiful sunset that preceded the night of storms and [Page 6] and overwhelming sorrows. The “little pink mantle” came into the last two years of my cadet life. The first two years, my leave nights were usually spent in browsing in the Apprentice’s Library; then kept on the ground floor of the Hibernian hall. I have often felt that this free, discursive reading in that library gave me quite as valuable a scope of knowledge as my subsequent more formal studies. - In the Sphinx article you will note that the two events credited to my class are barely mentioned. This is due to the fact that the article had already exceeded the limit suggested by the Editor, and the propriety prompted the avoidance of personal allusion. The first event came about in this way: one afternoon in April Jenkins, Haskell, DuBose and I were discussing Citadel affairs, especially the little information concerning it that was apparent throughout the State. I expressed the opinion that if the Board of Visitors would order us to make a moving or touring encampment through the State instead of giving us the usual holiday, it would give the people [Page 7] the very best opportunity of knowing what the Citadel really was, and would be of inestimable benefit to the cadets themselves. The idea was promptly caught up by the others. Jenkin’s always enthusiastic and impulsive proposed that a letter making the suggestion in the form of an application or petition, should be immediately sent in. To this all agreed, and as I was the proposer of the scheme they insisted that I must write the letter. I wrote the letter and had it placed in the Superintendent’s office box that evening. At office hours the next morning I was summoned to the Superintendent’s office. “What do you mean, Sir, by presuming to dictate to the administration of this institution?” was the rather discomposing question the Superintendent threw at me with an air of affected anger. I began an apologetic explanation which he interrupted by a peal of laughter, and slapping me on the shoulder exclaimed, “Why Coward, that is the best idea in the world, I shall forward your letter to the Chairman Bd. Visitors this very day and urgently recommend the scheme”. He did so, and by return mail, Gen. Jones the Chair. [Page 8] B.d of V’s., who was a man of prompt decision, sent his hearty approval and ordered the Superintendent to take at once all needed steps to carry out the scheme. About the 10th of May we took the train to Columbia where the Arsenal contingent would join us, and then we were to learn something of what real soldiership [sic] meant. We spent one day at the Arsenal in this already beautiful little city Columbia, to make necessary arrangements and then took up the line of March for Winnsboro. We made the march in two days and in spite of blistered feet and sore muscles we spent a most enjoyable day there, for after a parade through the town we had a most beautiful al fresco feast, and wound up the day with an elaborate dress parade. From Winnsboro we marched in succession to Chester, York, and to beautiful, restful, rose crowned Yorkville. Here we were also given an elaborate pic-nic, and a delightful dance. There was a female college here and it was a question with the cadets which were the more numerous and beautiful, the girls or the roses of Yorkville. At Limestone Springs, where there was another flourishing Female College, Dr. Curtis the President, “let down the bars” as he expressed it, and the [Page 9] the girls became our entertainers. To Spartanburg next, and then to Greenville, Lauren’s and Newbury, - every where, pic-nics, dances and scrumptuous dinings, we were welcome guests. It is well that Mitchell’s colored band which we had brought with us from Charleston, gave us at least three times a day “The girl I left behind me”; otherwise, many a cadet would have lost [illegible] with the girls of Charleston. For my single self, the “little pink silk mantle” would always flight flit before my mortal eyes as a kind of shield and buckles, whenever sparkling eyes, ruby lips, rosy cheeks and sportive wit would threaten to overwhelm me. - I got a week’s furlough at Newberry to spend with my room-mate W.F. Nance (Class 1855) and therefore, did not take the trip from Newberry back to Columbia and Charleston. - The beneficial effect of this tour can scarcely be overestimated. The Citadel and its work was made known and understood as it had never been before, and the cadets had enjoyed the opportunity to test their physical powers and endurance, to refine their social crudities [sic], and to feel the expansion [Page 10] resulting from a wider acquaintance with people, places and conditions of the State. Work was resumed with energy. Shortly after our return I was notified that I had been chosen to make the Fourth of July oration. With reluctance I consented to attempt the duty, and, at once proceeded to write it. After much brain swish I concocted an elaborate allegorical and Sophomorical [sic] introduction to a somewhat tame and unimpressive thesis, and submitted the performance, as required by the Regulations of the Academy, to the professor of belles-lettres. It was returned to me the next day with the professor’s characteristic curt remark endorsed: “The porch dwarfs the temple. Cut it out”; and sure enough there were the condemnitory [sic] lines drawn from top to bottom of the first four or five pages. Of course, I was furious, “What, smother the offspring of so much mental travail?” - “It is brutality”. “The man hasn’t a poetical fiber in his body”, etc, etc. - and such like exclamations broke from me as I threw the manuscript into my table-drawer. It was now the first day of July and there was no time for anybody to get up [Page 11] a formal speech and have it criticized and memorized by the fourth. The next morning I took up the now hateful thing and soon recognized the justness of the criticism. It was a rather body-less head, - shaped like a tadpole, and this last conceit made me laugh and I set to work to improve it so that it might pass the critic’s caustic judgment. The “glorious Fourth” came on with full sunshine and all the usual concomitants of cannon salutes, military sunrise parades, civic celebrations, ice-cream and lemonade stands at every street corner, and band music everywhere. At the appointed hour the Citadel quadrangle and the galleries were fairly well filled with dainty muslin costumes. Our program went through without a hitch and I think I said my say without a break. Pink Mantel [sic] with mother and sister was there, and as soon as I left the platform I started to greet them, having in view an invitation to a Fourth of July dinner. But, alas, before I could reach them, two effusive ladies of any acquaintance caught me and began to congratulate me in their most effusive manner. Before I could decently disembarrass myself of them [Page 12] “Pink Mantle” and her companions had disappeared and I could not chase after them, as I did not know whether they had gone up town or down, so I lost my Fourth of July dinner of okra-soup, watermelon and ice-cream and had to content myself with Black Simon’s Citadel menu of hash, irish potatoes and rice. However, I unwillingly survived the mishap. Some time in August it was found that an epidemic of Yellow Fever was again upon the city. The second and third classes - the whole of the fourth was at the Arsenal in Columbia - were nearly all furloughed. My class, with the exception of JD Radcliffe and myself, with some six or seven Charleston boys, were sent to the Arsenal with three of the professors, to complete the year’s work of studies. The excepted ones, being considered immune, were left as a guard for the Citadel which was then a depot of State arms and munitions. It was reported to me by one of the cadets, that in discussing the detailing of Radcliffe and myself to remain at the Citadel while our class continued studies at Columbia, one of the professors said that of course we would have to get as a matter of form. This stung my pride to the quick and I determined to show the Faculty [Page 13] and my class-mates that I would pass the final examination with maximum marks, or otherwise refuse to accept a diploma. Under the impulse of this sting I began the only hard studying of my life. From sixteen to eighteen hours a day found me pouring over my books. I began by reviewing all the studies of the year already gone over and then attacked those outlined as the work that would be covered by the final examinations. I had also two addresses to prepare, namely my academic graduating address and a valedictory address for the Calliopean Society. But “Yellow Jack”, as the fever was called, and of which I had no dread, determined to assert his powers. Learning that Tom [illegible], one of my boy friends in the city, had just died of the fever, I called at the his home; was admitted to the death chamber, and I placed my hand on his cold, yellow tinted forehead in token of farewell. Three or four days thereafter I was seized with a fierce fever, and Dr. Hume, the professor of Chemistry and Science, and then in charge of the Citadel, sent at once for Dr. Jervey who had attended me in the attack I had in 1850. They visited me two or three times a day for several days and seemed quite solicitous while the fever was running its three or four day course. About the [Page 14] fifth day your grand-mother, Mrs. J. A. Blum, having heard of my illness and of my rather forlorn condition with only a colored hospital servant to wait on me, visited me, and being well experienced in nursing, sent me every day such nourishment as was proper for me to take during convalescence. This attention touched me very deeply, for all through my Citadel life up to that time, I felt very much as a waif. The closely occurring deaths of my father and sister just before my coming to the Citadel, and, about two years later, of my dear Aunt Sarah, had seemed to cut loose all ties of family kindred interest and those coercive influences of family affections that guide and stimulate a youth in the development of his manhood. It is true, there remained my half-brother, James, but because he was over six years my junior, and I had seen but little of him there had not been an opportunity for the growth of such companionship as engenders brotherly affection. Of course, I was sensible of my obligation to care for him, to be interested in his welfare; but it was not of such a nature as so to react upon me to lift me to highest efforts for achievement for his sake, as would have probably been the case if my father or my sister been spared. Innate pride and self-respect kept me from [Page 15] degenerating; but the ambition to excel others never affected me. Failure of anything brought the string of mortification, - a zero for a lesson recitation was to me the seal of a numbscull [sic], and I scrupulously avoided it. I could never consent to stand at the foot of a class; but I never cared to be at the head of one, as there seemed to be nobody, but myself to be pleased; and I cared too little to take the trouble to excel. Your grandmother’s unexpected kindness, therefore, gave me the idea that people outside of kindred bonds might take an interest in me and that I might put more ambition in my efforts of every kind in order to please them. Having lost two weeks of study through my sickness, I began resolutely to prepare for graduation. I must say that for the first time in my life I felt a joy in studying. By the first of November, I had thoroughly gone over all the work required, - and had even supplemented, or expanded some of them; so that I felt ready to challenge the most critical examination for graduation. My graduation address, however, was the cause of much embarrassment to me through no fault of mine. I had been given the subject “Woman’s Rights,” and told [Page 16] to write freely so as to allow for elision and compression, as the delivery must not exceed twelve minutes. I had just completed the composition and the copying of it to submit for criticism, when Maj. Capers made a visit of a few hours to the Citadel. On inquiring about my address I told him that I had it just then ready to send to Capt. Tew. He insisted on taking it home with him, to read, and that he would return it by mail or bring it back with him the next week. I told him Capt. Tew had written the day before for me to forward it to him at once. His answer was “Make another copy to-night and send by mail tomorrow.” Well, this meant work all night; and by day-light I had it copied and ready for mailing. In a few days Captain Tew returned the speech with his remarks and condemnations. The pages were a sight to behold. I had expected much elision and compression; but I found it almost impossible to tie together the fragments together so as to make a shapely whole. However, I rewrote the speech the best I could, according to his direction and forwarded it for final approval. A day or two after this Maj. Capers made another short visit to the Citadel and gave me the original speech with his advice as to cur- [Page 17] tailment needed to bring it approximately to the time limit for delivery. By way of compliment he told that his father, the venerable Bishop Wm Capers, to whom he read it, had enjoyed it very much. I showed him Capt. Tew’s criticisms and my effort to follow his directions. He said it would not do, and that I must prepare the speech as he, Maj. Capers, wanted it, and that he would make it right with Captain Tew. A day or two after class returned to the Citadel, Capt. Tew called on me to rehearse the speech. Upon asking which speech his wished me to recite, he answered in a cold, precise and somewhat sarcastic manner, “I know of but one speech, and that is the one I approved and returned to you a week ago.” Here was a predicament. Maj. Capers had failed to make things right. I could not brook a zero, or demerits for neglect of duty: so I started off the best I could. Alas, like Buttercup in Pina-fore, “I mixed those babies up”, for though the two speeches had much in common, the differences in many passages completely changed their tone and general effect. I made at once a frank explanation of the circumstances to Capt. Tew, and then had an interview with Maj. Capers, and begged him to exonerate me from any intentional or even seeming disrespect to Capt. Tew - [Page 18] whom I sincerely admired. He acknowledged that in the press of affairs in getting the work resumed at the Citadel he had overlooked the matter, and he promised to attend to it the matter that night. He told me to send him both speeches, and that he would return the one decided on the next morning. This he did, and it proved to be the one he preferred, changed only by a short paragraph interchanged. Naturally all this fuss took away all relish for the unfortunate speech. The second event mentioned in the Sphinx article had its origin in the following way. About a week after my class returned from the Arsenal, several of us were discussing our plans for the future. I stated that while I would enjoy the study of Medicine, I would not like the practice of it, and that I would probably take up the study of Law. But I thought that two or three years of experience in teaching in a school, while slowly taking up the professional studies, would be the best thing a graduate could do for himself; for my experience in making a review of studies for the past year had convinced me that the larger part of a school-boys life was wasted in going over lessons he does not thoroughly comprehend, and most of which he straightaway forgets. Moreover, by introducing the feature of military discipline and methods into the schools [Page 19] it would make it much easier for our plebes to pull through their first year. As things now prevail, a boy on coming to the Citadel is dazed and discouraged by the asperities into which he is suddenly thrown, by the uncompromising requirements of discipline, and by the everlasting persecution of the Why’s. While I was thus talking, I noticed that Jenkins seemed to be restless, and finally catching my eye he beckoned me to join him on the gallery. I followed him out, - he took my arm and said “Look here; - how did you get that idea about teaching school and preparing boys for the Citadel? Why only last night Capt. Tew mentioned something of the sort to me. He is in his room now, let’s have a talk with him”. As Jenkins was then Capt. Tew’s Assistant in the Belles Lettres department and free to visit him often, I consented to go. The captain received us [illegible], and Jenkins asked me to state to him the views I had just put forth in our little conclave. Capt. Tew seemed highly pleased as he had entertained similar views as to the beneficial effects of teaching on the teacher himself, and the faculty methods employed in the average schools of the State. He was doubtful as to the practicability of en- [Page 20] forcing military discipline without the machinery or authority of State law behind it, but he admitted that much could be done by force of character, earnestness and tact on the part of the teacher or principal. Of course, we thought we could bring all these to bear, for as Fénelon makes Menton say to Telemachus, “La jenesse est toujous presomplacuse; elle se promet tout d'ellemême.” When we left Capt. Tew, our minds were pretty well made up to undertake the scheme. After receiving approval and promises of cooperation from our home authorities, we had other interviews with Capt. Tew who gave us many practical suggestions that contributed largely towards the maturing of our plans. The pleasing impression made on us during our visit to Yorkville in May, its nearness to North Carolina and its accessibility by railway, determined the question of location for our enterprise. - And now the last week of November, bringing Commencement day, was at hand; and everything was astir. An undefined sense of impending change came over me. From every nook and corner of the old Citadel, from the halyards of the flagstaff, from the several class-rooms I had occupied, from the class-room in which, as Mr Gauthier’s assistant, I [Page 21] had guided the clumsy fingers of beginners in copying drawing models; - the society halls where I had enjoyed intellectual competitive flights with my comrades; - even from old Motte’s drum and Mitchell’s fife, came flocking associations, each one tugging at some fibre [sic] of my heart. I became haunted by the plaintive melody of “Eve’s Lament- “Must I leave thee - Must I leave thee, Paradise?” While the Citadel was not exactly a Paradise, it had been my home for four years and I had grown to love it and to have a lively interest in its welfare. The day after Commencement I would be outside its gates, seeking another home which I must build for myself. Where, and when, shall I be at home again? This was the momentous question which only the Future could answer. We went through all the usual graduation ceremonies; I said my speech, got a share of applause, and joined Pink Mantle and party in the lobby of Hibernian Hall. I was cordially invited to dine that day and to stay with them until I left the city. I accepted very gratefully, but had to excuse myself from dinner as I had to hurry back to the Citadel to finish and memorize my valedictory address from the Calliopean Society and to pack up my belongings. The evening came at last, and with it came Pink Mantle and party. [Page 22] I made the usual touching adieus to class-mates, comrades and Alma Mater, received my Society diploma and with my two diplomas (Academic and Society) under one arm and the timid fingers of Pink Mantle resting quietly on the other, I slowly walked away from the Citadel - my cadet life ended, - no other life yet begun. - The varied emotions of the day, the bright November stars, the light hand resting on my arm, all conspired to shake off the trammels [sic] of prudence and lure me into the pleasant field of romantic sentiment. We were met at the house with the expressions - “We have been in the house a quarter of an hour”. - “We were wondering what had become of you”. I could only protest that we had come straight home. My coy companion and I knew very well what had become of us; we had become - engaged. Yes, Pink Mantle had agreed to take me, waiting conditions and all. To her mother, I made a clean breast of the matter, whereupon she gave me a most solemn homily on the sacredness of a betrothal. If that homily could be rehearsed to all engaged couples and its wise principles conscientiously carried out, there would be but few broken engagements and fewer divorces heard about. I carried to bed with me the dread of facing the [Page 23] father next morning. I think he must have been about as uneasy about the interview as I was; for he slipped off from the breakfast table before the rest of us and was not seen on the premises until near dinner time. As soon as I met him alone in the parlor, I began to in a very hesitating way to get off my spiel; It was too much for the softhearted old gentleman; so gulping down his emotion he extended his hand, and I knew that it was all right with him. - There still remained the announcement of my engagement to my guardian, Uncle James. I knew he was fond of me, but I knew also his firmness and strong practical common sense, and I looked forward with some uneasiness to his view on the matter. As I had to see him to perfect financial arrangements for our enterprise, I took the first steamer for Cooper River. I spent two whole days with him arranging all the details for money supplies &c. but kept shy of the important subject. On the third day he drove me to the steamboat landing himself and thus forced the opportunity. As soon as we cleared the avenue I began my argument, detailing all the advantages of an early engagement to a young man at the outset of his career, dwelling upon his freedom from social [Page 24] embarrassments; - upon his stimulation to highest endeavor; etc, etc. and after nearly an hour of continuous talking, I announced the fact of my engagement. Becoming conscious of a silence, he he [sic] looked seriously at me and said, “Well, Asbury, I have only one word to say, - Get your cage before you catch your bird”. That was all, - my mountain of dread had disappeared, and I had now a clear atmosphere to work in. As Jenkins had been called home by the sudden death of his father a few days before Commencement and had to return to the Citadel in time to get his diploma, it was necessary for him to go back to his home on Edisto Island, in order to arrange his affairs. I had to go at once to Yorkville to look after all matters preliminary to opening our school on the first of January. On arriving at Yorkville, I was most cordially met by Col. W. B. Wilson, and introduced by him to his brother-in-law, Dr. J. M. Lowry, Mr. John Starr Moore, Mr. W. A. [illegible], Col. R. B. McCaw, Mr. H. F. [illegible], - in fact, to all the prominent and influential gentlemen of the town. Then a lot of land containing about [Page 25] nine and ⅝ acres was selected, a school-room rented in the town, and boarding arrangement for ourselves and such pupils as we might bring with us, advertisements ordered in several newspapers, and a short prospectus printed for distribution, were the matters attended to. I then stopped in Columbia a week during the session of the Legislature, ostensibly to canvass for pupils, but in reality, doing nothing but watch watch the wheels of affairs “go round.” It was pleasanter to go to Charleston, and to spend my last Christmas on Cooper River. - The first of January 1855 found Jenkins and myself in Yorkville, ready to start our great scheme. We started began with twelve pupils, - six or seven from abroad, the others, day pupils from the town. - A rather discouraging outlook, surely, but we started as earnestly as if we had forty. By the end of the first month our numbers reached twenty seven or eight, and by the end of the first session of five months we had forty-seven. The opening of the next session with some sixty pupils determined the success of the scheme and led us to plan for the erection of a building permanent in its character and sufficiently capacious for our purposes. Capt. Tew kindly sent to us a plan for [Page 26] such a building, and I drew up another. Jenkins carried both plans to Columbia to submit to Mr. Kay, the architect of the State Capitol. Considering the question of cost and other conditions Mr. Kay decided in favor of my plan, and he was engaged to make out all the working plans and specifications and to supervise the construction. As soon as the specifications were in hand bids were advertised for and the contract drawn. As neither of us was of legal age, it became necessary for us to have guardians ad litem appointed in order to make valid contracts. Col. Wilson, our legal advisor, and Dr. Lowry cheerfully consented to undertake this responsibility. So here we two infants in the eyes of the law were going like full grown men into a ten-thousand dollar contract. Oh, the audacity of self-confident youth! The contract was awarded to Messrs. Hare and Cranford of Yorkville, - the former taking all the brick and stone masonry work, and the latter, all the wood work, and priming. The second decade of my life ended Sept. 19th 1855. Before entering upon the occurrence, [Page 27] the third decade of my life, it may not be amiss for me to say something of one phase of influences in the development of character that has not been specifically given thus far, and this by way of postscript, or inter-mezzo. - The objective influences that go to the making up of the individual man are generally observable and their effects more or less discernible by himself and also by others. The subjective influences, however, are never seen by others, and are not always recognized or appreciated by himself. Intuitional flashes break in upon the consciousness of the inner man which he can seldom analyze, or account for; some of them lasting in effects, others merely evanescent. Sudden unbidden impulses seize his will and set free the springs of action, and thus in a wayward, haphazard manner produce results that may be either good or bad. Again, unutterable, unprompted, unrelated yearnings come upon him; - he knows not whence they come, and yet, they some how fascinate him and bring either pleasure or pain. Why do they come? We know not why, or whence. It may be that they are the means of soul-training;- the soul’s opportunities for acquiring strength and growth and fitness for its ultimate destiny. We will leave it at that. [Page 28] Very early in my life, I might say in my baby-hood, it was discovered that I was “possessed of a devil”. Doubtless this statement will shock you; but it is literally true. It was in the form of a paroxysm of Anger, sudden, overwhelming, quick as a flash of lightning and almost as distinctive, which a sharp blow on hurtful ridicule would throw me into, and which, while it lasted, would blind me and render me savagely reckless as to consequences. Fortunately, these paroxysms were of short duration. While I was a little child I was too weak to injure others; but as I increased in age and strength, these fits gave much concern to my father and my sister. They were constantly urging me to practice self control. - A few instances that I now recall will give you some idea of my infirmity. - When I was about four years old, I was trying to fix a little wagon with my sister’s assistance and had great trouble with a little broken nail I was endeavoring to drive. After repeated failures, sister warned me to disist [sic]. But the rising devil was in full possession. Seizing the nail with thumb and forefinger, I brought the hammer down with all my might. The nail dodged again and my thumb and finger caught the blow. [Page 29] “Aha. I told you so” said my sister, and immediately she got a blow of the hammer on her forehead. Her piercing screams as she fell backward, brought me to my senses, and brought Aunt Sarah to the scene. My Aunt brought with her the family regulator - a strap with five tails - but the regulator did not produce anything like the effect of the lecture she gave me about Cain and his black mark. That black mark, though it was on my sister’s forehead, haunted me for months - for years, but did not wholly cast out that devil. Often I would run a hundred or more yards to get an axe to destroy a nettle that had stung my bare feet, or a tree root that had snubbed my toe. There would be nothing left of the nettle but a green stain on the sand, or of the root not a chip left large enough to be hit with the axe. - I will mention only one more instance of this devil’s manifestation, not because it was in any wise the last, but because it came within a half inch of fixing the Cain brand on me for the rest of my life. Cousin Sam Lynes being on a visit to us, I bantered him for a race in chopping through a log of firewood. My piece had a hard, black knot in it which so diverted my axe, as to make it give me a fearful [Page 30] whack on the side of my foot. With a yell I dropped the axe and grasped my foot with both hands. Sam laughed boisterously. Grabbing up the axe I started for him, and he, knowing my infirmity, started to run around the house. At the second corner I swung the axe at his neck with all my might. The edge missed his neck by a bare quarter of inch, but clipped his coat collar and buried itself in the corner sheath of the house. Just then the brand of Cain came before my mind, I dropped the axe and went in deep contrition to my room. - How could this thing be overcome I was now eleven or twelve years old, and had physical strength enough to do incalculable harm, -even to commit homicide. Shall I, with a disposition to love everybody, and even the animals, around me, consent to become an object of dread, and perhaps end my life as a convicted murderer? These thoughts gave me great distress, as you may readily conceive. I wrestled with it many days and finally resolved to try the following plan: - Whenever the provocation that would arouse the demon came, or threatened to come fix the eyes earnestly on some distant object and count ten. Whether the plan was suggested by something I had heard or read, or was self-evolved, I do not recall, I know it seemed to work [illegible] [Page 31] especially when the provocation could be anticipated; in many other cases it failed. In all boxing matches it always failed, because it was inapplicable, for to look anywhere except at your opponent would soon close both eyes so that they could not look at all. Consequently, after I entered the Citadel I had to “cut out” boxing altogether. About this time I read Poe’s Ligeia in which he quotes from Joseph Glanvill the following: “Man doth not yield himself unto the Angels, nor unto death utterly save only through the weakness of his feeble will”. This set me to pondering on the nature and the functions of the human will. I soon reasoned it out that the will could, and should, be trained so as to control absolutely all human actions, - even those movements of the body that are classified as involuntary. With my plan or expedient for checking my violent demon, the will had to direct the eyes and start the counting. Why not the will act directly and control the impulse? Does not a man’s accountability rest ultimately and properly in his Will? Motived [sic] by an enlightened conscience, his will should dominate his whole being. Thereafter, I gave thought to the training of my Will. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Memoirs of Asbury Coward part two, circa 1835-1855 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Diaries Description An account of the resource This journal, written by Coward in 1910 for his children, chronicles approximately the first two decades of his life. In part two, he describes his time at The Citadel and after graduation, the opening of the King's Mountain Military School in Yorkville, SC. This journal is broken up into two parts. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived A2009.6 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives and Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S. C.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1339 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/1a5aff077fbee6e6a0dc9ccf317cf6a3.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=l-qDQ3LL73ATnawOaqXUQbGVJdyKt0HeExDtmfiriZ243IKijPl%7E9UWxRTsassdtmiz6B5GK7mUwWh8RhYC2%7E0oDY7k6VFPqamNWcA3ddC8uApfKypzIqx0qAyZd8tPfuwgO996ylekXmd30SQunKkPZ2xdSNd3sGSzfDNI4u-HQoiAmbNpZh%7EnL3UmZfGIgqh643vKc8Bp1kaSIxWidT2LHH9z%7E0-Dpkbv-L8bPFnhWMUymvwEj69nKXi8vuIb8wqdjxyQEqpLMw0e4nO%7EYUFab0TEJXKEgintY2eDQqqxzvB83um3NjsYhjDzGDtEfESA7RFVvhNc07dGF6nat0g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM b6aac481386ad5b517f5f26725b778b7 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] Jan. 6, 1910 -Dedicatory and Introductory- My dear children:- For many years you have constantly reproached me for my neglect to tell you about myself. Now that I have had a full year of rest from the worries that seemed to be hastening the footsteps of time and waking an old man of me, and that I stand like an Othello with - occupation gone, I find that the “some day”, with which I have hitherto blocked your importunity, has at last come. But [when], and how, shall I begin? And, alas, how little there is to tell! As some long closed, disused garret room which imagination and superstition have filled with all kinds of thrilling mysteries, will, when finally opened up, be found to contain only common place, worn and stuff all covered with dust; so will this memory garret of mine displayed to view be found to contain only the everyday experiences of an ordinary human life covered everywhere with dust, dust, dust. But how am I to begin? I can not imitate Caesar in his Commentaries, and divide all my life, as he did all Gaul, into three parts, - say Childhood, Manhood, and Old Age; for he was able to fix the metes and bounds of each divisions, but I cannot do the same. Although I have a sort of idea where my childhood began, I cannot for the life of me tell where it ended, or will end. [Page 2] Like Saint Paul, when I was a child I did many things, doubtless, as a child; but I can not say with him that “when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Your dear Mother, who knows me better than any person in the world is firmly convinced of this fact; for even, now, in my seventy-fifth year, whenever I sneeze, and she wants to dose me with some useless nostrum which I refuse to swallow, she tells me not to “be a baby”, or to “act so childishly”. My manhood, in my own estimation, must have begun in my ‘teens; for I was barely nineteen when I became engaged to marry; and I still enjoy the sports and activities of forty or fifty years ago. As for Old Age, I have scarcely a speaking acquaintance with it. So, you see, the tripartite plan of Caesar is altogether inapplicable to the division of my life. A better plan, I think, would be the United States Census plan of grouping things into ten-year periods. Even this plan, I feel sure, will be liable to some embarrassments, for it is easy to see that some relations in life did not end or culminate, precisely with the end of a decennial period, and, moreover, that the development of [Page 3] character and work in my life at any time were but the fruitage of the seeding and growth of in previous decades. Nevertheless, I can think of no better plan, and I shall therefore, attempt to follow it. [Page 4] First Decade- Besides the faint memories of cuddlings, and lovings and croonings, I have the very distinct idea recollection of the taste of aloes. Some six or seven years later when I saw my half-brother undergoing the same process for giving him a distaste for “Those globes of rich delight” as Gerald Massey calls them, I expressed the fact that I knew the taste of aloes, I was much derided for my precocious memory. When I agreed to taste the cause of my baby brother’s agonizing cries. I found the tasks of the stuff as familiar to me as the taste of sugar. So I am still obsessed with the idea that I did, and do still, remember the cruel ordeal through which my helpless infancy passed. The memories of my infancy contains many little things that spring up in many ways - chiefly by association linking them together. First, and never dimmed, is the memory of the sweet face, the soft voice, the tender caressing arms that often snuggled me to her bosom and divided out to me a portion of the nourishment nature had provided her with for the use of her own daughter, Susan, who was about my own age. This lovely woman I soon learned was my Aunt, Mrs. Sarah Jane Lynes, my mother’s sister. [Page 5] I soon learned, however, that my steady source of commissary supply came from a black Mammy named Elsy, who had a little black kid named Charly. Charly never failed to remind me that he was my “fosta brudder [sic]”. Every time I would see Charly after my experience with aloes he would insist on seeing the bottom of my pockets and claim anything I had. When I would throw him down, or spank him, for he was very small, he would invariably say “Wha’ mek you kin lick me is coz’ you tek all my bittle, and I ain’t grow”. Elsy and Charly belonged to the minor estate of Mr. John Coming Ball, and not to my father, and I lost sight of them after my first decade. I have learned that both of them died before I became a man. My father who was managing the Hyde Park plantation during the minority of Mr. Ball never allowed me to go that plantation without carrying something as a present for these two. _ I suppose I learned during this decade more new things than in any other; for, of course, everything I saw or heard day by day, - I might say, hour by hour -, was new. * [Page 6] [Written on back of page] * I learned through all my natural senses, of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching and from men something that prompted love and hate, joy and sorrow, hope and disappointment, curiosity and aversion, - in fact, a lot of contrary and complex impulses which I did not try analyze. [Page 5] I learned that my name was “Sonny” or “Bury” among the white people around me, and Mass ‘Bury” among the servants. That my mother died when I was about three months old and that [Page 7] I had been committed to the care of my Aunt, Mrs. Lynes. Under her motherly care and with the substantial assistance of the aforesaid Elsy, like Topsy and other children, I “jist growed [sic]”. As time wore on a few facts about my people came gradually to my knowledge. It appears that by the death of their parents named DuBois, three children, Sarah Jane, Keziah Anne, and John were left orphans and were cared for by their maternal relatives. Sarah became the wife of Rev. Samuel Lynes, and at or about the same time, Anne became the wife of my father Mr. Jesse Coward. Many years after this John who had learned the trade of ornamental plasterer, married, and subsequently died, leaving two daughters and a son. - My father was born and reared to early manhood in what was formerly the north east portion of Williamsburg District, but now a part of Florence County. Coward’s station, near the little town of Effingham, was is on a part of the land of the old home place. He had four brothers, Solomon, James, Arick and Isaiah, and one sister. Solomon and James were twins and the oldest of the family. After the death of the father, Mr. John Coward, James finding things too straitened at the homestead, obtained a situation [Page 8] as manager of the rice plantations of Mrs. Elias Ball of Cooper river. Pleased with his success, he induced my father, Jesse, to come to Cooper river also, and to accept a similar position under Mrs. Isaac Ball. His charge covered the Quimby and the Hyde Park plantations belonging to Mrs. Ball and the Cedar Hill plantation belonging to her brother, Mr. James Poyas. Our winter home was at Quimby, and our summer home, (that is, from the middle of May to November) was on a sandy ridge among the pines, belonging to the Hyde Park plantation. When I was about three years old my sister and I were taken on a visit to Uncle James Coward, then living on the Coming T plantation. After a few days my father’s vehicle came for us. I remember very distinctly that as we were about to start for home Uncle James with a face full of fun brought out a bottle of wine wrapped in a white paper and told me it was my present for my new Ma. My plump, roly-poly sister, some three years my senior in age, explained to me the New Ma business and with matronly airs coached me as to my behavior toward this new institution. I kept [Page 9] the bottle tightly clasped in my arms the whole way, and steadily practised [sic] the utterance of the new word - Ma. On arrival at home my father lifted me, bottle and all, from the vehicle and placed me in the open arms of the new Ma. I can recall how she squeezed me when I got off - “Ma, here’s my present for you”, - and we became friends for life. - She received both of us most lovingly, and throughout her subsequent life time, [illegible] the liveliest interest in our welfare. She taught us the elements of education, taught us to say our prayers, read interesting stories to us, and instilled a taste for whatever was clean and nice in personal habits and in all the affairs of life. Both of us soon learned to love and obey her. I learned by degrees that she had been the childless widow of a Mr. Stephen Miller in the Wassamasaw section of Berkely [sic] Parish, and that her Mother, Mrs. Bonneau, and a brother, Mr. John Elias Bonneau, a young man of about twenty, were her only near relatives, and that they would come to live with us. Just across the road from this summer home there was another, quite similar to it, occupied by a Mr. Hargrove and his wife. They were a childless pair and the wife soon evinced [Page 10] a great partiality for me. She was always having me over to see her and giving me nice things to eat. Every morning a tiny, ornamental pat of fresh butter was sent over to be placed at my plate, and whenever she made cake a tempting sample was set aside for me. Some months after our coming home, probably a year or more I made first acquaintance with Death. A baby had come to my parents during the night but had decided not to stay. I can never forget the strange sensation I experienced when I somewhat the little fingers and kissed the forehead of the cold, pure white little body laid out upon a table. A sob from my step-mother’s had carried me with a gush tears to her side. She could not lean over to kiss me, but she gently patted my head until I was carried from the room. My sister being now over eight years old and I over five it was deemed time for us to be put to school. But where? The only school nearer than Charleston thirty-five miles distant, was the School established by the Berresford Fund near the church of the parish of St. Thomas and St. Dennis, on the public road to Clement’s Ferry. The teacher at that time was a Mr. Isaac Dutart, whose [Page 11] mother kept house for him and looked after the few boarding pupils of the school. The school house was on one side of the public road, and the dwelling house on the other, and not more than sixty yards apart. The arrangement was for us to be carried there, over a nine mile drive every Monday morning and brought back home every Friday afternoon. By crossing Cooper river at Bonneau’s Ferry the distance from the summer place to the school was about the same as from Quimby. The rides from school were always full of pleasurable anticipations; those towards the school were always in keeping with the proverbial “black Monday”. It so happened that I was the smallest and the youngest of all the pupils of the school, and was rather a tolerated nuisance [illegible words]. I had the insane ambition to do whatever the big boys could do and I was, therefore, too often obtrusively in their way; then too, thanks to my stepmother’s painstaking teaching, I could read, say the multiplication tables and make “pot-hooks” in writing better, than most of the boys. Except my sister and I, and the two beneficiaries of the Berresford fund, all the other children were [Page 12] of the Dutart, Hamlin, Poyas, Rombert, and Cannady families living near enough to walk or ride in to school every day. - The only one of them all to make any deep impression on my mind and whom my ambition did not incline me to imitate was the male beneficiary, Thos. Hickson. Tom was not an idiot, but was clearly a case of arrested development. He could never say the two column backward or any higher column forward in the multiplication tables without counting out on his fingers. At daylight every morning he would reach for his jacket, extract from it a chunk of very black tobacco, bite off a piece and set his jaws to work while putting on his scanty clothing, in order he said to “raise his appetite”. At breakfast call he would carefully deposit his well chewed quid on the piazza railing at a spot he could keep his eye on from his seat at table. As soon as he had bolted his breakfast he would rush for his quid, wad it in his cheek, I presume to promote his digestion, and “bless the Lord for all his Mercies”. This performance went on with the regularity of clock-work, day by day. About six years after we left the school, I had ocassion [sic] to visit my brother, then a pupil there, and I found Tom [Page 13] still a member of the institution, but being too old to be a beneficiary, he risen to the dignity of janitor and assistant teacher in Arithmetic. He had advanced to Rule of Three which he considered the universal solvent of all mathematical problems, and he had acquired about a dozen big sounding words which, although he could not spell them, he would inject them into every conversation with oracular unction. As soon as he had delivered himself of all of them, he would shut up his mouth like a clam, look wise as an owl, and then suck away on his black tobacco. I have often thought of him since Doctor Stiles has been investigating uncinariasis. Tom would have been a shining subject for his study. Late in the Spring on our Friday return from school to the summer home we found that the stork had left there during our absence a great big, loud voiced brother whom it was determined to name Jesse James. He was a sturdy, exacting little [illegible]; but like myself he has to rely for sustenance upon a black Mammy, named Cleopatra, - [Page 14] but called ‘Patra”, for short. Poor fellow, the following winter his dear mother died in Charleston where she had been taken for better medical attention than could be secured on the plantation, and he had no Aunt Sarah like mine to care for him in his helpless infancy. His grandmother, Mrs. Bonneau, died about two months later, and thus my father’s home was for a time broken up. My sister and the baby, J.J., were sent to stay with Uncle James’s family, then living on the Silk Hope plantation, and I was allowed to remain with my father, to watch the house during his absence while superintending the several plantations under his care. My father’s great solicitude was to have us educated, and therefore sister and I were sent to Charleston where we were boarded at the home of Mr. F.C. Patterson, whose mother, still living, had been a friend of the Bonneaus. We found our cousins, Samuel William Lynes, about the same age as my sister, and his sister Susan about my age, also boarding in Charleston and attending a school kept by Father O’Neal. For company sake we were placed in the same school for a few [Page 15] months. Dear, jolly, old Father O’Neal! He was the biggest specimen of humanity I had ever seen, and he was as full of fun and kindness as a rising balloon is of gas. The only reason for our being sent there to school was because our cousins had been sent there as the nearest school to there [sic] boarding place and it was thought best to have us together for a while. A terror to the small boy was a Miss McCormick who had charge of the girls: - a red headed raw boned Irishman named Casey, was the dreaded tyrant over the big boys. To us who belonged to neither class fell the good fortune of enjoying the attention of the good Father himself and one of the older girls. About two weeks after we joined, Sam and I presented ourselves at the school door and met the Father coming out. “And where are you spalpeens going, the day?” roared out the old man. “Coming to school, Sir? we replied. “Did ever one hear the loike [sic]? To school on St. Patrick’s Day! Never heard of St. Patrick, eh! Well, you come with me and I’ll teach you to know him.” Frightened at the suspicion that we were criminally ignorant and had to be punished, we tremblingly followed him to St. Patrick Church and were delivered into the hands of fierce looking [Page 16] Sexton. The Father informed him to put us where he could keep an eye on us, and tap us if we smiled or nodded. We were placed in the gallery and there we sat, like two frightened mice under the eye of a cat. The service being finally over, our fierce custodian took us round to the vestry-room where the jolly Father saluted us with, “Ah my good b’ys, ye behaved foinely sic]. Here’s seven-pence a piece for ye to have a good time with St. Patrick. “Well, we did; for candy, applies and raisins were the joy of our heart. We found out afterwards that the two girls knew there was to be a holiday; but let us go to school to have a joke on us. Of course, they got their laugh, but none of our candy, raisins, or apples. Later on when the days grew hot our little class studied and recited in the shady yard. One afternoon nobody could answer the questions the Father put to us from the book. He grew as near angry as was possible for him and threatened us with all sorts of dreadful things. Finally he called the assistant and began blaming her for our short comings and told her some of the simple questions he had given us and we could not answer. “But, Father, that is not the lesson for today; - those [Page 17] questions are a week ahead”. Looking at the pages, the old man collapsed upon a bench saying, “‘Pon me sowl [sic], she’s right. Childen [sic], what will ye do me? Will I give ye a trate [sic] and make it right?” “Yes, yes”, was the unanimous answer. He went into the house and returned with a towel in one hand and a glass goblet in the other. The goblet seemed to be nearly full of wine. “Now” said he, “each one must take only three swallows so’s it’ll go all round, and be sure to wipe your mouth afterward with this towel. To show you how good it is, watch me”. He raised the goblet to his mouth, made three noisy swallows and wiped his smacking lips, the while his red jovial face was almost ready to crack from suppressed laughter. The countenance of the children as one by one they made the swallows and tried to make out what had happened, could have been caught only by a Kodack [sic] of the snapshot variety. One little Steph Steven exclaimed “That tastes like nothin’ ‘t ’all”. After recovering from his convulsion of laughter, the father explained that the goblet had hollow walls and that the liquid was poured into the wall through a hold in the bottom and the hole then corked. He then carried us into [Page 18] his parlor and set a large music-box to playing [illegible] as the real treat he had in store for me. We were next sent to Mrs. Hahnbaum’s school for girls and small boys, at the corner of Beaufain and Archdale streets. After the first year, sister was taken as boarding pupil by Mrs. Hahnbaum and I remained at the Patterson’s, but continued to attend the school as a day pupil for another year. This brought me to about the end of my first decade and it was decided that I ought be put to an all-boy school. Just before the change was made, however, a new sensation was provided in the acquisition of another step-mother. My father married the widow Hargrove, née Ville Ponteaux the same who used to send me the fancy pats of butter, and, once more our household was properly re-established. This lady had changed somewhat in appearance during the five or six years that had elapsed since I had last seen her. She was paler, more delicate looking, and more sedate in manners. She was then, and to the end of her life, a great sufferer from dyspepsia. This probably accounted for the changes I noted. She still evinced some kindness towards [Page 19] me; but towards my sister she seemed to show indifference, and towards my half-brother, James, a positive aversion. She left him almost entirely to to [sic] the care of the servants. She seemed to be almost monomaniac on the subject of cleanliness. Although our cook and house-servants were well trained, she gave them a busy time in polishing mahogany and brasses, scouring floors, dusting carpets and rugs, sunning beds and bed clothing whenever the weather permitted, sweeping the yards so that the very leaves seemed to be ashamed to fall on them, - in fact, the least speck of dust anywhere was sufficient to start a household commotion. She invariably made the coffee and the tea with her own hands; - none but her own hands could work up the butter, or polish the glasses and silver ware, or slice the bread and cake. She seldom ate meat of any kind, mainly, I think, because she had not cooked it herself. Of course, sister and I being at home only during the April and December holidays did not have more than we could bear of all this particularity; but poor James, who had a most [illegible] habit of getting his face, hands and pinafore smudged the moment after they were cleaned [Page 20] must have had an awful time standing it all the year round. No wonder that the little chap contracted the habit of running away every day, to be found hiding out in ‘Patra’s house at the Negro quarters. But, he survived. [Page 21] -Second Decade- One of the most memorable events of the first year in this decade was my enrolment [sic] in a real boy-school, taught by a Mr. McDougal, and under the auspicies [sic] of the Episcopal Church. Here I met boys older than myself, and from them I learned rapidly all the games and tricks of half grown boys. I made rapid progress in all games with marbles, in spinning tops, in building and flying kites, playing Shingaree* and Shinney, in [illegible words] and boasting; in wrestling and boxing, and in talking boy-slang. The last three accomplishments distressed my sister very much and were the general topic of her “sage advices” as well as “many counsels sweet” when I made my weekly visits to her. As nearly every wrestling or boxing bout would end in a rough-and tumble fight, she knew at a glance what a swelled nose, or blackened eyes, or scratched face recorded. She never lost or relaxed her mature, mother-like solicitude about me; but would often with her tears and sweet persuasive ways melt me into moods of good resolutions. The other great event was the gift from my father of a small, single-barred shot gun during the [Page 22] *The precursor of the modern Base Ball. [Page 23] Christmas holiday following my tenth birth day anniversary. For a time, earth seemed to hold no joys beyond. After a few days, under the tutelage of Nelson, the Negro factotum of the household, I became a terror to the partridges, the doves, the bluejays, robins, rabbits and squirrels. As my stepmother antipathies drew the line on bluejays and rabbits, I traded these victims with the plantation negros for eggs, and thus contributed much to the family larder. Two wild ducks and a deer having also fallen victims of my skill, I went back to school feeling that the average city school boy was no longer in my class. My almost inordinate taste for field sports was a distant inheritance from my father who was generally reputed to be one of the best shots on Cooper River. I had also kept the table supplied with bream, perch and trout during the spring, or Easter holidays. For some reason unknown, or [illegible] Mr. McDougal’s school was transferred to the Rev. P.T. Babbit, who domiciled it in the Church Rectory on Glebe street. The front yard then extended to Wentworth Street, thus affording us good play [Page 24] room. The already famous private school of Mr. Coates was next door, and as recess and play time were generally about the same hours for the two schools, many appointments suggested by jealously and school loyalty were made through the dividing fence to be met at convenient trysting places remote from school bounds. The victim in these engagements alternated pretty fairly between the two schools. It was my good fortune to escape a turn in these engagements. This was probably on account of my small size, - there being no fair match for in the other school. The boys of both schools were quite scrupulous in regard to size, weight and age in arranging these affairs. - Ah! we little dreamed then that we were unconsciously preparing for the pluck and endurance our manhood would be called on to display for our Country’s sake a few years later. At this school I began to learn how to study. Mr. Babbitt was an exacting teacher and interested in his work. He insisted on [illegible] study hours, and systematic exercises. His wife was a beautiful, patient, lovable woman who soon acquired a great influence for good over me. He was a nervous, [Page 25] sufferer from asthma, and it was her task to neutralize the harm which his irritability often provoked. I realized this fully after I was placed as a boarding pupil the year after I joined the school; for I then had a more intimate knowledge of the family life. - To have whooping cough, mumps, and the measles, and to learn how to swim were a necessary part of a city boy’s education. The first two diseases I had passed through while boarding at the Patterson’s; but at this school the measle [sic] epidemic struck the four boarding pupils and Mr. Babbitt’s two sons, Floyd and Seth. For convenience of attention we were all quarantined in the large room used by Mr. Babbitt as his library and study. After the fever stage peaked, we had a continuous pic-nic of two weeks at least in the practical investigation of his electrical apparatus, his [illegible, globes and scientific pictures. I discovered an illustrated edition of Froissart’s Chronicles, into which I plunged with enthusiasm, but unwisely; for the only light we had was a streak that came through a crack in the old-time solid window shutters. I say unwisely, because [Page 26] as a consequence, I had to wear coloured [sic] glasses for two months after we were discharged from the quarantine, and it was necessary for me to have someone read my lessons over to me so that I might after a fashion keep up with my class. Upon the whole, the year and a half I spent as a boarding pupil at this school was the most profitable of all my school days. During that period my sister was attending the Methodist Conference school at Cokesbury S.C., and we, therefore, saw but little of each other. At the end of this year and a half, Mr. Babbitt closed the school, and with his family returned to New York. My father came to the city and arranged for my transfer to the Charleston High School of which Dr. Henry M. Bruns was principal; and for my boarding with Mr. Wm. W. Leman. Mr. Leman was an affable person and the most popular salesman in the well known establishment of C. & E.L. Kerrison, with whom my father had been dealing for years. Mr. Leman’s wife was a Rembert of the Cain Hoy section and many of her kindred had been pupils with us in the Berresford school. This fact [Page 27] somewhat relieved the strangeness of new acquaintance. There were three children, all girls, in successive steps from six years down to about one year. I soon felt at home in this family; but anything like regular studying was a matter of my own volition. - Of course I suffered the usual disadvantages of changing school in mid-term. In history and mathematics, I could have gone with the class in Mr. Cochrane’s room, the second; in Greek and French, I might have found a place in Mr. Thus. Y. Simon’s room, the fourth; but the average was hit upon by my assignment to Mr. Pinckney’s room, the third. I had been pretty well advanced in English studies and Mathematics; but had begun Latin only some four or five months before. Nevertheless I was here assigned lessons in the middle of Vivi Romae, and Adam’s Latin Grammar, and [illegible] French Grammar, with exercises to write. Of course I could only blunder and stumble along like a barefoot boy on a pebbly beach. I could not feel any interest in the latin course until I reached the chapter in Caesar’s Gallic War, in which he described the bridge he built. Having some little [Page 28] taste for mechanics, I spent many lamp lit hours thumbing my lexicon and grammar, to make out the names of the parts and their adjustments, and then to test my knowledge thus obtained, I whittled out the parts with pocket-knife and patience, and with straws from the house-broom for wythes, I constructed three or four spans of the celebrated bridge. I learned more latin from that performance than from all the other books I had to take up in succession. The Eclogues of Virgil struck me as the [illegible] rot, but his Aeneid became interesting after I caught the thread of the story. Sallust, Cicero and Horace, I droned through only because they were needed to enter the South Carolina College where my father expected send me. In Greek I had studied Valpy’s grammar and read the greater part of Anthon’s Greek Reader. This Reader contained a lot of aphorisms and proverbs of celebrated characters, - a large part of Xenophon’s Anabasis, some pages of Herodotus, some extracts from the Iliad, and some of the poetry of Anacreon. I had not quite gone over as much of this as was required when my school days ended. The first summer of my stay with the Lemans was spent on Sullivan’s island, [Page 29] where I found ample opportunity to expand my piscatorial, natatorial [sic], and nautical knowledge. Of course, I went to school in the city every morning; but had the afternoons and Saturdays for island experiences. After the first year was out, another school change took place. The Rev. Ferdinand Jacobs opened a school in the city under the encourgement of the Presbyterian churches, and the Lemans, being members of Dr. Smythe’s church, it was thought best to put me under him. He was a dear, good man, of gentler manners, - just the kind of man to get good work out of me. I was always inclined to be obstinate or stubborn under coercion; but kindness and encouragement would always make me almost burst my heart trying. About this time James was sent to Charleston to board with me at the Leman’s, and to attend a school kept by a Miss Armes. * Sister, had completed her course at Cokesbury, and had returned home a finished young lady. Rather below the medium in stature, but delicately rounded and symmetrical in shape and graceful in all her movements; her features regular and beautiful, [Page 30] (27 continued) *At this time I was doing a considerable amount of reading outside reading. My father had arranged with Mr. John Russell, the accomplished book-seller of that day, to let me have such improving books as I might desire to read. Mr. Russell did kindly advise me and made the sole condition that I must not get a new book until I could assure him that I had read the last one bought. Among the books I got from him were Ruxton’s Life in the Far West, - Lewis and Clarks Expedition; - Some of the works of Irving, of Poe, of Cooper, of Sims, Ruschenberger’s series of nat. history, &c. This last named, in several volumes, each devoted to a special ‘ology, took up much time, because the terminology required very many references to the Greek and Latin Lexicons; but gave me in return some facility in the understanding and use of words. The novels I found in Mr. Leman’s house, such as “Ten Thousand a year”, “Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist”, &c, &c. I devoured wholly at the expense of my lessons. [Page 31] and her manners soft and winning, it is no wonder that my father idolized her. Doubtless he saw in her the spiritual re-incarnation of the sweet young woman who had absorbed and enjoyed the love of his young manhood. She had a delicious, fluty soprano voice. She sang only Scotch, English and Irish ballads; but she sang them with a sympathetic interpretation I have never heard equaled. Every body loved her, except perhaps, the stepmother, whose attention was so completely absorbed by her own ailments that she could sympathize with nothing else. As my father was necessarily absent from the house the greater part of every day, time must have moved with leaden feet for this bright young creature. It is not surprising that in February 1850 she yielded to Uncle James urgent request that she go with his younger daughter, Feronia, to the Female Institute at Bradford Springs, Sumter County. Feronia was about thirteen years old and was to enter the institution as a regular pupil; but sister was to be what was called “a parlor boarder,” [Page 32] and to take up fancy work and music. She had taken a very severe cold about a week before leaving home and was coughing much when she started for Bradford Springs. My father let her go with great reluctance; but she insisted that she would soon be well. Alas, the cough continued all through the spring; and my father’s anxiety increased daily, as shown by his weekly letters to me. Towards the last of May a hemorrhage occurred, and she was promptly brought home. She was in the city just long enough for Dr. Gedding’s to examine and prescribe for her. On reaching the summer home among the pines she seemed to rally in a way; but my father was not deceived, and his despondency seemed rather to increase as the summer wore on. There was an epidemic of Yellow Fever in Charleston that summer. About the first of September the cook, a young Irish woman, was taken down with it and was very ill, her case running to the black vomit stage. In a day or two after James was taken sick; and when his fever slackened, my turn came. Together he and I spent about [Page 33] ten days in bed and room. The cook also survived but had to give up her situation and go to her friends to recuperate. They called her case Yellow Fever; they called ours, Dengue, or Stranger’s Fever. After we had resumed our school attendance but not yet strong enough enjoy our usual afternoon shorts of Shinny, or ball, James and I were sitting on the front steps when a negro from the plantation mounted on one of my father’s horses stopped and handed me two letters, one addressed to me and the other to Mr. Leman. I opened mine with a foreboding sense of calamity. It was written by Mr. Benj. Villa Ponteaux, my step-mother’s brother, informing me that my father had died of a congestive chill before daylight that morning, and that I must take the train to Ladson’s Station where a vehicle would meet me the next morning. I cannot now describe the sensation that overpowered me upon reading this letter, - further than saying that the whole world seemed to have dropped from under my feet. Had it contained bad news about my sister, or my step-mother, I should not have been so stunned for I knew the precarious condition of both. But my father! - the strong, active, self-reliant man whom I had never [Page 34] known to be sick; - the man who had so often prescribed for other sick people both white and black; in the very prime of his masterful manhood, for he was only forty-three years old; - that he could die from disease of any kind was a thought that had never come to me. I reached home by two o’clock the next afternoon; saw his pale, care marked face; saw the coffin lid screwed down and in dazed condition, turned to receive the heart breaking embrace of my grief crazed sister. The funeral cortège, which had been delayed only for my arrival started at once for the burial place, some five miles distant. I will not dwell further on the gloom and anguish of the next few days. - I returned to the city to await the coming of a frost sufficiently severe to make it safe to return to the plantation and, in the mean-time, to continue my school work. I could not study or take interest in anything; the image of that frail, withered flower, my grief crushed sister, was constantly in my mind; and I longed for the frost to come. It did come early in November and I hastened home to find that sister had steadily wasted under her grief, and my step-mother was scarcely able to keep out of bed. Uncle James and the country doctor thinking that a change of environment might be beneficial and that Dr. Geddings might [Page 35] be able to help her, prevailed on sister to visit Cousin Eugenia (Mrs. Octavius F. Folker) in Charleston. She consented to go, and, therefore, a few days after my arrival we carried her to the steamboat for Charleston and my painful parting with her there was the last I saw of her in life. After three or four days of apparent improvement, a severe hemorrhage came on and her sweet spirit took its flight to the longed for spirit home. We laid her by her mother’s side, near by her father’s still fresh grave. My uncle kept me busy gathering up my father’s cattle, and attending to plantation matters, for there was no under overseer on Quimby plantation, as on the others under my father’s superintendence, because it was his place of winter residence, and, therefore, immediately under his personal over-sight. About the first of December, Uncle Solomon came to visit Uncle James, and it was suggested that I go back with him to Williamsburg to visit my Grandmother and other kindred around the old home place. My thoughtful Uncle no doubt saw that the household gloom was pressing heavily upon me and that this was a good way to give my spirit a change to reach, or at least to recover some of its normal tone. You can readily understand, my dears, that every thing animate and inanimate about the house and Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Memoirs of Asbury Coward part one, circa 1835-1855 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Diaries Description An account of the resource This journal, written by Coward in 1910 for his children, chronicles approximately the first two decades of his life. In part one, he describes his childhood growing up on a plantation, his family life and his early education at different schools in and around Charleston. This journal is broken up into two parts. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived A2009.6 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives and Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1338 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/9c3304b08cb340b960c1567d6b53fd4e.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=cnsQptvwTdUUS4uWzsKZpV6fuZACwNOp-WdZx0AnAu4o2bQjmCbrejLbr3i8NqOj0NdvU5qw0OU1J6HyaPUV%7Ejhtir62Byf6okqR7yaM%7ExxWWwY%7EiN3HJuJX6s-zGOlIa02OCbnWKcJWIwTuUgLtEwSgv%7EOLc4%7EwKUuCRsqES3iVULSyzjgVrklccRbN%7EyQdxc2sdBSjxrdgUGczW7rhrRL--6BpabS0K7CwF-VE%7E-ncx5Yolu27Ad8Gpau-Xi6m6tSHo-Aof5bOs5ooHp5r3iUbQopvaXoC1KtGXHHJmZVcW4lI523BmpA0riNV7gflALpjrzcj5dFucvKPEvyVIQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 3a0dd67ef8d07dfc765f9f30d51d63fe PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] S. C. College, Columbia, SC 27 April 1898 Col. A. Coward Citadel Dear Col. Coward, I see a piece of literature in the State today which I clip out and send to you. It is only the best possible proof that the truths hit “home”. My desire in writing the article for the News & Courier which afterwards came out in the State, was to counteract the sentiment among many good people that these boys had acted as heroes and that something was wrong with the authorities, not because they expelled the boys, but because they permitted such a state of things to exist. I wrote this letter purposely without any authority, or knowledge on the part of any of the Faculty or Board. The only consultation was to ask a member of the Board here if my remark [Page 2] about the five cadets reported by Cantey denying their offence. The member told me some of them did, but he (the mem. Bd) did not wish to be authority for the statement. He told me “confidentially”. Such a scurrilous and funny letter as the one enclosed is sufficient testimony that my remarks about the leaders in that affair were true, and the letter is answer sufficient unto itself. Since, however, I may be called upon to give authority for my statements, I write to ask you to send me a short statement answering pointedly these questions (1) Did the five boys deny that they broke garrison? When did they withdraw their denial? (2) Is the Sergeant of the Guard “on duty” after the sentinels are taken off at night? (3) Had the First Class been lax in enforcing the Regulations? (I heard you had once thought of reducing them to ranks and appointing the officers from 2nd Class) The people and some newspapers throughout the State are making heroes out of these boys and I would hate to be unable to show that there is another side to it at least. Please send me this statement, for publication if my authority is questioned: at once, if you can. x x x x x x I note the action of the Association of Graduates. [Page 3] I am glad to see it. Of course, I shall sign it. I had already written to the Governor, offering what service he deemed me capable of, being careful to let him understand that I was seeking neither money, adventure, nor glory. Please give my regards to Mrs. Coward and say to her that I greatly appreciate her kind letter endorsing my letter. I received letters also from Capt. Coleman, Cantey, Cadet Corouch, Ex-Cadets Buzhardt, ’90, Robt. A. Smyth, and Mr. Jas. Allan Jr. I was not writing for thanks, but for the truth and the right. I am as ever, Very sincerely Yours, W. Z. McGhee P. S. I do not intend to go into any long argument again. If I write anything at all, it will be merely to give the statements, with little comment. Of course, what I say will be in a thoroughly dignified way, and not an answer to this piece of literature clipped from the State. W. Z. M. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from W. Z. McGhee to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 27, 1898 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Rebellions Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Description An account of the resource Letter from W. Z. McGhee to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McGhee, W. Z. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-04-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/583 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8, Box 5, Folder 2 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Date Valid Date (often a range) of validity of a resource. 1890-1899 Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Citadel Class of 1898 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/254ef9003b18aa1b867addd1606f7025.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=TcP69N3Jp0GhlKtn-PA5cqawvK42slbo0NSiSsrfZWzvWkNyoOFL6-i-IbHYXOI87pBQNI7z9ZtriZULLbSCeU3Wen9rjtuxqPnziXj674z5aZaspl3uGMTF0nVZVJiWBGCbeeAQe5LvmHO8MYVRP%7E8tdauN2nveYac1%7EqwofPiizd7VNeFPwxQUkzS8We0AqzlMXBe5FqQ5dHHJ%7Eja94RDE%7EYGo%7Et-V0iUEuLYhdOe40Vig8b5NOMstyWXgAW4Uu8Fcz9Ewd5FCqyEI8Bg9iGSrw5lRq96pHhignkt5oERpREbdh7uuIV-CF7q4a5KLO593jcGtTMfWXUwsyMxnBQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 5a64977887189489de8056c12790c44b PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] April 11 1898 Col. A. Coward Charleston S. C. My dear Sir: While with you at Yorkville for two years you continually inspired me with the greatest respect and admiration for yourself and if possible such feelings have increased. Put me down as one of your strongest endorsers in your recent trouble with your boys. I regret exceedingly that you should have such troubles. Yours very respectfully W. E. Johnson Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from W. E. Johnson to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 11, 1898 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Rebellions Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Description An account of the resource Letter from W. E. Johnson to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Johnson, W. E. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-04-11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/576 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8, Box 5, Folder 2 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Date Valid Date (often a range) of validity of a resource. 1890-1899 Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Citadel Class of 1898 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/9b90a7b3d82bf2edda497b9ba92fd89e.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=r25ykoj2LaoLuygHp-HhnNH-vmSEWHJ8EeY6ySdtI3fLS5mazJcEQfkz27ZDAcVA1qL8%7EptFwWcmlwGAGF3CYTN3XPYMICdPZW7lS-Lpsb2tOM5lMiCtEBk4MrZDG2z8qmk95AwFAlNpGjxu9qa0MacxeouUnHB1Wvn2H0%7EuJ3JA8TJc8PoMfI8yIygK-c5rJwBQ0Gc1wFxYH23yZzOwpY%7EXFtIv2yNmXkq2GQbhwPJ294lT7tTi70mc2ITyDkAQAGVVXJxkwvfZ5Fgu4pQWmNzT5fiDnWGX0BOhLXWtYHyn2JcNbz9UFOcqDQYIYXglznLEIVzCZou7JnSlOytu3g__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM af56a4efc1109dd3389c4d35f8fa00ad PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Typed transcription: [Page 1] Habana Octubre 4/905 Mr. C. L. Gadsden. Muy Sr. mio. Tenga la bondad de decirme si en la Academia que Ud. dirige fue de entrar á hacer sus estudios de Ingles, que no conoce, un jóven de diez y nueve años de edad, que y á há hecho aquí en este Instituto los estudios del Bachillerato; pero que quiero aprenda [Page 2] el Ingles correctamente y mas tarde cuando le sea posible adquiera conocimiento en el Comercio para dedicarse á negocios. Espera su contestacion [sic] S.S. [illegible] de Jimenez Col. T. Tesquina á Villegas (altos) Tenga la bondad de decirme si habiendo empezado y á el curso podria entrar este año y si son los mismos gastos [Page 3] estipulados en el prospecto. Conteste con urgencia Vale *** Translation by Christian Mateo Mérida: Havana October 4/905 Mr. C. L. Gadsden. My very good sir. Have the goodness to tell me if you can direct a way in the Academy that one could enter and do their studies of English, a nineteen year old youth, who did not know it, here in this institute of studies of the Baccalaureate; I want to learn English correctly and later when it is possible to acquire the knowledge in Commerce to dedicate to a business. I await your reply your humble servant, [illegible] de Jimenez Col. T. Tesquina to (upper) Villegas Have the goodness to tell me if there has begun to be a course to enter in this year and with those same costs and stipulations for this prospect. Reply with urgency, Vale Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from Vale to C. L. Gadsden, October 4, 1905 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Description An account of the resource Letter from Vale to C. L. Gadsden. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Vale Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1905 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource Spanish Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Havana (Cuba) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/1730 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/4742d635d5e63fe4e50851a1716e93d5.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=rLs5U2br7lsVv5rdcD-yMfurUroVr0D13oNEAB-4vX11j0NZEwCrSOxnpZzhaWYD4JTRI-saHwiXf7v9u7BJPnY1d5CzFFPgcWMHflXmSZpEqlIDgNwoJGgeXLEkeDnHqKFnHPvwS5YQJlG5twkRq2YNZXroLH3HmOZFFdP70mXZUXNPIeJPRqxIfwlARz6PEG4VjvPFJ5L0FpdsjUJr1wFG6e4xB98%7E6yNIbE7nLJyVxfdSqoQfHg75sp3uEDmZlf304jaIqJ%7EQeFHovLFx2oGoKjtY6F9lV82SdoCnrhU0rcP7SIsW8mO9bVb53mCtaUTdksCBxiXdxxafYNVpwQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 7c837af76c22b22482baa187ad0b90c2 PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] April 9th 1898 Col. Coward - Dear Friend & Bro - You have recently passed through a season of distress and anxiety. Every true hearted teacher has sympathized with you, and now we rejoice with you that the trouble has been settled, and settled so well. You and your associates have acted not only for the Citadel but for every institution in the State. Your firm discipline has strengthened the hands of all college authorities. Its influence will be felt, imperceptibly, though decisively in all our colleges. (over) [Page 2] You have had to deal with that old question, whether the faculty or students shall rule. Of course it admits of but one answer, but it will ever recur, as long as there are heady and willful students in the world. With cordial esteem, I am, [Illegible words] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from unknown person to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 9, 1898 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Rebellions Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Description An account of the resource Letter from an unknown person to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-04-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/566 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8, Box 5, Folder 2 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Date Valid Date (often a range) of validity of a resource. 1890-1899 Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Citadel Class of 1898 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/adcc3f7838646b3e95c60d58305fe17d.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=PJ639p6YVWBAbheIVNi-GZKKdd5YB83FEQBl2s%7EKNg67qt7xLNaso7fW-c-mvheQCPrc%7ENg2hO7XMry9AvjHFowI0fY5fV-bej6wForqLrVvF05SiAnNI83Afkq8nXkPP0VH1uKrZ55VB8SiMsrAEjQMPegBk7-ri0FRQ4zMTNcNGP0FRQaqYMSI9p4a0wqfrC7u0Aa1siXWSH0LTE3gHYuXE1HWSYmg-HAoW2nCt9Qp3mhI7j6Y03Hg7Va%7EVP2RSosZ8muKxN-dX5IjS8Qp9y5rsHBg3Zj7B41m10vjadAK2SjuvwtS6Zx0L7cXlE8WVEnS%7E4tGiMXkJgx0CK0rRg__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 1481d96834085d4c35d712ddf120a9fd PDF Text Text �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] Columbia, S.C., 5 April 1898. Col. A. Coward, Citadel. Dear Colonel, I have just read with much regret the account in the News and Courier of the affair at the Citadel. I suppose, of course, that the full facts are not yet published. I just write as an old cadet and as one interested in the Citadel to express my hope that the affair will be settled for the best interests of the boys and the Citadel. It seems to me from the account in the News & C. that there is but one thing to do and that is to [Page 2] discharge every man of the mutineers. This action I think would meet with general approval among those most interested in the Citadel. Of course, I do not offer this as advise or even as a suggestion, but I have the opportunity of hearing expressions of opinion as to the Citadel from people in different sections of the state, and I merely wanted to express for my part the confidence we have in your ability to act in the matter. It would help rather than hurt the Citadel to stand firm in the matter, not give an inch. You would not, but some members of the Board might wish to compromise rather than run the risk of making enemies. Very Truly Yours [Illegible] Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from unknown person to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 5, 1898 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Rebellions Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Description An account of the resource Letter from an unknown person to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-04-05 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/591 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8, Box 5, Folder 2 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Date Valid Date (often a range) of validity of a resource. 1890-1899 Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Citadel Class of 1898 https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/39779/archive/files/066baf4eb04d9dd5e25806199062a06c.pdf?Expires=1776902400&Signature=rC7Uhs%7EhC6if-3H8W9RlaJs9znTuDt-3TQuJMRY3DbeJdQXzeC8I0T7f7AWf8jIAW-t298OzkyooBaACdS%7EGqy-VisXXeiy4cHj1IQlUoPgFUnbVL0OC5Ag1FIgUe-bp5iNcGdGTwAI9jDQH09p26nidua%7EGxbjUn8OGCyWQlUL0eBXdyrLNAk9TD3K8tIyOIKZ6dL93wteftkHBSdExEFx%7Erqr65y0-LWR44ExZOyrIgWD2kDDnDOHiTuO-KSZbHAdZwKd5K6fUfP0vYHWTT0wiTi6JZuw6daTlggwpPU4v62Yi6tNFc3iXfx3xoVJynmYT1H6ovake5Ov049H%7EOQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM 4a7c7f5d80637c55fae36d56acf338fe PDF Text Text � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Coward, Asbury Collection Description An account of the resource Asbury Coward was a member of The Citadel's Class of 1854. After graduation, he founded the King's Mountain Military School in Yorksville, South Carolina. Coward served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought in major battles in Virginia, Tennessee and Georgia. He served as Superintendent of The Citadel from 1890-1908. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/collections/show/21 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Charleston (S.C.) Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document [Page 1] [Illegible] S. C. April 20/98 Col. A. Coward Dear Sir, Your containing record [illegible] my son I. L. Sanders recd. In reply I beg to say that I am ready & willing to pay all [illegible words] against him. The charge for this quarter is all right but I do not understand the other charges, as I had paid all claims [illegible] to April 1st and besides my son says there are things in the bill he did not get. These I have marked with x. Please send corrected bill. Some of his clothes were left in [illegible], which you will please be kind enough to have sent by express. I regret exceedingly the trouble at the Citadel. The boys acted very badly, but I must say, I think their [illegible] against Cantey was great, if I understand the thing correctly. There is no excuse for their behavior to you and other officers – except the youth and inexperience of some of them. My son stands ready to apologize to you for anything said or done. Very Resly T. P. Sanders Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Letter from T. P. Sanders to Colonel Asbury Coward, April 20, 1898 Subject The topic of the resource Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina Rebellions Coward, Asbury, 1835-1925 Description An account of the resource Letter from T. P. Sanders, father of Cadet I. L. Sanders, to Colonel Asbury Coward concerning the Cadet Rebellion of 1898, also known as the Cantey Rebellion. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Sanders, T. P. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available The Citadel Archives & Museum Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1898-04-20 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Materials in The Citadel Archives & Museum Digital Collections are intended for educational and research use. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright. For more information contact The Citadel Archives & Museum, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, 29409. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context https://citadeldigitalarchives.omeka.net/items/show/588 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived CP8, Box 5, Folder 2 Relation A related resource Asbury Coward Collection Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Date Valid Date (often a range) of validity of a resource. 1890-1899 Audience A class of entity for whom the resource is intended or useful. Citadel Class of 1854 Citadel Class of 1898