Journal of Roy C. Hilton, Note Book A: A Personal Letter, October 12, 1943

Journal of Roy C. Hilton, Note Book A: A Personal Letter, October 12, 1943

This journal, written as a letter to Hilton's daughters during his captivity in 1943, covers his childhood in South Carolina and his entry to The Citadel.

A2010.26

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Roy C. Hilton Collection

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Note book A

Roy C. Hilton
Colonel, U.S. Army
Laurens, S.C., U.S.A.

A Personal Letter

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A

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1
Taiwan (Formosa)
October 12, 1943.

To: My Daughters,
Ruth and Laura Anne Hilton,
Laurens, S.C., U.S.A.

Dear Girls:-

You are to be the recipients of the longest letter I have ever written and, I’m sure, the longest you have ever received. I shall try to make it interesting because its pages contain the story of my life and I should like you to enjoy reading the story as much as I have enjoyed living the life.

There are several things which induce me to undertake this prolonged conversation with you even though it be one-sided and from the opposite side of the world from you. First among these inducements is my desire

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to spend pleasantly some of the many otherwise monotonous hours which bore me in my present miserable state. Then, having reached that age in life at which it seems that ‘my race is run’, there is a desire to look back upon the rungs of life, to delve into the circumstances which attended the lives of my fore-parents, and to live my life again by discussing past experiences with others.

Before I departed from you at the railway station in Charleston on October 26, 1941, for a tour of duty in the Philippines, I had planned to work on a History of the Hilton Family during my absence from you. For this purpose I had collected information of my family and had placed it with my baggage. The best source of information which I had been able to find was our kinsfolk in Oxford, Alabama - Cousin Mary

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Byrd (formerly Mary Cooper), and the Cooper family at Oxford. Unfortunately, my plans were frustrated and my material was lost when I became a prisoner of war under Japanese control with the surrender of the Luzon Force on Bataan on April 9, 1942. Now I can enjoy a prolonged indulgence by telling my own story and, by doing so, may answer some future inquiries of yours, and perhaps by getting this story out of my system, I may relieve others of a boredom of listening to me later.

In my present unfortunate predicament, I feel that any chance which I might have had to reach the high goal which I had set for myself is stymied. Events are transpiring on a scale unsurpassed in the history of the world while I am held a prisoner and almost out of communication

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with the rest of the world. The only claim to distinction which I am likely to attain, therefore, is my present attainment of having served my country honorably in two World Wars and in two hemispheres.

I believe it was Shakespeare who said, “There is a destiny which shapes our ends roughhew them as we may.” I am convinced that there is a Diety who controls our destiny and who places forces in our paths to guide us to our end. Chief among these forces, or influences, are ancestry, environment and opportunities.

Again-Shakespeare said “the evil that a man does lives after him, the good is oft interred with his bones.” I shall, therefore, confine my story to events and experiences of virtue and let the vices speak for themselves.

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My life’s story is included under the general headings of ancestry and early environment, early life, and boyhood days in a rural community, college life, preliminary occupations, and my military career. I hope that my inclination to live this life again will not cause me to indulge into details beyond your interest.

In attempting to trace the lineage of our family I have found, as many other Americans have found, that there are a few missing links which are difficult obstacles to a complete lineage. However, according to my best authority, the first Hilton of our line came to America from England at an early period in the development of our country and settled in the state of Virginia. From there, the family migrated to North Carolina. My grandfather,

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W. R. Hilton, came from North Carolina and acquired a plantation in Fellowship Township of Greenwood County about four miles s. west of the town of Ninety Six, South Carolina. During a successful career as a Southern farmer, he raised a family of five children whom are accounted for, as follows: my father, James Griffin Hilton (Jim Hilton); one other son, Cooper, who died in early manhood as a bachelor; and three daughters, - Emma, Minnah, and Lula. Emma was married to William Henry Moore of Cokesbury, S.C.; Minnah married James C. Griffin who owned a plantation adjacent to my father’s; and Lula married Samuel Osie Harvey, a live-stock dealer in Greenwood, S.C.

My grandmother was

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My father married Ann Adams of Trenton, S.C. He was about six feet and one inch tall, weighed about 180 pounds, and was erect and athletic in figure. He was dark complected, had thick black hair, a well trimmed mustache, and clean cut features. He practiced, and insisted on, honesty and truthfulness in his and our dealings with others.

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He was a stern disciplinarian and a believer in the practical way of life -- the doing of things.

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Although I do not remember my mother, I have been informed that she was little over five feet in height and rather stout. She was a charming Christian character and exerted a Christian influence over us. She died at about forty years of age in child-birth with her twelfth child, including twins who died at birth.

Our family consisted of seven boys, of whom I am the youngest, and three girls - one (Gladys) by a second marriage to Mamie Chatham of Greenwood Country. My brothers in order of birth were: Walter,

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Wallace, Clair, Jim, Victor and Arthur. My sisters in the same order were: Leila, Helen and Gladys (half-sister).

My father inherited part of his house plantation, added other acres, by purchase, and built his home - our home - in the midst of these farm lands on the Ninety Six- Epworth Store road. This location was in the heart of a prosperous form community. In every direction there lived well-to-do farmers in comfortable homes. The nearest of these neighbors were Daniel Tompkins, Jeff Martin, James C. Griffin, Noel Paysinger, and Lawson Kinard. Next beyond these were the interrelated Kinard families - Mike, Pierce, Long Mike, Pick, Quincy, Henry and Tom Kinard - whose plantations encircled those of our closer neighbors. Each of these farmers owned his plantation on which he lived in

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ease and contentment and from which he derived a yearly profit. They were proud of their holdings and their efforts at improvement placed them in a position of friendly competition.

Our home and our plantation were typical of other homes and plantations of the community. Edgar Guest said, “It takes a lot of living in a house to make a home.” Under this qualification, I consider that our house well deserved the title of ‘home’. My recollection of this home was of a T-shaped wooden-framed building of eight large rooms. There were two stories in front, and a single story for the stem of the T. Spacious porches extended on four sides of the building. It was finished in white with green trimmings which gave a clean, attractive appearance. The knoll upon which the residence was constructed lacked sufficient shade

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so my father provided shade by planting water-oaks in a horse-shoe shape around the front and sides of the building. When I was old enough to observe them, these oaks had grown large enough to furnish excellent shade, and to beautify the surroundings. In our back yard, just behind the kitchen, there was a deep well over which towered a wind-mill to a height of sixty feet. The wind-mill operated a pump to store water into an elevated tank which stood above and nearer to the kitchen. Around the horse-shoe of trees was a white paling fence which enclosed our yard. At the front gate was a large flat stepping stone, at easy height to assist persons in and out of buggies; and close by this stone was a hitching post. Inside and outside of the yard fence was a heavy turf of Bermuda grass. A circular drive-way inclosing flower beds was constructed so as to be tangent to

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the outside of the front gate.

Just beyond this close-up of our home, and to the right of it, was a large vegetable garden enclosed by a tall paling fence. A roadway along the residence side of this fence led to the buggy house to the right rear of our residence. (A single-horse buggy-rubber tired- and a two-horse carriage were kept inside of this house). Passing along this road beyond the buggy house one entered the horse-lot, enclosed by a heavy plank fence, and in the center of which stood the horse barn with hay loft. Other farm buildings - the gear house, the corn crib, and the pig shed - were arranged around the horse lot. To the left rear of the residence were the smoke house and dairy, the chicken house, and a large cow barn with hay loft. The cow barn was enclosed by a pen constructed in part by a plank fence and the remainder by an old-fashioned

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rail fence. Both sides and the rear of these out-houses were bordered by orchards of peach trees, apple and pear trees, and a grape vineyard.

Our plantation, which was dependent chiefly upon the cotton crop, extended in all directions from the residence. Besides large areas under cultivation, there were several pine timber areas, and pasture lands which extended along both sides of a creek. A portion of these pastures was inclosed by a rail fence. The general appearance created by hills and valleys may be described as rolling country. Negro cabins were located at various places on the plantation to serve the purposes of portioning out sub-divisions of the farm lands to renters or share-croppers. We, and others of the community were dependent upon negro laborers to produce the crops.

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On the other hand, the negroes having been relieved from slavery by one generation, were equally dependent upon the farmers. The negroes were poor, ignorant, thriftless, and lacked ambition but, when properly managed, they worked well, seemed contented with their lot and made good laborers. They were employed by the plantation owners in one of four general ways, viz: as renters, as share-croppers, as wages hands, or day laborers or job laborers (domestic servants). The renter was fortunate enough to own one or more mules. He reuted a given number of acres - about thirty to forty acres per mule - and paid the landowner in 500-pound bales of cotton the rent which was agreed upon. Except for the requirement to use fertilizer and to plant a specified acreage in cotton, this type of laborer was fairly free to cultivate his land

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as he chose. The share-cropper furnished labor only. He planted, cultivated and harvested a crop as specified by the landowner and the crop was divided equally between them. The wages hand was employed by the year at specified monthly wage. This wage varied from $7.00 to $15.00 per month, depending upon demand for labor and upon the industry and reliability of the laborer. Day laborers and domestic servants were usually members of families of other classes of laborers. By one or more of these means of employment, work was provided for all members of labor families. There were many faithful and reliable negroes among these laborers but their dependence upon their white “boss” was as evident as it had been during the enslaved lives of their foreparents.

x x x x x

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Our community was populated by church-going, God-fearing families. Our plantation was founded on the West by Fellowship Baptist Church and on the East by Kinards’ Methodist Church. Each Sunday all members of the families dressed in their Sunday Best and assembled at their respective churches. These congregations also became social gatherings where visits and local news items were freely exchanged on the churchyard grounds.

x x x x x

Thus was the condition and the environment of the community of which I became junior member on November 7, 1892. Since six brothers and one sister had preceded me, my arrival probably created no great sensation. Providence seemed to have ordained that, after spending my youth in this rural district, I should be the only member of my family

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for several generations to pursue a military career.

In portraying my life’s history I must relate some of the details of farm life as I knew them in my youth. In case I make farm life seem too rosy, it must be remembered that I am now thinking from an advantageous position regarding time and space. Long-ago experiences of toil and drudgery have mellowed with age to ameliorate unpleasant memories of them. Then, too, after having spent more than two years in a primitive, destitute country, deprived of liberty and privileges, any type of life in any part of the United States seems as a heaven in contrast.

One of my first recollections was a tragic one. My dear mother died before I reached the age of six years. My younger sister, Helen, was only three

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years old at that time so my father arranged with a kindly widow-aunt of ours, who lived in Greenwood, to care for Helen and me for a year or more in her home. Accordingly, Helen and I were taken into the humble but hospitable home of our Aunt Lizzie Hackett. Her two grown daughters, Cousin Lizzie and Cousin Sarah, were very kind and their attentions to us were a great comfort. I still remember the careful daily attention of my cousins to Helen’s head of hair. At first they trained it into beautiful ringlets and, later, into long hanging curls about her head. Helen rebelled noisily against the amount of patience required of her to undergo this daily ordeal. I also recall the pleasant evenings that I spent playing with neighboring children under the electric street light in front of our new home; and of

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my habit of following the electric light man each morning as he came to lower the street lamp and replace the burned carbons. He usually presented me with some of the burned carbons. I further remember my Aunt’s home dog, Mack, who was my playfellow.

After about one year at Aunt Lizzie’s, my father remarried and Helen and I were taken back to our home and family. We were happy to rejoin our other sister and brothers. It was comforting to be a member of a large family. There were always ready companions to join us whether we were engaging in work or in play. Each of us benefitted by the ideas and deeds of the others. There was a sufficient number of us to arrange our own games and sports, and to provide companions

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and assistants in the various chores which were required of us. There was one feature of our large family to which we sometimes objected, viz., the wearing of hand-me-down clothing which an older member had outgrown.

The only school available to us was the one-teacher school at Fellowship. My brothers and sisters and I walked the quarter-mile to school for eight or nine months of each year. Here we recited, or studied while others recited, from nine o’clock each morning until four o’clock in the afternoons. The long daily session made it necessary for us to carry lunch boxes and the noon recess for lunch and recreation was the chief event of those days. Drinking water for the pupils was secured from a nearby spring, a fresh supply of this cool water being

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kept on a shelf just outside of the doorway. One of our daily diversions was to go to the spring in pairs, to replenish the water supply. The school heating system consisted of a wood-burning stove in center of the schoolroom. Pupils who were seated too far away from the stove to keep warm could get permission to stand by the stove for short intervals between classes in wintertime. This one-teacher type of school, where one person must instruct all classes in all subjects, was not the most satisfactory one but it was the best that the community afforded. As members of my family outgrew this school, they were sent by horse and buggy to Ninety Six High School - four miles away.

Shortly after I started to school another sad event occurred in my family. Arthur, my next

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older and closest companion died, just before reaching the age of twelve years. The little monument to his grave at Fellowship Cemetery bears an inscription which I hope to deserve for my epitaph, viz., “He was faithful to every duty.”

Being the youngest boy in my family, I seem to have been somewhat favored by my parents. My father was fond of music and, since my older sister had shown neither inclination nor talent for music, he endeavored to make a musician of me. His inspiration in this direction came from an agent of The International Conservatory of Music of Boston, who called at our home. This agent induced my parents to include me on a list of students to take a course in piano lessons by mail. Therefore, during my early school days, I studied and practiced at the piano.

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This course included the usual instructions for beginners together with special sheets of music. Each note on this special music contained a number to correspond with a like number on a mechanical instrument. My teacher was this mechanical ‘Revealer’ which was placed across the keyboard of the piano. The music was reproduced by the simple process of striking the keys indicated by numbers on the notes and pointed out by arrows from corresponding numbers on the revealer. ‘Tis needless to say that, without assistance of a musician, this method of instruction would produce a mechanical musician. My step-mother was an accomplished pianoist [sic] and was a great help to me in this course. However, after memorizing thirty-odd pieces of music by this method,

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my interest waned and I discontinued the course after about one year. The chief benefit which I derived from the course was an appreciation of music and a realization of the great amount of practice required to become a musician.

Other means were also provided for me to follow my interests and utilize my time gainfully. I was allowed to raise chickens and rabbits. I chose the Plymouth Rock breed of chickens and grey rabbits - Belgian Hares. My chicken farm was started by ordering one setting of eggs from a poultry farm which advertised thoroughbred stock in The Progressive Farmer magazine. I built a chicken house and pen in a peach orchard beside our garden and provided some modern arrangements for raising chickens. Additional chickens were added to my flock annually and I soon built up a flock large

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enough to keep me busy. My rabbits were kept in a pen which included a sunken house. Even with the convenience for them, they did a lot of burrowing. From these two small-scale projects I derived much pleasure and felt that I was accomplishing something worthwhile.

x x x x x

One of the inconveniences of a rural community is the inadequacy of medical care. In case of sickness in our family requiring attention of a doctor, it was necessary to secure this attention from Ninety Six. I recall several occasions when I rode horseback to Ninety Six, galloping my horse most of the way, to call in Doctor Blake for members of my family. Although the doctor would respond promptly to the call, anxiety about our sick loved-one would make the

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time of his arrival seem unduly long. My horse was usually foaming with sweat when I reached the doctor’s house but I would give him a chance to cool off on the return trip.

x x x x x

One of our chief pleasures and recreations was that of going to town. We especially liked going to Greenwood which was farther and larger than Ninety Six. Business trips to one of these towns were required about once each week and all of us boys were eager volunteers for the trips. Whether the business required a four-mule wagon team, or a horse and buggy, made little difference to us. The towns themselves were intriguing. Besides the wonders which each store held, each trip furnished a chance to purchase articles of clothing or novelties which we desired, and the bringing home of fruits and candies.

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During watermelon season, several of us would take a load of melons to town, spend a happy day in selling them, and then spend much of the proceeds of our sales in purchasing needed articles. To us everything pertaining to the towns seemed good. We did not realize that townspeople also have their hardships and inconveniences.

As my older brothers reached maturity, they left home to begin their separate careers. My oldest brother, Walter, first began work in the mercantile store of Uncle Willie Adams in Edgefield. During his vacation periods, he returned home to pay us a visit. When I was about twelve years of age, I was given the mission of driving by horse and buggy to Edgefield to bring Walter home for a summer vacation.

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Since the distance to Edgefield was twenty five miles each way, this assignment was quite a venture for me. I was also delighted with this opportunity to visit my cousins, George and Willie Adams, who were about my age. My instructions for making this trip were very specific even to include a stop along the way to rest our family buggy mare. Although Edgefield was small and old, with a branch of the Augusta Railroad coming to a dead end there, I was quite elated over the romance of making such a long journey alone. Arriving safely at Edgefield, I was permitted to enjoy the hospitality of my uncle’s home and of the village for a day or two before starting homeward with Walter. Uncle Willie’s store also included a counter of candies and cookies of which I was easily and often persuaded to partake.

My social activities included

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occasional visits to other cousins - the Griffins, who lived near us, and the Harveys in Greenwood. Billy Griffin and Hilton Harvey were about my age and exchanges of visits among us were very pleasing to me. The shortest route to Billy’s home, by foot, was about one mile in distance and lead through a pasture which enclosed many cattle including a vicious Jersey Bull. When this bull was not in sight, I dared to take the route through the pasture. On one occasion Billy and I walked down to the pasture fence when this bull was quite near. He met us at the fence and began to paw the ground and to bellow in fury. We felt safe outside of a frail wire fence and tantalized the bull by throwing stones at him. This made the bull more furious and added to our delight. We finally won

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the contest by continuing to pelt him on his head and body until he turned away. When I look back on this prank of ours, I now realize that our position was not altogether safe. My visits to Hilton Harvey took me to the city and a different type of life. Hilton and I would take in the city and visit many of the stores. We made a point of being at one or more of the railway stations when trains arrived. It was interesting to me to see passengers getting on and off of these trains. We also spent much of our time at Uncle Osie’s livery stable, where sales of horses and mules were taking place.

x x x x x

The business of farming will not interest you, probably, but it was a part of my early life. It seemed to be the general opinion

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that little brain and much brawn were the requisites of the farmers. For the small struggling farmers, this opinion was somewhat true, but judging from my experience as a young participant in this industry, it is my belief that farming requires and develops as much mentality as does most other industries. Furthermore, the independent and practical life which pertains to the farms, have a wholesome influence on one’s character. The proximity to nature, and the necessity of conforming to nature’s laws, keep one from going far astray. The daily and continuous performance of assigned tasks, the act of doing things and observing results, develops a practical mind. The necessity of performing assigned tasks regularly also develops a sense of responsibility and builds character.

Farming on our plantation

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seemed to begin with the calendar year. At this time harvesting of crops was about completed leaving the fields drab with empty stalks. The only sign of crop life were patches of winter grain. The first operation to start new crops was to knock down, or cut down, the dead cotton and corn stalks and clear the land. The soil was then turned over with plows to pulverize it and to cover any remaining dead vegetation. The next plowing built up rows of the soil on which the planting was to be done. All of this work was done prior to Spring season - or in early Spring.

Hauling of fertilizer (guano) was done along with the preparation of soil. Negro teamsters seemed to derive special pleasure in handling our mule teams. My father took pride in his livestock and tried to keep the best obtainable. By insist-

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ing that the animals be kept in best of condition, always groomed and trimmed, he instilled pride for them in the minds of the laborers. After returning from the hauling trips teamsters gave vent to their love for bragging by the stories of praise for their teams. Such faithful Negroes as Nels Martin, Tom Moton, or Henry Smith would laugh and talk for hours of how their teams, although drawing a heavier load than a neighbor’s team, passed the neighbor’s team and left it well behind; or, how their wheel team, Doll and Rody, worked their ears differently as they easily moved forward with a heavy load; or, how their lead team, Mary and Maggie, only needed the crack of the long lash of the wagon whip above their ears to cause them to walk away from the best of teams. They also bragged

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of the ease with which each of them handled the 200-pound sacks of guano in contrast with the difficulty with which neighbors’ hands labored with them. However their chief subject of braggadocia was the superior pulling ability of their teams. Hills and mud-holes along the roads furnished many tests of the ability of the teams.

We Southerners considered the negro and the mule as an perfect indispensable working team, each one seeming to sympathize with, and derive a certain amount of satisfaction from the other. If the mule is spirited and likes to move fast, the driver worker is pleased and does lots of work; if the mule is lazy, the driver worker easily conforms; if the mule is mean, he give his master a wanted opportunity to expell [sic] his whole vocabulary of profanity

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without offending the mule. In either case, this combination was the farmer’s main reliance.

The first sign of Spring was nature’s warning to begin planting. All hands became busy in final preparation of the soil and getting seed into the ground. The male members of my family took an active part of all farm work. For this reason, the large number of boys in my family was a big asset. Negroes have an expression to the effect, “Gal babies and bull calves are a poor man’s luck.”

My father spent most of his time on his saddle horse riding over the plantation, supervising and planning work. When we boys were not in school, there was plenty of farm work to keep us busy and, as my father said, “to keep us out of devilment.” Each of us in turn

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became a specialist in some type of work, e.g., operating the cotton gin, the steam engine, the cotton or hay press, the sawmill, or the corn or grain binders. One of my older brothers acted as foreman and pace-setter for groups of laborers while the rest of us worked on another part of the farm.

Spring was always a welcomed season for me. As a youngster I looked forward to this season as a release from the discomfort of heavy Winter clothes, as a period to enjoy barefootedness and as a period of fresh vigor to such an extent that I wanted to run at work or play. The fresh Spring air seemed to invigorate human beings as much as it did plant life. All nature seemed to waken from hibernation and to hum with new life.

It was not many days after planting had begun that

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the fruits of our own labor began to appear. Row upon row of new cotton and corn burst forth from the fresh earth. This growth required attention and the stage of cultivation was initiated. Thinning out the plants and ridding them of their enemies, grass and weeds, required many mow-hours of labor with hoes and plows. Pulverizing and changing soil around the plants required more labor with plows. All the while these plants were responding to sunshine, rain and the careful attention which was being given to them. Where response was considered inadequate, additional food in the form of guano was supplied. Planting and cultivation of gardens and patches of potatoes and lesser crops advanced simultaneously. Finally, the crops reached a stage of maturity beyond which further

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cultivation became harmful. This was the lay-by period which came the latter part of July. Crops were left alone to complete their maturity while laborers awaited the time for harvest.

In the meantime grainfields had turned yellow with maturity and had been harvested. This included early corn which we cut with a binding machine and shredded, ear and all, to use as forage for animals. It was a matter of wonder to our neighbors that we boys, in our early teens and at the bare-footed age, were able to handle a heavy three-mule team and operate the complicated corn or grain binder. Both of these crops were first shocked in the fields to await their time for shredding or threshing. This operation was done after a short period of drying, or curing.

Other activities during the

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months of July and August were of the lighter and pleasanter type. These included both work and recreation. Fruit and melons had ripened and were harvested and disposed of. Melons were sold at the markets and were also plentiful for home consumption. Fruits were sufficient for current enjoyment and also to supply canned food throughout winter. Several days at a time were spent in gathering and canning these fruits. Cutting and baling hay was another of the lesser tasks to be done at this time. Horses and mules were less in demand and were often turned into pastures after lay-by period.

Before relating some of our recreational activities, the routine of a day on the farm during cultivating season might be of interest. The

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day’s work began at dawn with the sounding of the big farm bell. This signal was given by one of my brothers or by a faithful servant and was the call for all hands to rise from slumber and prepare for work. Certain of the servants came at once to our barnyards to assist in feeding the animals.

Early morning feeding is an interesting experience of communion with the dumb domestic friends. At the first sound of footsteps or the opening of a gate the symphony of the barnyard began. All animals began to bestir themselves and, in a language peculiar to their breed, they sounded messages of welcome, of impatience, or of anxiety lest they be overlooked. Horses and mules began a chorus of whimpering; cows moved around nervously in their stalls and some of them began to low; hogs were the most

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ill-mannered as the squealed loudly and appeared to be actually suffering from hunger; chickens flew down from their roosts and began to assemble at their feeding place- some of them sang as if they were happy at the approach a new day. When feeding was completed there was the sound of grinding corn by the work animals and the shuffling of hay by the cows; hogs ate noisily and fought as they ate. Then, when all animals completed their breakfast, there was a silence of contentment.

While the animals were eating, breakfast for human beings was also prepared and eaten, and morning chores were done. Our cook arrived shortly after the sounding of the bell and prepared breakfast by lamp light. Milking and dairying chores were done by designated personnel.

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Breakfast for country folks was a good substantial meal. A typical one consisted of hominy with bacon or ham gravy, biscuits and corn breads, butter, bacon or ham, eggs, syrup or molasses, and coffee or milk.

As soon as working personnel had completed breakfast, all workers assembled at what they called the ‘big ‘ouse’ (our home), where they received instructions for the day’s work. Work animals were then bridled, groomed and harnessed and ridden to the fields where work began. Other animals were released to pastures. Then the steady grind of work in the hot sun continued by plow or hoe hands. During part of each day negroes could be heard singing as they moved somewhat in rhythm to their songs. Each hour showed an advance in work as crops

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were cleared of grass, or as fresh dirt was thrown to growing plants by plows. Work was interrupted by the farm bell about eleven thirty each day at which time animals were brought home for water and the noon meal. Again, at one o’clock the bell called workers to resume work. The day’s work lasted until nearly sundown allowing remaining daylight for feeding and bedding down of animals and for the evening chores. These chores included dairying, housing and feeding of animals and providing fuel (wood) and water for night.

After supper was over and darkness, or moonlight, had started the night, we began our favorite game while our parents sat and talked and observed us from the front porch. This game was called “mad-dog.” Using the steps

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of our home as bases and with one member at a time representing the mad-dog, the other players advanced clockwise around the house, endeavoring to reach the next base without being caught by the mad-dog. The dog, in the meantime, had concealed himself some place around the house between bases. As soon as any player was caught, he became the dog and the game continued. Jest and interest was added to the game by a knowledge that there were at times actually a few mad-dogs around during Summer months. Thus ended a day on the farm.

x x x x x

During melon season my parents had occasional melon parties to entertain friends and neighbors. After gathering a dozen or more of our choicest water-melons and cantelopes [sic] and

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cooling them in a cellar, neighbors and friends were invited in to help us enjoy them. For these occasions tables were placed end to end under shade trees to make an inviting setting. Some of the luscious melons were so ripe that, once the knife was started through them, they opened ahead of the blade. Such parties lasted for several hours and were a means of a pleasant social gathering.

During the month of August each year our church held a week of protracted meeting. The best available preacher was engaged to assist our minister and, to get the most out of his week’s engagement, services were held both morning and afternoon. Between services, basket lunches were served on the church grounds. These

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services produced many converts whose baptism - including my own - took place in an out-door pool near the church. Aside from the religious aspect of these meetings, they were a source of pleasant social gatherings. As a growing boy our feature of these meetings which appealed to me was the abundance of delightful foods which was served between services. Long tables were placed under huge oaks and were laden with the choicest of foods from which we were permitted to select as we chose. In my present destitute, semi-hungry condition as a Japanese prisoner of war, the large dishes of brown fried chicken, of deviled eggs, of peach and lemon pies, and of delicious heavily-iced chocolate and lemon layer cakes still loom prominently before me. Although I ate as much as

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I could uncomfortably hold, I now wonder that I did not eat more.

In order to get relief from hot August days we boys constructed a ‘swimming hole’ in our pasture by damming a portion of the creek. This provided a pool of water quite adequate to our requirements and was a means of pleasant sport. Since it was a private lake, we were permitted to ‘hang our clothes on a hickory limb’ and swim in the suit which nature provided. There was supposed to be a suck-hole near the center of this pool which would carry a poor swimmer to the bottom. Whether this was only a ruse to keep youngsters away from the deep water I do not know but I did not dare to venture to that portion of the pool.

During these hot days cotton

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began to open and the fields were putting on a pretty white appearance. This was the beginning of the harvest period of our big crop. Early each morning thereafter groups of negroes arrived at our cotton house equipped with burlap sacks strapped over one shoulder. Here they were supplied with large baskets of split white oak which they turned over their heads and moved to the cotton fields. All day long they moved up and down the rows as they gathered cotton and packed it in their sacks. Some of them moved on their knees while others bent over the rows. As the sacks were filled, they were emptied and packed into baskets. Behind these groups of pickers were left dark green patches of the matured cotton stalks which would produce pickings of white cotton.

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Just before sunset each day wagon teams were sent out to to [sic] haul the day’s harvest to the cotton house. Here the cotton was weighed and the pickers were paid for the day’s work. Payment ranged from about thirty cents to seventy-five cents per hundred pounds according to the time of year and to the demand for labor. As soon as one field was gathered another was ready for gathering - thus this process continued until about Christmas when gathering was completed.

At intervals during gathering season the gin was put into operation. Rainy days were sometimes used for this purpose. Ginning days were long busy ones. One of my brothers fired and operated the steam engine, one supervised the ginning machine, and another supervised the cotton press. By daylight the

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steam from the engine could be heard and, shortly thereafter, the whistle was sounded and ginning was in full operation. Bales of cotton were spread on the ground around the gin house where they awaited a favorable market to be hauled away and sold.

When the market indicated, from four to six bales were loaded on wagons and were hauled to market by four-mule teams. This was the big harvest and meant the realization of many dreams which had awaited the result of cotton harvest. New clothing, additional farm machinery, needed supplies and some luxuries were brought home on the wagons. This was the first money crop which the tenants had harvested. Their morale was high if they were able to pay accumulated debts and to purchase needed articles. Oftimes

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tenants were furnished transportation to take their entire families to town to celebrate the harvest. When ginning had been completed the year’s profit could be completed.

x x x x x

Hog killing was another important event with us. The first of these events usually came after a heavy frost and prior to Thanksgiving Day. Having decided to slaughter hogs, word was given to the hands and before sun-up on the appointed day several hands arrived at our house and built a big fire around a large scalding pot. Soon thereafter water was steaming in the pot and everything was in readiness for the slaughter. The setting was typical for a winter morning in the country. The woodyard, tops of buildings and surroundings were white with ‘jack frost.’ Negro laborers were

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grouped around the scalding pot with their backs to the fire, or were warming and rubbing their hands while talking and laughing. Then, at the word from one in charge, they moved to the hog pen, singled out one hog at a time and lifted him out of the pen against the loud protests of all the others. Once out of the pen the hog was struck down by a blow on his head with the back of an axe which act was quickly followed by slashing the throat and piercing the heart with a large butcher’s knife.

Having made the kill for the day in this manner, the butchered hogs were then dragged to the vicinity of the scalding pot. Here, each hog was placed, head down, in a leaning half-sunken barrel and scalding water was poured over him. The next step was to remove the hog from the barrel,

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place him on boards and remove the hair from his entire body by rubbing with knives and pricks. This operation transformed the hairy black animals to clean white ones. The carcus [sic] was then hung by its hind legs and the operation of dissecting, trimming, etc., was performed by the butcher. Other hands stored or hung the various assortments of meats. Each helper was rewarded for his work by being given certain parts of the trimmings, the livers, etc.

Several days were required to put the meat in useable condition by experienced hands. This included grinding sausage, rending lard, grinding parts for hogshead cheese or souse and preparing the main parts by salting, or by seasoning and smoking. In this way our table was supplied throughout winter with fresh and smoked hams or shoulders,

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well seasoned sausage, bacon, or hogshead cheese and souse. The residue of rending lard was used to make delicious cracklin bread.

x x x x x

Along with cotton and pork harvests went the harvest of timber. New farm land was added each year by clearing portions of our timber land. This timber, mostly white pine, was used for both lumber and fuel. My older brothers, in turn, operated our sawmill and for this purpose the steam engine was moved from its accustomed place near the gin house to the timber areas. For weeks at a time selected timber was felled and sawed into building materials while the timber which was unsuitable for lumber was cut into cord wood for fuel. Fuel wood was cut and stacked at about one dollar per card - to cut and stack a cord of wood was considered a good day’s work for one laborer.

x x x x x

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Winter months required less use of work animals and was the time of year for trading old or worn out animals for young ones. Occasionally, a dealer from Kentucky or Tenn. drove a fine lot of animals overland and traded with farmers along his route. My father secured a fine and beautiful pair of horses from Mr. Collins, a travelling dealer. Both of these horses were bays with white markings - fat and sleek. One of these we named ‘Beauty’ and gave her the place of honor as buggy mare for the family. Her gentle nature and beautiful style and conformation attracted favorable attention wherever she was seen. Trading for young stock was usually done with Uncle Osie Harvey in Greenwood. In this way the farm year started out with fresh and lively stock.

x x x x x

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Winter on the plantation also brought a pleasant pastime - the hunting sport. Wild game in our community included quail, doves, wild turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, coons and o’possums. In my early teens I was the proud owner of a single-barrel shot gun and enjoyed squirrel shooting as my most profitable sport. Later, I learned to shoot birds on the wing and quail shooting became my favorite sport. Rabbit hunting with and without guns was also an interesting sport. A pack of beagle hounds and a group of hunters armed only with sticks was one of the most exciting of our sports. For such occasions there were too many hunters along to make it safe to have guns. The dogs and sticks usually provided enough of these little animals to furnish all of the hunters a supply of meat.

x x x x x

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When the cotton crop was gathered the plantation appeared drab and dull. The only farming activity to be done at this time was the planting of winter grain. Once this was done the grain was left to survive the winter and furnish patches of green among brown fields. Thus was the routine of work on the farm. Time had now arrived for a repetition of this routine.

x x x x x

In 1908 I had reached the age of fifteen years and most of my brothers had left home to begin their own careers. My father was declining in health and felt unable to continue the operation of his plantation. He therefore accepted an attractive offer and sold out home and farm to a Mr. Motte Payne. Before doing so, however, he arranged to purchase an older and

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smaller estate - the Whitlock Place - on the outskirts of Greenwood. A public auction was held to dispose of the surplus farm chattels and animals which were not needed on the smaller plantation. We were both sad and glad to make this change - sad because we were leaving our old home and friends and glad to move so near the city.

Many of our friends said that we sold the finest plantation in the county and bought the next finest. Our new home was of the colonial type, an eight-room two story building with large columns. It was surrounded by several acres of beautiful oak trees. There was also a windmill and water tank, two large barns, a garden, an orchard, several tenant houses and enough land to operate a small farm.

The location and facilities here

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including pasture land were almost ideal for the dairying industry. My father took advantage of this condition, bought a herd of registered Jersey cows - paying up to $150.00 for some of the milk cows - and opened a dairy business. We installed a DeLaval cream separator, set up a gasoline engine to operate a churn, and sold cream, milk, and butter. Much of the separated (skimmed) milk was used to fatten hogs. This business together with the small farm was sufficient to keep Victor, myself and several farm hands busy.

Victor and I entered Greenwood High School while Helen attended grammar school in the High School building. I usually rode horse-back to school to train and exercise a saddle horse while Victor and Helen went by horse and buggy.

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Shortly after moving to Greenwood our buggy mare, Beauty, presented us with a ‘little beauty’ - a replica of her mother. When this colt was about a week old she met with a near-serious accident which left a permanent scar on her. While frisking around in the stable she kicked through a plank and got her leg caught in between planks. In attempting to free herself, she rubbed flesh off to the bone. My father thinking the injury more serious than it really was, wanted to kill this colt to free her from suffering. I prevailed on him to let me try to cure and raise her. With special care and treatment and a diet of separated milk, her leg healed nicely and she developed into a beautiful animal. During feeding time I trained her to answer and run to me when her name, Alma, was called. I also taught her to kneel and to pick up a handkerchief. In spite of a permanent scar on

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her leg, I won first with her, two years, at our county fair in competition with other fine colts. When she was 2 ½ years old and was partly broken to harness and saddle I sold her for $250.00.

In 1910 Victor left home to engage in other work, leaving me as the only boy to manage our business. I graduated from Greenwood H.S. this year and was out of school one year while managing our affairs. My father continued to decline in health (Bright’s disease), and in June 1911, he passed away and was buried in our family plot at Fellowship Church. After his death we decided to sell our plantation and to divide the estate. Accordingly, we held an auction sale in the fall of 1911, disposed of all property, and each of us went our separate ways.

x x x x x

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In July 1911, just following my father’s death, I took advantage of announcements in the newspaper and stood examinations for scholarships in two of our state colleges - The Citadel and Clemson. I was fortunate to win second place in the one-year scholarship to Clemson and was more fortunate in winning first place in the four-year scholarship to the Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. When the result of the latter examination came to me by mail, I was in the field helping to harvest corn. Helen ran out to bring me the wonderful news of my success and, in my joy at this news, I ran back home with her to discuss my plans for entering college. Thus, by grasping a passing opportunity provided by Providence, my destiny was guided to its end.

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Then began my college career. My plans for entering college were simple and, of necessity were promptly made. Instructions mailed to me from the Citadel stated that I should report to the Registrar at that institution on the opening date of college. Clothing and other articles with which I should equip myself were also mentioned. Therefore, after arranging for someone to take over the management of affairs at home, I registered as a cadet at the Citadel early in September, 1911. This was a happy and a memorable occasion for me.

The Citadel, founded in 1842, had built up an enviable reputation dating from the days of our Civil War. Her alumni had played prominent parts in war and in peace. As a military college it had won the sobriquet of the West Point of the South.

This institution was located

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on Marion Square in the center of the historic city of Charleston. The building was constructed of masonry and on plans of a Spanish (Moorish) fort.

[Written on side of page 65]
The rectangular walls enclosed a quadrangle the entrance to which was through an arched sally-porte secured by heavy iron gates.

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The building and its immediate surroundings presented a solemn dignified military appearance. A statue of John C. Calhoun stood at the front entrance at Marion Square to serve as an inspiration to cadets and as a reminder of one South Carolinian who had achieved greatness.

The famous chimes of St. Michael’s Church could oftimes be heard from within our barrack rooms - and the chimes of St. Matthews Church, just across the street, reminded us each Sunday of the Lord’s day and of time to go to church. The two principal streets of Charleston - King and Meeting streets, were crowded with cadets on week-ends to add color and life to the city. The beautiful Battery, where the Ashley and Cooper rivers join and flow

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out to sea, was also a popular area for cadet recreation. Although cadets had much to gain by contact with Charleston and its environs, Charleston also benefitted [sic] by The Citadel being located in its midst.

When my class had assembled, there were about one hundred of us to begin our college careers together. While most of us were from South Carolina, several other states were also represented - in fact, China had a representative in my class in the person of Wu Ying. My first room-mates were Hugh Thompson, a freshman from Chattanooga, and his cousin, William Glasgow Thompson (Cadet Corporal) of New York City. Corporal Thompson selected his cousin and me as his proteges.

Following Citadel policy, we were at once levelled to equality in treatment and in dress. The first step in this direction was the

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requirement that we wear the cadet cap with civilian clothes until complete uniforms could be provided. This odd dress labelled our class as ‘Citadel Rats’. A very strict code of conduct was prescribed by cadet Regulations and published in the Blue Book. This book contained a long and detailed list of do’s and don’ts for our guidance and compliance.

Punishments for violation of cadet Regulation were published in another book - a penal code. So that no offense could be omitted, there was a general article which read, in substance, as follows: “any act or omission not otherwise covered in these regulations which tends to bring discredit upon a cadet or upon the institution, or which is considered to be prejudiced to good order and military discipline, will be punished according to the nature of the offense.” Thus,

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since we could be physically confined by iron gates within the strong walls of our barracks, and were morally bound to a prescribed code of conduct, we were bound by strong ties to our institution.

Compliance with the many details of cadet Regulations was our introduction to military life. At first it seemed that there was no end to these details, many of which seemed silly in their simplicity. However, with careful coaching and the aid of disciplinary punishments, it was not long before we adjusted our conduct to conform to this new life.

Among the many regulations to produce uniformity, order and neatness in barracks were such details as the following: arrangement of clothing, toilet, articles, bedding, and other articles on

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wall hooks, in clothes presses, and in spaces provided for each. A definite space was provided for each small articles such as tooth brush, handkerchiefs, socks, etc. Several inspections were made daily to insure that each article was in its prescribed place. Work and recreation schedules were published and were announced by bugle calls.

A day’s schedule was something like this: at six o’clock in the morning a bugle call sounded Reville at which time we rose, dressed and attended a check formation. After this formation we policed our rooms and our persons before breakfast. Room cleaning included folding of bed clothing and arranging it neatly on top of clothes presses, placing of mattresses in open presses provided for them, and folding of iron cots and placing them against the wall, on edge. Any dust left in rooms sufficient

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to soil the white gloves of cadet inspecting officers was sure to bring punishment to the offender.

Breakfast was announced by mess call at 6:30 A.M. at which time we formed in companies, marched to the mess hall and remained standing for the senior cadet officer to invoke a blessing before being seated. When all had finished eating, we were again formed and marched to the quadrangle and dismissed.

About one hour of liberty of the campus followed breakfast and then the bugle announced chapel formation. We formed and marched to chapel for morning devotional exercises. Returning from chapel, we were dismissed about time to hear the bugle sound school call. At this call the serious academic work of the day began.

Except for dinner period

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classes were held from 9:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M. daily, except Saturdays and Sundays. Classes began on the hour and lasted until a steel signal which sounded at ten minutes before the next hour. The remaining ten minutes were allowed to permit classes to be marched to the rooms for their next subjects. One or more class periods were devoted to indoor military instruction conducted by the Commandant.

Outdoor military instruction was held daily from 4:10 P.M. until 5:00 P.M. on school days with the addition of parades or reviews on Friday afternoons (about 5:20 P.M.) and formal inspections by our Commandant on Saturday mornings. Most all military instruction out of doors was done by cadet officers and non-commissioned officers. These leaders were trained to require of their units a high standard of proficiency in appearance and performance.

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Starting as green recruits, we were rapidly advanced to a stage of training sufficient to place us for further training with upper classmen. Their, by daily repetition and improvement the cadet corps reached the high standard of proficiency for which the Citadel was noted.

However, that stage of training was not so easily attained as I may have made it appear. There were many trials and heart-aches along the route for both the instructors and the recipients for proficiency in a military organization were known and were put into practice by our cadet instructors. Briefly, these requirements were, and are, as follows: The setting of a high standard; the utilization of well qualified instructors; frequent tests and inspections

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to determine progress on deficiencies; and a system of rewards for work well done and punishments for delinquents. Daily room inspections and formal Saturday inspections provided a means for applying appropriate rewards or punishments. Saturday inspections included examination of personnel for individual perfection in cleanliness of persons, clothing, arms and equipment and the examination of barrack rooms for cleanliness and orderliness of arrangement. There were few, if any, irregularities overlooked and woe to the cadet who did not come up to standard.

(see Note Book “B” for continuation)

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[Back cover.]