January 31, 1861 (Thursday)

Threads from South Carolina

The New York Times Correspondent in South Carolina writes this article published on January 30, 1861.

"I wonder at it, and perhaps we of the North cannot understand or appreciate it, but it is none the less true, that the solid men of Charleston -- the merchants, bankers, lawyers, doctors, and all the clergy -- have but one opinion now, and will pursue to the (if needs be) bitter end, but one course of action.  They have differed, they still have dispassionate arguments and hope for some other course, and many, very many, are yet willing to worship the flag under which they have so long prospered, but they think that the Rubicon has been crossed, and it is now too late.

An old planter, who was strongly opposed to the nullification fever of 1832, has started a subscription book, which is receiving many signatures, each one pledging himself to devote one-sixth of his income this year to the State, payable in three installments.  It is calculated that the Republic will gain $1,000,000 by this voluntary movement on the part of the moneyed classes.

A Cotton Convention is to be held at Atlanta, Ga., on the 13th of February.  The object is to enable the South to export spun Cotton to the leading powers of Europe.  This fearful agitation has some good points.  It is certainly teaching the South their vast natural resources and forcing them to develop them.

At the time so many of the free blacks left here, a great deal was said about the 'badges,' which were alleged to be so odious.  I have thought that a copy of the oath which each person takes when he receives and pays for them for a year, might interest some of your readers.  The tariff on them varies from $2 to $7.  A house servant pays $2 for his or her 'badge,' a 'handicraft tradesman' pays $7.  Here is the oath:  'I, A.B., do solemnly swear that the negro mentioned is my property, and that the employment of every such slave when working on hire, is to be no other than such as now mentioned by me, so help me God.'  No 'badge' is granted unless this oath is taken. 

Are you aware that the hand-grenades which hang thick as leaves within every desirable nook are invented by Major Anderson?  They are fearful in their death-dealing power.  A child can manage them, throwing them with as much ease as he would putty-balls from a mimic gun, yet when they burst, a death by torture is the fate of anyone who may happen to receive their contents.

I have been conversing, today, with one of the volunteers who was on Morris Island, near the gun which fired the first shot at the Star of the West.  He, of course, is fiery hot, and said he prayed at the time that the damned Stars and Stripes might be knocked out of her and the ship sent to the bottom!  --  These soldiers, taken of their own free will from luxurious homes, serve the 'Republic' for twelve months.  They are allowed $120 and rations, but they consider it a point of honor not to ask for anything.  Their diet consists of salt pork, hominy, bacon, rice and coffee, served from tin cups and trenchers.  The reveille beats at 6 o'clock, and they are kept hard at work all day, building sand forts, rolling balls, etc.  -- no child's play for delicate youths.  Many of them, I understand, are suffering from diseases incident to exposure, although the ladies of Charleston are profuse in their donations to husbands, brothers, and lovers.