South Carolina
C.S.A.
For my Brother
South Carolina
C.S.A.
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South Carolina C.S.A.
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For my Brother
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South Carolina C.S.A. |
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Introduction by Carroll M. Pittman Alice Mitchell Crain Hawkins, in 1935 at age 64, while lying flat on her back in bed during a period of long illness, prepared this narrative in a proud and desperate effort to preserve the family heritage. Obviously, she deeply loved her family, and prepared this script for her “brother Thomas Jefferson Crain and his sons and daughters,” surely with the confidence that they would preserve and honor the heritage of this proud family. Alice was born in the Pleasant Hill section of Highland Township in northern Greenville County, South Carolina, on February 23, 1871, the daughter of William Dennis Crain, Jr. and Mary Ann Mitchell. Her great grandfather, William Crain, moved into the area, acquiring property in Spartanburg County in 1791 but was living in Greenville County when he sold the property in 1818. She married John Landrum Hawkins and reared eight children in the Pleasant Hill section. A short time after writing this narrative she died June 5, 1937 Those of us who read her story can only be inspired to continue to honor and preserve the inheritance left for us by those who struggled to make this area a great and special place on this earth. Carroll M. Pitman July 17, 1995 |
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By: Alice Mitchell Crain Hawkins October 21, 1935 Dennis (1) was a very religious man, prayed in public, exhorted, led singing, and was beloved by his neighbors. Grandfather Jeffey Mitchell told me he was one of the best men he ever knew. He died of pneumonia April 24, 1857. (eighteen fifty seven). Madame Sally Pennington told (me)she was there when he died. She said he called the family to the bedside. Said she had never heard such a prayer for them all, for the church, and neighbors. Told them all farewell and died at the age of 66. Mother said his hair was black. He had beautiful white teeth, not a decayed one at all. Poor, pathetic Mother. After losing him, the Civil War came, started in 1861. At the time she had 6 sons. At the end of 1865, 3 of them were dead. Uncle John (13) was a railroad bridge designer-builder. He worked out the plan of a swinging bridge. He worked a long time before the war, so he was not called into Army service. Pa (5)worked with him some. He built bridges over Red River, Tennessee River, Tombigbee, all tributaries to the Mississippi. Sometime during the war he was taken sick. Meanwhile he had married a Miss Ezell. So he started home to Mother in a carriage. He felt if he could get to her he would get well. He grew worse on the road and they had to stop and he died. And here came a heart-broken letter from his wife to Mother. She bought a plot of land near the highway and buried him. I fail to know whether it was in Miss., but think it was Alabama. And then there was her son, Enos Crain (6) died while serving in the Confederate Army. Pa said he died of starvation and exposure. He died 13th Sept 1863 and is buried in a military cemetery at Jackson, Mississippi. Then there was Henderson Good (8), her baby boy. In his teens went through all the horrors of war and was shot 6 times in the last battle fought on the western front. He lived a week. He told his commander he didn't mind dying so bad if it wasn't for Mother and sisters, they need help so. He was buried either at Jefferson, Tennessee or Franklin, Tennessee. I am not sure which. So there was only Shade and Pa and Uncle Jasper left and then she outlived Uncle Jasper. He came home to die. He died the 12 of February 1880. Also, during the Civil War her daughter, Judy Harrison, died and left a baby girl, but the infant died, too. Aunt Angeline Harrison (14) had died prior to the war, her mother's little blond daughter with yellow curly hair. She and her infant daughter died, or I think they were buried, the same day. Her daughters were all tall except Aunt Cynthana (2). We called her Aunt Cynthia, and Angeline, Grandmother. Her poor old heart was wrung with grief time after time. She didn't display her trouble. She didn't seem to want to worry the other children. But after an active day's work, they ate early supper she would get out and walk. She thought me too young to know or understand. She would weep and wring her hands over her dead and pray that she might bear it all and might have strength to carry on. And some nights she would go at early dusk and stay in the graveyard until it would grow so dark we could just barely see her coming. Aunt Lizzie (9) would get so uneasy sometimes but she respected her wishes and wouldn't intrude. One time I said to her, "Mother, I'd be afraid." "No, Honey," she would reply. "They are company to me." She would sit by them. The Lord answered her prayers so far as physical strength. She was one of the strongest women I ever knew and as intensive as a bee. And knew how to live on nothing a year. The modern young people would think they were going to perish. They would be appealing to the government or to the Red Cross. It would be help, help, help. Not she, Lydia Ann Cothran. (1)Dennis Crain, Died 1857, Buried Crain Burying Ground, Pleasant Hill Community, Married Lydia Ann Cothran and Mary Crain, Five sons were Confederate Veterans. His children were: (2)Cynthia, Born 1825 (3)Jasper, Born: 1830, Died: 2/12/80 (4) Shadrick Ralph "Shade" Crain, Born: 4/23/33, Died: 12/27/07 (5)William Dennis Crane Jr., Born: 8/1/35, Died: 8/28/01 (6) Enos Crain, Born: Circa,1839, Died: 9/3/63 (7) Martha Crain, Born: Circa 1839 (8) Henderson Good Crain, Born: Circa 1844, Died: 12/64 (9) Elizabeth Crain, Born: Circa 1844 (10) Martha Crane, Born: Circa 1844 (11) Martha M Crain Born: Circa 1846 (12) Judy Crain Mitchell Harrison, Married Elliott D. Mitchell and John Ham Harrison (13) John Crain, Born: Unknown, died in Mississippi or Alabama during war (14) Angeline Crain, Born: Unknown, Died Unknown, Married John Ham Harrison (15) Mary Polly "Pop" Crain, Born: Unknown, Died: Unknown, Married Franklin Moore and moved to Tennessee. (Break in Text by Editor) Uncle Jasper (3) was the oldest son. He had been in Augusta, Ga., some years in textile work and was exempt from military duty as also John (13), the one who built bridges exempt. He had been west several years before the war. Uncle Shade(4) had married and had one baby son, Herman. Pa (5), Enos (6), and Good (8) all volunteered for miltary service. Pa (5) and Good (8) were in all the battles of Vicksburg, Miss., Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, Lookout Mountain, Tennesee, Chickamauga Creek, battles all around Moccasin Bend, Missionary Ridge, after being trained at Sullivan's Island, Charleston, S.C. It would take a book to tell of all the suffering the Confederate soldiers underwent. Pa (5) was captured by the Yankees 9 months before surrender and carried to a federal prison in Indianapolis, Indiana (Camp Morton). He was kept 11 months before they let him go, and he was so emaciated and pitiful looking his mother didn't know him, almost starved to death. There Mother was - husband dead, 3 sons dead, corn mill past running, gold mine shut down. Only her beloved Will left to her at home. There was a band of mean men went throght the country stealing, robbing helpless old men and lone women. They stole her best horse. The last one died - no one to work - nothing to work with, but they didn't rob her of her courage, industry, or her faith in God. The whole South lay stricken and impovered. She girded up her loins, meaning her long skirts, without a word of self-pity and went to work. She and our aunts planted their patch corn, 2 kinds of potatoes, cotton for making their clothes, indigo patch for dyeing. (Break in Text by Editor) She told me about Aunt Carrie. She was the widow of Kelly Bill Dill. He owned and lived where Jim Randall Moon was killed. Her husband died and she had an only child, Stephen Dill, (Probably Sergeant S.R. Dill, Company D, Killed in Action Franklin, Tn.) who either was killed or died in the Confederate Army. He was a fine young man, led singing, a good singer, etc. Well, she grieved, so the Good Lord must have said, "Enough!", and numbed her poor old brain. Ma said she would act like that if the mothers gave their children anything to eat, she would join them and beg part of their cake, gingerbread, or what not. (Break in Text by Editor) There was our neighbors, little Walker Moon and his wife, Sarah Jane, Jasper Suddeth (Private, Company D, Sixteenth) and his wife, Elizabeth. There was Andrew Donahoo and his wife, Sarah, Theron Dill and his wife, Nancy, Uncle Shade (4) and Aunt Polly Anne, Uncle William and Aunt Menty Mitchell, Mother Crain, and Auntys, Grandpap Mitchell and Grandma, Madame Sallie Pennington and her son, Bart. It never once occured to my childish mind but what they were as permanent the old Wild Cat hills or the old shoal that gurgled, and boiled, rattled over the rocks, and when the air set right could be heard [home]. Pa (5) would say I hear the shoal, it is fixing to rain or snow. And if time could only turn backward in its flight, and I could just be a child for one night, and could spend it with you all in the dear old house - but never more, never more. The old trees are gone, the dear old families faces are seen no more, they slipped out one by one. (Break in Text by Editor) Just prior to the close of the Civil War, there was no law or order. All men from 16 to 60 years were away, so the country was bereft of it manhood except lttle boys, aged men, cripples, etc. There was a band of mean young organized themselves into a band of raiders. In that bunch were two young men by the name of J. D_______. They were wealthy and had sent two of their negros to the army in their place. They stole Grandmother's best horse, as I've already related. They went to Great Uncle Shadrack Crain's (Rev. Shadrack Crain, not the brother but the namesake,smb) one night and demanded his money. He refused. They went into his house, hunted and hunted, tore everything up looking, told him they would kill him if he didn't tell. Silence. They jerked him around, beat saying, "Now tell." He refused to tell. They finally told him if he didn't tell, they would hang him. He still didn't tell, so they procured a rope, tied it around him - out under a tree. Now total silence. Pulled him off his feet and let him down several times and finally left him more dead than alive. All the time that money was hanging from the rafters in an out house. Well, for courage and pure grit, we will hand it to him. I always thought he was like his father, William Crain, who didn't bow that red head to mere man and would die for a principle. He didn't love money that well. He was a devout Christian man who preached the Gospel without money or price. Mother said the shock and hurt wrecked his health. He was never able to supply churches any more but would attend prayer meetings. His mind was touched, weak mentally as long as he lived. Well, the news was carried to the Crain brothers and friends on the battle front. So they said if God spared their lives to get home, they were going to hold some necktie parties. This band became [krigtitoned?] and left before the soldier boys returned. Well, in very recent years in reading tales of the old west, the writer said the D_____ has after the war ended shipped thousands and thousands of long horned cattle from Texas to Kansas and Dodge City, Kansas. I suppose that was what became of them. And I expect they grew rich and after the cattle there was the buffalo bones. [Pa] fertilize and used in ____. PS. drove them in draws and droves to those cities to be shipped all over the country. The old D_____ colonial home still stands - the Wilson place now. (Break in Text by Editor) If it were possible to awaken some of our old ancestors of 150 years ago and station him down at Paris Station some dark night and a Southern train came around the bend and a huge produce truck coming another way and an airship overhead, the poor old fellow would run himself to death. It's changes, changes. Everything changes except human nature. And I wonder and wonder what next. Will we visit the planet Mars? The moon? If we could only live another 50 years, this world will be run all together another way. Good luck to all the Crains, Dills, Mitchells and Paris who came first and hewed out a civilization with bare hands. Alice Mitchell Crain Hawkins Oct 29, 1935 (1)Dennis Crain, Died 1857, Buried Crain Burying Ground, Pleasant Hill Community, Married Lydia Ann Cothran and Mary Crain, Five sons were Confederate Veterans. His children were: (2)Cynthia, Born 1825 (3)Jasper, Born: 1830, Died: 2/12/80 (4) Shadrick Ralph "Shade" Crain, Born: 4/23/33, Died: 12/27/07 (5)William Dennis Crane Jr., Born: 8/1/35, Died: 8/28/01 (6) Enos Crain, Born: Circa,1839, Died: 9/3/63 (7) Martha Crain, Born: Circa 1839 (8) Henderson Good Crain, Born: Circa 1844, Died: 12/64 (9) Elizabeth Crain, Born: Circa 1844 (10) Martha Crane, Born: Circa 1844 (11) Martha M Crain Born: Circa 1846 (12) Judy Crain Mitchell Harrison, Married Elliott D. Mitchell and John Ham Harrison (13) John Crain, Born: Unknown, died in Mississippi or Alabama during war (14) Angeline Crain, Born: Unknown, Died Unknown, Married John Ham Harrison (15) Mary Polly "Pop" Crain, Born: Unknown, Died: Unknown, Married Franklin Moore and moved to Tennessee. |
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