| From the Charleston Mercury |
| |
| June 10, 1862 |
| |
| The Port Royal Rail Road |
| From a Correspondent |
| Allendale, May 26 |
| Having taken a short excursion through the
lower part of Barnwell, I have thought it might be encouraging to some
of our readers to hear what are our prospects of provisions for
another year. The fields were almost universally planted with corn.
Within twelve miles I saw but two small patches of cotton on one road.
Here and there you might see a little small grain ripe for the sickle.
On the plantation where the fines corn was growing I saw what is
almost a curiosity at this season: twenty-five large hogs in a pen;
some of them would weigh 200 pounds. Now, if Mr. W. A. M., to whom the
hogs belong, can procure salt this fall, there will be no danger of a
famine about him. There are quantities of peas planted, and every one
exhibited much more interest in their potato fields than they did
formerly in the most promising cotton. |
| Just before crossing the bridge at the
Lower Three Runs (for we are on the Savannah and Hamburg road), my
friend pointed out the line of the Port Royal Railroad. It has been
surveyed up to this point, and will cross the Runs below the mail road
nearest to the Savannah River. |
| In the afternoon we took a drive out in
another direction to see the progress in grading the railroad. Our
course was through similar fields of waving corn we had admired in the
morning, until we reached the point that will be known hereafter as
the Allendale Depot. There, on both sides of the road, are the
quarters occupied by the negros, who are laboring on this undertaking.
Instead of the squalidity and filth seen in such places among foreign
laborers, everything wore an aspect of neatness and comfort, and
exhibited more of the appearance of a newly settled home of a young
planter, than the temporary shelter of those who must soon migrate.
The location was admirably chosen for dryness and health. Though
accidents occur, yet there are no deaths; but, on the contrary, a kind
old nurse came up to the superintendent to inform him that her master
was richer by one more negro since his last visit. |
| There are only one hundred hands employed,
but the progress too slowly for the ambitious views of the energetic
superintendent, B. S. Willingham. Though eighteen miles below this,
from Patterson's Bridge, have been completely graded, yet Mr. W's
hands have not finished more than three-quarters of a mile in the
month he has had charge of them. The negros employed have been
obtained from those planters who have been compelled to remove them
from the coast. As martial law is being extended over a wider field
every few days, our planters could not dispose of their negros to
better advantage than on this road. For I feel confident from a remark
of Col. G??sden to the superintendent, that there will be perfect
security on the score of health. The Colonel said that it would be
unnecessary to locate the road beyond the Lower Three Runs before
fall. Thus, all approach to the Savannah or any other miasmatic region
will be avoided. The negros will be kindly treated; for, if the
overseers have any fault, it is leaning to mercy's side. And the last
words of Mr. W., as he drove off in his dashing style, were to a
gentleman standing by: "You are certain, then, that I can secure
a thousand bushels of corn from that place." |
| So, if there should be any desirous of
disposing of their negros in this way (they are taken by the gang),
they can do so by addressing Capt. B. L. Willingham, at Allendale,
Barawell District. |
| Spectator |
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