Interview with Joshua Rivers

South Carolina

"Daddy say he hear shootin' but he never could find out if it was started by niggers or white folks. When Senator Butler and daddy and other niggers come out of de office, he say both sides was shootin'. And, he say, too, it might have been settled widout bloodshed, but soon after they step out, McKie Meriwether, a twenty-three year old white man of a Edgefield County family, fell dead from a rifle ball, as he was peepin' from behind a buildin'. That settled it. De battle was on, daddy say, White men was comin' into Hamburg on every road, and linin' up to fight.

"They come from Aiken, Edgefield, and Augusta. They was armed wid shotguns, rifles, revolvers, hatchets, axes, grubbin' hoes, or whatever they could pick up. From thirty to forty of the nigger troops took refuge in de old brick house, which was once a business buildin'. It was then used for an armory by de niggers, and it was stored wid army rifles and 'munitions, by de Government. De niggers was routed out on charges by de whites and they come out shootin'. As they run, seven niggers was shot down, dead, and four was wounded. No other white was killed, but two more was wounded.

"This ended de fightin', daddy say, but it defeated Governor Chamberlain, 'cause he say de white vote turn its back on Chamberlain, and vote for General Hampton. And some of de niggers, too, vote for General Hampton, so he was 'lected, and when Governor Chamberlain leave Columbia, de nigger power was over. I has thought 'bout it a good deal over de years, and I think it was providential for de white folks to win. I can see that de nigger, which had just gained his freedom, was not fit to govern de State."