William Henry ABNEY

     William Henry ABNEY, son of William Thomas ABNEY and Charlotte Pope ABNEY, was born on 21 June 1837 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.¹ He was an attorney and a judge. At one time he was the judge of the County Court and the Quarter Sessions in Kentucky, but overwork broke his health and he had to retire in 1872. He was educated at Newberry Academy in Lexington, South Carolina and then entered college in 1856 at Centre College at Danville, Kentucky. He transferred to Indiana Asbury University, a Methodist institution in Greencastle, Indiana which is today known as DePaul University. He left in 1857 to read law in Danville, Kentucky then returned to Edgefield county to study law in the office of his kinsman, Joseph Abney. He was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1858.¹

William began military service at age 25 on 14 August 1862 in Edgefield, Edgefield County, South Carolina, when, even though exempt, he volunteered as a private in Company A 1st Battalion South Carolina Sharpshooter under Maj. Joseph Abney. He was promoted to ordinance sergeant on the battalion staff. On 30 Sep 1863 they combined with the 1st South Carolina Infantry to form the 27th Regiment South Carolina Infantry. On 31 Cot 1863 he was transferred by special order of the War Department to the 2nd South Carolina Artillery as ordinance sargeant. He also served as a war correspondent from Richmond for the Charleston Mercury and signed himself "Hermes."²

After the war he practiced law in Cinncinati then Elizaville, Kentucky. There he was elected a judge of the county court and the Quarter Sessions Court in Kentucky, but overwork broke his health and he was forced to retire from the bench in 1892. After his breakdown he lived the remainder of his life in an asylum in Lexington, Kentucky. There he learned several languages, wrote songs, articles and sermons, and otherwise lived the life of a gentleman but refused to work due, apparently, to what he believed was his fragile mental health. He never married.¹

William Henry ABNEY died on 7 December 1915 in Lexington, Kentucky, at age 78.¹ He was buried in Elizaville Cemetery, Elizaville, Fleming County, Kentucky.


His obituary appeared 12 April 1916 in the Edgefield Advertiser, published in Edgefield, South Carolina. Judge William Henry Abney of Kentucky -- The announcement of the death of Judge William Henry Abney in Kentucky on December 7, 1915 has brought to the advertiser regret at his passing away, but it is also brought back to this journal pleasing regulations of the past. For a year or two prior to the war and during the war he was one of the most valued contributors. While Arthur Simkins was its editor, he enjoyed publishing poetry and prose from young Abney, who like himself, was an accomplished scholar and writer; and when James T. Bacon became the editor in 1863 he too was delighted at anything coming from his pen.

William Henry Abney was born on the Saluda of River in Edgefield District on June 21, 1837. His father was William Thomas Abney, who was first lieutenant in Capt. Denny's company in the Florida war, and had been elected senator for Edgefield District in the state legislature, but he had not taken his seat when he died in the latter part of the year 1836. His mother was also an Abney. She, Charlotte Madison Abney, was one of the three daughters of William Abney and his wife Bathsheba Pope; and William Abney was the third and youngest son of Capt. William Abney of the Revolution and his wife, Mary Clark, who came down from Halifax County, Virginia, and settled on lands about 4 miles south of Chappel's ferry on the Saluda granted to him prior to that war. A part of those lands were handed down to their son William and by him to his daughter Charlotte. In the old Abney graveyard there lie the remains of Capt. William, his son William, and their wives and William Thomas. That resting place of the old patriot and hero is just west of the juncture of the road leading from Charleston to Ninety Six fort and the road leading from Coleman's crossroads to the ferry.

William Thomas Abney left two sons, George Henderson and Lucian Buonaparte and one or two daughters. William Henry was a posthumous son, as we have seen. The young widow, when William Henry was about four years old, was met, admired and won by Col. David Patton of Kentucky, who took her and her children to his home in Fleming County in that state. William A. Strother bought their lands on the Saluda, and the money going to her children remained in the hands of the guardian of William Henry.

When the war with Mexico was declared, George Henderson, then only nineteen years old, joined a company in Kentucky, but his stepfather and mother, on account of his youth, would not consent to his going and his name was taken off the rolls. He came back to South Carolina and joined Capt. Preston S. Brooks company. Again, however, the youth’s military ardor was nipped in the bud. This time his guardian, Richard Coleman, intervened and objected. Not to be outdone, the embryonic soldier passed over to Newberry District and joined is company commanded by Capt. James B. Williams and went on to the war as a corporal. In several of the battles he was distinguished for gallantry. He came back to Saluda at the end of the war bearing the wounds he had received. That endeared him to his people, and not long afterwards he married to Ann Griffith, the daughter of William Griffith, one of the substantial citizens and planters on that side of the district. A few years more past, and then he and his young wife went to Alabama, where he had planted and accumulated a goodly fortune, when the Civil War came on. He fought through that again to the end. In the cavalry sent by that state, of which he was an officer, none bore himself more valiantly; and he did not escape the marks that distinguish the hero. After the smoke of battle had cleared away, and he returned to his desolate home, he could not bear the scene, and went with his devoted wife to lands near Clay, Mississippi, to begin life anew. There his wife died in 1910, but he still lives at the ripe age of 88 or 89, one of the two or three surviving members of the Palmetto Regiment. The last survivor will receive the Andrew Jackson cup.

Lucian Buonaparte became a physician and married in Kentucky. He died only a few years ago and sleeps in the beautiful cemetery at Elizaville, of which he was one of the founders.

William Henry was a precocious youth. After he had studied in the academy of his new home, his mother cast about to find a good place for him to begin his collegiate course. Her mind turned back to South Carolina. Chief Justice John Benton O'Neal had married Helen Pope, the sister of her mother; and who in her native state better than he to consult? The result was, the youth was sent back to the state and placed in an institution of learning then located at Lexington, for which afterwards removed to Newberry and became Newberry College. The idea seemed to have been, that after a course of preparation at Lexington, the boy would be entered in the South Carolina college at Columbia, of which the Chief Justice was a graduate. But, after year or two's successful study at Lexington, he went back to Kentucky to see his mother. For some reason, the plan as to his education was changed and he was entered in Centre College at Danville Kentucky, where he studied for some years; and next he was entered in college at Greencastle, Indiana, now known as DePaul University. After his college course was finished, he attended law lectures for a while, and then returned to South Carolina to study in the office of his kinsman Joseph Abney, at Edgefield, and to be admitted to the bar of this state. That was in 1857 or 1858. After diligent study, he was admitted to the bar of the common law courts at Columbia in 1859 and to the bar of the equity courts a little later. While a student here, he participated in the gaieties of youth. He was an excellent player of the guitar. He was amiable and made many friends. With at all, he was a member of the literary club and an omnivorous reader, and remembered to advantage what he read. By many he was considered a genius.

Soon the war came on, and in January 1861, he enlisted in the “Edgefield Rifleman,” a company of which his friend Cicero Adams was captain. The ladies presented the company with a flag of heavy blue silk. On one side was the large Lone Star of the state; and on the reverse side was the Palmetto tree with the shields of the state at the base and the coiled rattlesnake. The call then was for troops to serve six months. The brave young men marched away to Charleston. Our editor Col. Simkins, then wrote then: “the very noblest company of young men we have ever seen organized, left this village on Sunday for Charleston.” Once there, the company was incorporated in the first Regiment of South Carolina volunteers, commanded by Col. Mazey Gregg. They witnessed the fall of Fort Sumter. That being accomplished, the Regiment went on to Virginia, William Henry Abneywith it, and he participated in the battle of Vienna, the first one of the war. It was said at the time that he bore himself with great coolness and gallantry. At the end of the term of service his company was disbanded; and he returned to Edgefield ill with fever. He afterwards attached himself to Capt. Ira Cromley’s company of the Saluda the side of this district and accompanied it to Columbia; but his strength was not restored and he had to return. On the formation of a battalion of Sharpshooters, of which Joseph Abney was made major, he was tendered the position of ordinance sergeant of the battalion and accepted it and went again to the war with it. Afterwards he was transferred to the position of ordinance sergeant of forces known as the 2nd Regiment of South Carolina artillery. He was with the Rrgiment at Secessionville, James Island. Artillery duels with the enemy there lasted many months. After the evacuation of Charleston, he accompanied the 2nd Artillery, in Elliott's brigade, into North Carolina and was in the battles of Averysboro and Bentonville, and served until the surrender at Guilford Courthouse. In all this he had been distinguished for his courage and bravery; and then he did not feel that he could formally surrender. Some of his comrades in company K felt the same way. They chose him to lead them back to South Carolina and he did it. In his words, they “fully accepted the conditions” but they “preferred to go home, as they were.” Old soldiers will understand that feeling.

While he was away in the Army he wrote back communications for this journal and some for the Hamburg Republican, the Lexington Telegraph, the Charleston Mercury, the Charleston Courier, the Columbia Courant, the Mobile Register and the Richmond Examiner. He welded a factile pen.

At the close of the war, Edgefield District and the state was overrun by northern soldiers. There was nothing to detain our friend or induce him to settle here for the practice of his profession of the law. All here was gloom. So he returned to Kentucky. In 1870 he was elected judge of the county and quarter sessions court; but he worked too much, and in 1872 his health gave way, and he retired from the bench. It was never restored, but he lingered all these years. He was all the while interested in literature. As long as life lasted he was able to indulge in reading and that he enjoyed to the end. He was particularly fond of the French language; and he became a fine French scholar as some of his letters in that language attest. Although some of his writings were published in general D. H. Hill's magazine, “The land that we love,” and in some other journals and magazines like the Literary Eclectec. He never published a book. It is the fact that some of the most brilliant writers do not leave their productions in book form. We often regret that Arthur Simkins and James T. Bacon left no book. Had they done so what a treat it would be for us to read them.

We are glad to know that Judge Abney lived to a ripe old age and could enjoy some things in it despite his ailments. Peace be unto his ashes. ---- J. R. A.