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The
War
Between the States
The
fact that Williston was a town on the South Carolina Railroad during the War
Between the States made it play an important part in history.
A
desperate effort was being made by the Confederate troops to keep this
railroad open so that necessary troop depositions could be made. Sherman’s
troops were just as determined to destroy the track, looting and burning
entire towns along the Way.
On
the 9th of February, 1865, a portion of Union General Slocum’s 14th and
20th Corps along with Kilpatrick’s cavalry left the vicinity of Blackville
and followed the railroad toward Augusta. Confederate General Wheeler
learned of these plans and began immediately to assemble his men to attack
this Federal column. On the day that these Union troops reached Williston,
General Wheeler moved on toward Aiken in an effort to save Augusta.
In
Special Field Order No. 25 dated February 8th, 1865, the
following orders were given:
III.
The Seventeenth Corps will move to Blackville and continue the
destruction of the railroad westward. The Fourteenth Corps will come up on
the road about White Pond or Williston and as soon as the destruction of the
road is complete,
will cross the Edisto … and push out … ready to
move … according to developments.
By
Order of Major General W. T. Sherman
L. M.
Dayton
Assistant
Adjutant General
The
following letter from General Kilpatrick to General Sherman is
self-explanatory:
Headquarters
Cavalry Command
Blackville,
Feb. 8, 1865
Major-General
Sherman:
General:
I will encamp to-night at Williston and destroy some track: …
I will be prudent, bold, but not rash.
Very
respectfully,
J.
Kilpatrick
Brevet
Major-General
Kilpatrick
further reported in a letter on February 8, 1865 that he had made an attack
upon the First Alabama Confederate Cavalry holding the railroad to Augusta
in the vicinity of Williston.
In
still another letter:
General
Kilpatrick
Command
Cavalry:
General:
. . . Tomorrow the Right Wing moves on Orangeburg, and after breaking the
railroad good, we will proceed as heretofore indicated. Davis should be in
Williston tonight or early tomorrow; keep in communication with him and
conform to his movements … When operating near General Davis' Corps he
will doubtless you have a brigade of infantry from time to time, but not as
a permanent thing.
Yours
truly, W. T. Sherman
Maj.-Gen.
Commanding
It
was on the night of February 8th, 1865, that the Federal troops were
billeted at the Chapman home, then owned by Mr. Hollis Johnson.
 At
this point families along General Kilpatrick’s route were fleeing for
their lives. What valuables they could not take they tried to hide or bury.
The Yankees, sensing this, searched the entire area and found many items
that had been buried. When they completed their looting they usually burned
what was left. Livestock, carefully hidden in the swamps by the Southerners,
was sought out by the Yankees. Only a few homes were left standing in
Williston. The Chapman home was spared. It has been said that thirty homes
belonging to the Willis family were destroyed. One Willis home was spared.
The
Willis home was located almost directly behind Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Greene’s
present home. It, too, was put to the torch after Susan Willis and her
new-born baby boy were carried from the house on a mattress and laid in a
field. A young Union lieutenant saw what had happened and ordered the flames
extinguished at once and the occupants returned to the house. Susan thanked
him and asked his name. “Lieutenant Walter Tate”, he replied. “Then
that will be the name of this child”, Mrs. Willis answered.
At
a much later date this home was also destroyed by fire.
The
home of John Smith was also spared. It had been completed in 1860. It is
located about three miles from Williston on the Dunbarton Road. It was
purchased in 1900 by Mr. Thomas W. Scott. His son, Inman, was born there and
he and his wife still occupy it.
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