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Great-grandpa
wasn’t popular
in the South
by
W. T. Block
Reprinted
from Beaumont
Enterprise,
September 28,
1998, Pg. 6A
NEDERLAND
-- My
great-grandpa
Duncan Smith
was about as
popular among
his
slave-holding
neighbors as a
skunk in
church. Most
Southerners
expected an
Abolitionist
to be from
some Northern
state, but
Dunc Smith and
each of his
parents were
born in North
Carolina, and
Dunc was
raised in
Brandon, Miss.
So
how could a
Southern boy,
accustomed to
watching
slaves from
the cradle,
become an
ardent
Abolitionist?
Probably he
had to witness
at times such
extreme
brutality to
slaves that he
could no
longer endure
it. Smith
moved his
family from
Mississippi to
Indian Bayou,
La., in 1858,
and later to
Cameron, La.,
in 1861.
Smith
did not hate
the
Confederate
States so much
as he hated
slavery much
more. His
biographer,
who knew Smith
in 1870, wrote
that:
"...
Duncan Smith
had opposed
human slavery
since long
before John
Brown’s raid,
and when the
Civil War came
on, his fiery
opposition to
it put him in
bad odor with
those who
favored it, an
Abolitionist
bitterly
opposed to
slavery. He
was ready at
the drop of a
hat to die for
the principle
..." (Beaumont
Enterprise,
June 30,
1907.)
Duncan
Smith and his
adult sons
Phineas and
Jerry rode
aboard the
Union offshore
blockade ships
at will. Smith
also served as
a Union spy.
On
Aug. 2, 1863,
a Confederate
"recruiting"
ship read the
Confederate
Draft
Declaration at
Cameron. The
ship operated
like a British
press gang,
obtaining
"recruits’ at
gunpoint if
necessary.
Although 53
years old,
Smith was
rowing his
skiff across
the Calcasieu
River, when
the
recruiters,"
assuming he
was trying to
escape, shot
him through
the leg.
Smith’s wife
got him ashore
and hid him in
the marsh.
In
April, 1864,
Smith acted as
an agent for
the Mermentau
Jayhawkers for
the sale to
the U.S. Navy
of 450 stolen
cattle and
horses. After
completing the
deal at New
Orleans, Smith
piloted the
U.S. gunboat
Wave up the
Calcasieu
River, where
it dropped
anchor in
front of
Smith’s home.
A few days
later, the
Sabine Pass
Confederate
garrison
attacked the
anchored
gunboats; Wave
and Granite
City, which
surrendered
after a
90-minute
battle.
That
afternoon the
Confederates
searched
Smith’s home,
hopeful of
capturing the
arch-Unionist,
as well as the
$10,000 bounty
on his head.
Smith hid out
for one hour
under his
wife’s
hoop-skirts,
and after the
soldiers left,
she hid him in
the marsh,
where he
remained for
the next year.
My
grandmother
reported that
her father’s
ragged hair
and whiskers
hung down to
his waist when
he finally
came out of
the marsh.
Our
nation
remembers the
358,000 Union
soldiers who
died trying to
end slavery.
It even
remembers the
260,000
Confederates
who died to
preserve
slavery,
although only
one of each 20
actually owned
slaves.
However,
it does not
remember the
Southern
Abolitionists
like Duncan
Smith of
Cameron or
three others
from.
Jefferson
County,
namely, James
G. Taylor,
Henry Clay
Smith (no
relation), and
L. W.
Pennington.
After Taylor’s
capture at
Matagorda for
the third
time, he was
executed by
the
Confederates,
and his
probate file
at Beaumont
verifies the
year of his
death.
W.
T. Block Is a
Nederland
resident.
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