January 20, 2014 Battle of Blackstock Plantation "The Broken Toe, Sub Zero Blues"

It has been the coldest January I can remember and on Christmas, I broke  my toe and kept walking. On this Martin Luther King day I take Hwy 56 past the SC School for the Deaf and Blind on the left and Boofa's Vet on the right.  It is 13 miles to the intersection of 56 and Hwy 49 at Cross Anchor.  Here there is a Lil' Cricket gas station where I asked Justun Richardson, who was sitting in his truck, how to get to the Blackstock Battleground.  It turns out that Justun is a history buff and not only gives me directions to the Battleground but tells me more of the history of Hwy 49 between Cross Anchor and Union.  There was an old hotel just down the road called the West Springs Hotel to which people traveled from far and wide to drink the water from the sulphur springs there. Justun tells me that he has gone there himself and lifted the cover to drink the water. There was another Plantation at Cross Keys and another battle at the Tyger River at Fish Dam Ford.  He says there was a band of Native Americans who lived here at one time who were made up of peoples from diverse tribes and once his grandmother found a stone bowl in a stream that was made long ago by the early peoples.

I drive up the road toward Union about 3 miles and find the marker for the battlefield on the left and turn there.  I am on Battleground Road and soon I must turn on Monument Road.  I find myself in a group of farms all with the name, "Lawson" on the mailboxes.  I cannot find the battleground today. Wherever it is, there are supposed to be trails and camp sites there.

This road is also the road to a trail head for the Palmetto Trail, but I can't find that either.

William Blackstock had at least 150 acres along this road on the banks of the Tyger River, probably extending along 49 to the little village of Blackstock in York County.  In 1780, the Revolution came to his plantation.  Sumter was defeated in June at Fishing Creek on the Catawba River by General Tarleton. Sumter repelled them at Fish Dam Ford and then on November 20, 1780 again Tarleton returned to do battle with Sumter at Blackstock Plantation.  Although Sumter was wounded and carried off the field in a sling, Tarleton withdrew with about 50 of his soldiers killed and only 3 of the patriots.

The name, Blackstock, is of Anglo Saxon origin and probably means blackened burned tree trunks. The family of Blackstock came from northern England or Scotland.  Tyger, the name of the river, may refer to the mountain lions that roamed the South Carolina Upstate in great numbers in the 1700's or some say it might have been related to the name of a French trader in the area. I personally like the mountain lion legend.

Today there was a break in the very cold weather, but another polar blast is coming tomorrow for the rest of the week.  I drove home past old houses situated in pecan orchards, the trees naked, graceful and bare.

Lucille's Pecan Pie

1 uncooked pie shell
1/2 stick butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tblsps milk
1 1/2 Tblsp plain flouur
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecans (break up)

Bake at 350' for 30 minutes. If making 2 pies, bake at 325' for 50 to 55 minutes.