Captain Andrew Harllee
History of
Kershaw's Brigade by G. Augustus Dickert
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Pgs 482-484
CAPTAIN ANDREW HARLLEE. Captain Andrew Harllee, of Company I, Eighth South Carolina Regiment, when a boy went with a number of the best young men of the State to Kansas Territory, in 1856, and saw his first service with the Missourians in the border troubles in that Territory, and took part in several severe engagements at Lawrence, Topeka, and Ossawattonic Creek with the Abolition and Free State forces, under old John Brown and Colonel Jim Law; the Southern or pro-slavery forces being under General David R. Atchison and Colonels Stingfellow and Marshall. After remaining in Kansas a year, he returned to his home and commenced the study of law at Marion Court House, but after a short time was appointed to a position in the Interior Department at Washington by the Hon. Thos. A. Hendrix, under whom he served as a clerk in a land office while in Kansas. This position in the Interior Department he held at the time of the secession of the State, and was therecipient of the first dispatch in Washington announcing the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union, which was sent him by his uncle, General W. W. Harllee, then Lieutenant Governor and a member of the Secession Convention. He at once began preparations for his departure from Washington for Charleston, but was notified from Charleston to remain until the Commissioners appointed by the Convention to proceed to Washington and endeavor to treat with the authorities should arrive, which he did, and was appointed their Secretary. The Commission consisted of Senator Robert W. Barnwell, General James H. Adams, and Honorable Tamesly. Orr. After many fruitless efforts, they finally got an audience with President Buchauan, who refused to treat with them in any manner whatever, and Mr. Harllee was directed to proceed at once to Charleston, the bearer of dispatches from the Commissioners to the Convention still in session, and after delivering the same he reported to Governor Pickens for duty. The Governor appointed him Assistant Quartermaster, with the rank of Captain, and he discharged the duties of that office around Charleston until the fall of Fort Sumter. Anxious for service at the front, he resigned from the Quartermaster Department and enlisted as a private in Company I, Eighth South Carolina Regiment, aud fought through the battles of Bull Run and Manassas with a musket. General Bonham, in command of the brigade, detailed him for scouting duty in and near Alexandria and Washington, and he had many thrilling adventures and narrow escapes in the discharge of those duties. In October, 1861, Lieutenant R. H. Rogers,of his company, resigned, and Private Harllee was elected Second Lieutenant in his stead. At the reorganization of the regiment and companies, in April, 1862, he was elected Captain of his company, which he commanded to the surrender. He was several times severely wounded, and bears upon his person visible evidences of the battle-scarred veteran. He was regarded by all his comrades as a daring and intrepid officer. He lives upon his plantation, near Little Rock, where he was born and reared, is a bachelor, a professional farmer, and one of the leading citizens of his section of the State. |
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