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Richland County Biographies
BOYD, GENERAL JOHN
CHAPEL, of Columbia, South Carolina, most prominently
connected with the militia service of South Carolina, and elected adjutant
and inspector general by the largest vote ever given to a candidate who
ran with any opposition, having received 65,591 votes against 3,162 for
his opponent, was born in Selma, Dallas county, Alabama, November 15,
1848, His father, William Harvey Boyd, was a merchant and the son of a
Scotch Irish immigrant who came from Ireland to Chester, South Carolina.
His mother was Mrs. Martha Ann (Lee) Boyd; and to her, her son feels
himself greatly indebted for much that is finest and best in his
life.
His early life was passed not in the country, but in a city;
and his tastes and interests, even in early boyhood, were strongly toward
admiration for and care of horses, and an active participation in military
affairs and military display. He says that it was rather this taste for
all things military than a distinct feeling of loyalty or patriotism to
his state, which led him when a boy of fifteen to leave school and enter
the Confederate army as a courier and drill-master. But a deeper
perception of what was involved led to more serious and earnest interest
in the issues of the war; and in January, 1863, he enlisted as a private
in Company A, Sixth Alabama cavalry, Captain C. S. Lee; and later in
Company D of the Sixty second Alabama infantry, Captain George D.
Shortridge. He saw much of active service; and he was taken a prisoner at
Fort Blakely, Alabama, in March, 1865, and was confined on Ship Island
(the prison being guarded by negro troops), until June, 1865.
Upon
his release from prison he became a clerk in a store at Selma, Alabama. In
1866 he removed to Atlanta, Georgia, and acted as a traveling salesman for
nine years until 1875, when he removed to Greenville, South Carolina, and
engaged in the flour and grain business, residing there until October,
1906. In that month he removed to Columbia, South Carolina. While he
resided at Greenville he was elected alderman of the city in 1877. In 1906
he was elected adjutant and inspector general by the phenomenally large
vote referred to above.
Probably no man in South Carolina has
given more time to the militia service of the State than has General Boyd.
He has seen thirty years of service in the South Carolina militia, passing
through all grades of promotion, from first sergeant in the Independent
Rifle club to the rank of colonel in the regular militia. He feels that in
one critical period in the history of South Carolina it fell to his lot to
discharge a duty which was painfully disagreeable to him at the time, yet
which he felt, nevertheless, to be a duty of vital importance. It was a
time when any failure on the part of officers of the state militia to obey
their superiors in command, even if the orders issued were contrary to
their own convictions of what was wisest, and repugnant to their own
feelings, would have been a course fraught with gravest dangers to South
Carolina. He writes: "When I responded to Governor Tillman's order, and
went to Darlington in command of the troops during the dispensary riot,
when many of the militia officers refused to obey, I was neither a
supporter of Governor Tillman nor of the dispensary, and, like many others
of the state, my sympathy was with the Darlington people. This was one of
the most unpleasant episodes of my life; and yet it was one in which I
rendered the state my best service. The conception of my duty as militia
officer was all that made me obey the order. I considered this a most
critical period in the history of South Carolina. The white people were
sadly divided at that time, and if the anti-Tillman officers of the
militia had not obeyed the orders of the governor there would have been
civil war, since people were worked up to a higher pitch of excitement
than they have ever been since 1861."
On the 26th of October, 1876,
General Boyd married Miss Etta Wearn, daughter of B. H. Wearn, of
Columbia, South Carolina. Of their three children, two are
living in 1907.
General Boyd, in his political relations, has
always been identified with the Democratic party. He is a member of the
Presbyterian church. From his very earliest youth he has found his
favorite forms of exercise and recreation in active participation in
military affairs and in horseback riding.
To the young people of South
Carolina who would attain true success in life he offers these
suggestions: "Truthfulness, sobriety, devotion to his employer's interest,
the effort to show how much he can do, rather than the habit of
looking at the clock to see how little he can do; and considering wages or
salary in the first years of his business experience to be 'no object; all
who follow the rules indicated in these suggestions I believe will
certainly receive their reward."
General Boyd's address is
Columbia, South Carolina.
Men of Mark in South
Carolina By James Calvin Hemphill Published 1907 – transcribed and
contributed by Barb
Ziegenmeyer
©2007 Genealogy
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