He was made Adjutant of the Third South Carolina Regiment of Infantry, and so thoroughly did he perform his duties as a soldier, and so delighted were his comrades in arms with his courage and generous nature, that he was elected, without opposition, on 16th of May, 1862, Major of his regiment, and on the 29th of June, 1862, he became Lieutenant Colonel, and on the 6th of May, 1864, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of his regiment.  General James Connor was so much delighted with him as an officer that he recommended him for promotion to Brigadier General.  When this gallant officer fell in the front of his regiment, there was naught but sorrow for his untimely end.

In March, 1862, he married the beautiful and accomplished Miss Sallie Fair, only daughter of Colonel Simeon Fair, of Newberry.  The only child of this union was Kate Stewart Rutherford, who was known as the “daughter of the regiment.”  Kate is now the wife of the Honorable George Johnstone.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXIX

Peace Conference—­State Troops—­Women of the South.

The civilized world, especially the Monarchies of Europe, which at first viewed with satisfaction this eruption in the great Republic across the waters, now anxiously watched them in their mad fury, tearing to tatters the fabric of Democratic government.  This government, since its withdrawal from the Old World influence, had grown great and strong, and was now a powerful nation—­a standing menace to their interest and power.  But they began to look with alarm on the spectacle of these two brothers—­brothers in blood, in aims, ambition, and future expectations, only an imaginary line separating them—­with glaring eyes, their hands at each others throat, neither willing to submit or yield as long as there was a vestige of vitality in either.  Even the most considerate and thoughtful of the North began to contemplate the wreck and ruin of their common country, and stood aghast at the rivers of blood that had flown, the widows and orphans made, and the treasures expended.  They now began to wish for a call to halt.  This useless slaughter caused a shudder to run through every thinking man when he contemplated of the havoc yet to come.  The two armies were getting nearer and nearer together, one adding strength as the other grew weaker—­the South getting more desperate and more determined to sacrifice all, as they saw the ground slipping inch by inch beneath their feet; the North becoming more confident with each succeeding day.  It began to look like a war of extermination of American manhood.  The best and bravest of the North had fallen in the early years of the war, while the bulk of the army now was composed of the lowest type of foreigners, who had been tempted to our shores by the large bounties paid by the Union Government.  Taking their cue from their native comrades in arms, they now tried to outdo them in vandalizing, having been taught that they were wreaking vengeance upon the aristocracy and ruining the slave-holders of the South.  The flower of the South’s chivalry had also fallen upon the field and in the trenches, and now youths and old men were taking the places of soldiers who had died in the “Bloody Angles” and the tangled Wilderness.