Post # 14 ~ Wait, WHAT?

The Edgefield Advertiser Said That?

The Hamburg loyalists were indefatigable in defending their town, praising her to the hilt. Reporting on an anniversary celebration of Hamburg's founding, chief promoter Henry Shultz, under one of his pseudonyms, "An Observer," rhapsodized:

The Edgefield Advertiser, 1839-07-13:

Eighteen years, this day, have passed since the foundation of Hamburg was laid and as a full grown child, these years have secured a populous and extraordinary town...Feeble man may talk to his weak and unversed fellow creature, and lay schemes for a paper annihilation [of Hamburg] - but all their plans will be useless as their own weakness. She speaks for herself. Her imports and exports are sufficient proof of their stability.

"Observer" gave fulsome praise to the beauty of Hamburg, as he awaited the big celebration: 

The hour at length arrived...The fine band of Hamburg enlivened the scene...the whole presenting one of the most splendid and delightful exhibitions I ever witnessed.

 Militia Band Music Cover, 1836. LOC.

The enchanting scenery was sufficiently beautiful to induce the gods and goddesses to abandon their sylvan retreats, and select this spot for their evening revels. Indeed, who could believe himself among mortals in this fairy grove, lit up so tastefully and so beautifully decorated by the ready hand of the founder of Hamburg; and who would not, that witnessed this scene, desire that this could always be, and who among the throng there gathered, was not proud of being a citizen of Hamburg? 

The loyal local newspaper editors tried to keep pace with Shultz. The Edgefield Advertiser, 1841-09-09, protested:

We have said that Hamburg is rising, and we need only point to crowded streets for proof. There is nothing to keep her from going ahead. That old established prejudice, fed by designing persons, "that Hamburg is the meanest hole in all creation, a perfect den of pick-pockets," is now giving way to truth.  

Wait, WHAT? The Edgefield Advertiser said that? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Pick-pockets in America, Puck c 1900. LOC

Henry Shultz and the Edgefield District newspapers kept trying, weekly proclaiming the superiority of the Hamburg market, the Hamburg stores. But the murmurs grew louder. By 1843 even the local newspapers openly complained. In the Edgefield Advertiser, 1843-09-06: 

Our City - The truth is, we need more merchants in Hamburg to do business. We should have heavier stocks of goods of all kinds, in order that planters and others can make better selections, and at cheaper rates. The business should be divided more than it is at present. There is trade enough to keep several more houses in employment. While our sister city receives but little over half as much cotton as comes to Hamburg, there are over twenty times as many mercantile houses; and it is plain that if they do well, our merchants ought to do a great deal better. Augusta has other trade than that of cotton; so has Hamburg.

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Understanding the power of buzz, Henry Shultz and his fellow Hamburg-supporters worked hard to boost the reputation of their town, refuting its detractors. Over the years, it became a regular chorus, back and forth. But in the end Hamburg could not reach escape velocity, could not "Cry Victory." Her proudest days were over, and by the time of the Civil War, she had lost her enthusiastic supporters. Shultz was dead, the merchants scattered.

The well-known tome History of Edgefield County, published in 1897 by native son John Abney Chapman, did not deal especially kindly with Hamburg. Chapman sniffed:

Hamburg was a formidable rival to Augusta, but its glory has long since departed. Some time during the year 1862, or 1863, I rode through it with a friend in a buggy, and it was then the most lonely, desolate looking place I had ever seen...Hamburg died, but Augusta still grows and has never faltered… 

John Abney Chapman used the 1891 Atlanta Journal newspaper article, voicing the memories of Augusta merchant William C. Sibley (from the enemy camp!), to describe the rise and fall of Hamburg. Chapman then simply adds: "Let the people of Edgefield congratulate themselves that Hamburg is no longer in their County."

But I forgive John Chapman Abney for disparaging the second most important town in his whole huge district - because in his book, History of Edgefield County, he kept alive a favorite folk tale of 1840s America, and placed it right in Hamburg.

The next post will present Abney's version of “The Gyascutus.” Set in a gullible, loose-edged Hamburg, circa 1848, with Hamburg rubes gawking at the show, the tale suggests a Mark-Twain-like hilarity that may not have been possible anywhere else in staid antebellum South Carolina. Abney told me something when he placed the action in Hamburg - that, yes, it could have happened here, right where the Jeffers kids were growing up.