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It seems the very soil
that his family farmed was hallowed by the
service of his forefathers. To quote a UDC
study titled A Rebel
Against Injustice: Richard Kirkland, Young
Humanitarian of Kershaw County, South
Carolina:
"The Kirklands were not
rice bird-planters from Charleston. They
came overland from Farquhar County, VA and
settled in the Catawba Wateree Valley
where the streams, the falls, the steep
hills and giant boulders reminded them of
Scotland. They were bred with the
individualistic tendency of the
self-reliant pioneers - the determination
to do what they thought right - yet ready
to take the consequences."
Richard was the son of
John and Mary Kirkland whose relatives had
long established a comfortable life
farming in the fertile fields of the
agricultural South. He was the youngest of
7 children (6 boys and 1 girl).
Unfortunately Richard's mother passed away
when he was just 2, although it has been
written that this tragedy brought the
family together. Sadly, there would be
more tragedies for the Kirkland family to
come.
The Kirkland's owned
slaves, although I have been unable to
validate exactly how many. One source I
found stated there were 20, yet another
tallied over 100. My guess is it's
probably somewhere in between. Their
plantation boasted large tracts of tobacco
in White Oak, Gum Swamp, and the Flat Rock
Regions of the county. I did read that
many of their slaves escaped following
"Sherman's March" into South Carolina that
left the property devastated for years to
come.
The family was indeed
Christians and the children attended the
Flat Rock Community Church and school.
They were a close knit bunch and the
relationships that they forged would carry
into their adulthood. (On a side note, as
I read about the Kirklands, I couldn't
help but picture Jimmy Stewart's family in
the film "Shenandoah," except of course
the Kirkland's were all for the Southern
Cause.)
Richard showed an aptitude
for surveying and assisted with mapping
out a 288-acre farmland near his family's
homestead at the age of 16. Although the
skill appeared to be a future for the lad,
farming remained in his blood. He
continued earning money through surveying
jobs, but he used the profits to invest in
farming tools.
Hard work was a way of
life in the Kirkland house. So was the
duty to one's country. At the onset of the
Civil War, most of the males answered the
"call to arms" and enlisted in the
Confederate Army as volunteers. It was
agreed among the brothers that one must
stay home to protect the women and
children and to control the slaves, as an
uprising was feared. Lots were drawn and
the duty of staying home was drawn by
James, the eldest brother, much to his
sorrow, but he abided by the
agreement.
Although the rest of the
Kirkland brothers did not all serve
together in the same units, they did run
into each other off and on during the war.
Brother Jesse served with the 7th South
Carolina. Dan and Billy deployed with the
Kirkwood Rangers. Sam joined up with the
22nd S.C. Militia and later he would move
on to the 7th South Carolina Cavalry
following the death of his younger
brother. He too would perish after being
taken prisoner and contracting a disease
at Point Lookout prison camp in Maryland.
James, who had stayed behind, was
tragically shot and killed on the
plantation.
By the time of the South's
surrender, the family patriarch, John
Kirkland will have lost his fortune,
property, possessions, reputation, and
three sons to the 'Great Divide.' Sadly,
he died a broken man in 1870.
SPACER
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