At the knock of the stranger or the tale of disaster?
How like to the rudeness of their dear native mountains,
With rich ore in their bosoms, and life in their fountains.''
Gaston.
My journey of a day from Fishing Creek to Rocky Mount, on the Catawba, was delightful.
The winter airJan. 15, 1849 was like the breath of late April in New England; and the roads, passing through a picturesque country, were generally good. Almost every plantation, too, is clustered with Revolutionary associations; for this region, like Westchester county, in New York, was the scene of continual partisan movements, skirmishes, and cruelties, during the last three years of the war. Near the month of the Fishing Creek (which empties into the Catawba two miles above the Great Falls), Sumter suffered defeat, after partial success at Rocky Mount below; and down through Chester, Fairfield, and Richland, too, Whigs and Tories battled fearfully for territorial possession, plunder, and personal re-
Great Falls of the Catawba.—Mount Dearborn.—Cotton Factory.—Rocky Mount and its Associations.
venge. Some of these scenes will be noticed presently. Turning to the left at Beckhamville, * I traversed a rough and sinuous road down to the banks of the Catawba, just below the Great Falls.
