n its audacity, he laughed in secret admiration
while he raved and cursed.

The army corps took possession of the hill counties, quartering from five
to six hundred regulars at each courthouse; but the mischief was done. The
State was on fire. The eighty thousand rifles with which the negroes had
been armed were now in the hands of their foes. A white rifle-club was
organized in every town, village, and hamlet. They attended the public
meetings with their guns, drilled in front of the speakers' stands,
yelled, hooted, hissed, cursed, and jeered at the orators who dared to
champion or apologize for negro rule. At night the hoofbeat of squadrons
of pale horsemen and the crack of their revolvers struck terror to the
heart of every negro, carpet-bagger, and scallawag.

There was a momentary lull in the excitement, which Stoneman mistook for
fear, at the appearance of the troops. He had the Governor appoint a white
sheriff, a young scallawag from the mountains who was a noted moonshiner
and desperado. He arrested over a hundred leading men in the county,
charged them with complicity in the killing of the three members of the
African Guard, and instructed the judge and clerk of the court to refuse
bail and commit them to jail under military guard.

To his amazement the prisoners came into Piedmont armed and mounted. They
paid no attention to the deputy sheriffs who were supposed to have them in
charge. They deliberately formed in line under Ben Cameron's direction and
he led them in a parade through the streets.

The five hundred United States regulars who were camped on the river bank
were Westerners. Ben led his squadron of armed prisoners in front of this
camp and took them through the evolutions of cavalry with the precision of
veterans. The soldiers dropped their games and gathered, laughing, to
watch them. The drill ended with a double-rank charge at the river
embankment. When they drew every horse on his haunches on the brink,
firing a volley with a single crash, a wild cheer broke from the soldiers,
and the officers rushed from their tents.

Ben wheeled his men, galloped in front of the camp, drew them up at dress
parade, and saluted. A low word of command from a trooper, and the
Westerners quickly formed in ranks, returned the salute, and cheered. The
officers rushed up, cursing, and drove the men back to their tents.

The horsemen laughed, fired a volley in the air, cheered, and galloped
back to the courthouse.