In 1780, the British army had laid siege to Charles Town in South Carolina and won. They used the city as their base to rampage the entire colony, with plans to use a succession of victories as a catalyst to move north, ending these ridiculous hostilities once and for all.
In 1782, fires burned before the small city of tents where the women known as camp followers prepared meals for local militiamen and soldiers alike. Winters were mild in the South, yet a warm, spring breeze was surely welcomed.
On this day, six men appeared at the Charles Town Garrison and slogged their way through the mud, intending to report to their superiors. As they passed, eyes widened and jaws dropped at the sight of all half dozen, in fine fettle, healthy and fit.
Yet, how could that be? Four of them had been left for dead. The other two remained behind to bury their comrades.
So begins the legend of Healing Springs.
Two days before the previous Christmas, a skirmish erupted at Windy Hill Creek, about two miles northeast of present-day Blackville, South Carolina. Before daybreak, a contingent of Loyalists, presumably under the command of British General Banastre “The Butcher” Tarleton, attacked Patriots led by Captain Benjamin Odom, Jr. The fighting was fierce, leaving sixteen of Odom’s men dead. The area was henceforth called Slaughter Field.
There is little record of the battle save mentions claimed by participants on pension applications, so it is not known how many casualties the Loyalists suffered. But if the legend has its seed of truth, four were fatally wounded. How did they return to Charles Town six months later in tiptop condition?
Apparently, local Native Americans found these men and took them to local springs they considered sacred. Later analysis shows pure water containing healthy minerals flows from these springs. In some ways, the shocked people at the British camp were truly seeing ghosts!
A Baptist church was established at the site a decade previous by a man who’d traded the Native Americans’ rights to the waters for corn. The church is still strong. Many people have been baptized in a local pool there for well over two centuries.
It’s unknown how many thousands have come there for the healing waters, myself included. In 1944, the owner named L. P. Boyleston had the foresight to realize this treasure could be monetized to the detriment of the people. He had to protect this gift of the Almighty from greed. Hopefully, for all eternity.
L. P. deeded the acre to God.
No one can own this land. The water is free to anyone and everyone, until the end of time. People come from far and wide to fill as many bottles as they can carry. Rarely is the area idle.
I’ve drunk plenty of its water. I’m quite healthy at the start of my eighth decade, but I can’t guarantee how much is due to the aqua pura, as the Romans might call it.
Some have a mystical faith in its powers. I spoke once to a man from Virginia who was packing his massive trunk with gallon bottles of the stuff.
“I stop and get my fill whenever I’m in the area,” he told me. Then, he grew very serious. “Once, when I returned home and opened my trunk, it had all turned to wine.”
As you can imagine, I was incredulous. But I’d bet my bottom dollar, the man believed it. I should have asked if it was white wine or red. Or maybe not.
RESOURCES:
Conzalina, D.-M. (2022, November 9). Healing Springs Baptist Church celebrates 250 years of faith. The People Sentinel. Retrieved April 30, 2023, from https://www.thepeoplesentinel.com/news/healing-springs-baptist-church-celebrates-250-years-of-faith/article_6a9d0bf0-5fda-11ed-919b-f7b31ce185a9.html
The American Revolution in South Carolina. (n.d.). The American Revolution in South Carolina – slaughter field. Retrieved April 30, 2023, from https://www.carolana.com/SC/Revolution/revolution_slaughter_field.html
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