Ghosts of the Carolinas

The Phantom Rider of Bush River

The earliest accountof the Phantom Rider of Bush River appears in a copy of The Rising Sun dated April 25. 1860, Published just a year before the War Between the States. it is one of the few Carolina ghost stories to have been in written form for more than a century, The Phantom Rider of Bush River HER LOVER KEPT HIS PROMISE TO RETURN, THOUGH NOT THE WAY SHE HAD LONGED THAT HE WOULD In a modest log house near Bobo's Mills on the Bush River lived a Quaker father with his lovely young daughter named Charity and a stalwart son. Although South Carolina was going through the turbulence of the Revolutionary War, the life which Charity and her family shared was a quiet one. Its tranquillity was rippled only by the occasional, carefully concealed visits of brave young Henry Galbreath. He lost no opportunity to visit Charity when scouting trips for his country brought him nearby. He came at the risk of his life for there were many Tories about who would have given much to catch him. One dark summer night when flecks of clouds swam over the face of the moon, young Galbreath came to visit Charity. He had come to tell her "goodby " for he had enlisted in the Continental Army. "But one year from this day, my dear, I shall be back whether dead oralive. My horse and Iwill come galloping up the river road, so wait for me, my lovely lass." And Charity promised. It was July of 1780 when young Henry Galbreath left to join the Ameri29 30 can Anny with which General Horatio Gates was marching south to defeat Cornwallis. Unfortunately for Henry, the Continental Commander was to be defeated at Camden and both the Carolinas plunged into a night ofdarkness for the American cause in the South. After the defeat at Camden, it is not clear whether young Henry, for a time, joined the small band of guerrilla fighters led by the "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion. Marion's men represented about the only organized resistance left in South Carolina for the moment against the British. General Nathanael Greene, who had been sent south by Washington to rebuild the American Anny at Charlotte was reassembling his forces. In January of 1781 the tide of the battle began to tum. Henry, who was familiar with the frontier Piedmont, became a scout for William Washington's cavalry. His knowledge of the red clay country of the Catawba and the French Broad River Valley became invaluable. As both the British and the American annies moved across the Carolinas a tall, blue robed rider moved with them. Galbreath not only knew the country, but he had come to know the enemy and wherever he went his reputation for courage accompanied him. When the major engagement with the British came at Cowpens, it was on ground which General Morgan had carefully selected because of the advantage it gave to the Americans. The Cowpens area was a fairly open pasture where for many years traders had assembled cattle on their way to market. Thus, the rather unglamorous name for what was to become one of the great American victories ofthe war. Henry had ridden through this area many times down the Old Mill Gap Road and north to the ford at Broad River. Morgan's men formed their line of battle according to plan. First the sharpshooters, then the militia and behind the militia the main line of Continentals and Virginians. William Washington's cavalry was to rally and protect the militia if the necessity arose. While the ragged Continentals waited, the British line emerged from the forest at the far end of the meadow. There were foot-soldiers in scarlet and white, kilted Highlanders and horsemen in bright hues ofgreen and scarlet with plumed brass helmets. 31 32 The battle was a fierce one but before the hour had passed the British began to fall back. A bitterly disappointed Tarleton accompanied by several of his officers prepared to flee. As they left the field of the disaster, one of the officers turned and fired a shot at a pursuing member of Washington's cavalry. The shot lodged in the heart of Henry Galbreath. At the little frontier cabin on the Bush River, Charity still waited unaware of her sweetheart's death. In cheerful repetition of household chores, sewing in the afternoon under the trees...