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The Pacolet Volunteers
In the summer of 1861, Dr. W.P. Compton organized "the Pacolet Volunteers," a company of men from the banks of the North and South Pacolet Rivers in the Campobello area of northern Spartanburg county. Dr. Compton was a family doctor in the area and ran a general store on present day Compton's Bridge Road near Walnut Hill Baptist church.
James W. Lawrence, Sr. writes in "Hogback Country," the following:
"When Dr. Compton recruited his Pacolet Volunteers in 1861, and the group was departing for Columbia, the ladies of the community presented the men with a beautiful, handmade, silk flag. Upon the adoption of a battle flag by the Confederacy, this flag ws obviously could not be used. It was stored in the Spartanburg County Courthouse vault for safe keeping during the war.
Early in 1865, the federal calvary moved to Spartanburg, and a soldier by the name of Cahahan carried off the banner to Patterson, N.Y. and presented it to his sister, Miss Cahalan. In 1894 she made inquiries through the press for representatives of the Pacolet Volunteers.
B.B. Chapman who had served with Dr. Compton as Lieutenant in Company F, 13th Regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, noticed the inquiry and answered it. Mr. Chapman recovered the banner in October of 1894, paying $5.00 for it, and according to the last account, it is still in possession of his family."
At some point, the Company flag was given to the Confederate Relic Room of the State of South Carolina, where it is currently housed. It is a silk flag and hand painted. Currently, the flag is not in the best of conditions but with effort, the State can preserve it for future generations.
Flag of Company F
