... the high school at Manning, S. C., at that time conducted by John Weatherspoon Ervin, a noted teacher and writer. In April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Reel's company, which was organized in Clarendon county and became attached to Kershaw's Second South Carolina volunteer infantry. After the fall of Fort Sumter, he with others came home and raised another company known as the Spratt Guards, of which he...