TURNER, Sterling Hart

1795 - 1882  (87 years)

• Name	TURNER, Sterling Hart
  Birth	10 Mar 1795	Virginia   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	15 Dec 1882	Pickens County, South Carolina, United States   [1]
  Burial	Aft 15 Dec 1882	Turner Cemetery, Pickens County, South Carolina   [1]
  Person ID	I6276	Pickel_Bartlett
  Last Modified	27 Jan 2011

  
  

  Family	HOLLOWAY, Elizabeth,   b. 22 May 1803   d. 26 Oct 1866, Pickens County, South Carolina, United States (Age 63 years)
  Marriage	14 Feb 1822	South Carolina   [1]
  Children	1. TURNER, Silas Holloway,   b. 17 Jul 1823   d. 23 May 1862 (Age 38 years)   2. TURNER, Thomas Jefferson,   b. 19 Dec 1824   d. 21 Sep 1893 (Age 68 years)   3. TURNER, William Sterling,   b. 23 Oct 1830, South Carolina d. Dec 1859, Greenville, Greenville, South Carolina, United States (Age 29 years)   4. TURNER, Frances Elizabeth,   b. 14 Aug 1832   d. 30 May 1906 (Age 73 years)   5. TURNER, Benjamin Franklin Perry,   b. Sep 1832, South Carolina d. 13 Jun 1877, Pickens County, South Carolina, United States (Age 44 years)   6. TURNER, Emily Elizabeth,   b. 30 Aug 1836   d. 2 Feb 1907 (Age 70 years)
  Family ID	F1800	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 May 2022

  
  

• Notes

  STERLING HART TURNER One incident which portrays his compassionate nature occurred at his home in early “reconstruction” days when a posse of local young men from upper Anderson County waylaid a company of raiding Federal Troops. Firing on them from an ambuscade of rail fence, they soon put them to rout, leaving one seriously wounded. They were determined to kill him. Mr. Turner, recognizing fraternal brother Masons in the local company, asked that he be allowed the privilege of finishing the task. This being granted, he put the wounded man on his horse and disappeared into the thickly wooded area. Here he told the man not to move or try to escape till he returned. After firing his gun, Mr. Turner returned to the company of the posse and they, being satisfied that the Federal man was dead, departed . Then Mr. Turner went back into the woods, carried the wounded man to his home and cared for him to the best of his ability but was unable to save his life. After his death, Turner gave him decent burial in the Turner family graveyard. This account of mercy cost Sterling Hart Turner his home: for the raiders returned, burned the house with only five minutes being allowed to remove anything from it. This posse of local young men also burned a number of nearby homes and killed Matthew Ellison when he asked them not to take his plow horse. The father of the Federal trooper later came from Ohio to carry his son’s body back home. He expressed great appreciation for the Turner’s care of his son and brought gifts to the Turner family. One of the last skirmishes of the War Between the States to take place in this section was between a Federal raiding party stationed in Greenville and a posse of local young men determined to pursue and punish the raiders, following an “invasion” of their territory. The sons of Major Russell were in this posse. Their home was about two miles west of the Old Richmond Cemetery where the Major is buried, but in an unknown grave.

  
  

• Sources

  [S94] Rootsweb, http://files.usgwarchives.org/sc/pickens/cemeteries/p196.txt. [S114] Miscellaneous, http://hkwatson.us/Biography.html#SterlingHartTurner.