Harper’s Weekly, January 19, 1861
EW publish herewith a portrait of Governor Pickens, the newly-elected Governor of the State of South Carolina.
Governor Pickens comes of good revolutionary stock. His grandfather, General Pickens, commanded the American forces at the Battle of the Cowpens. His father, Colonel Pickens, held a military command in the war of 1812, though it is not known that he was ever engaged in active service. The present Governor, Francis W. Pickens, was born in South Carolina about fifty years ago, and has been some twenty years in public life.
He took an active part in the nullification movement in 1832, and was one of the most ardent champions of actual resistance by arms. In 1835 he was sent to Congress, where he represented one of the South Carolina districts for ten years. He was offered the mission to England by President Polk, and the mission to France by President Tyler: he declined these, but accepted from President Buchanan the mission to Russia, which he filled until recently. On his return home he was elected, as the world knows, first Governor of the independent State of South Carolina.
The Herald publishes the following anecdotes about the Governor:
“During the nullification times, the remark was made that the occasion was one that might excite fears and apprehension, when Colonel Pickens is alleged to have replied as follows:
“‘Fear! fear! Mr. President, I was born insensible to fear!'” His servant man, Tom, an old negro about sixty-five years of age, stands in the relation to him of a confidant and a friend more than that of a slave. When Colonel Pickens received his appointment to Russia he said to his faithful old servant: “Now, Tom, I have been appointed as Minister to Russia. It is a very cold, a very bad climate for you”
“On my way there I’ll have to pass through the State of New York, and also through England, where you’ll be a free man, and if you have a desire to leave me you will have an opportunity to do so. If you would rather go to Russia, Tom, you can go; but it appears to me you would enjoy yourself better if you stay at home. But you can do as you please. ‘Master Colonel Pickens,’ said the faithful old fellow—Master Colonel Pickens, your father and my old master died in my arms on the banks of the Mississippi; I took from his pocket thirteen hundred dollars in money and his gold watch, and I let nobody know it, and I came on foot through the woods and brought it safely to you in Carolina—you know, master; and if you die in Russia, you shall die in my arms, like your father.’ ” So Tom went to St. Petersburg, and he was the head man at the door on all state occasions, and acquitted himself with all the dignity due to his position. When Colonel Pickens was about leaving St. Petersburg he said to his old servant, ‘Tom, I am going through Germany, and I want to send a courier with very important dispatches to our Minister, Mr. Dallas, in London. Now, Tom, I shall make you courier; you shall go with my dispatches to Mr. Dallas.’
“Tom accepted the mission, and we do him but justice when we say that he discharged his duty with promptness, correctness, and fidelity to his master.”