Take a break from the controversy and anger that has saturated the national news in the past week and enjoy one of my favorite lighthearted stories from Lawrence County’s early days.

Here’s a feel-good story about how one Lawrence County man showed his respect for a veteran with an act of kindness.

According to one of Lawrence County’s earliest newspapers, in the spring of 1846, an old man came to Lawrenceburg to apply for a pension.

The old man stayed the night at the inn (probably the Farmer’s Inn, which stood near the Square in Lawrenceburg). The innkeeper noticed that the old man was so feeble that he could barely feed himself, so he stepped in and helped the old man eat.

While he ate, the old man told the innkeeper that he was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and that he had fought at the Siege of Savannah, Georgia, where he had served alongside the famous patriot soldier William Jasper. Although relatively unknown to Americans today, Jasper was a Revolutionary superstar in antebellum America. He had helped to turn the tide of the Battle of Sullivan’s Island by rallying the men around a torn and tattered South Carolina flag. Jasper died at the Siege of Savannah, his regiment’s flag still in his hands.

The old man told many tales of his service to the innkeeper during his stay at the inn. When it came time for the old man to settle his bill with the innkeeper, he produced his “scanty means” to pay, but the innkeeper refused the old man’s money, saying to him, “Sir, your bill was paid the day you fought by the side of the brave Jasper at Savannah.”