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Rare-ik. H r i E. MERTON COULTER 3"HE COUNTRYMAN. By J. A. TURNER. — “ INDEPENDENT IN EVERYTHING—NEUTRAL IN NOTniNO ” $5 for Three Months. VOL. XIX- TURNWOLD (NEAR EATONTON) GA., TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 1804. NO. 32. The Burning of Governor Letcher’s Residence.-—We print below a document, destihed to become historic. The calm, dispassionate, and truthful recital it gives, of one of the most wanton and barbarous acts of the war, needs no comment to awaken the indignation of every manly bosom. It is due to Gov. Letcher to say, that this letter was written with no view to publication, but in response to a private communication, addressed him by the May or oi Richmond. The passages omitted relate to personal matters; Lexington, Va., July 5th, 1864. Finding, the yankees would take the'- town on Saturday (11th) 1 left home near midnight, friday night, and went to Big Is land, in Bedford, where I remained until Wednesday morning following, when, hear ing the vandals had left, I returned. I haa previously heard that my house had been burned, with all its contents. The threats made by the yankees against me, for the past two years, satisfied me that they would destroy my house when they came to Lexington, but I always supposed they would allow the furniture, and my family’s clothing to be removed. In this, however, I was disappointed. When the yankees took possession of the town, Dr. Patton, Medical Director for Hunter’s army, and who baiis from Mari on county, Va., went to my house, told my wife that he was unwell, and said that he must have a room in the house. He took the room, supped and breakfasted, X-^e, that it was the last mea 1 she would take in the house. Shortly af ter he left, without taking leave of any one of the family, nor was he again seen bv any of them. The threats, made by soldiers on Satur day evening, induced my wife to fear the house would be burned, and she express ed her feais in the hearing oi Dr P [^°’ and Captain Towns, of New York Cap tain Towns very promptly said that 1 be ing a private citizen, and the house being private property, burning it would be an inexcusable outrage, and proposed at once to go to Hunter’s headquarters, and ascer tain. He weni, and was directed by Hun ter to assure my wife that the house would jy)t be disturbed. The sequel shows iha. the sole object of this assurance was to quiet her apprehensions, and thus prevent anything from being removed. About half-past 8 o’clock, a. m. (Sunday) Capt. Berrv and his provost guard rode up, and the officer called for my wile She came to the door, when Berry infoimed her that he was ordered by Hunter to nre the house. She replied there amst be some mistake, and asked for the order. She then said to him, ‘can it be delayed until l can see Gen. Hunter?’ ‘The order is peremptory,’ he replied, ‘and you have 5 minutes in which to leave the house. She then asked leaye to rernOYe her moth-1 er’s, sister’s, her own and her children’s clothing, which was insolently refused. Immediately thereafter, camphene was poured on the parlor floor, and ignited with a match. In the meantime, my daughter bad gathered up an armful of clothing, and was going out, when he discovered her, ran forward, and fired the clothing in her arms. He then poured camphene on the wardrobe, and bureau drawers, and ignited the clothing—taking out my clothing,which he said he intended to take North. Every house on my lot was burned, ^ve a small 0 ;anary, over my ice house, mot a particle of flour, meal, or anything edible was left, all having been carried off on Saturday. My mother, now in her 78th year, lives »childremwere almost starved, and half-na on the lot adj-ining my own, having with her one of her grand-children, and a ser vant. A fter my property had been fired, the fiends fired her stable, located about forty feet from her house, with no other view than to burn her out also. The house caught twice, and would have been consumed, but for the untiring efforts of Captain Towns, who made his men carry water, and extinguish the flames. This Captain behaved like a gentleman, towards my own and my mother’s family. Gens. Averill, Crook, Sullivan, and Buf-_ fee denounced the whole proceeding as' an outrage, in violation of all the princi ples of civilized warfare, and stated that Hunter alone was responsible for these atrocities. «i-infeykrtr jinTEia5T;ig~ipr ttmtt g&perous sympathy, and kind tender of a home. There are no people on the earth who have been more uniformly kind to me than tr.e good people of your city, and I assure you 1 appreciate their kindness, as does all my iainily.—Accept our thanks for it. So soon as I can visit Richmond, I v\ u do so—perhaps this month, I am, truly, and in baste, your friend, John Letcher. Joseph Mayo, Esq., Richmond, Va. Augusta Canal. One would suppose that Augusta was tolerably well supplied by rail roads, but Augusta, nevertheless, has a canal, io show the use of such a feeder, and to aid, so far, in encouraging, and directing atten tion to similar improvements, wmch will be needed for Charleston, we quote the following reports of W m, Philip, Engi neer of the Augusta Canal, and Augusta Water Works, for the month of June: From South Carolina—35 bales of cot- ton, 910 sacks of corn, 15 sacks of meal, 5 sacks and 6 bushels of rye, 10 bushels barley 14 barrels . an d 47 sucks of hour, 450 "pounds and 10 boxes of bacon 5 sacks of wheat, 265 sacks of peas, 4o sacks of oats, 129 bales of shucks, 11 gal- been Ions of whiskey, 3 bales of wool, and 1 ' b> C'toK OIi -98 bales of cottoa, *25 sacks of corn, 32 sacks of peas, 4 barrels and 117 sacks of flour, 30 bushels of meal, 150 pounds and 44 boxes of bacon, 49 sacks of wheat, 179-sacks of oats, 3 bales of wool, 30 bales of yarn, and 8 bales of homespun.—Charleston Courier. TnE Tender Mercies of the WjjjkED. “ The Vicksburg correspondent >f the New York'Tribune gi ves sue foliov.. ac count of the condition of the neg -■ torn from their homes, by Gen, Sherman, in Mississippi: ‘Some 3,000 slaves, of all ages apd col ors, reached here, yesterday. It was the saddest spectacle witnessed for a long time, in Vicksburg. ,yfhe women and ked. Such a terrible picture of abject want, and squalid misery, can neither be imagined, nor portrayed with pen. Ma ny of the women and children were sick with fevers, brought on by the great fa tigue and exposure of the long march from Meridian, Enterprise, Quitman, and other places. W ill not the friends of free dom, and the humane philanthropists of the North come forward at once, and with their generous hands rescue these liberat ed slaves from premature graves?’ We learn from the Boston Courier, of a later date, that the suffering of these poor, homeless wretchesxontinued in all its intensity. No more political capital could be made out of them- mrul — “The Chattanooga Rebel gets the fol lowing figures from the U.S.-National Al manac—from which an estimate may be made of the number of Federal troops whose term of service expires this year. In June, 1861, there were 51.000 troops mustered into service, for three years; m July, 62.000; in August, 60-000;, m Sep tember, 78.000; in October,' 64.000 ; m November, 53.000; and in December, 5L000—in all 419.000. If, says the Reb el, we suppose that two thirds of these have been discharged, have died, or nave deserted, there will then be left the num ber oi 139.000, to be mustered out of ser* vice, before the 1st of January next. “The Boaid of Physicians for the animation of the Militia consist of Drs. Casey, Smith, Branham, Hall, Cochrane, and Brandon. Their quarters were com pletely filled on yesterday with those awaiting an examination. They may bo found over the store of T. IV .Freeman, on Cherry street.—Macon Confederate. Mr Memminger’s Successor.—“Mr. Trenhdlm, of South Carolina, has ocen duly installed as Confederate States Sec retary of Treasury. He has, heretofore, been an eminent tanker oi Charleston, and comes to the position with a mind perfectly educated, in. financial matters. .—Macqn CoflfedeTutc y 20th ult.