Savannah daily evening recorder. (Savannah, GA.) 1878-18??, February 17, 1879, Image 1
I> .A. I L Y a evkhstiistg ™ r 1 [nilnl hh H Int. VOL I.—No. 118. THE SAVANNAH RECORD R, R. M. ORME, Editor. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING, (Saturday Excepted,) * 161 BAY STREET. Ry J . STJBR1T. The Rbcordkh is served to subscribers, in ©very part ol the city by careful carriers. a Communications must be accompanied by the name of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith. Remittance by Check or Post Office orders must be made payable to the order of the pub¬ lisher. We will not undertake to preserve or return rejected communications. Correspondence on Local and general mat¬ ters of Interest solicited. On Advertisements running three, bIx, and twelve months a liberal reduction from our regular rates will be made. All correspondence should be addressed, Re ookukk, Savannah, Georgia. The Sunday Morning Recorder will take the j>,ace ol the Saturday evening edition, Which will make Bix full issues for the week. •We do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions expressed by Correspondents. BURNING OF COLUMBIA. BY L. P. ABHBY. The following article was written several years ago but never published. Since it was written Sherman has acknowledged the great wrong he did Wade Hampton and recalled it, saying that he made it in order to lessen his influence and make him odious with his own people. This was highly honorable in this conscientious leader of the Union forces, and it is difficult now to tell which is the worst, he or his brother John. There have been several accounts published of the by burning of this ill-fated city, one a lady who acknowledegea in her account that she was at Barhamville, the seat of a female academy three miles from Co¬ lumbia, and was not in the city at all, and all she knows about it is what she ■aw at her distant home. I was in the city, in the midst of the hurry and the flurry occasioned by the vandalism of Sherman’s bummers, and had occasion to carefully note in memory all that I have written. I m%y not be altogether correct in olaiming ao much for the Carolinians in the last days of Fort Sumter, as I have been informed that some of the noble sons of Georgia were there and assisted in driving tbe Yanks off in their night attack*. At any rate, they never took Sumter, but it was evacuated after Sherman’s flank mo . erne through * the interior of South Carolina. * * * THX BURNING OF Columbia. been°over Though the war between the Statee has opportunity »early ten veare I have just had the of perusing “ The Story of the March to the Sea,” written by Brevet Major Ward Nichols, Aid de-Camp to General Sherman. What he has to say in reference to Georgia and the alarming ignorance of it. planters, I have nothing to do. I think Georgia has plenty of her own Bons able and capable did enough to think take care of her reputation, they it worth their while to notice this Northern ry ht spawn P sUr!’ who ’ "ot in order hesitlteV to glori ma has to wjj vilifv those who are bo immeasurably diooed in Northern g gall them and steadily aimed, cannot touch He however, disposed to deal generously wiih every other Southern State, ex cept poor little South Carolina. From the very moment he lands in her borders he boils over with indignation. South Carolina -is not only extremely con temptible, she haa not a single redeem ing trait. Ignorance, vice, meanness, everything corrupt prevails within her bo-ders. Even the negroes are more equalid and wretched, but are treated woree than in any other State. The land is poorer, is less productive, and the habitations of white and black in conceivably miserable. In the im xnensity of his category he could find no kind word or term for anything South Carolina—all, everything was bad. Thia might be forgiven such a phlegmatic gentleman strictly as he the is did he confine himself to truth in relation to other matters, particularly in i elation to the burning of Columbia. Though I am not a native of South Carolina, it was my home for over twenty-five years, and I happened to be in Columbia some time previous by Gen- to and at the time of its capture srsl Sherman's army and profess to know a little about that- disgraceful and shameful epoch in the momentous history of General Sherman’s “March to the Sea.” Hitherto the whole blame of that affair has been attempted Hampton to fastened on General Wade (though Major Nichola does not say because sevet ai bales of cotton were placed in the centre of Main street and Gt-neial Sheiman does not hesitate to affirm that this was the cause of the city being burned. I shall attend to hrm further on. I am dealing now with Major Nichols, who uses this phatic language in relation to the fire “Various causes are assigned to th§ origin of this fir®. I am quite that it originated in sparks flying the hundreds of bales of cotton the rebels had placed along the of the main street and fired as they left the city." Now the only reply I have to make to this is that Major Nichols was either not in the city or he deliberately falsified the truth history. In the first place, placed there along were not hundreds ij hales Main streat. Some fifty or sixty bales were placed on Main street, near the Congaree House, and these were neither cut open, their contents scat¬ tered and then fired, but were intact when the advance guard of General Sherman's army entered the city, and his men were all ai-iund them. Soon after they entered, a hurricane arose and immediately an alarm was given that the cotton was on fire. I was then at the market house talking to one Sherman’s men, and I saw the citizens, as well as the Yankee soldiers, rush to the Independent Engine house, next to the market and attempt to ex¬ tinguish the fire, which they failed in and the cotton was all consumed, but not a soli tary house caught from that cotton, though many combustible build¬ ings were near at hand, so that the story of Columbia having been burned by the cotton placed on Main street will not do to tell even to the “marines." I was at the Court House, opposite the market, when the Mayor, Dr. Goodwyn, and Alderman John Me Kenzie went out to surrender the city, and I saw the first flag that came into the city. Three men came up Wash ington to Main street in a buggy—one holding the flag, one driving, and the third, holding his musket, stood up be hind. At the corner of Main street they stopped and inquired the way to the Stats House. They started on down Main street,and just as they reach ed the Congaree House they were fired on—by whom I do not know, but sup posed it was one of Wheeler’s men, as many of them had been ransacking the for two days, even up to the mo ment that Sherman’s army was march into the city. The soldier with the immediately jumped from the and fired on his assailant, with effect. I w&i an eye-witness, arid no cotton was burning then. Directly after the carriage containing the Mayor and Alderman McKenzie returned to the city, bringing Major Anderson, of what regiment I do not know, and they alighted in front of the old jail ob Main street. I walked over to hear what he had to say, and while standing there many of the merchants and citizens, apprehensive that some *sked thing him would happen, approached and for guards for their property. I then resumed my seat on a table in front of the Court House, a id had not been there long before I saw the sol marching into the city, one of <-hem excla-ming, as he passed, looking U P the town clock, “Twenty minutes down eleven ” They filed on unt ^ fbe whole street from the State House up was filled with them, some then inebriated, though the citizens are charged with having made them drunk. I »*w a Colonel order one of them un der arrest for drunkenness, but he beg- fn R-d off and brought his good conduct a charge down the road to the notice In. Colonel. They h.d not been there as long as ten minutes at that time, yet he was made drunk by the citizens I After the cotton fire was over I started to my dinner, amd when nearly opposite ‘be the convent, met General Sher maQ . of him, saintly Howard riding along the riding a long train bringing I up rear, into the city. stopped and took a good look at him. I also watched him fur some distance down street, and just as he reached the identical spot where the cotton had burned, his men arose to their feet e» wtoese and g**e him three ringing cbeere. He saw ao fire then, nor was there a.y burning. Later on in the aftercoo* the jail was deliberately set on fire because,a« they said, some of the Yankee prisoners had been confined there, but it waa speedily extinguished, and no more fire occurred until long after dark, when the first piece set on fire waa Mr. Chas. Bedell’s store, two blocks above where the cot ton was burned in the morning. 1 was in company with a Yankee at the time, and he left me, rushed into the store and put the fire out. A half hour or so later a commencement m«d<i srstematioally to burn the The buildings occupied by the du pave on Bridge street were the firet set on fire. They then advanced up to Main street, burning the Old State House and every budding on street to the extremity of cotton town, with the exception ot three. I had a next to Keating & Ball’s erate money manufacture, and, calming myself, from the assurance Major An derson gave that private property would be respected, hour, 1 first retired to my room at an early attempting SAVANNAH, MONDAY. FEBRUARY 17, 1879. to restore by the equilibrium her only of my public laad lady telling the buildings would be burned. The streets were then thronged with Yankee sol¬ diers, some on foot and some on horse¬ back, tearing through the streets like so many demons just let lose from hell. My landlady had then a Yankee guard in the house, but very soon a man rode up to the window and order¬ ed him out. I had not been in my room more than fifteen or twenty minutes before my landlady called me and told me they were setting fire to the house next door, I immediately dressed myself and descended ths stairs, when I found the flames were all around us. I returned to my room, seized my trunk (a very heavy one) and dragged it down stairs. A North¬ ern lady, who roomed opposite me, ap¬ pealed to me and I also dragged her large Saratoga down, when a couple of Yankees, in search for plunder, came in and she told thsm she was from the North, at the same time begging them to take her trunk to a place of safety— which they did. I exhausted my strength in efforts to pull my trunk through the back way to Taylor’s hill. I saw two stalwart Yanks honeying my landlady’s trunk cook, and the cook saved my by ordering them to take it out for me. Our house had then been de¬ serted. A panic had seized our folk* and they left without attempting to save When anything I but what they stood in. saw my trunk safe I returned *° bouse and there were Borne of Sherman’s “holy men,” with candles in band, pillaging. I seized a feather bsd an< ^ a quilt and went back to the hill, I then had a good opportunity of wit B ®ssing the burning of that beautiful °by, and I shall never forget that aw «cene. It was my misfortune to 'witness the burning of Charleston three y« ars previous, which resulted from accident, and I hoped then I naver should see the like again ; but here was a still more awful sight, and from design. The Yankees went from house to house, poured a combustible oil on the floor and thf n deliberately set it on bre. They went into the house of Mr. W m - Keenan, three blocks from Main street, and poured oil on his floor and 8e t it on fire. Mr. Keenan immedi fl t e ly “dashed it out” with a bucket of water. They attempted it the second time and he also resolutely extinguish that. Failing with the house, they ^ ie A,^ 9 sta bl®. when he put that out aQ b thus saved his pioperty. Columbia was burned, u . ^ lc£l0 3 a ?f ^ en Sherman to the contrary notwithstanding, , .\ for I was in t be midat ^ all > and J bnow wbere - „ T b speak. This not dune, either, ? iwo hundred was who had one ? r men been prisoners in retaliation for their treat “-® nt > though with they may have had 80m * t in 8.t° o it, ltwasanal most "““"J 0 " tbic 8; for he Yank * es ^TtermdLd d5 Z and ^ ^ “inable ^ to t h e back streets and all 8 way J S where thev f couM P f_ f p articular v was thi . if'^n ^ Taylor’s Iho hill where which I wr c To W the animus perva( j e( j whole armv a nartv along f and “ halted in clo«e rmv imitv to m t loo t at the five of ^ suggested e,f thJm it riJht was a “SounV fearful si*?ht but °dt served serV them right. bouth Caro i“its °ia was its hotbeT” hotbed. ThT lhen turning to rf ? ou lKe tnat ’ man ; 1 made them an , /t ^ ^^ w co f tanll f flo J ing "j ■* ° ther ‘ } maintained m ’ n " d 5 ™ ” ot a gre f whll t 1 ? \ C °, n ldentlcal • , art J came along and ? °. p P e \ a t s P°t th e first 1 d Lb ® * a J n f. observations , ,., 1 a relation to South ~ umbia andsecession, con c [ u omg of course, that it served them J’pA f nd j, aakln |, m e w do you lae that, old mani. 1 T will do . some of r [i em > aowe ' • r > the m justice thl * brutal to say «bi- that b ’ ley not only , contemned but condemned , , it .and manfully attempted " “* F owei a,s ‘® prevetn * ' T w . i t ., ft ‘ • j c t } f et t , e m0!n ’ n u- ,i o V a> i * sbL ’the rhev hones' Vick ^ ai fv *ii tb8 > % . j all ’ A- • r e _ f . , . othi wa ; more th-rnPonVa susce.Tve m the I mind at that time ‘ 1 iamous f li ne ’ | , ’ Man minon“n?omm” ,nan makes countle - s At Avn 1* at si k t h i T k on the bed "iweu natures sweet ^ restoree-ifaimy sleep happily daylight came to much my relief. I awoke after refreshed | thankful to Nature’s God that He had j shut out from my vision the finale of that truly heartrending scene. I with others into the house of Col j Alexander Taylor, where a Colonel and a Major bad taken up their - quarters._ A Captain came along in little while after, and seeing me side, rode up and engaged in convtrsa tion relative to the awful calamity that had befallen the city. "And yet,,” he said, “your ciiizens have themselves to blame for it all. Had they destroyed all the the liquor coming in the place when they found army in, it would never have happened. Instead of that, they kept it and actually gave it to the men —I saw them doing it myself—and that, with what they afterward got hold of, made them drunk and phrenzied them; and the result is before you. I have been riding all night arresting men and yet I could not, with all my efforts, arrest the half of these frantic men or prevent the mischief they wprp doing.” These are not his exact woids, but the ■ubstance of what he said, as I remember distinctly it made a profound impression on me. He made no men¬ tion of the cotton placed in the street, knowing, no doubt, that it would not go down, and the first I ever saw or lit-ard of it was in General Sherman's official report, and the Diary of Maj ; Nichols no doubt received its inspiration from that. General Sherman, however, goes much farther than Major Nichols. He says: “Before one single public build¬ ing had been fired by order, the order smouldering fires set by Hampton’s were rekindled by the wind and communicated to the buildings around. [Nothing and can be farther from the truth, he knew it when he penned that sentence, for he had passed over the giound where the cotton had been burning and no trace of it was left save the ashes smothered in a deluge of water.] About dark they began to spread and got beyond the control of the brigade on duty in the city. [Which brigade does he mean, the one with the combustible oil, or th* few noble fel¬ lows that attempted to check what the others were too fast for them in doing?] The whole of Wood’s division was brought in, but it was found impossible to check the flames [of course it W0 3 when they were being constantly fed], which by midnight had become un manageable, and raged until 4 a. m., when, the wind subsiding, they were got under control. [Under control when they had expended themselves on the last building in Cotton Town, and, like Alexander the Great, “had no more worlds to conquer.”] I was up nearly all night, [but failed most signally in his duty as supreme head of a great army in allowing that army to be turned into a mob or rabble and burn¬ ing a whole city, he either unable or subjection], unwilling to control and keep it in and saw Generals Howard, Logan, Wood and others laboring to save houses [instead of laboring to save their good name by controlling the authors of all the mischief], and to protect families thus suddenly deprived of ity] shelter and [through their instrumental¬ of bedding and wearing ap¬ parel.” A ^ above . was nofc enoa gb to in the ? ood aen8 « and intelligence of the S ood ] P e °P Ie s of the country, he goes ° n to ^ disclaim on the part of m - v arm F- a ^ncy in this fire [It " aS DOt trough its agency it was ^° f £ rnng re lt: t0 Waa V zis th c \ ircc ®, tLing * J ac ^' rather Wel1 d pre- ° n * tbemse ^ , ves tban to Lave any agents in tbe matter ]> the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia re [A olrfm to which Providence alone is entitled, in having J lulled the „ind. and preventing forth mischief.J And, without hesitation, I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Colum bia, not with a malicious intent, or as th e manifestation of a silly ‘Roman stoicism,’ but from folly and want of senaej } n filling it with lint, cotton, and tinder." I have, in my day, read much and seen and heard many excuses made f or acts of downright meanness, but this out Herods them all. It were not enough to burn the city, deprive help less females of all shelter save the firmament, and turn poor little children out, like Nebuchadnezzar, to eat grass, fi e mu?t b ac k j t up charging Wade Hampton with it, Wade Hampton having left the city early in the day and the cotton placed on Main street burned about alf-past eleven A. if. “Our officers and men on duty worked t0 extinguish the flames: but el hers not °n duty, ™ eluding the officers who bad long been imprisoned there, rescued b ? >«. »>W t«e assisted in.spreading the , ure alter it had once begun, and may h ave indulged in unconcealed joy. to see the ruin of the capitol of boutn Carolina ” ------- “ The Chinese muit 8°-” that they , in disgrace, it is . certain go comeback. At least,; ; they will never arrived by the j s ^ CO c C lusion at Faculty of a Massachusetts educational institution. On^ of their pupils, a Chinaman, is being educated at the cost j of somewhat the Chinese backward Government, in his studies, and, being his case was duly reported to the authori at Pekin. In dua time, there ar rived an imperial mandate which read, him home and we will cut off head.” BY TELEGRAPH. News From Europe . INTELLIGENCE FROM ALL PARTS. . Later advices received at Cape town reported that subsequently to the dis¬ aster to Col. Glyn’s camp the forces under Dartrall and Louidale had a vic torious engagement with the enemy at Roikas drift. Col. Pearson’s column is safely established at Ekayl. There were no hostile Zulus in Natal. California A dispatch says the delegate* to the Constitutional Convention Chinese are highly elated by the passage of the emigration bill, by Congress, and resolution* will be adopted request¬ ing the President to approve the same. Dr. George H. Gray, of Denison, Texai, who distinguished himself by professional service rendered at Holly Springs during the late epidemic, com¬ mitted suicide at New Orleans, Thurs¬ day, by shooting himself through the head. No reason is assigned for the act. The total loss by the sinking of six¬ Coal teen houses Iron belonging to the Reading and Company, at Shenandoah, Pa., will be between thirty and forty thousand dollars. •A. has dispatch from London says : Wes¬ ton reached Wakefield,Yoik county. He is one hundred and ninety-two milss behind time, having taken the train from Huddersfield to Wakefield. Capt. J.W. Scully, Assistant Quarter¬ master, was ordered to Charleston, S 0., to turn over the public property for which he is accountable, to the proper officer at that post. The jury in the case of Charlie Woods, colored, on trial for the murder of Mrs. W. C. C. Foster, at Memphis, returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. Ths London Pall Mall Gazette cor¬ respondent at Rome says that, cordial letters have been exchanged between the Pope and the German Emperor. The London Standard publishes the 25 following, dated Martzburg, January : “Shortly after the commencement of hostilities, Lord Chelmsford and Col. Pearson successfully engaged the enemy had near been the place fighting. where He Lord Chelmsford loft six com panies of the Twenty-fourth Regiment under Pulleine, whom Durnford was to with the natives. Fifteen thousand Zulus attacked the united forces on the 22d instant. The fire from the British caused immense havoc among them,but they rushed forward with indomitable pluck, and when they had come to close quarters the great;nnmerical superiority of the Zulus secured a complete^ vic¬ tory. The six companies of the Twenty fourth Regiment were totally destroyed and Durn ford’s natives were utterly routed. The victorious Zulus attacked a small force in the vicinity of Rorkaa’ drift the same day but were repelled in the attack made on Rorkas drift. On the evening of the 22d, after the de¬ struction of the camp, a hundred men succeeded in keeping off over four thousand Zulus. They fought fiom five o’clock in the evening until daylight, when the main column arrived. Tiie British lost thirteen men, five of whom were massacred in the hospital.” Spilling Salt on the Table. This story is told in a Roman letter a French journal: One morning Leo was about to eat some raw eggs, is his want every morning, and re¬ Commander Sterbini, the gen¬ serving him, to bring him some to take with them. Sterbini, pre¬ the salt-cellar, a solid silver accidentally let it slip from his and the salt fell—but only on the table. The Pope rose immediately, carefully to see whether any of the had reached tbe ground. “Only see,” he said, “the Balt is up¬ and had it fallen on the ground I I should not have got over to¬ He then took out a pocket-book the and noted the fact, observing at same time : “We shall see whether we shall not have the loss of some beloved Cardinal t0 ^ine dtpIore davs before after, long the ' sad of news Cardinai Asquini’s death reached the Vatican, and the Pope, handing - to his aloud pocket-book, those around requesting the him to read to ”? te “p* d “> S b efore ' Then, breaking the silence, he said , : “Had the salt been scattered on the floor instead of upon the table, ae was the case, verily I believe I should \ . ' the Judgment standing now before Seat!” ' I — ------- --rr. An Alabama child weighing fifty-; eight pounds is said to be composed of fitly pounds of head and eight pounds of body and ..limbs, and to have a , bright mind and a remarkably tive memory. PRICE THREE CENTS. Start. L OST—A Tools, Paints THUNK, and containing Pictures. The Artist.’* finder will be suitably rewarded. Address. Prof. J. EDWIN CHURCHILL, Artist. Business Cards. VAL. BASLEIt’S WINES. LIQUORS, SEGARS and TOBACCO The best Lager Beer in tbe city. The well known TEN PIN ALLEY reopened. Lunch every day from 11 to 1 o'clock. At the Market Square House, 174 BRYAN ST. Savannah, Ga. F. BINGEL, WINES, LIQUORS AND SEGARS. Milwaukee and Cincinnati Lager Beer oa draught. hand. B'ree Lunch. Fresh Oysters always on 21 Jefferson st., corner Con ogress street lane. mchlO-ly Dr. A. H. BEST, DENTIST Cor. Congress and Whitaker streets. SAVANNAH, GA. T EETH guaranteed. extracted without pain, All work I respectfully beg to refer to any of mr patrons. oct.l-brao C. A. CORTINO, liir Gtttiu, Stir Smsi&e, Carlin? ui SHAVING SALOON. HOT AND COLD BATHS. 168 Bryan street, opposite the Market, n»- 4er Flanters’ Hotel. Spanish, Italian, ©er man.and English spokota. wHI-tf RESERVOIR MILLS Congress and Jefferson streetB. CHOICE GRITS AND MEAL. Grain, Hay, LOWEST Feed, Flour, Provisions, At market figures. f«bl2-lm R. L. MERCER. GEORGE FEY, WINES, LIQUORS, (SEGARS, TOBACCO, <*«. The celebrated Joseph SehliU’ MILWAU¬ KEE LAGER BEER, a speciality. No. 22 Whitaker .Street, Lyons’ Block, Savannuh, Ga. FREE LUNCH every day from 11 to 1. r-zJl-1 v HAIR STORE . JOS. E. L01SEAU & CO., 118 BROUGHTON ST., Bet. Bull A Drayton K EEP on hand a large assortment of Hair Hair (Switches, combings Curls, Puffs, and Fancy Good* worked in the latest style. Fanc y Cos tumes, Wigs and Beards for Rent JOS. H. BAKER, BTJTOHBB, STALL No. ’ 68. Savann ‘ Market. Dealer in Beef, Mutton, Fork ml All other Meats in their Seasons. Particular attention paid]to supplying Ship and BoardingJHouses. uugl2 Coal and Wood, COAL OF ALL KINDS, Sold and delivered promptly by D. R. THOMAS, OFFICE: 111 BAY ST., dec22-s2m Yard foot of West Broad St, GRANTHAM I. TAGGART, Best Family Coal! I deal cite and only Bituminous in the best Coal. qualities of Anthra¬ LOW PRICES, EXTRA PREPARATION. PROMPT DELIVERY. Main Office: 124 Hay Street. Special prices to Manufacturers, Dealers and Public Institutions. novJ-tu.th.su-tf Carriages, A. K. WILSON’S CARRIAGE MANUFACTORY, Corner Bay and West Broad sts. CARRIAGE REPOSITORY . Cor. Bay and Montgomery streets. GEORGIA. The largest establishment in the city. I keep a full line of CarrisgeH, Rockaway*, and Buggies. Bpring and Farm Wagons, Canopy Falling Top Baby Wagon CartiageH, also a full line of Carriage and Material. I have engaged in my factory order* the most skillful me will Any be executed for new work, and re¬ pairing, and t( gi ve sati.faoUou mayl2-Iy at short eotice. Candies. ESTABLISHED 1850. M. FITZGERALD —Manufacturer of— PURE, PLAIN AND FINE CANDIES. 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