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008 - Chapter 23 Partial Campaign Of The Carolinas · Shermans Memoirs March to the Sea and Columbia Burning

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  Speaker 1: Section seven of Sherman's March to the Sea and the
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  Speaker 1: Burning of Columbia, South Carolina, from his Memoirs by William TACOMSA. Sherman.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Section seven,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three Campaign of the Carolinas Partial. We all
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  Speaker 1: remained strung along this railroad till the ninth of February,
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  Speaker 1: the seventeenth Corps on the right, then the fifteenth twentieth
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  Speaker 1: in cavalry at Blackville. General Slocombe reached Blackville that day
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  Speaker 1: with Gary's division of the twentieth Corps and reported the
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth Corps General J. F. C. Davis's to be following
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  Speaker 1: by way of Barnwell. On the tenth, I rode up
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  Speaker 1: to Blackville, where I conferred with Generals Slocumbe and Kilpatrick.
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  Speaker 1: Became satisfied that the whole army would be ready within
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  Speaker 1: a day, and accordingly made orders for the next movement
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  Speaker 1: north to Columbia, the right wing to strike Orangeburg en route.
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  Speaker 1: Kilpatrick was ordered to demonstrate strongly toward Aiken to keep
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  Speaker 1: up the delusion that we might turn to Augusta, but
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  Speaker 1: he was notified that Columbia was the next objective, and
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  Speaker 1: that he should cover the left flank against Wheeler, who
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  Speaker 1: hung around it. I wanted to reach Columbia before any
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  Speaker 1: part of Hood's army could possibly get there. Some of
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  Speaker 1: them were reported as having reached Augusta under the command
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  Speaker 1: of General Dick Taylor, having sufficiently damaged the railroad and
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  Speaker 1: effected to the junction of the entire army. The general
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  Speaker 1: march was resumed on the eleventh, each corps crossing the
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  Speaker 1: south Edisto by separate bridges, with orders to pause on
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  Speaker 1: the road leading from Orangeburg to Augusta till it was
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  Speaker 1: certain that the seventeenth Corps had got possession of Orangeburg.
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  Speaker 1: This place was simply important, as its occupation would sever
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  Speaker 1: the communications between Charleston and Columbia. All the heads of
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  Speaker 1: column reached this road, known as the Edgefield Road during
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  Speaker 1: the twelfth and the seventeenth Corps turned to the right
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  Speaker 1: against Orangeburg. When I reached the head of column opposite Orangeburg,
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  Speaker 1: I found Giles a Smith's division halted with a battery unlimbered,
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  Speaker 1: exchanging shots with the party on the opposite side of
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  Speaker 1: the Edisto. He reported that the bridge was gone and
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  Speaker 1: that the river was deep and impassable. I then directed
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  Speaker 1: General Blair to send a strong division below the town,
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  Speaker 1: some four or five miles to effect a crossing. There
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  Speaker 1: he laid his pontoon bridge, but the bottom on the
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  Speaker 1: other side was overflowed, and the men had to wade
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  Speaker 1: through it in places as deep as their waists. I
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  Speaker 1: was with this division at the time, on foot, trying
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  Speaker 1: to pick my way across the overflowed bottom. But as
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  Speaker 1: soon as the head of column reached the sand hills,
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  Speaker 1: I knew that the enemy would not long remain in Orangeburg,
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  Speaker 1: and accordingly returned to my horse on the west bank
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  Speaker 1: and rode rapidly up to where I had left Giles
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  Speaker 1: a Smith. I found him in possession of the broken
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  Speaker 1: bridge abreast of the town, which he was repairing, and
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  Speaker 1: I was among the first to cross over and enter
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  Speaker 1: the town by and before the time either forces or
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  Speaker 1: Giles a Smith's skirmishers entered the place, several stores were
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  Speaker 1: on fire, and I am sure that some of the
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  Speaker 1: townspeople told me that a jew merchant had set fire
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  Speaker 1: to his own cotton and store, and from this the
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  Speaker 1: fire had spread. This, however, was soon put out, and
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  Speaker 1: the seventeenth Corps General Blair occupied the place during the night.
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  Speaker 1: I remember to have visited a large hospital on the
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  Speaker 1: hill near the railroad depot, which was occupied by the
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  Speaker 1: orphaned children who had been removed from the asylum in Charleston.
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  Speaker 1: We gave them protection and I think some provisions. The
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  Speaker 1: railroad and depot were destroyed by order, and no doubt
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  Speaker 1: a good deal of cotton was burned, for we all
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  Speaker 1: regarded cotton as hostile property, a thing to be destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: General Blair was ordered to break up this railroad forward
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  Speaker 1: to the point where it crossed the sand Tee, and
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  Speaker 1: then to turn for Columbia. On the morning of the thirteenth,
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  Speaker 1: I again joined the fifteenth Corps, which crossed the North
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  Speaker 1: Adisto by Snilling's Bridge and moved straight for Columbia around
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  Speaker 1: the head of Caucau Swamp. Orders were sent to all
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  Speaker 1: the columns to turn for Columbia, where it was supposed
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  Speaker 1: the enemy had concentrated all the men they could from Charleston, Augusta,
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  Speaker 1: and even from Virginia. That night I was with the
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  Speaker 1: fifteenth Corps twenty one miles from Columbia, where my aide,
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Audenrieg, picked up a rebel officer on the road, who,
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  Speaker 1: supposing him to be of the same service with himself,
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  Speaker 1: answered all his questions frankly and revealed the truth that
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  Speaker 1: there was nothing in Columbia, Ubia except Hampton's cavalry. The
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  Speaker 1: fact was that General Hardy and Charleston took it for
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  Speaker 1: granted that we were after Charleston. The rebel troops in
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  Speaker 1: Augustus supposed they were our objective, so they abandoned poor
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  Speaker 1: Columbia to the care of Hampton's cavalry, which was confused
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  Speaker 1: by the rumors that poured in on it, so that
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  Speaker 1: both Beauregard and Wade Hampton, who were in Columbia, seemed
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  Speaker 1: to have lost their heads. On the fourteenth, the head
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  Speaker 1: of the fifteenth Corps, Charles R. Woods, Division, approached the
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  Speaker 1: Little Congaree, a broad deep stream tributary to the Main Congaree,
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  Speaker 1: six or eight miles below Columbia. On the opposite side
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  Speaker 1: of this stream was a newly constructed fort, and on
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  Speaker 1: our side a wide extent of old cotton fields which
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  Speaker 1: had been overflowed and was covered with a deep slime.
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  Speaker 1: General Woods had deployed his leading brigade, which was skirmishing forward,
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  Speaker 1: but he reported that the bridge was gone, and that
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  Speaker 1: a considerable force of the enemy was on the other side.
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  Speaker 1: I directed General Howard or Logan to send a brigade
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  Speaker 1: by a circuit to the left to see if this
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  Speaker 1: stream could not be crossed higher up. But at the
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  Speaker 1: same time knew that General Slocum's route would bring him
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  Speaker 1: to Columbia behind this stream, and that his approach would
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  Speaker 1: uncover it. Therefore there was no need of exposing much life.
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  Speaker 1: The brigade, however, found means to cross the little Congaree,
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  Speaker 1: and thus uncovered the passage by the main road, so
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  Speaker 1: that General Woods skirmishers at once passed over, and a
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  Speaker 1: party was set to work to repair the bridge, which
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  Speaker 1: occupied less than an hour. When I passed over with
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  Speaker 1: my whole staff, I found the new fort unfinished and unoccupied,
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  Speaker 1: but from its parapet could see over some old fields
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  Speaker 1: bounded to the north and west by hills skirted with timber.
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  Speaker 1: There was a plantation to our left about half a mile,
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  Speaker 1: and on the edge dge of the timber was drawn
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  Speaker 1: up a force of rebel cavalry of about a regiment,
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  Speaker 1: which advanced and charged upon some of our foragers who
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  Speaker 1: were plundering the plantation. My aide, Colonel Outenried, who had
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  Speaker 1: ridden forward, came back somewhat hurt and bruised for observing
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  Speaker 1: this charge of cavalry. He had turned for us, and
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  Speaker 1: his horse fell with him in attempting to leap a ditch.
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  Speaker 1: General Wood Skirmish Line met this charge of cavalry and
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  Speaker 1: drove it back into the woods and beyond. We remained
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  Speaker 1: on that ground during the night of the fifteenth, and
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  Speaker 1: I camped on the nearest dry ground behind the little Congaree,
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  Speaker 1: where on the next morning were made the written orders
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  Speaker 1: for the government of the troops while occupying Columbia. These
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  Speaker 1: are dated February sixteenth, eighteen sixty five. In these words,
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  Speaker 1: General Howard will cross the Saluda and Broad Rivers as
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  Speaker 1: near their mouths as possible, occupy Columbia, destroy the public buildings, railroad,
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  Speaker 1: proper manufacturing and machine shops, but will spare libraries, asylums,
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  Speaker 1: and private dwellings. He will then move to Winnsboro, destroying
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  Speaker 1: en route entirely that section of the railroad. He will
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  Speaker 1: also cause all bridge trestles, water tanks and depots on
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  Speaker 1: the railroad back to the water riy to be burned,
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  Speaker 1: Switches broken, and other destruction as he can find time
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  Speaker 1: to accomplish consistent with proper celerity. These instructions were embraced
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  Speaker 1: in General Order Number twenty six, which prescribe the routes
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  Speaker 1: of march for the several columns as far as Fayetteville,
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina, and is conclusive that I then regarded Columbia
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  Speaker 1: as simply one point on our general route of march,
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  Speaker 1: and not as an important conquest. During the sixteenth of February,
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  Speaker 1: the fifteenth Corps reached the point opposite Columbia and pushed
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  Speaker 1: on for the Saluta factory three miles above. Crossed that stream,
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  Speaker 1: and the head of column reached Broad River just in
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  Speaker 1: time to find its bridge in Flames, Butler's cavalry having
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  Speaker 1: just passed over into Columbia. The head of Slocum's column
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  Speaker 1: also reached the point opposite Columbia the same morning, but
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  Speaker 1: the bulk of his army was back at Lexington. I
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  Speaker 1: reached this place early in the morning of the sixteenth
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  Speaker 1: met General Slocomb there and explained to him the purport
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  Speaker 1: of General Order Number twenty six, which contemplated the passage
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  Speaker 1: of his army across Broad River. At Alston fifteen miles
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  Speaker 1: above Columbia. Riding down to the river bank, I saw
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  Speaker 1: the wreck of the large bridge, which had been burned
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  Speaker 1: by the enemy, with its many stone piers still standing,
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  Speaker 1: but the superstructure gone. Across the Congaree River lay the
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  Speaker 1: city of Columbia in plain easy view. I could see
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  Speaker 1: the unfinished state House, a handsome granite structure, and the
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  Speaker 1: ruins of the railroad depot, which were still smoldering. Occasionally
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  Speaker 1: a few citizens or cavalry could be seen running across
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  Speaker 1: the streets, and quite a number of Negroes were seemingly
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  Speaker 1: busy in carrying off bags of grain or meal, which
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  Speaker 1: were piled up near the burned depot. Captain de Grace
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  Speaker 1: had a section of his twenty pound parrot guns unlimbered,
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  Speaker 1: firing into the town. I asked him what he was
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  Speaker 1: firing for. He said he could see some rebel cavalry
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  Speaker 1: occasionally at the intersections of the streets, and he had
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  Speaker 1: an idea that there was a large force of infantry
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  Speaker 1: concealed on the opposite bank, lying low, in case we
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  Speaker 1: should attempt to cross over directly into the town. I
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  Speaker 1: instructed him not to fire any more into the town,
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  Speaker 1: but consented to his bursting a few shells near the
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  Speaker 1: depot to scare away the Negroes who were appropriating the
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  Speaker 1: bags of corn and meal which we wanted. Also to
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  Speaker 1: fire three shots at the unoccupied state house. I stood
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  Speaker 1: by and saw these fired, and then all firing ceased.
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  Speaker 1: Although so this matter of firing into Columbia has been
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  Speaker 1: the subject of much abuse and investigation, I have yet
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  Speaker 1: to hear of any single person having been killed in
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  Speaker 1: Columbia by our cannon. On the other hand, the night before,
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  Speaker 1: when Woods's division was in camp in the open fields
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  Speaker 1: at Little Congaree, it was shelled all night by a
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  Speaker 1: rebel battery from the other side of the river. This
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  Speaker 1: provoked me much at the time, for it was wanton mischief,
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  Speaker 1: as Generals Beauregard and Hampton must have been convinced that
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  Speaker 1: they could not prevent our entrance into Columbia. I have
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  Speaker 1: always contended that I would have been justified in retaliating
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  Speaker 1: for this unnecessary act of war, but did not, though
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  Speaker 1: I always characterized it as it deserved. The night of
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  Speaker 1: the sixteenth I camped near an old prison bivouac opposite Columbia,
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  Speaker 1: known to our prisoners of war as Camp Selgram, where
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  Speaker 1: remained the mud hovels and holes in the ground which
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  Speaker 1: our prisoners had made to shelter themselves from the winter's
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: cold and the summer's heat. The fifteenth Corps was then ahead,
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  Speaker 1: reaching to Broad River, about four miles above Columbia. The
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  Speaker 1: seventeenth Corps was behind on the river bank opposite Columbia,
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: and the left wing and cavalry had turned north toward Alston.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning viz. February seventeenth, I rode to the
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  Speaker 1: head of General Howard's column and found that during the
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  Speaker 1: night he had ferried Stone's Brigade of Woods division of
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  Speaker 1: the fifteenth Corps across by rafts made of the pontoons,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: and the brigade was then deployed on the opposite bank
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  Speaker 1: to cover the construction of a pontoon bridge nearly finished.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: I sat with General Howard on a log, watching the
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  Speaker 1: men lay this bridge, and about nine or ten a
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  Speaker 1: m a messenger came from Colonel Stone on the other side,
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  Speaker 1: saying that the mayor of Columbia had come out of
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  Speaker 1: the city to surrender the place and asked for orders.
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  Speaker 1: I simply remarked to General Howard that he had his
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: orders to let Colonel Stone go on into the city,
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  Speaker 1: and that we would follow as soon as the bridge
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  Speaker 1: was ready. By this same messenger, I received a note
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  Speaker 1: in pencil from the Lady Superioress of a convent or
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  Speaker 1: school in Columbia, in which she claimed to have been
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  Speaker 1: a teacher in a convent in Brown County, Ohio at
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  Speaker 1: the time my daughter Minnie was a pupil there, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore asking special protection. My recollection is that I gave
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  Speaker 1: the note to my brother in law, Colonel Ewing, then
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  Speaker 1: Inspector General on my staff, with instructions to see this
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  Speaker 1: lady and assure her that we contemplated no destruction of
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  Speaker 1: any private property in Columbia at all. As soon as
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  Speaker 1: the bridge was done, I led my horse over it,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: followed by my whole staff. General Howard accompanied me with
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  Speaker 1: his and General Logan was next in order, followed by
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  Speaker 1: General C. R. Woods and the whole of the fifteenth Corps.
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  Speaker 1: Ascending the hill hill, we soon emerged into a broad
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: road leading into Columbia, between old fields of corn and cotton,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: and entering the city, we found seemingly all its population
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  Speaker 1: white and black. In the streets. A high and boisterous
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: wind was prevailing from the north, and flakes of cotton
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: were flying about in the air and lodging in the
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: limbs of the trees, reminding us of a northern snowstorm.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: Near the market square, we found Stone's brigade halted with
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: arm stacked, and a large detail of his men, along
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: with some citizens, engaged with an old fire engine, trying
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: to put out the fire in a long pile of
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: burning cotton bales, which I was told had been fired
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: by the rebel cavalry. On withdrawing from the city that morning,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: I know that to avoid this row of burning cotton bales,
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: I had to ride my horse on the sidewalk in
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  Speaker 1: the market square. Had collected a large crowd of whites
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  Speaker 1: and blacks, among whom was the mayor of the city,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: doctor Goodwin, quite a respectable old gentleman who was extremely
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: anxious to protect the interests of the citizens. He was
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: on foot and I on horseback, and it is probable
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  Speaker 1: I told him then not to be uneasy, that we
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: did not intend to stay long and had no purpose
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: to injure the private citizens or private property. About this
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: time I noticed several men trying to get through the
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: crowd to speak with me and called to some black
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: people to make room for them. When they reached me,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: they explained that they were officers of our army who
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: had been prisoners, had escaped from the rebel prison and guard,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: and were of course overjoyed to find themselves safe with us.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I told them that as soon as things settled down,
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: they should report to General Howard, who would provide for
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: their safety and enable them to travel with us. One
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: of them handed me a paper, asking me to read
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: it at my leisure. I put it in my breast
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  Speaker 1: pocket and rode on. General Howard was still with me,
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  Speaker 1: and riding down the street which led to the right
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: to the Charleston Depot. We found it and a large
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: store house burned to the ground, but there were on
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  Speaker 1: the platform and ground near by piles of cotton bags
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: filled with corn and corn meal, partially burned. A detachment
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: of Stone's Brigade was guarding this and separating the good
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: from the bad. We rode along the railroad track some
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: three or four hundred yards to a large foundry when
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: some men rode up and said the rebel cavalry were
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: close by, and he warned us that we might get shot.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: We accordingly turned back to the market Square, and en
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: route noticed that several of the men were evidently in liquor.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: When I called General Howard's attention to it, he left
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: me and rode toward General Woods's head of column, which
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: was defiling through the town. On reaching the market square,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: I again met Doctor Goodwin and inquired where he proposed
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: to quarter me, and he said that he had selected
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the house of Blanton duncan Esquire, a citizen of Louisville, Kentucky,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: then a resident there, who had the contract for manufacturing
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the Confederate money, and had fled with Hampton's cavalry. We
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: all rode some six or eight squares back from the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: new State House and found a very good modern house,
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: completely furnished with stabling and a large yard. Took it
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: as our headquarters and occupied it during our stay. I
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: considered General Howard as in command of the place, and
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: referred the many applicants for guards and protection to him.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Before our headquarters wagons had got up, I strolled through
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: the streets of Columbia, found sentinels posted at the principal intersections,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: and generally good order prevailing, but did not again return
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: to the main street because it was filled with a
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: crowd of citizens watching the soldiers marching by. During the
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: afternoon of that day, February seventeenth, the whole of the
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: fifth teenth Corps passed through the town and out on
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: the Camden and Winnsborough's roads. The seventeenth Corps did not
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: enter the city at all, but crossed directly over to
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the Winnsboro Road from the Pontoon Bridge at Broad River,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: which was about four miles above the city. After we
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: had got as it were settled in Blanton Duncan's house,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: say about two p m. I overhauled my pocket according
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to custom, to read more carefully the various notes and
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: memoranda received during the day, and found the paper which
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: had been given me as described by one of our
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: escaped prisoners. It proved to be the song of Sherman's
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: March to the Sea, which had been composed by Adjutant S. H. M.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Byers of the fifth Iowa Infantry, when a prisoner in
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: the asylum at Columbia, which had been beautifully written off
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: by a fellow prisoner and handed to me in person.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: This appeared to me so good that I at once
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: sent for buyers attached him to my staff provided him
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: with horse and equipment, and took him as far as Fayetteville,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: North Carolina, whence he was sent to Washington as bearer
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of despatches. He is now United States Consul at Zurich, Switzerland,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: where I have since been his guest. I insert the
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: song here for convenient reference and preservation. Bayer said that
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: there was an excellent glee club among the prisoners in Columbia,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: who used to sing it well, with an audience often
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: of rebel ladies. Shermans Marched to the Sea composed by
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Adjutant byers fifth Iowa Cavalry, arranged and sung by the
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: prisoners in Columbia prison One. Our camp fire shone bright
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: on the mountain that frowned on the river below, as
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: we stood by our guns in the morning and eagerly
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: watched for the foe. When a rider came out of
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the darkness that hung over mountain and tree, and shouted,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: boys up and be ready for sherman will march to
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: the sea. Chorus then sang we a song of our
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: chieftain that echoed over river and lee, and the stars
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: of our banner shone brighter when Sherman marched down to
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the sea. Two. Then cheer upon cheer four bold Sherman
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: went up from each valley and glen, and the bugles
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: re echoed the music that came from the lips of
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the men. For we knew that the stars in our banner,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: more bright in their splendor would be, and that blessings
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: from Northland world greet us. When Sherman marched down to
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: the sea. Then sang we a song et cetera. Three.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Then forward, boys, forward to battle. We marched on our
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: wearisome way we stormed the wild hills of Rasarkar. God
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: blessed those who fell on that day. Then Kennesaw, frowned
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: in its glory, frowned down on the flag of the Free.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: But the east and the west bore our standard, and
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Sherman marched on to the sea. Then sang we a
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: song et cetera. Four. Still onward we pressed till our
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: banners swept out from Atlanta's grim walls, and the blood
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: of the patriot dampened the soil where the traitor flag falls.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: But we paused not to weep for the fallen who
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: slept by each river and tree. Yet we twined them
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: a wreath of the laurel as sherman marched down to
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: the sea. Then sang we a song et cetera five O.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Proud was our army that morning, that stood where the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: pine darkly towers. When Sherman said, boys, you are weary,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: but to day, fair savannah is ours. Then sang we
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the song of our chieftain that echoed over river and lee,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and the stars in our banner shone brighter. When Sherman
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: camped down by the sea. Toward evening of February seven, seventeenth,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the Mayor, Doctor Goodwin, came to my quarters at Duncan's House,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: and remarked that there was a lady in Columbia who
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: professed to be a special friend of mine. On his
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: giving her name, I could not recall it, but inquired
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: as to her maiden or family name. He answered, Poias.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It so happened that when I was a lieutenant at
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: Fort Moultrie in eighteen forty two forty six, I used
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: very often to visit a family of that name on
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the east branch of Cooper River, about forty miles from
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Fort Moultrie, and to hunt with a son, mister James Poyas,
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: an elegant young fellow and a fine sportsman. His father, mother,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: and several sisters composed the family and were extremely hospitable.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: One of the ladies was very fond of painting and
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: water colors, which was one of my weaknesses, and on
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: one occasion I had presented her with a volume treating
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: of water colors. Of course, I was glad to renew
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: the acquaintance and proposed to Doctor Goodwin that we we
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: should walk to her house and visit this lady, which
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: we did. The house stood beyond the Charlotte Depot in
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: a large lot, was of frame with a high porch
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: which was reached by a set of steps. Outside. Entering
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: this yard, I noticed ducks and chickens, and a general
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: air of peace and comfort that was really pleasant to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: behold at that time of universal desolation. The lady in
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: question met us at the head of the steps and
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: invited us into a parlor, which was perfectly neat and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: well furnished. After inquiring about her father, mother, sisters, and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: especially her brother James, my special friend, I could not
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: help saying that I was pleased to notice that our
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: men had not handled her house and premises as roughly
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: as was their wont I owe it to you General
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: she answered, not at all. I did not know you
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: were here till a few minutes ago. She reiterated that
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: she was indebted to me for the perfect safety of
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: her house and property, and added, you remember when you
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: were at our house on Cooper River in eighteen forty five,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: you gave me a book, And she handed me the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: book in question, on the fly leaf of which was
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: written to Miss Poyas with the compliments of W. T. Sherman,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: First Lieutenant, Third Artillery. She then explained that as our
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: army approached Columbia, there was a doubt in her mind
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: whether the Terrible Sherman who was devastating the land were W. T.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Sherman or T. W. Sherman, both known to be generals
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: in the Northern Army, but on the supposition that he
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: was her old acquaintance. When Wade Hampton's cavalry drew out
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: of the city, calling out that the Yankees were coming,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: she armed herself with this book and awaited the crisis. Soon,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: the shouts about the market house announced that the Yankees
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: had come. Very soon men were seen running up and
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: down the streets. A parcel of them poured over the
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: fence began to chase the chickens and ducks, and to
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: enter her house. She observed one large man with full
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: beard who exercised some authority, and to him she appealed,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: in the name of his general, what do you know
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: of uncle Billy? Why? She said, when he was a
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: young man, he used to be our friend in Charleston.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: And here's a book he gave me. The officer or
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: soldier took the book, looked at the inscription, and, turning
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: to his fellow, said, boys, that's so, that's uncle Billy's writing,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: for I have seen it often before. He at once
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: commanded the party to stop pillaging, and left a man
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: in charge of the house to protect her until the
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: regular provost guard should be established. I then asked her
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: if the regular guard or sentinel had been as good
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: to her. She assured me that he was a very
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: nice young man, that he had been telling her all
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: about his family in Iowa, and that at that very
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: instant of time he was in another room minding her baby. Now,
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: this lady had good sense and tact, and had thus
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: turned aside a party who, in five minutes more would
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: have rifled her premisses of all that was good to
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: eat or wear. I made her a long social visit,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and before leaving Columbia, gave her a half tierce of
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: rice and about one hundred pounds of ham from our
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: own mess stores. In like manner, that same evening I
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: found in missus Simon's another acquaintance, the wife of the
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: brother of Honorable James Simons of Charleston, who had been
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: Miss Wragge. When Columbia was on fire that night and
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: her house in danger. I had her family and effects
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: carried to my own headquarters, gave them my own room
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and bed, and on leaving Columbia the next day, supplied
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: her with a half barrel of hams and a half
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: tierce of rice. I mentioned these specific facts to show
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: that personally I had no malice or desire to destroy
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: that city or its inhabitants, as is generally believed at
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the South. Having walked over much of the suburbs of
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Columbia in the afternoon, and being tired, I lay down
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: on a bed in Blanton Duncan's house to rest. Soon
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: after dark, I became conscious that a bright light was
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: shining on the walls, and calling some one of my staff,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Major Nichols, I think, to inquire the cause. He said
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: there seemed to be a house on fire down about
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: the market house. The same high wind still prevailed, and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: fearing the consequences, I bade him go in person to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: see if the Provost Guard were doing its duty. He
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: soon returned and reported that the block of buildings directly
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: opposite the burning cotton of that morning was on fire
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and that it was spreading. But he had found General
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: Woods on the ground with plenty of men trying to
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: put the fire out or at least to prevent its extension.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: The fire continued to increase, and the whole heavens became lurid.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: I dispatched messenger after messenger to Generals Howard, Logan and Woods,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: and received from them repeated assurance that all was being
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: done that could be done, but that the high wind
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: was spreading the flames beyond all control. These general officers
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: were on the ground all night, and Hazen's division had
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: been brought into the city to assist Wood's division already there.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: About eleven o'clock at night, I went down town myself,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Colonel Dayton with me. We walked to mister Simons's house,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: from which I could see the flames rising high in
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: the air. And could hear the roaring of the fire.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I advised the ladies to move to my headquarters, had
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: our own headquarters, wagons hitched up and their effects carried
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: there as a place of greater safety. The whole air
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: was full of sparks and a flying masses of cotton, shingles,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: et cetera, some of which were carried four or five
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: blocks and started new fires. The men seemed generally under
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: good control, and certainly labored hard to girdle the fire
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: to prevent its spreading, but so long as the high
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: wind prevailed, it was simply beyond human possibility. Fortunately, about
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: three or four a m. The wind moderated, and gradually
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the fire was got under control. But it had burned
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: out the very heart of the city, embracing several churches,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: the old state House, and the school or asylum of
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: that very sister of Charity who had appealed for my
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: personal protection. Nickerson's Hotel, in which several of my staff
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: were quartered, was burned down, but the houses occupied by myself,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: Generals Howard and Logan were not burned at all. Many
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: of the people thought that this fire was deliberately planned
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: and executed. This is not true. It was accidental, and
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: in my judgment, began with the cotton which General Hampton's
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: men had set fire to on leaving the city, whether
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: by his orders or not, is not material. Which fire
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: was partially subdued early in the day by our men,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: but when night came, the high wind fanded again into
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: full blaze, carried it against the frame houses, which caught
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: like tender and soon spread beyond our control. This whole
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: subject has been thoroughly and judicially investigated in some cotton
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: cases by the Mixed Commission on American and British Claims
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: under the Treaty of Washington, Which commission failed to award
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: a verdict in favor of the English claimants, and thereby
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: settled the fact that the destruction of property in Columbia
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: during that night did not result from the acts of
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: the General Government of the United States, that is to say,
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: from my army. In my official report of this conflagration,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and confess
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: I did so pointedly to shake the faith of his
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: people in him, for he was, in my opinion, boastful
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: and professed to be the special champion of South Carolina.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: The morning sun one of February eighteenth rose bright and
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: clear over a ruined city. About half of it was
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: in ashes and in smoldering heaps. Many of the people
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: were houseless and gathered in groups in the suburbs or
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: in the open parks and spaces around their scanty piles
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: of furniture. General Howard, in concert with the Mayor, did
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: all that was possible to provide other houses for them,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: and by my authority, he turned over to the Sisters
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: of Charity, the Methodist College, and to the mayor five
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: hundred beef cattle to help feed the people. I also
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: gave the mayor, doctor Goodwin, one hundred muskets with which
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: to arm a guard to maintain order after we should
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: leave the neighborhood. During the eighteenth and nineteenth we remained
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: in Columbia. General Howard's troops engaged in tearing up and
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: destroying the railroad back toward the waterree, while a strong
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: detail under the immediate supervision of Colonel O. M. Poe
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: United States engineers, destroyed the state arsenal, which was found
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: to be well supplied with shot, shell and ammunition. These
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: were hauled in wagons to the Saluta River under the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: supervision of Colonel Baylor, Chief of Ordnance, and emptied into
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: deep water, causing a very serious accident by the bursting
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of a percussion shell as it struck another on the
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: margin of the water. The flame followed back a train
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: of powder which had sifted out, reached the wagons still
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: partially loaded, and exploded them, killing sixteen men and destroying
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: several wagons and teams of mules. We also destroyed several
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: valuable founderies and the factory of Confederate money. The dies
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: had been carried away, but about sixty hand presses remained.
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: There was also found an immense quantity of money in
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: various stages of manufacture, which our men spent and gambled
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: with in the most level manner. Having utterly ruined Columbia,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the right wing began its march northward toward Winnsboro on
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: the twentieth, which we reached on the twenty first, and
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: found General Slocombe with the left wing, who had come
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: by way of Alston. End of section seven. End of
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Sherman's March to the Sea and the Burning of Columbia,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: South Carolina from his Memoirs by William Tacumsa Sherman