and soon the sack of the town was universal. Guards were, in
general, sent to those of the citizens who applied for them, but
in numerous instances they proved to be unable or unwilling to
perform the duty assigned them. Scarcely a single household or
family escaped altogether from being plundered. The streets of
the town were densely filled with thousands of Federal soldiers,
drinking, shouting, carousing, and robbing the defenseless inhabi-
tants, without reprimand or check from their officers; and this
state of things continued until night. Tn some instances guards
were refused. Papers and property of great value w^ere in the



334 Stories or the Confederacy

vaults of one of the city banks, while the apartments above and
in the rear were occupied by women and children with their food
and clothing. For a guard to protect them, application was made
by one of our worthiest and most respectable citizens, Edwin J.
Scott, Esq., first to the general officer, who had received the sur-
render of the town. Colonel Stone, and then to the Provost Mar-
shal, Major Jenkins. The response made to the applicant by the
former officer, though standing idle in the crowd, was tiiar nc
"had no time to attend to him," and the answer of the latter
was, "I cannot undertake to protect private property." Between
two and three o'clock P. M., General Sherman in person rode
into Columbia, informed the mayor that his letter had been
received, and promised protection to the town. Extraordinarv
license was allowed to his soldiers by General Sherman. In the
afternoon of the 17th of February, 1865, and shortly after his
arrival in Columbia, the mayor of the town, at the request of
General ^lerman, accompanied him on a visit to a lady of his
acquaintance. While proceeding to her residence, General Sher-
man began to express his opitiion very freely upon the subject of
our institution of slavery. In the midst of his remarks he was
interrupted by the sudden and near report of a musket. Imme-
diately before them, in the direction they were going, they
observed a group of Federal soldiers seeming to be excited, and
upon approaching they saw a negro lying dead directly in their
path, being shot through the heart. "General Sherman (the
mayor. Dr. T. J. Goodwyn, narrates) asked of the soldiers: 'How
came the negro shot?' And was answered that the negro had been
guilty of great insolence to them, and that thereupon General
Sherman remarked : 'Stop this, boys. This is all wrong. Take
away the body and bury it.' "General Sherman," continues the
mayor, "then stepped over the body of the negro, and observing
to the deponent that 'in quiet times such a thing ought to be
noticed, but in times like this it could not be done,' General Sher-
man resumed his conservation in relation to slavery, and no arrest
was ordered or any censure or reprimand uttered by him, except
as above stated. About sundown," as the mayor deposes, "Gen-
eral Sherman said to him : 'Go home, and rest assured that your
city will be as safe in my hands as if you had controlled it' " He
added, that he was "compelled to burn some of the public build-



Destiu I Tiox OF Columbia 335

iiiiis. uikI in .so doiii^ did not wish to destroy one particle of pri-
vate property. This evening," he said, "was too windy to do any-
thingf." An esteenieil clerjrynian. Rev. A. Toomer Porter, testifies
that the same afternoon, between six and seven oVh)clv, General
Sherman said to him: "You must know a great many ladies — go
around and tell them to go to bed quietly: they will not be dis-
turbed any more than if my army was one hundred miles off."
He seemed oblivious of the fact that we had l)een pillaged and
insulted the whole day. In one hour's time the city was in
flames.

Meanwhile the soldiers of General Sherman had burned, that
afternoon, many houses in the environs of the town, including
the dwelling of General Hampton, with that of his sisters,
formerly the residence of their father, and once the seat of
genial and princely hospitality. Throughout the chay, after they
had nuirched into the town, the soldiers of General Sherman
gave distinct and frequent notice to the citizens of the inqjend-
ing calamity, usually in the form of fierce and direct threats, but
occasionally as if in kindly forewarning. A lady of rare worth
and intelligence, and of high social position, Mrs. L. S. McCord,
relates the following incident: "One of my maids brought me a
pa))er. left, she told me. by a Yankee soldier: it was an ill-spelled
but kindly wai-ning of the horrors to come, written upon a torn
sheet of my dead son's note book, which, with private papers of
everv kind, now strewed my yard. It was signed by a lieutenant,
of what company and regiment I did not take note. The writer
said he had relatives and friends at the South, and that he felt
for us: that his heart bled to think of what was thi'eatening.
'Ladies,' he wrote, 'I pity you. Leave this town — go anywhere to
be safer than here.' This was written in the morning, the fires
were in the evening and night." One of our citizens, of great
intelligence and respectability, William IL Orchard, was visited,
about seven P. M., by a squad of some six or seven soldiers, to
whose depredations he submitted with a composure that seemed
to impress their leader. Of his conversation with this person,
the gentleman referred to testifies as follows: "On leaving the
yard he called to me, and said he wished to speak to me alone.
He then said to me in an undertone: 'You seem to be a clever sort
of a man, and have a large family, so I will give you some advice:



336 Stories of the Confederacy

if yon have anything you wish to save, take care of it at once, for

before morning this d d town will be in ashes — every house in

it.' My only reply was: can that be true? He said, 'yes. and, if
you do not believe me, you will be the sufferer; if you watch,
you will see three rockets go up soon, and. if you do not take my
advice, you will see h — 11.' " Within an hour afterwards, three
rockets were seen to ascend from a point in front of the
mayor's dwelling. But a few minutes elapsed before fires, in
swift succession, broke out, and at intervals so distant that they
could not have been communicated from the one to the other. At
various parts of the toAvn, the soldiers of General Sherman, at
the appearance of the rockets, declared that they were the
appointed signal for a general conflagration. The fire companies,
with their engines, promptly repaired to the scene of the fires, and
endeavored to arrest them, but in vain. The soldiers of General
Sherman, w:ith bayonets and axes, pierced and cut the hose, dis-
abled the engines, and prevented the citizens from extinguishing
the flames. The wind was high and blew from the West. The
fires spread and advanced with fearful rapidity, and soon
enveloped the very heart of the town. The pillage, begun upon
the entrance of the hostile forces, continued without cessation
or abatement, and now the town was delivered up to the accumu-
lated horrors of sack and conflagration. The inhabitants were
subjected to personal indignities and outrages. A witness. Cap-
tain W. B. Stanley, testifies that, several times during the night,
he saw the soldiers of General Sherman take from females
bundles of clothing and provisions, o]3en them, appropriate what
they wanted, and throw the remainder into the flames. Men were
violently seized, and threatened with the halter or the pistol to
compel them to disclose where their gold or silver was concealed.
The revered and beloved pastor of one of our churches. Rev.
P. J. Sliand, states that, in the midst and during the progress of
the appalling calamity, above all other noises might be heard the
demoniac and gladsome shouts of the soldiery. Driven from his
home by the flames, with the aid of a servant he was bearing off a
trunk containing the communion plate of his church, his wife
walking by his side, when he was surrounded by five of the
soldiers, who requested him to put down the trunk, and inform
them of its contents — which was done. The sequel he thus nar-



DeSTRI CTIOX OF COLUMIUA 337

rates: "They tlien denianded the key. but. I not haviii*;^ it, they
proceeded in ett'orts to break tlie lock. AMiile four of tliem were
thus engaged, the fifth seized me with his left hand b}^ the collar,
and, presenting a pistol to my breast with his right, he demanded
of me my watch. I had it not about me, but he searched my
pockets thoroughly, and then joined his comrades, who, finding it
impracticable to force open the lock, took up the trunk and car-
ried it away. These men," he adds, "were all perfectly sober."

By three o'clock A. M., on the night of the 17th of February,
1865, more than two-thirds of the town lay in ashes, comprising
the most highly improved and the entire business portion. Thou-
sands of the inhabitants, including women delicately reared,
young children, the aged and the sick, passed that winter night
in the open air, without shelter from the bitter and piercing
blasts. About the hour mentioned (3 o'clock A. M.), another
highly esteemed clergyman. Rev. A. Toomer Porter, personally
known to General Sherman, was at the corner of a street con-
versing with one of his officers on horseback, when General Sher-
man, in citizen's attire, walked up and accosted him. The inter-
view is thus described : "In the bright light of the burning city,
General Sherman recognized me, and remarked : 'This is a horri-
ble sight!' 'Yes,' I replied, 'when you reflect that women and chil-
dren are the victims.' He said, 'Your Governor is responsible for
this.' 'How so?' I replied. 'Whoever heard,' he said, 'of an evacu-
ated city to be left a depot of liquor for an army to occupy? I
found one hundred and twenty casks of whiskey in one cellar.
Your Governor, being a lawyer or a judge, refused to have it
destroyed, because it was private property, and now my men have
got drunk, and have got beyond my control, and this is the result.'
Perceiving the officer on horseback, he said: 'Captain Andrews,
did I not order that this thing should be stopped?' 'Yes, Gen-
eral.' said the Captain, 'but the first division that came in soon got
as drunk as the first regiment that occupied the town.' 'Then, sir,'
said General Sherman, 'go and bring in the second division. I
hold you personally responsible for its immediate cessation.' The
officer darted off, and Sherman bade me good evening. I am sure
it was not more than an hour and a half from the time that Gen-
eral Sherman gave his order, that the city was cleared of the
destro3'ers." From that time until the departure of General

22— s. c.



338 Stories of the Confederacy

Sherman from Columbia (Avith perhaps one or two exceptions),
not another dwelling in it was burned by his soldiers, and, dur-
ing the succeeding days and nights of his occupation, perfect
tranquility prevailed throughout the town. The discipline of his
troops was perfect, the soldiers standing in great awe of their
officers.

That Columbia was burned by the soldiers of General Sher-
man; that the vast majority of the incendiaries were sober; that
for hours they were seen with combustibles firing house after
house, without any atfectation of concealment, and without the
slightest check from their olfcers, is established by proof, full to
repletion, and wearisome from its very superfluity. After the
destruction of the town, his officers and men openly approved of
its burning, an4 exulted in it. "I saw," deposes the mayor, "very
few drunken soldiers that night ; many who appeared to sympa-
thize with our people told me that the fate and doom of Columbia
had been common talk around their camp-fires ever since they
left Savannah.*' It was said by numbers of the soldiers that the
order had been given to burn down the city. There is strong evi-
dence that such an order was actually issued in relation to the
house of General John S. Preston. The Ursuline Convent was
destroyed by the fire, and the proof referred to comes from a
revered and honored member of that holy Sisterhood, the Mother
Superior, and it is subjoined in her own words: "Our convent
was consumed in the general conflagration of Columbia. Our-
selves and pupils were forced to fly, leaving provisions, clothing
and almost everything. We spent the night in the open air in the
church yard. On the following morning. General Sherman made
us a visit, expressed his regret at the burning of our convent,
disclaimed the act, attributing it to the intoxication of his
soldiers, and told me to choose any house in town for a convent,
and it should be ours. He deputed his Adjutant-General, Colonel
Ewing, to act in his stead. Colonel Ewing reminded us of Gen-
eral Sherman's offer to give us any house in Columbia we might
choose for a convent. We have thought of it, said we, and of
asking for General Preston's house, which is large. 'That is
where General Logan holds his headquarters,' said he, 'and orders
have already been given. I know^, to burn it tomorrow morning;
but, if you say you will take it for a convent, I will speak to the



Destrittiox of Columbia ' 339

fjenoral. and the order will he countermanded.' On the following
morning, after many inquiries, we learned from the officer in
charge (General Perry. I think.) that his orders were to fire it,
indess the Sisters were in actual posse^ssion of it, but, if even a
'detachment of Sisters" weiv in it, it should be spared on their
account. Accordingly, we look possession of it, although fires
were already kindled near, and the servants were carrying off
the bedding and furniture, in view of the house being consigned
to the flames.""

Although actual orders for the burning of the town may not
have been given, the soldiers of General Sherman certainly
believed that its destruction would not be dis))leasing to him.
That such was their iin])ressi()n. we have the atithority of a per-
sonage not less distinguished than the officer of highest raidv in
the army of invaders, next after the Commander-in-Chief him-
self. The proof is beyond im])eachment. It comes from the
honored pastor of one of our city churches. Rev. P. J. Shand. to
whom reference has already been made, and it is thus expressed
in his written statement, in the possession of the committee: "As
well as I recollect, in Xovember. 180/), I went, in company with a
friend, to see General Howard, at his headquarters in Charleston,
on matters of business. Before we left, the conversation turned
on the destruction of Columbia. General Howard expressed his
regret at the occurrence, and added the following words:
'Though General Sherman did not order the burning of the
town. yet. somehow or other, the men had taken up the idea that,
if they destroyed the capital of South Carolina, it would be
peculiarly gratifying to General Sherman.' These were his
words, in the order in which I have set them forth. I noted them
down as having great significancy, and they are as fresh in my
remembrance as they w-ere immediately after they were spoken.
My friend (whose recollection accords fully with my own) and
myself, on our way home, talked the matter over, and could not
but l)e struck by the two following facts: First, that although
(xeneral Howard said that General Sherman did not order the
burning, he did not state that General Sherman gave orders that
the city should not he hurned. Second, that it was surprising, if
General Sherman was opposed to the burning, that his oppo-
sition shoidd have been so disguised as to lead to the conviction.



340 Stories of the Confederacy

on the part of his soldiery, that the act, so far from incurring
his disapprobation or censure, would be a source to him of pecu-
liar gratification/'

The cotton bales in the town had been placed in the center of
the wide streets, in order to be burned to prevent their falling into
the possession of the invaders. But, upon General Hampton's
suggesting that this might endanger the town, and that, as the
South Carolina Railroad had been destroyed, the cotton could not
be removed. General Beauregard, upon this representation,
directed General Hampton to issue an order that the cotton should
not be burned. The proof of this fact is to be found in the writ-
ten statement of General Beauregard himself. Accordingly, and
in due time, the order forbidding the burning of the cotton was
issued by General Hampton, and communicated to the Confeder-
ate troops. The officer then acting as General Hampton's Adju-
tant (Captain Rawlins Lowndes) speaks as follows: "Soon after
General Hampton assumed command of the cavalry, which he
did on the morning of the 17th of February, he told me that
General Beauregard had determined not to burn the cotton, as
the Yankees had destroyed the railroad, and directed me to issue
an order that no cotton should be fired. This I did at once, and
the same order was extended to the cavalry throughout their
march through South and North Carolina." The general officer
commanding the division forming the rear guard of the Confed-
erate cavalry. General M. C. Butler, deposes, that he was person-
ally present with the rear squadron of his division : that Lieuten-
ant-General Wade Hampton withdrew, simultaneously with him,
with a part of this deponent's command, and that General Hamp-
ton, on the morning of the evacuation, and the day previous,
directed him that the cotton must not be set on fire; and this
order, he adds, was communicated to the entire division, and
strictly observed. A clergyman highlj^ esteemed at the North,
as well as at the South, Rev. A. Toomer Porter, thus testifies:
"General Hampton had told me at daylight, in answer to the
the question whether he was going to burn the cotton, 'no, the
wind is high; it might catch something and give Sherman an
excuse to burn this town.' "

"Between eight and nine o'clock, on the morning of the 17th
of February," deposes the mayor, "General Hampton, whilst sit-



Destruction of Columbia 341

tinfr on his horse, observed some. cotton piled, not far off, in the
middle of the streets. He advised me to put a guard over it,
saying: 'Some careless ones by smoking might set it on fire, and
in doing so endanger the city.' From that hour, I saw nothing
more of General Hampton until the war was over."

Not one bale of the cotton had been fired by the Confederate
troops, when they withdrew from Columbia. ''The only thing on
fire, at the time of the evacuation, Avas the depot building of the
South Carolina Railroad, which caught fire accidentally from the
explosion of some ammunition.'' This is the statement of Gen-
eral Beauregard himself. It is sustained by the testimony of the
oflicer, high in rank but higher still in character, who com-
manded the rear guard of the Confederate cavalry, General ]\[. C.
Butler, and is concurred in by other witnesses, comprising officers,
clergymen and citizens; witnesses of such repute, and in such
numl)ers, as to render the proof overwhelming.

The fire at the South Carolinat depot burnt out without extend-
ing to any other buildings. Shortly after the first detachment of
General Sherman's troops had entered the town, and. whilst the
men were seated, or reclining, on the cotton bales in INIain street,
and passing to and fro along them with lighted cigars and pipes,
the row of cotton bales between Washington and Lady streets
otuight fire, the bales being badly packed, with the cotton protrud-
ing from them. The flames extended swiftly over the cotton, and
the fire companies, Avith their engines, were called out, and by
one o'clock P. M. the fire was effectually extinguished. While the
fire companies were engaged about the cotton, an alarm was given
of fire in the jail, and, one of the engines being sent there, the
flames were soon subdued, Avith slight injury only to one of the
cells. "About five o'clock in the afternoon," as deposed to b}^ a
Avitness, Mrs. E. Squier, "the cotton bales in Sumter street,
betAveen Washington and Lady streets, Avere set on fire by Gen-
eral Sherman's wagon train, then jjassing along the cotton." But
that fire was soon extinguished by the efforts of the Avitness
referred to, and her family.

"I saAv," says a Avitness, John McKenzie, Esq., "fire balls thrown
out of the wagons against Hon. W. F. DeSaussure's house, but
Avithout doing any damage." No other fires in the toAvn occurred
until after night, Avhen the general conflagration began. As



342 Stories of the Confederacy

already stated, the wind blew from the West, but the fires after
night broke out first on the west of Main and Sumter streets,
where the cotton bales were placed. "The cotton," it is testified
and proved by Edwin J. Scott, Esq., "instead of burning the
houses, was burnt by them." General Sherman, as has been
shown, on the night of the 17th of February, and while the town
was in flames, ascribed the burning of Columbia to the intoxi-
cation of his soldiers, and to no other cause. On the following
da3\ the 18th of February, the lady to whom reference was first
made, Mrs. L. S. McCord, at the request of a friend, having under-
taken to present a paper to General Howard, sought an inter-
view with that officer, second in command of the invading army,
and found General Sherman with him. Her narrative of a part
of the interview is as follows : "I showed him the paper, which he
glanced at, and then, in a somewhat subdued voice, but standing
so near General Sherman that I think it impossible that the lat-
ter could help hearing him. he said: 'You may rest satisfied,
Mrs. McCord, that there will be nothing of the kind happening
tonight. The truth is, our men last night got beyond our control ;
many of them were shot — many of them were killed; there Avill
be no repetition of these things tonight. I assure you, there will
be nothing of the kind; tonight will be perfectly quiet.' And it
was quiet — peaceful as the grave, the ghost of its predecessor."
"The same day, 18th of February, General Sherman," deposes
the mayor, "sent for me. I went to see him about ten o'clock. He
met me very cordially, and said he regretted very much that our
city was burnt, and that it was my fault. I asked him how ? He
said, in suffering ardent spirits to be left in the city after it was
evacuated, saying: 'Who could command drunken soldiers?'
There was no allusion made to General Hampton, to accident or
to cotton." On the succeeding day, Sunday, 19th February^ 1865,
the mayor and six of the citizens visited General Sherman, in
order to obtain food for the subsistence of the women and chil-
dren, until communication could be had with the country. Gen-
eral Sherman, upon that occasion, talked much. "In the course
of his discourse," deposes one of the gentlemen, Edwin J. Scott,
Esq., "he referred to the burning of the city, admitting it was
done by his troops, but excusing them because, as he alleged,
they had been made drunk by our citizens — one of whom, a drug-



DeSTRICTIOX of ('(tl.lMBIA 343

gist, ho saiil. h;ul brourrht a pail full of spirits to them on their
arrival. Ajrain, on our leaving the room, he expressed regret that
the li(iuor had not been destroyed before his men entered the
l)lac-e: but he never mentioned or alluded in any way to General
Hampton or the cotton, or gave the slightest intimation that they
were instrumental in the destruction of the city. At that time,"
deposes the same witness, "the universal testimony of our people
was. that Sherman's troops burned the town. Since then I have
been in the habit of daily intercourse with all classes in and about
C(dumbia. high and low, rich and poor, male and female, whites
and blacks, yet I have not met with a single person who attributed
the calamity to any other cause. If," he adds, "a transaction that
occurred in the presence of forty or fifty thousand people can
be successfully falsified, then all human testimony is worthless."

As evidence of the general distress and suffering which resulted
from the sack and burning of our city, and the desolation of the
adjacent country, the committee refer to the fact, established by
unimpeachable testimony, that, for about three months, daily
rations, consisting generally of a pint of meal and a small allow-
ance of poor beef, for each person, were dealt out at Columbia to
upwards of 8,000 sufferers.

Of the suffering and distress of the individual inhabitants,
some conception may be collected from the experience of one of
them, Mrs. Agnes Law. a lady more venerable for her virtues
even than for her age, whose narrative, almost entire, we venture
to introduce: "I am seventy-two years old," she deposes, "and