Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 12.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Dear Sir,—At the suggestion of several friends I send you the enclosed interesting extracts from a private letter, written to me, soon after the downfall of the Confederacy, by Captain E. J. Hale, Jr., who was my Assistant-Adjutant General. The Captain is an elegant, educated gentleman, and was as gallant a young officer as ever drew blade in defence of the ‘Lost Cause.’ As editor of the Fayetteville Observer, which was a power in North Carolina during the war, he is now ably following in the footsteps of his staunch, talented and distinguished father.

Yours, very respectfully,

my Dear General:

It would be impossible to give you an adequate idea of the destruction of property in this good old town. It may not be an average instance, but it is one, the force of whose truth we feel only too fully. My father's property, before the war, was easily convertible into about $85 to $100,000 in specie. He has not now a particle of property which will bring him a dollar of income. His office, with everything in it, was burned by Sherman's order. Slocum, who executed the order, with a number of other Generals, sat on the verandah of a hotel opposite watching the progress of the flames, while they hobnobbed over wines stolen from our cellar. A fine brick building adjacent, also belonging to my father, was burned at the same time. The cotton factory, of which he was a large shareholder, was burned, while his bank, railroad, and other stocks are worse than worthless, for the bank stock, at least, may bring him in debt, as the stockholders are responsible. In fact, he has nothing left, besides the ruins of his town buildings and a few town lots which promise to be of little value hereafter, in this desolated town, and are of no value at present, save his residence, which (with brother's house) Sherman