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Table of Contents:
Chapter
47
: freedmen's aid societies and an act of congress creating a Bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned lands
Chapter
55
:
first
appropriation by congress for the bureau; the reconstruction Act,
March
2
,
1867
; increase of educational work
Chapter
60
: opposition to Bureau and reconstruction work became personal; the
Congregational Church of
Washington
Chapter
62
: life in
Washington, D. C.
,
1866
to
1874
; assigned to duty in regular army as commander,
Department of the Columbia
Chapter
63
: in the
Northwest
, among the
Indians
; trip to
Alaska
; life in
Portland, Ore.
;
1874
to
1881
Chapter
64
: superintendent of the
United States military Academy
; commanding
Department of the Platte
,
Omaha, Neb.
Chapter
68
:
French
army maneuvers,
1884
; promotion to
Major General
,
United States army
,
San Francisco
1886
-
88
[126] box cars; many more had been previously destroyed by the great fire. Also, the buildings belonging to the railroad station-two large freight sheds, including 60 sets of six-mule-team harnesses, 1,000 pounds of trace chains, quantities of nails and spikes; about five tons of railroad machinery, with a large amount of articles of a military character; 650 car wheels; two buildings filled with Confederate stationery; 25 powder mills, the mills being destroyed by being blown up; an armory near the Congaree River, comprising warehouse, machine shops, foundries, and offices; besides the foregoing, an immense amount of ordnance of every description. The smokestacks of six factories were ruined; a shed near the Common, containing ten tons of machinery belonging to the Confederate army, all packed in boxes, was consumed and the machinery broken up. In addition to the above our Ordnance Department used all small arms and ammunition practicable, but destroyed the remainder-perhaps 10,000 small arms and 43 cannon. Of the 10,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 500,000 rounds for small arms, part was taken and part destroyed; also rendered useless infantry and cavalry equipments beyond estimate. Here at Columbia the magazines were ample and well filled. We undertook to get rid of the ammunition, loaded shells and such like, by throwing the same into the river. During this operation a fearful accident occurred, in which we lost in killed and severely wounded not less than 20 men. The magazines themselves, after being depleted sufficiently for safety, were blown to pieces by igniting the powder that remained. A witness, then in Columbia, says: “The explosions of the magazines this evening caused the ”
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