Editor Southern Historical Society Papers:
Reverend and Dear Sir,--While the burning of the
City of
Columbia, S. C., by
General W. T. Sherman of the U. S. Army is still fresh in the memory of your readers, is there not some one, with material at hand who can give through your pages, some account of the various actions of the same kind, committed by the
Federal troops during our late War for Independence?
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Chambersburg Penn., was burned July 30th, 1864, by orders of
General Early in retaliation for the destruction by
General Hunter of the public buildings and private houses at
Lexington, Va., and elsewhere during his infamous raid to
Lynchburg.
Columbia was burned from pure revenge.
The heart-rending accounts of the destruction of
Chambersburg are only exceeded by the terrible sufferings of the impoverished and homeless people of
Columbia.
Chambersburg was the
only town destroyed by the
Confederates, and that was done for a specific purpose.
The record on the other side is in fearful contrast.
In 1862 the following towns within the limits of the
Confederates States were burned in whole or in part by the
Federal army:
Fredericksburg, Va.;
Williamstown, N. C.:
Hamilton, N. C.;
Donaldsonville, Louisiana;
Simsport, Louisiana.
In February, 1864, during the march of
Sherman (whose military career was a success only so far as he destroyed property, for he never won a battle) from
Vicksburg to
Merridan, Miss., with 26,000 men, the following towns were burned in whole or in part:
Merridan, Miss.;
Canton, Miss.;
Okalona, Miss.
Contrast with this, the action of the Confederate army, as they invaded and retired from
Pennsylvania without plunder.
In this march of
Sherman's to
Merridan, he burned 10,000 bales of cotton, 2,000,000 bushels of corn, stole 8,000 slaves, and, according to a Federal writer, destroyed $50,000,000 worth of property, making thousands homeless and destitute.
This was five months before
Chambersburg felt the keen edge of the war. The burning at
Lexington, Va., was six weeks before
Chambersburg was destroyed.
It is stated, on good authority, that during the march through
South Carolina, in which
Sherman burned
Columbia, the following towns in
South Carolina were burned in whole or in part by his troops, without there being any cotton in them to give a colouring to a charge against the
Confederates of having committed the vandalism: Robertville, Grahamsville,
McPhersonville,
Blackville,
Barnwell,
Orangeburg,
Lexington, Winsboro,
Camden,
Lancaster,
Chesterfield,
Cheraw,
Darlington,
Charleston.
In November, 1864,
Sherman destroyed
Atlanta and
Rome, Ga.
Had I the material at hand I would not ask that another should work up this interesting page in our Confederate war; but I am too far from the archives.
I hope some of the facile writers who have added to your pages and who have the archives near by, may tell us how many more towns were burned by the
Federal forces and the circumstances of the destruction of
all that thus fell into the hands of the enemy.
