Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1861-11-29

mB3 ny OODluOuuIo OupOue, Wy Oobctnl
Sherman and others, "who had committed
the ravnges we saw" again and again they
answered "the blacks" Twenty different
times myself asked as many different ne
groes, "who had stopped the outrages," t" and
invariably they told me "the Yankees."-I
Some Of the darkies were house servants,
some were old and evidently attached to
their masters, some still remained to look
after the property as well as they were able
and spoke mornfully Of what they had seen
and Of what had been done: but always it
was the blacks who had done it. am
particular in asserting and repeating this
statement, because there can be no doubt
that the outrage will be charged upon Un-
ion troops. But, not only did Capt Am
men find the negroes engaged in the plum
der three days ago, when he first went up
to Beaufort; not only did his officers COM
pei them to desist, but no men were allowed
to land, so that the possibility of an occas-
ional depreciation should be precluded.-
And yesterday the utmost scrupulousness
was exhibited by a similar party who went
through the town, to interfere in no way
with the personal property they discovered.
With the exception of the letters and pa
pers that were taken, with view of obtain
ing information for the military and naval
commanders, and an occasional Southern
flower that a young midshipman plucked
and stuck in his buttonhole, Beaufort re-
mained exactly the Same at our departure
as it was on our arrival.
Indeed but one emotion was experienced,
and but one sentiment expressed by any
member of the party, and that was of the
prcfoundest sadness. We went through
spacious houses where only a week ago fam.
lilies were living in luxury, and saw their
costly furniture despoiled; books and pa
pers thrown out on the floors, mirrors bro
ken, safes smashed; pianoes on the side
walk, feather beds ripped open, and even
the filth of the negroes left lying in parlors
and bed-chambers. The destruction had
been wanton; in many instances no pur-
poses of plunder could have been served,
but simply malicious love of mischief
Igratifed. The fight must have been very
rapid, for the curtins were sometimes at the
windows, and in nearly every house the
private papers and lettersremaiued. We'd
ding cards and invitations to dinner some
times lay on drawingroom table, while
the walls were defaced and the furniture
9 broken all around, by the slave population
said to be so peaceful, so submissive, so sur
to fight for their masters. Many of th
officers went into houses of their friend:
some into mansions, even, where they ha
/ dined and slept in other days. Mr.. Ma
n Heyward's house was one of the finest W
n entered; another was that of Edward Rhet
f where Barnwell Rhett himselfh has often re
!, sided. There seemed retributive justice
: in the fate that rested upon the dwelling o
: this arch rebel; the slave property on who's
: account he had endeavored to overturn hi
y Government, was not only become worth
e less, but absolutely an active and destroy
# ing force directed against his own home
!. and that too, without any instigation or evel
s appreciation from Union troops. Entirel
e Of their own accord have the negroes per
# petrated these enormities. We looke
= through the rooms, so ruthlessly devastated
y and so sadly changed, out on the luxuriar
h gardens, blooming with tropical plants
e and redolent with unfamiliar fragrance, W
e saw the November sun shining on a lane
u scape as warm and genial as our Norther
n fields in June, and thought how miserab
h and speedily has come the punishment {
d those who had planned and perpetrated Il
@ great rebellion.
n The blacks told us that the rebels returl
d ed nearly every day, but only early in th
d morning before sunrise, and in small nun
in bers. Gems. Drayton and Gonzales we
a said to have been in Beaufort that morniu
ly with thirty or forty horsemen. The n
at groes were anxious for US to send gunbo
up in pursuit of them; they volunteered
Dir guide US, and said that the whites werc
h frightened that single gun would dri
rd them away, They told the same ste
be that have heard from at least fifty otl
" blacks whom have talked with in neal
1e every part Of Hilton Island, that the IN,
le ters have in several instances shot at d
III slaves when they refused to follow !hem.-
ed There can be no doubt that much allowan
he must be made for the mendaciousness
70 tho negroes; they are very apt to tell Il
be story they think you wish to hear; still I
IN. detailed information they give in reply
en- questions not at all leading and the una
of unity which could not be concerted, in,
ty cate facts that can hardly be disbeleved.
es Their reports, too, are so often confirm
,s- by what occures within our own observati
he that some reliance may be placed on the
at There can hardly be doubt that I
- whole slave population in this vicinity
he ready to desert its masters; is not oI
Dr. ready and determined to do so, but has dc
ad so already in thousands. 1t is not yet
'as week since the battle, one Of whose resu
. is so tremendous.
to- We came down the river slowly, havi
to left two gunboats near the town, and ste
Or ped on the way to examine the remnants
ed an old Spanish fort, or, tho property of 4
we John Joyner Smith, and live oak gro
th said to be the finest in South Carolina.
ed The grove is spacious and magnificent
le- yond anything of the sort to bo seen cl
nd where. The great branching oaks sta
ere each apart, so that their growth is not
sa, structed, and broad promenades benei
De- them lead out to the cotton fields. P'
cir dant from the boughs hangs the parasit
pi- moss, which clusters so thickly ca
at orange, the lennon, the live-oak, and
ZEN fig tree; and here and there, on the grt
icy sward beneath, the little nigger babies w
he at play. Beyond the grove, which '
pronounced by those familiar with