Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-11-23
HEEEINg VA.sATURDAY MORNING VE5IBER q l85l
.. Shermau's letter

lsented to carry Gen. Sherman letter To-
that clergyman j.! yrsEI ,Gell-4tA ! -e7
"A leIteFifrQm one of the prisoners taken
by US on the 7thfto hisiWife was also given
4 by Lieut. Wagners to the rebel ofieers. So
the ,prtncipal object Of the errand was ac-,
icomplished; the pFoclamatiOu put'into' the
Way OF being seen, and the fact of our be-
ling uneoncerned in thei Beaufort plumber
ling deipItely announced and admltted.TI
No invitation was extended TO Lieut. aga
ner to proceed tuEther, and going nnder 2
flag oftruce, hsioould not ask any permts4
sion. He was cQurteouslY directed on his
return route, and assured that his flag
would be respected. A copy of his letter
lot fcrede1ee WAS takeqsis1ast atithe close
! Of the interyiew the Major commanding the
post came up and was ctYil!iao On their rev
turn thefpArty meta is4RRdtof secession
! cavalry, sFho. gave them fodder 7fot thetr
horses, aud one of lwhpm slunehed WITH
them. No other adventure marked. their
return. 10 vAb sdt 40 iHIufs s-g9ttJai
T,,-t $50 zftsjtisca- gaaz uuE blE nd
A VISIT TO REAUFoRT-GENBRAL PILLAGR
AxD!PLuNDER-soENRs OF bEsOIATIoN. 4
The same correspondents gives 40 aC4i
count of the yisIteOt Commodore Dupont
aud General Sherman, accompanied; BY
Captain Davis, the fleet captain, Captain
John Rodgers and Captain G. P. R Rogers,
of the Wabash, and other officers of the
navy, ON the gunb6at Seneca, Captain Am
men 10 Beaufort, on the 18th. The cores
pondent accompanied the party, and be
thus tells about the place, aRd what he
saw: 9ia' fh - !
4 Ills a small place, occupied III summer
by many of the most wealthy planters in,
South Carolina, who resort to Il for MS de-
licious ocean air; 1000 or more are usual
ly there as late in the season as November,
but 10 the winter the population g not
more than 500, The houses are mostly
wooden, with stnscoed fronts, spacious
yerandahs and high potches; they stand
along the shores in gardens crowded with
orange and lemon trees, fragrant. iessa-'
mines, mAgnollas and huge cactuses, gor-
tgeousin crimson and yellow. -.-.-. !
No sooner had we put foot on shore than
the melancholy experiences of the day be-
i'gAn. AwRr966hse on the wharf had been
broken in and its contents pillaged; the
brelics of stores of food we're strewn around,
empty barrels, broken doors aud windows,
eases OF liquor or oil ovsrseti and wanton
destruction of every sort perpetrated upon
the property, and this was but a sample of
what We were destined to meet at every.
1
| the postoffiee despoiled, and on the door,
steps some fragments only told what had
once been written. Not n white man was
to be seen, besides those Of our own party.
Capt. Rodgers, of the Wabash, immediate-
lly distributed his men around so AS 10
guard against surprise, aud gave strict or
ders that not nm article should be removed
from the village. Negroes whom We .hsd
seen before landing had got away their
plunder, but other sroups lounged atouhd,
touched their hats to us, or in default OF
hats, pulled theirshaggy wool, and seemed
lauxious TO talk. o.I u,
We asked where were the white people.
| HAll gone, massa, gone the day ofthe fight;
loft we behind.n Their story was uniform.
Tho whiteshad fed with the greatest pre-
eipitatton so soon us tho firing Gomme1eed
at Port Royal. Some had left even earlier
batno one NOW Fenlained They ehdeav-
orcd to persuade or force the blacks tn ac-
company tliem, but in vafn. The negroes
thad remained, ind others hnd come from
the surrounding country, aud an indis-
terminate pilIage OF tue village had taken
place. The testimony Of the blacks was
unanimousth thhtthe eniggers" were robbing
and destroying everything they could, get
their kandsSS, until on the 10th, Captain
Ammen, OF; the Seneca Ind arrived, and
his officers threatened to shoot them It
they did not desist. .l
We went through spacious houses where
only week ago families were living in
luxury, and saw their costly furniture des-
poIled; books and papers thrown out on
| the.floors, mirrors broken, safes smashed,
pianos on the sidewalki feather beds ripped
| OPEN and even the filth of the negroes left
/ lyiugiabOut In p6riors aud bed chtinbers-
i The destruction had been wlnton / IN
many INSTANCES m purposes of ptunder
could have been saved. but simply a love
of mischief gratified. The flight must
have been very rapid, for the curtains
were sometimes MT the windows, and in
\ nearly every House the private phpers and
letters remained. Wedding cards aud in
vitations TO dtnnee sometimes layr on 4 .
lrdwinS!rooth table, while the walls were
defaced and the. fuEniture broken all
around, by the slave population. Many OF
the officers went into houses of their
friends. some into mansions. even, where
they. had diued and slept in other days.
Mr. Nat. HeYward's house was one Of the
finest we entered another was thaLiof
Edward Rhett, where Barnwell Rhett him
self had often resided, n IN F!sztsuo I1Iul7
The blacks told us that the rebels re-
turned nearly every day, bat only early III
the morning before sunrIse. and in smAH
numbers. Gens. Dr4yI9n- nua9 i!"n4t's9
were said to have been in Beaufort that
morning with thirty or forty .hqrsemep.oi3
We.cams down the river Slowly shaying
A left two Eunboats near the toWns and stops
lped ON the way TO examine the rsmAius of
4 an old Spanish fort, on the, bproPerty OF
Mr.. John Joyner Smith, and fliyeI oak
4 grove, said to be the finest IN South Caro-
4 lima. The grove is spacious and magnifi-
4 cent beyOhd anything Of the sort to'be seen
elsewhere, The great branching oaks stand
each apart. SO that theiri growth is not obs
structed, md broad PTopeHa1es heneath
4 ih6m lead out to the cotton fields Pen
dant from the bonghs haHgs the paeas4tf-
cal moss which clusters so thiekiy on the
orange, the lemon, the live oak, and the
6g'tFee, and here. aud there on the green