Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1862-02-18

their Folly.
lTrom the Norfolk Day. Book.l
We are panied to learn that the Hampton
soldiers are still suffering for the want of
many essential articles of comfort and that
they suffer not only in body but in mind.
| Their physical ills have been borne with
| heroic fortitude; but what language can de-
pict the intoerable anguish these trave men
have felt to see their families suffering pri-
| vatione which none of them had ever seen
endured by their slavesl We know few
sadder pictures than this in history, and
! painful as is the task, we shall hold it up to
our readers to day with the hope that after
| gazing upon its forlofn aspect, they will
| inaugurate some mode of alleviating the dis
tress of which we speak. Eight months
| ago Hampton stood embosomed in its green
trees, as fair type of village quiet and pic
turesque beauty as we could wish to look
| upon. For more than two hundred years it
| has adorned the banks of the placid river
beside which it was seated. There the Vir.
ginia navy was organized, and there the
Barrons, whose deeds are worthy the pages
of romance, planned their bold adventures,
ard sailed thence to put them in execution.
The town was rich with its colonial aud
revolutionary histories; not only rich in his
tories and traditions, but rich in all that can
adorn and embellish life Its inhabitants had
something more than the memory of their
ancestors defense when the Indian massacre
swept the colony. They had something
more than the history of the capture of the
British ship Oxford They had something
more than the recollection of the repulse of
Captain Squires, Dunmores Lieutenant
charged with the destruction of the town.
They had something more than the fact that
the church service was, for the first time in
Virginia, read beside their beautiful river
Something beside traditions and histories.
They had peace, plenty, abundance. If you
will turn to the Auditors report, you will
find that the old shire of Elizabeth City was
| rich in all the elements of material prosS
perity. That report (p. 800 shows an aggre-
gate amount Of about two millions and a half
| (S2, 500 0O0), which might really have been
| better represented by three and half ($3,-
| o00O0) inasmuch as the taxation estimate
OF property valuation is always short of the
real market value of any species of estate
| real or personal. In corroboration of this
| view, the census returns show a valuation oil
| three millions two hundred and fifty-seven
thousand five hundred and ninety five dol
lars ($3 595) and q population of five
thousand seven hundred (5,7O0.)
No more conclusive evidence than thi;
could be offered of the substantial comfort
Of that unhappy community than is exhibited
in the stern prose Of the auditor and census
taker. And now all this may be represented
by zero. The fertile fields are growing ul
in brsmbles; The pretty country houses are
deserted, even if still left standing; the cattle
have been Slaughtered by the enemy; The
ebony hued slaves driven into worse bond
age than the Jews suffered in Babylon, and
the town itself stands mournful heap o.
ashes Hampton was burned by order of the
retel General Magruder, traitor who was
fed, clothed and educated by the people o
the United States, at the military school o
West Point. The slaug httring Of the cattle
charged on the Union forces by the Day.
Book, was also done by the rebels.-EDITOH
PRESS Ito attest with pathetic eloquence the
devotion of the people of Hampton to the
name and fame OF Nirginia-to the honor
and interests of the South. Out of the male
lnha0ltants OF mat devoted county, the Con.
iedefate states have day six companies in
service. Ihe Old Dominion Dragons, who
Lave furnished guides to Magruder's Army,
the Nythe kltes, the Lee. Rangers, the
Hampton Grays Smiths Artillery, and Que
company OF militia; all of which were
organized before the war. Nor is this all
mustered IN tor SIX months, they have
Vo,nnteered Ior the war with alacrity, and
only ask that they be allowed TO strike in
oelense oi tne honor OF Virginia until the
ast hostlle 1oot has been driven from her