The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1863-04-17
-WANTON DESTRUCTION.

. We are sorry to see the spirit of wanton
mischief SO rife among the soldiers employed
along the coast. jacksonville and Pensacola
have both been destroyed by incendiaries in the
Union army. These are wicked acts, without
any palliation, and do vast harm to the Union
cause. 3 There was nothing which warranted
the destruction Of either town, for they were
both in possession Of Union troops. But upsu
the order to abandon them the soldiers seem to
have set aside all subordination, and in the
very spirit of wantonessfired nearly every house
| in these two devoted towns
Notlanq ,yas spared, and friends or foes ,rers
srred alike. TIE Union citizens Of Jacesoavai,
,rso, under heswpostoa thator troopsAad come
10 stay, manifested their attachment 70 the old ag,
were not tarorsd more than k,iowa synpatiise's
,vith rebelhoa. They were compelled to see their
property burned before their eyes, and many
who were in comfortable homes came away in
our transports without SO much as bed to
sleep upon. The officers in command did what
they could to stop this vandalism, but all to no
purpose. A correspondent Of the Erening
Poa, in giving the particulars Of the destruc-
ton of Jacksonville, says:J 100 siyT a. sns5
sIf General Hunter had desired to do the
State of Florida and the cause of freedom and
Union in South the greatest injury-if he wish
to paralyze the patriotism and destroy the 10y
atty of this people, and blight the hopes of the
State, he could not have adopted a course more
certain of success than the one he had adopted
from the first in regard to this State. This is
now the third time that the people have been
cheated, and the loyal sentiment placed at the
mercy Of the common enemy :" -slA1 4h5slI =
Now this pla e, the best and most fiourlshing
town in East Florida, and the only place achose
citizens and property holders acre generally toyai
has been irretrieyably ruined, and its people
scattered abroad without homes or means OF
present subsistence. Many loyal citizens fur
ther up the river, being assured of protection,
have rendered service, and SO identified them
selves with the Union cause as to outlaw them
with the Rebels and are now abandoned to
/ their tender mercies.-God save the country
and the cause wheressuch things are done in
its name and by its frien s---We copy the a.
bove from the Philadelphia Ledger. When such
sqoyap' papers as the Ledger and the New York
Etsmrg Poa talk thus of the acts of the Union,
army, what should candid papers say? We have
no language to express adherence Of such OUT
RACES as these committed against the people Of
Pensacola and Jacksonville. r 4s.,. ~ ...s...
The mere burning of the homes of defense
less people, in cluding the friends of the Union,
is sufficient to shock thsmoral sense ofmankind
but are we to suppose that this was all ! If as
assured, the soldiers lwhites and negroes) could
not be governed by their officers, is it to be sup
posed that they were satisfied with merely firing
the towns?
We fear that when the truth shall be all told
the burning Of Jacksonville and Pensacola will
appear harmless compared with the accomra-
nying atrocities committed by the black Sepoys,
assisted by the whites of New England.