American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1863-02-06
THE DESTRUCTION AT HOLLY SPRINGS.
HoL.Y sPRINGs, january p. 1868.

life, and have been taught from my earliest youth
to regard with suspicion aud distrust the Puritan
character, II detest and dread the pes fdious New
England fanatic, but experience alone coald have
induced me to believe that there existed the free
States. forming the =. glorious U,sion = an
army amounting to twenty-five or thirty thou sa nd
{ men devoid of the attributes of civilization So
r debased and fendish that the acts committed by
them in this city and county, sanctioned too, BY
nine tenths Of their officers would cause blush of
shame TO mantle the cheeks of the lyantials them.
selves. On the 18th of November 1862 about
thirty thousand men, consisting OF infantry cayal-
~ and artillery, chiefly Illinois troops-seTeral
regiments, however. haiiing from Wisconsin Kan
sas and iowa-passed through city on their
way South, their destination. as they averred
Nieksbnrg. their Intention to wipe out Missis-
siDpi- With grand flourish of trumpets. beating
OF drums. and insolent Haunting of flags in our
faces, they passed on, leaving about two thousand
men as garrison in onr city under the command
of Colonel Murphy. Up to the morning of the
goth of December. which Gen. Van Dorm made
bis brilliant and successful dash upon them they
had accumulated an immense amount of ordnance
and commissary stores. which were deposited in all
the buildings at the railroad depot, consisting of
large and elegant railroad hotel a round house of
great capacity with turning table in the center a
comm0dious depot house extensive blacksmith and
workshop, building for the manufacture of cars
and machinery, aud immense aim6ry covering
eight or ten acres. belonging tc the government :;
IN addition T. this, large stable on the public
square was, like the railroad buildings and armory
filled with ordnance and commissary stores. cloth
ing arms, etc Our merchants were turned out of
their business houses TO accommodate the suffers
/ Of the various regiments, whose stocks were full
and complete these were all destroyed by the gal
liant Van Dorm unfortunately in the des r,icton of
the ordnance stores. Every building at the depot
the armory. the east side and half of the north side
OF the public square, destroyed by the explo-
sion and the fire caused by it, The buildings for
two hundred yards from the courthouse had the
glass broken in the windows, and in the most OF
.hem the sash were shattered to pieces The sur
prise by Gen. Van Dorm occurred very early on
Saturday morning. The Federals manifesting no
desire to tight, laid down their and surrender
ed, except a cavalry company. which sneaked ont
of town, at slow pace, being ready to fly or sur
render, az circumstances occurred. But meeting
with nd Confederates after having moved slowly for
half mile west of town saw the cowardly pol
troons pr spurs to their horses and run for their
lives. Several gentlemen of high position were
eye witnesses to this skedaddIe,'' which Grant in
/ his order lauds highly commendable and de-
dominates cutting their way out II any Fed
ersl officer, on that day, drew his sword. it was to
present the hit and not the point. This is strictly
! true. ard cannot be controversial
1 On Sunday morning. the It'll Kansas cavalry
e" Jayhawkers dashed into town, firing their guns
and pistols. and yelling, =. Here comes the blood
hounds. About midday the infantry came in con-
spicuons among which the LIST Kansas infantry
and the nth Wisconsin, composed of murderers,
thieves and incendiaries. Their first act was to
tear down fences and rush into private residences
breaking open smoke houses store houses and |,
kitchens. While thus engaged, others were pour.
ing into the dwellings, of peaceable and unofend- 1
ing citizens entering by breaking open doors and /
windows, leaping in, and by means Of axes break
ing into wardrobes. bureaus drawers and trunks
and stealing every thing they could lay their hands
on and smashing furniture of every description for
pastime using the most Insulting and obscene
language, threatening the lives of defenseless
ladies', and committing acts too mons trous to be
recorded here Very few dwellings, ped COM
pIcte sackng. Every store in the town was enter
ed and completely rddled; what was not stolen
was entirely destroyed. Iron chests, showcases
and fixtures all destroyed. The pretext for such
that the citizens, particularly the
ladies' manifested their joy at the entrance of Van
Dorm On abiding to the ladies, they invariably
applied to them the vilest epithets. Having done
sill the harm they could, they threatened to burn
the last house in town. How nearly they have ac-
compshed this diabolical design, the haggard ap- J
pearance of our citizens well attest, few if any
Of whom have doged their clothing for the past I
month, but kept a vgilant guard of their premises
night after night. till dawn of day. Every night
we're our terrified citizens admOnished of their dan
yer. the sky being urid with the flames of burning
u
ckening spectacle. Besides the large number of b
esidences reduced to ashes the large and elegant
lotel of Messrs. Bradley and Phillips the square u
$ destroyed by fire. together with number of ad-
AGENT buildings. On the southeast corner of the 8
quaIe two fine store houses were consumed. 1t
Fas not their fault that the entire town was not v
aid waste At least one hundred buildings were
red but extinguished- To the efforts of Col. OF
'oomis. commandment of the post and Lieutenant re
'oionel Gilmore, both of the 10th Illinois regiment
nd Lieutenant Lathrop, of the regiment our 81
tzens are indebted for their untrn assiduty in I'll
harding property aud saving it when fred / am
be more anxious to do justice these officers be- hs
ause they were. with a few others. the only ones
tho did not sympathize with the men and encour 80
&c them in their atrocity. I venture to assert
iat their acts OF barbarism here has parallel in isl
ne civilized world. The churches all shame CT
ny oc~ectateu- lncy entered the Episcopal
hnrch witt axes and destroyed the organ tore up of
ne pews, stole the cushions from the pulpits, car co
ed of the carpets, broke the lamps. tore the at
lbies into fragments, destroyed the library de- Gil
ICED the altar. and played cards upon tin sp
ord, made perfec. wreck of that as well as the
ethodist and Presbyterian churches. Even our re-
'metery did not escape Dissertation. They burned
he fences and defaccd many OF the monuments =
early ALL II not every residence between Oxford ce
nd this city was burned Lastly by telling our to
egroes that President Davis intended to kill eyery
gro found in this section the poor creatures we're ed
bewdered and alarmed that they fed from their mr.
'mes. nine out of every ten having left Holly COZ
brings. Most OF the families have lost every nej
70 they had lost six, five of whom were grown er
I'd as likely as any negroes in the State Mrs ma
ntry. 4. P. Gevan, Joe Matfison, Mrs W. d. fro
oberts. w IL Waller, and DR. Willis. lost ererpl
gro snes nad ana many Others that do not re- APP
embcr at this moment. wi SEQ rraiv