Weekly Trinity journal., 1864-01-30

The Knoxville correspondent of the Cincinnati
&c ,ehe writes, under the date of tn sth of De-
cember, as follows:
Knoxville and its suburbs presents the per-
spective of wreck. the embodiment of great
disaster, a masterpiece of ruin. No smile,
metaphor, analogy, or figure Of speech is neces-
sary to convey to the initiated proper concep-
tf6n of the devastation of war. TIL destruction
of property wrought in al about Knoxville,
during he Last twenty days, and chiefly by our
own army. ber not. am informed by those en-
perienced III oth.r helds, been equa4ed during
tins war. Scarcely fence is to be found in a
circle of ten miles diameter around the town.
Farms have been laid waste, houses pillaged and
burned, anu destruction has re;gned supreme in
every ,santon and ruthless fAape and mostly
without the consoling excuse of military Gees
sity.
The finest residences in North Knoxville, with
their C tly contents, the splendid machine shop
of the Georgia and Tennessee Railroad, and the
Round House, the HUMPHREYS Hotel, Maxwell s
machine shop, and scores of others whose loss is
irretrievable were burned in spirit of the
merest and widest recklessness. Nothing of
military Importance was or could be gained by
it, and history will not forgive or palliate what
Justice will consider a crime in those who were
sponsible. Beyond our lines ruin is still in the
ascendant The rebels, however, confined them
selves to pillage indiscriminate and unive- al.
They rifed every house within their reach. Gen.
McIaws' headquarters were a; he palatial resi-
dence of Robert Armstrong, and, notwithstand-
,ng the protestat of the chivalry and prom
Uses of protection, the house literally strip
ped of Notwithstanding, male and female,
childrens and adults-wa all taken.
The officers broke into Mrs. Armstrong; room,
in which she 4 been permitted to place her
clothing and few valuables, and stole every
thing. Her garments were sold to rebel families
in the neighborhood. Her silk dresses were torn
INTO strips and disposed of for aprons. The
Generals staff and nearly a regiment got up
roarously drunk upon the contents of the wine
cellar, which was we'll stored with foreign liquors
and wine from Armstrong; own vineyard. All
of Mrs Armstrong; household stores, preserves,
pickles etc., were eaten and the jars broken on
the spot Tho grain, sugar, coffee and family
provisions were of course taken.
On the morning after the evacuation I found
Mrs. Arm 'trong, whose personal beauty and re-
fined culture seemed to be equaled only by her
loyalty, eating her breakfast from fragment of
a plate with carving-knife. 1t was all Of her
abundant plate left. The garments they had on
comprise the entire wardrobe of the family. The
house exhibited the marks Of the conflict. One
shell had entered the turret, leaving a hole two
feet in diameter. Ten balls had gone through
the front door, and hundreds through the win
dows and doors. Two passed through the piano.
The blood of one Of the rebel sharpshooters was
still fresh on the floor of the turret, where he
had been killed during the memorable fight of
Wednesday, in which Sanders fell. In fact, all
the marks of musketry were made in that action.