The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-12-19

"A ieiShtho"u EOfTcspOuucut VI tu'
; Rockingham (Va Begister--a rebel pa
per-wrlling OF he 10th ult., gives
sad picture of wars desolation ia the once
beautiful country along the Rapidan snd
Rappahannock:
When you get to amilton crossing
(says the writer, the oes,.-,.on J., ! a,
breaks upon you. A few trees remain
upon the bills near the site of the depot;
but there is not 4 fence nor an Inhabited
house all the way to Fredericksburg.
4 few cattle may be seen grazing on
the rich plains, which bear no crops now
but crops of luxuriant weeds. These cat.
tie belong to The people of Fredericks-
burg, who club together and hire man
To attend them while grazing. There are
no hands to work in the feDceless fields.
no signs of animated life about tie de-
serted houses. The drowsy crow of the
cock. the neighing of hrrses. the cawing
of crows, and the laughter of children ia
the yard, and the "wo-how" of the
plough driver, are no longer heard in the
blasted region. All is still as death for
miles and miles under the sweet autumnal
sun
Fredericksburg itself is torn as by a
hurricane. Much of it has been burnt.
and the tall ehimneys standing all alone
'tell a wofu tale of ruin Part of the town
is destroyed BY fire caused by shell, and
part BY the torch applied BY Yankee
hands. All the lower and upper portions
of the town have been SO shattered as TO
be uninhabiable; the stores have been gut
ted OF their shelving and counters to make
dry places for the countless thousands of
Yankee wounded at the Wilderness and
Spotsl lvania 10 lie on.
The churches have been repeatedly
struck, and SO have most of the private
dwellings | counted twenty or thirty
holes IN the fine mansion Of Douglas CIR
don, Which was nearly completed before
the war broke out. A shell has passed
diagonally through and through the house
IL which stayed, aud one has exploded
In the prior under the room in which |
slept Llcking out of my bedroom win
dow | saw naked chimueys and deser ted
homes in every direction.
| went to Marye's Hill, and saw the fla.
nous stone fence which served as ram.
part for our men. [ walked over the wild
fields which the enemy had to pass before
they got within range of our rifles, and
stood under the tree which Cobb leaned
against when he was killed. This treeis
just behind the house of Mr.. Stephens l.
a small frame building hieh must have
at least thousand bullet holes through
aud through it. Mr. Stevens showed me
where Yankee afer Yankee was buried in
his garden, as many as twenty in some
places. He also pointed to the ditch in
which about thousand Of Burnside's
crew were piled and packed like dead
mackerel in barrel. Many other gar.
dens and yards contain dead Yankees by
the score.
The stone fence is at the bottom of a
hill, and on that hill is the fine old home
stead of the Maryes. now gone TO wreck,
with countless apertures made by shot and
shell. and open to the winds that blow.
Alas. it was sad thing to tread the de-
serted halls and chambers of the old
house, and hear only the echo of your
own footsteps Net even rat eaueaks
behind the wainscot
went over into Stafford county, op-
posite Fredericksburg, and there is
wide, wild scene of devast tation, neither
fence nor trees for leagues on leagues,
houses deserted and burnt, and so many
roads 10 the enormous camps of Hooker,
which extended nineteen square miles,
that the Oldest inhabitants are in danger
Of losing themselves in their native
county. The Lacy House is a baronial
pie IN extent OF LIS buildings, and its tel
raced grounds and gardens are in keep
lug. Ruin reigns there also.
The walls OF the large old-fashioned
rooms. and even The pillars of the porches,
are scrawled and bescribbled with OBJ
scene Yankee phrases and pictures. Fur
tier tack, on higher range of hills, com.
mandsag the whole country, are the walls
of the Phillips House, which was burnt
GU. Of spite by Stoneman. because his
brother officer objected to his using it rs
his private quarters. What picture of
ravaged lespty is to be seen from the
height on which this house stands.
Strange to tell, Stafford county, natu
rally sterile and sparsely peopled, is now
richer and more thickly settled than i
has been since the colonial days. 1t is ;
debated land, in which neither Confeder
ate nor Yankee rule is acknowledged
and it is filled with deser,ers who ha
grown rich by gathering and selling th
Immense debris of Hooker's camps ,
washington or t', Richmond purchaser
as happened ) be the most convenient
LOT 'hese .awless people care little fc
e'ine' ~ side.
lockers incredible relics have not u
been all gathered in. for | saw ID FREQ
erieksbarg, aud at Han.iIton's Crossing
great piles of old iron and fragments
tents, blankets and overcoats which vel
just ready to be sent to Richmond.
A number of refugees have returned
Fredericksburg, which contains now son
eight hundred souls, principally WON.
and old men. Their spirit~is unabate,
their hatred of the Yankee is quenchles
eI. About huudted rods from Il
navigsble waters of the Kennebec riv
in Maine two extensive iron mines ha