Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1865-05-26
THE CRADLE OF TREASON.


BY REV. H. NJ. GALLAHER, BROOKLYN.
Our first sight of Charleston was dis
appointment. We did not expect to see
such terrible desolation, and we wondered
how the rebel newspapers could have
kept back knowledge of their sufferings.
One-third of the city, and perhaps the
York city extended only to Canal street,
and fire, three blocks wide, should burn
its way from Fulton Ferry to the foot of
Barclay street, it would be something
like what has befallen Charleston.
Then, what is untouchad by fire is
pierced and torn and shattered by our
shells. Every second building, at least,
is injured by them. The Mills House, an
imposing structure resembling the Sher
man House IN Chicago, was hit eighteen
times. We gathered some blooming
white clover from the grass that grew
thickly at its closed doorway.
The Charleston Hotel, the banks, the
court house, Hibernian and Secession
Halls, all bore the marks of Gillmore's s
stern compliments.
Nor did the churches fare much bet
ter-some of them, indeed, far worse
We counted FIVE burnt churches, the
Catholic cathedral, the finest in the
South, and the Circular, among the num-
Der.
In the quaint old church of St. Mich
aels, built of materials brought from
England long ago, and in the pretty little,
aristocratic Huguenot church, which was
filed with tablets to the memory of the
Sassures, Porchers, and Gaussens, who
fed to the Carolinas after the repeal of
the Edict of Nantes, the work of destruc-
| ton had been complete. It looked as If
some of Cromwells s iconoclasts had been
despoiling the temples of the Malignants.
Shells had burst in these buildings, and
thieves had burst in after them, and
seized the cushions, torn out the pew
| Innings, carried off the reading desk, COM
munion- table, and church ornaments,
and left not a vestige of the organs for
cur busy relie-hunters.
Mr.. John Phillips, a lawyer, and one
of the few respectable white inhabitanF IS
left, told us that, when the city was
abandoned by the rebel troops, the rogues
entered churches and houses, and carried
off what they wanted; that the negroes
had no hand In this plundering; that the
newspapers, in telling us that the city was
but slightly damaged by our shells, told
US internal Lies;" that, at first, no one
believed Gilmore could throw ball into
the city-a distance of six miles, and
when the shells did come, there was a
great deal of terror. 1T was sad work
for us, said Mr.. Phillips, "but''-with a
grim smile-''we heard it was great fur
for your soldiers.
OF course, many lives were lost. We
heard of brother and sister who were
torn to pieces as they stood talking by
their fre-side; and of fifteen negroes who
were killed by the bursting of a single
she'll
There are no white Union men il
! Charleston. "There was not white maj
in the city that I dared to trust" saiC
! Robert Small. There are some who cal
themselves loyal but such loyalty woulC
, be Copperhead's s delight IN Brooklyn
OF this latter class is Gov. Aiken. a com
planning, dissatisfied old gentleman, vex
ed at the Proclamation of Emancipation
vexed at the loss of his wine and th'
I plunder of his plate by Sherman 8 bum
! mers, and altogether "a lone, lorn cree
: tur"-like Mrs. GUmmidge.
The poor whites with whom we talke,
are bitter rebels, and did not think thei
cause yet lost, although they Willingl
sold us fifty dollars in confederate none
3 for dollar greenback.
i A beautiful girl, scarce fifteen year
ii old, came out to unfasten garden-gat
for us, and was very graciously trying
do so when her mother appeared and sal
with naughty air that could not broo
our presence, "Come away, child" Til
lg was the only fine lady rebel visible to U
n during our stay in Charleston.
We asked Robert Small where all tn
grand dames-the wives and daughters (
= the leading men-were. II hope the
are all in their graves, was his savag
answer.