Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1865-01-03
sHERMAN'S "DEVASrATToN n
ORDER.

The following extracts from the march
ing orders issued by Sherman at the out
set of his present campaign, show the full
extent to which, the devastation of the
country was commanded:
V.To army corps commanders is intrust-
ed the power to destroy mills, houses, COTTON
gins, etc., and for them this general prlnclple
Is laid down: In districts and nelgno9r-
hoods where the army is unmolesteo' no oe
struction Of such property should De permit
ted but should Duerrillas or bushwhackers
modest our march, or should the inhabitants
burn BRIDGES, obstruct roads, or otnerwise
manifest local hostility, then army corps
Commanders should order and enforce de-
yastation more or less relentless, according
to the measure Of such hostility.
VI. As for horses, mules, wagons, etc., BE-
!, longing to the inhabitants, the cavalry and
! artillery may appropriate freely and without
limit; Discriminating, however, between the
rich, who area 4ally hostile, and the poor or
Industrious, haliy neutral or friendly.
Foraging parties may also take mules or
horses to replace the jaded animals OF their
trains, or TO serve as pack mules for the regi-
ments or brieAdes. In all foraging, Of what
from abusive or threatening language, and
may, when the officer in command thinks
proper, give written certificates Of the facts;
but no receipts; and they will endeavor to
leave with each family q reasonable portion
for their maintenance.
To any others than the! rebels them
selves, these orders seem to be fully as
mild as an enemy could reasonably expect
from an invader. What treatment they
would have expected in an invasion con-
Quoted upon "the highest principles OF
Christian civilization" We are not able to
conjecture. Little Mac, who was the
only commander our army ever had who
assumed to act upon those high princi-
piles, never used to invade the sacred soil
to any extent, and consequently never
gave any orders providing for such con-
tingency. What Lees marching or
ders'' were when he made his raid into
and out of Pennsylvania, we never heard
but judging by the acts committed durins
his very brief sojourn in that State ms
orders must have been fully as severe as
those of Sherman. So far as the latter IS
concerned, he fully satisfies his own ma
ton, and if he is too rough for rebel taste,
they should have pondered over the posi-
biity of these contingencies before they
commenced the war. The fact is that the
people of the South are suffering devas-
tat,on which the false and delusive repre-
sensations of such men as Franklin Pierce
led them to believe would be confined ex-
clusively to Northern SOIL" The pos
sibility that a Yankee horde" would
ever march through the whole length OF
the State of Georgia, never entered the
Southern mind. They listened serenely
and credulously to Toombs' talk about
wintering in Philadelphia, cutting grass III
Broadway, and calling the roll ofhis slaves
at the foot of Bunker Hill Monument
they saw cheerful visions of Southern
cavaliers riding unresisted over Northern
fields, and their "bonny blue flag" float
ing triumphantly over Northern cities
but the idea that the people of the Cotton
States would ever see a Yankee army, OF
that the Southern press would ever have
to wall over "Northern barbarity," never
= entered into their calculations. They
sowed the wind, however, and are reap
ing the inevitable harvest.