The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1865-11-17


the hideous mure in some of the
scenes in the foE thieves. Every az
ticle of harnesshey did not wish, was
cut in pieces. r this timethe first and
second parties Id left, and third APP
peared on the ED; they demanded
the keys of thelrawers, and ON being
informed that tey had been carried off,
coolIy and deIrrately proceeded to
break open the Cks-took what they
wanted and whewe uttered words of
complaint were .Irsed. Every horse,
mule. and CARRIE, even to the carts,
were taken ava, and for hundreds Of
miles, the last aimal that cultivated
the widows corffield, and the vehicles
that once bore thnto the house of Wor-
ship, were carrie off or broken in pie
ces and burned.
The first partytat came promised
to leave ten days rovisions, the rest
they carried off. a hour afterwards,
other hordes of miauders from the
same army came andemanded the last
pound of bacon an the last quart of
meal. On Sunday, the negroes were
dressed in their be suits, they were
kicked, and knocke down and robbed
of all their clOthingand they came to
us in their shirt-sleves, having lost
their hats, clothes, ad shoes. Most OF
our own clothes ha( been hid in the
woods: the negroeSEho had assisted
in removing themwere beaten and
threatened with deah, and compelled
to show them wherehey were conceal
ed. They cut openhe trunks, threw
my manuscripts, an devotional books
into mud-hole, stG the ladies jewel
ry, hair ornaments, tc. tore many OF
the garments into tfters, gave the rest
to the negro womeIIo bribe them into
criminal intercOurs. These women
afterwards returneGo us those articles,
that after the mutilCiOns, were scarce
ly worth preserving The plantation,
of one hundred andiXty negroes, was
some distance from he house, and to
this place successiveparties Of fifty at
a time resOrted for tree long days and
nights, the husbandand fathers being
neutrality-suspicious. thewoods.
Now commenced senes of licentious-
ness, brutality, and ravishment, that
have scarcely had aTequal in the ages
of heathen barbarity IcOnYersed with
aged men and WOma, who were wit
nesses of those infamous acts Of Sher-
mans unbridIed sddery, and several
of them, from the Tud treatment they
had received, wee confined to their
beds for weeks afterwards. The time
will come when tie Judgment of Heav-
en- will await these libidinous, beastly
barbarians. During thisIlme, tileTOurun
party, who, / was informed by Others,
we had the most reason to dread, had
made their appearance They came, rs
they said, in the name0f the great Gen.
Sherman, whOwas ne2ttO God Almigh-
tv. They came to bum and lay in ashes
all that was left. They had burned
bridges and depots, cdton-gins, mills,
barns and stables. They sWOre they
would make the id rebel women
pound their corn with rocks, and eat
their raw meal without cooking: they
succeeded in thousands Of instances. /
walked out at night, and the innumer-
able fires that were burning as far as the
eye could reach, in hundreds of places,
Illuminated the wholeheavens, and tes-
tilted to the vindictive barbarity of the
foe. I presume they nad orders not to
burn occupied houses but they strove
all in their power to compel families to
fiy from their houses, that they might
afterwards burn then. The neighbor-
hood was filled with refugees, who had
been compelled to fly from their planta-
tiOns on the sea-bOarl. As soonas they
had fed, the torch was applied, and for
hundreds of miles those elegant man.
siOns, once the ornament and pride OF
our Island country, were burned to the
ground.
All manner of eXpedients were now
adopted to make the residents leave
their homes for the second time. l
heard them saying, "This is too large
a house to be left standing, we must
contrive to burn it," Canisters of pow
der were placed all around the house,
and an expedient resorted to that prom
ised almost certain success. The house
was to be burned down by firing the
out-buildings. These were so neareach
other that the firing Of the one would
lead to the destruction of all. | had al
ready succeeded in having few bales
OfcottOn rolled out Of the building, and
hoped, if they had to be burned, the
rest would also be rolled out, which
could have been done in ten minutes,
by yseveral hundred men who were look
ing on, gloating over the prospect of a
mother elegant mansion in South Caro-
lima being laid in ashes. The torch was
applied, and soon the large store house
was on fire; this communicated to sew
eral other buildings in the vicinity
which one by one were burned to the
ground. At length the fire reached the
smoke house, where they had already
carried off the bacon of $50 hogs this
was burnt, ard the fire was now rapidly