The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-12-08
Letter from the SOXth.--NO. f.
ATLANTA, Ga, Nov. l3, 1865.


EDITOR CALEDoNIAN:-If you would
realize the horrors of war fully, come to
this city. Before the war it numbered
some IL 900 inhabitants, and was finely
built. Now | think it cannot contain
5000, and in all its business parts is
heap of rubbish First shot and shell
for six weeks, then fire. The great heart
of it was all burned out, leaving only
rim of struggling dwellings around the
outside. The masonic hall, protected by
the masons in our army, and block of
four small stores, were all that remained.
No city in the South was left so thorough
ly deSolate, save Columbus, S. c. There
were only two buildings left in the bust
ness portion-those of loyal men-but
the stores were first pillaged by rebel SOL
diers, and the fire was their own work,
as was so largely the case in the South.
Those weeks of bombardment in Allan
ia were terrific. The shot and she'll fell
at all hours, and every where. No place
was secure The houses that remain
show how fearfully the iron rain must
have come down. A Union man told me
that for a long time he lived in his cellar.
Before removing there he had been sick in
his bed, and one day as he had recovered
so as to walk out. shell entered his house
and exploded, sending piece into his bed
and setting it OH fire, not ten minutes be-
fore he was to return TO it. The fire was
extinguished, and the family removed to
the cellar, covering the floor of the house
with cotton bales. After this the house
was struck several times, and one shell ex-
ploded in the dining room, the cotton
keeping it from the cellar and thus saving
the family.
He told me of case of PHILADELPHIA
an, the superintendent Of the gas works,
living there with his little daughter, his
wife being dead. The shells fell all
around him. but still he remained at his
post. He loved the Union SO we'll that he
felt he should somehow be spared One
day word came that this mans house had
been struck the night before My intor-
mant told me that on reaching the house
he found that shell had glanced through
the bed, throwing the father and his little
daughter out on TO the floor and killing
the child at once but the father. as it ap-
peared, lived some hours for he had writ
ten directions concerning his affairs. and
expressed thanktulneSs that his daughter
was not spared in her helplessnes>, and
hoped that the Union might he preserved.
Another Union man informed me that
on his way home from New York in 1861.
he expressed his earnest hope that Geor-
gia would not secede; that it would be
madness to attempt to fight against the
government of the United States. He
was overheard by a Methodist minister on
the cars, and the next morning an article
i'll an Atlanta paper made sharp and
pointed allusionS to him. That evening
at a public meeting, one man offered to
pay for rope with which to hang him.
But being a native of Georgia, and an
aged and respected citizen. and keeping
strictly at his business, he was not modest
ed, although his friends urged him to fly,
feeling sure he would be mobbed. When
Gen Slocum came into command of the
city. he at once sent guard to this man's
house. and after that he found protection
till Gen Sherman left Then he was
captured by the rebels and sent TO Macon,
and finally detailed to special service in
Atlanta, by Gov. Brown, which means
that the governor dared not pardon him
outri ght for fear OF the public sentiment.
but - detailed y him III this way as Il
blind. This man asserted that Gen. Slo-
cum did not burn the city, as all the reb-
els claim, but that he ordered the build
ings to be pulled down at great cost of
labor, and set guards everywhere to pre-
vent fire, knowing that If the torch was
once applied there would be no controlling
it. 1t was the despcradoes and hangers
on who fired the city afterwards, when ii
was too late to save it. This is a fact
which should be known.
In passing a negro cabin, saw rude
wood cut of President Lincoln. | asked
abruptly who it was. All were silent,
but as | turned to 90, one old man said,
" 1t is Massa Linkum, de Lord be prais-
ed.' The martyr President is thus re-
membered us Il deliverer In the dusky
cabins of a people greater by a million
than Moses led from Egypt; and the
name of the Lord is praised. 1t was a
touching sight to me, on entering lions