The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-06-30
PROM sOuTH CAROIINA.
me Peopse...the Raiiroads.-the soiI...
the Crops and state OF Ahairs Genes

. General Sherman cefta1nl made a
clean sweep of II through the State.
Nothing hut ruin and de olation on
every side. Houses burned, crops de-
stroyed, and the whole country literally
cleaned out of everything In the shape
of horses, mules, wagons and stock of
all kinds.
There may be certain amount of
poetic Justice in the idea that here,
where secession first originated, and
where 0Id first shot of the war was
fred and where resistance to the fed
eral government had been advocated
for years, the people should feel more
OF the cruelties and horrors of war than
some of her less guilty sister States /;
but now that the war Is over and we
look about us at the terrible desolation
eGlstlng on every side, we can but think
that though their crime WBS great, their
punishment has been equally so:
coLU1rB1A.
The once beautiful capital of South
Carolina did not escape the aveng1ng
hand of Sherman. Her beautiful blocks
of elegant mansions and public build
ings are in ashes. In one night twelve
hundred buildings were destroyed, and
fourteen hundred families made home
tess. Eighty-four squares, comprising
at least two-thirds Of the city, are in
ruins. Probably no city of its size in
the United States could compare with
Columbia in beauty or in the wealth
and refinement of its inhabitants
There was it's capital and here were con-
gregated the elite and chfyalry of the
State. All that nature, art and wealth
could do to embelliSh and adorn its
streets and gardens and to make it at
tractive had been done. The streets are
wide and the walks lined with every
variety of foliage most attractive to the
eye. Flowers In infinite number and
variety are to be seen on every side;
while the parks, gardens and door
yards are most tastefully arranged
There can be but little doubt that the
destruction of Columbia was the work
of our army. 1 have taken consider
able pains to get at the truth of the
matter, and is the universal testimony
of the citizens, as we'll as the negroes,
that Sherman's troops went from house
to house with burning torches setting
fire to them, and in many instances,
burning them while occupied by the
families. On Main street, the principal
business street in the city, not single
building was left standing. These We're
mostly Of brick, while most of the pri-
vate residence were built of wood.
Among the buildings saved are the
South Carolina Institute, Young Ladies'
Seminary, Churches, Insane Asylum,
the elegant residence of General Wade
Hampton, together with quite num-
Der of private residences on the out
skirts OF town.
THE INHABITANTS,
from the highest to the lowest, are to-
day in the most abject state of poverty.
They have neither provisions nor the
wherewith to obtain them. People who
occupy elegant mansions, and who, Il
few weeks since, were worth their thou
sands, are now penniless and without
the means of buying the actual neces-
saries of life. Money, there is none,
with the exception of little put in
circulation by the officers and soldiers
of the garrison.
In talking with the citizens / find
them generally ready and willing to
submit to the necessities of the case,
but without any abandonment of the
principles of State rights for which they
have been contending. They say, 1--WE
are compelled to abandon the cause for
the present, but we hate you, and al
ways shall continue to do So" In
addition to the hatred of the Yankees,
they now seem to feel the most bitter
hatred towards the negro. The negroes
have all learned that they are free, and,
as is usually the case at first, most OF
them stopped work, both on the plan
tations and in the city, and congregated
in large numbers at Columbia. As
there are in South Carolina more than
double the number of negroes than
white people, it was found necessary to
have a military force distributed
through the country to preserve order.
Lieutenant Colonel Haughton, COM
manding the 25th Ohio volunteers, was
accordingly sent to Columbia for this
purpose. Upon arriving near the town
he found the roads and streets of the
city blocked up with negroes. The next
morning he sent out and arrested all
the able-bodied male negroes, and set
than
the burned district. They worked all day
faithfully, expecting when night come
to get something TO eat; but such was
not the ColOnePs plan. He allowed
them to go hungry, and in the morning
not negro could be found. All OF
them returned to their homes, glad to
go to work again. An order was then
issued requiring owners of slaves to
call them up and tell them they were
free, advising them to continue their
work, with the understanding that they
should share the crop when harvested,
but notifying all those who wished to
leave that they were ut liberty to do so.
Many took advantage of the offer and
left, and have since been roaming about
the country, living on what they could
steal, for the supply of labor is greater
than the demand, and their only meth
Iod of obtaining living this wear is bv
remaining with their former InusterS.
who are compelled to keep them if thew
wish to remain. The southern planters
generally say that with the exception
I OF the loss in property in negroes, and
the unsettled state of affairs which the
freeing of SO large a body will naturally
produce, they will be better off with
free labor than slave. They contend
that the only source of profit in the
State from slavery, consisted in the in
crease, and that If we take away right
OF property in them, they will then
have many more in the State than they
can possibly use to advantage.
THE SOIL OF SOUTH CAROLINA
is proverbially the poorest in the south.
No effort has been made to recuperate'
but after 1t has become exhausted bv
the continuous raising of cotton, it has
been allowed to go to waste and new
ground cleared up. 1t has been the
policy of the planter to clear us much
land as possible, raise all the cotton and
negroes he could in Il few years, and.
after the soil become exhausted. he
would DO rich enough to emigrate 10
louisiana, or some other Western State,
ana OuV n now md 1nrryov.