The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1865-04-22
FROM COLUMBIA TO CHERAw.

From Columbia our army presented tn
most motley and grotesque appearance i'm
aginable. In addition to our regular arm,
we had an accession of some 800 of on
own escaped prisoners. These were dis
tributed through the several corps. Thel
we had with our corps alone nearly tina
number of rebel prisoners, captured a
along our route, to the number of which
we were continually adding. But tina
which made up the most grotesque fea
ture, was the long train of negroes IN.
refugee white citizens. Our hioneer corp
were filled with Stalwart. nbleached ant
bleached Americans of the A. 3D., who's
wives and children brought up long pro
cessioD. on foot, on mules, on "anatomic,a
steeds," in rickety carts drawn by . singl
mule or OK, harnessed with ropes. In cabs
IN market wagons, or, which was NOR,
fortunate one, in wagon afflicted Will
the st. Vitus dance, drawn by two. tire
or four bony horses or q yoke of oxen. ]
any one hadssever doubted the fecundity o
the African race, here was the place to hav
his doubts dissipated. And he might hav
settled another question with equal salts
faction, viz: The universal and proverbi
al love of the devoted slave for ''Ole mass
and his missus." Said ono of our men t
"darkie" in my presence, "Why did yo1
sah." said the A. D., ''massa done lef me
he run'd away fust.''
A large number of the sufferers of Co
lumbis, having lost all by the contiagra
ton availed themselves of the protection
of our army, and the offer of transpOrta
ton, to try to reach the North. Anon;
these was beautiful young woman--sai,
to have been the belle Of Columbia-wh,
had often ministered to the comforts OF ou
M in 3aSp nf r0k
She felt that Columbia would no longer b
home to her, and turned her back upon tn
home Of her childhood aud youth, with al
Its pleasant recOllections, and her face to
ward strange people. OF course she wa
IAN object Of mnch interest, especially /,
the young officers.
The citizen and negro refugees, in vehl
Giles. formed q long procession in the rea
of our train. The train of white refugee
was equally as srotesgue AS as that of tn,
black, as they had to pick up what ever
only thing that distinguished them wa.
here and there fine old family coach
{glitteriDg with silver nountings, and al
the more ludicrous in contras! with tn,
scrawny mules or bony lettering horses
with extemporised harness, BY which tbex
were drawn. Many of these soon broke
down from over-loadings, or were lef
sticking fast in some swamp, abandoned
for want Of transportation"
Hog upon our TANKS, but keeping usualiy
at respectful distance. One OF General
Smiths orderlies was killed another man
wounded, in reconnoiteringiAt the cross.
ling OF the Wateree. But they confined
the mselves pretty much to the work al
harraesfng our foragers. At Big LYNCH
Greek they had considerable Of Q force. and
We expected q fight, but, ~ usual, they
Iconnned themselves 10 the work of poun.
cling upon our forage parties. At that place
they captured few Of our forage wagons
the foragers scattering and making theiy
escape, with two or three exceptions. They
Iewore vengeance against the 18th CDrps
((by whom Columbia had been sacked.
land declared that they would kilfyevss1
foI = &c they they &C. caught: &C ~ Iss<1
|lng. I'm almost every case where any OF
FOUR men were captured, the ebels had on
Iktderdt Hn.forn, as decoy. At Lynch
Greek, where they captured our wagons.
they were mistaken for our own men until
they demanded q surrender. Some Ave or
|six rebels, captured at that place in our
uniforms, were shot by orders of Generals
Logan and Smith. The day before We
|reached Cheraw party Of rebel cavalry
|ln Federal uniform dashed upon . few Of
quarter Of mile IN advance Of the col.
|umn, and killed soldier Of the Soth In6i.
ana, at the same time capturing and carry.
|ing of Lieut. Col. Eisrninger, in oommand
|of the Pioneers. -
But their special ambition was to can
|ture our trains. and more especially the
|Pontoon train. For this purpose they hung
upon our TANKS, watching for an oppor !.
|tunity to make 2 dash and accomplish
|tneir purpose. On one occasion one or
Fsherman's spies was unexpectedly
among them, and.overrhead their CONVEX
|sation. Our train was passing at . dis.
lance, and they were. Distressing an attsck.
But there was s formidable obstacle.
Right along side, - for almost the entire
OF thetrain were marching Brigades
and Regiments ~ solid cols1an. They
swore that was something they had never
seen before, and concluded finally that
Such has been Sherman's plan ever since
We lett Atlanta. He thus accomplishes|
two important ends At the same time, viz:
the shortening Of his column and the per-
feet defense Of his trains. This rule has|
only been deviated from where the thick I
ness OF the underbrush rendered II perfect.
y impracticable for troops to marchI
through the woods, and where. conse.
quently, no danger was to be app-ehended|
Between Columbia and Cheraw We ]av|
by i've days. nearly four OF which We
spent at Big Lynch creek. We found thiel
creek impractible for either pontooniDr orI
foroing. The recent rains had swollen itsI
waters to flood, overrunning it's low
banks and spreading out through the ad.
jacent swamps ION either side, making hi
necessary to construct a bridge of tressle.l
work about mile in length.
We crossed RIO Tunnb an +,,o o., ii
March, Black creek on the Sd, Juniper!
and another Black creek on the 4th. reacs, /
ing Cheraw on the same night. The nth.
Corps, from another road, had reached
and captured the town the day before.
Cheraw is, or rather soas when we enter
Sd it, one of the preLiiest towns have ever
seen in the South. 1t stanus upon bluff
overlooking the Great Pedee river, and ia
The northern terminus of the Railroad
with the Wilmington and
at Florence. 1t is about ten
niles from the northern boundary of South
Carolina, 40 miles from Florence. and Gsl
miles from Fayetteville, N. c.
suppose the rebel authorities never
imagined, even in their widest fears. that
Federal army would ever reach this lit
lie, far-o6, sequestersd, rural town, And
70 here they had snugly stored awav