The Black Republican., 1865-04-15
re nBgoLA LATEoN oF soUfH oAR0LINA.


fFrounths Richmond Sentinel March 2
GEN. Sherman has accoplished his psir-
pose of making South Carolina a waste. II ss
march from Savannah to BranchvIlie, ana
tIiface to Columbia, Winnsb0To and CheraW,
wsls marked through a wide belt of country
bv IRE and sranine The beautiful city OF
Columbia no longer exists. 1t is a mass OF
cllarTed ruins Hereulaneunl Ia ashes.
few struggling buildings here and there to
disclose where the city ONCE STOOL The
State House was burned to the ground, the
gss-works blown up, the main street, ex-
tending for more than a mile, and for the
most part closely built up, has but one
small building LETT. The Co4rt-house, with
It's records, has disappeared the town hall
ahd market, the banks and four churches
are gone 0fthe squares east of the main
street some are entirely destroyed; others
only ii part. Eighty-f0Ur bleel s in the city
were burned. and Cog1mbiasis Palmyra in
the desert.
Some officers were polite, aud expressed
sympathy; they pretended that the confa.
grafton was accidental thatit went beyond
the original purposes, and was the act OF
their. drunken soldiers. The. evidence de-
monstrates that this is a false pretense, and
that the city was deliberately given up to
be sacked. When the work had been ac-
complished, q few notes of the bugle called
in the maraudlng bands, aud quiet was re-
stored forthwith.
AL provisions were seized, used or de-
stroyed; the stores were broken open, Pill
laged and then burned. What the soldiers
could not carry off was given to the ne
groes They felt with their b. .yonets dill
gently in the gardens, and dug up what was
buried. All the horses and mules were
carried off and the carriages destroyed.
Brutal. drunken soldiers entered every house
in search Of silver and jewelry, and took
~, AL,
man seems emuIeus Of the Immortality
which circles, with a halo of infamy, the
names of Attiia and .Timour the Tartar, and
the Russian Haynau, in Poland He has
achieved the distinction of being classed
among the monsters Of the human race.
Gen. Sherman left few starved Cattle as
a present to the citizens. They were too
poor and feeble to follow the army. One OF
the ladies said to Gen. Francis Preston
Blair: g Is this the way you war; ! thought
legitimate war was by army against army;
but you war upon women and children, ana
infict infinite injury and distress 4pon help
less non-combatants.H Madanl, ne re-
piled, we came here to produce distress.
Your men fight brayeIy and the war would
be interminable if it was to be fought out III
regular campaigns. We viii adopt more
sure. and d speedier course. We
will exhaust your country, consume
your subsistence, destroy your means
OF subsistence, shut up your ports, interrupt
your railroads render your transporta-
ton difficult and the supplies to your
army impossible. This is mercy to you for
it will shorten the war;" The accumulation
of refugees had made Columbia populous
city; with its suburbs it had about twenty
five thousand inhabitants. These have
dWindled to few thousand, who creep
amid the ruins to the Office of the Provost
Marshal and get tickets, with which they
proceed to the provision depot and get a
ration-a pound Of beef and pint Of meal.
The poor receive this allowance gratis.
Such as are able to pay give two dollars for
ration This is a faint picture Of the
present condition of Columbia. The usual
coneomitants of great calamity are not
wanting. The decentralization of the lower
class is alarming All ideas Of nseuna and
tulcn are lost, as when a ship is about to be
wrecked, or the plague desoltes q city.
Alas for the beautiful capital of the Pal
metto State, crushed by the modern Hun.