Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1866-08-23

1a0 oUtbt6 aOu69 O1 6Outu SdrOlIua.
The uoet beautiful building in the South,
If not in the United States, would have
been, when completed, the Capitol of South
Carolina. It bad before the war. assumed
Dimensions and given tokens of the rare
taste displayed in its construction, which
had elicised the warmest encomiums Of the
critic and traveller. But to-day it stands
chief auong the monumental, ruins of
Columbia, an emblem eloquent with un-
uttered curses upon Sherman and his
horde. ss--.-. .... .s. ........ ...
Presenting conspicuous mark to the ar.
tillery Of the enemy planted on Lexington
heights, the edifce received ten shots.
The finely sculptured oak leaf decorations
of the marble door pilasters at the main
entrance, were defaced. The beaks of the
eagles have been knocked off and the cor
ner stones on the South. west corners were
damaged by FIRE. Bot the injuries to the
structure itself are Insignificant compared
with those done by FIRE to the finished mar
ble-work aud rough materials in the precincts
of the State House yard. a,a
Forty of the Soul ptured Corinthian
Capitals designed for the porticoes and
wrought in our own beautiful granite, are
destroyed. Out of sixty.6ge Corinthian
Capitals, worked in Italian marble, intended
for the great marble hall, only five are
saved. All the polished shafts of Tennes.
see marble are destroyed, and nearly all the
other marble work and paving tiles in both
kinds of marble designed for the interior
construction and decoration, with, large
portion of the balustrade to crown the bull.
ding, and the terrace designed to surround
the lower part. Besides these, were de-
stroyed hundreds of immense and valuable
unwrought blocks of granite and marble,
machinery, workshops, tools, colossal mod
els and unfinished statues. In the loss may
be included the basso.relieuo likenesses of
Hayne and McDufie, and one of the latest
and best busts of Hon. John c. Calhoun.
But one store. house, containing quantity
of polished Tennessee marble remains un-
injured. ... -
OF the old State House and its valuable
library, nothing remains but blackened
ruins. The railroad track to the CRANKY
quarry has been destroyed and the wood
work carried away.
Major Niernsee, the accomplished arohi.
tect, to whose report We are indebted for
these details, likewise suffered severe loss
in architectural and scientific books, pic.
lures, eugraViugs, instruments and several
thousand drawings, all the valuable doou.
wents relating to the New State House,
maps, drawings, reports, calculations, speci.
fcations, contracts which had accumulated
during the last ten years.
The total loss to the State is estimated
by Major N to be 100000. The debris
was gathered by the architect in charge as
far as the means at his command would
permit, and deposited in one of the sheds,
and the Capital, lonely and deserted, is now
surrounded by plain board fence. 1t is
thought that the sum of one hundred and
forty. six thousand dollars would dt up and
secure the building for the purposes Of
Legislation and State Offices; and that three
hundred and sixty thousand dollars would
complete the edifice in nearly the manner
originally designed.-South Carolinian