The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-05-06
Burning of Columbia.


LETTER OF GENERAL WADE HAMPTON
TO THE HON. REvERDY JOHNSON.
The following well written letter,
addressed by General Wade Hamp-
ton to the Hon. Reverdy johnson, in
relation to the burning of Columbia,
South Carolina, was read hy the lat
ter in the Senate on Tuesday:
WILD WOODS, Miss,
April 21, 1866.
10 the Hon. Rere7r,y johnson, United
States Senate.
SIR. A few days ago, I saw in the
published proceedings of Congress
that a petition from Benjamin Rawls,
of Columbia, S. c., asking compen-
sation for the destruction Of his home
by the Federal army in February,
1865, had been presented to the
Senate, accompanied by letter from
Major-General Sherman. In this
letter General Sherman used the fol-
lowing language:
''They, the citizens of Columbia,
"set fire to thousands of bales Of
cotton rolled out into the streets, and
which were burning when I entered
Columbia. I myself was in the city
as early us s o'clock, and saw these
fires, and knew that efforts had been
made to extinguish them, but a high
and stormy wind kept them alive. 1
gave no orders for the burning of
your city, but, on the contrary, the
reverse, and 1 believe the confiagra
ton resulted from the great impru-
dence of cutting the cotton bales,
whereby the contents were spread to
the winds, so that it became an i'm
possibility to arrest the fire.
81 saw i'll your Columbia newspa-
pers the printed order of General
Wade Hampton, that on the approach
of the Yankee army all the cotton
should be burned, and, from what I
saw myself, l have no hesitation in
saying that he was the cause of the
destruction Of your city"
Ibis grave charge made against ME
by Gen. s., having been brought be-
fore the Senate of the United States,
l am naturally most solicitous to
vindlcatc myself before the same
tribunal. Bat my State has no rep
resentative in that city. Those who
should be there are debarred the
right OF entrance. In those halls,
there are none to speak for the
South-none to participate in the
legislation which governs her-none
to impose the taxes she is called on
to pay-and none to defend her or to
vlndlcate her sons from misrepresen-
tation, injustice OF SANDER. Under
these circumstances, I appeal to YOU,
In the confident hope that YOU will
use every effort to see that Justice is
done in this matter.
| deny most emphatically that anv
cotton Was fired in Columbia bv nv
ordcr-I deny that her citizens set
tire to thousands of bales rolled out
into the strects-I deny that any cot
ton was on fire when the Federal
troops entered the city. And I most
respectfully ask Of Congress to APP
point q committee charged with the
duty of ascertaining and reporting all
the facts connected with the destruc-
ton of Columbia, and thus fixing
upon the proper author of that cnor-
nous crime the infamy that he de-
serves
l am willing to submit the case to
any honest tribunal. Before any
such, 1 pledge myself to prove nv
positive order, by direction of Gen.
Beauregard, that no cotton should he
tired-that not one bale was on fire
when Sherman's troops took posses
sion OF the city-that he positively
promised protection to the city-and
that, IN spite of this solemn promise,
his soldiers burned it to the ground
deliberately, Systematically, afro
ciously. ], therefore, most earnestly
that Congress may take
prompt and efficient measures to in
vestigate this matter fully. Not only
IS this due to themselves and to the
United States army, but to justice
and to truth.
Trusting that you will pardon me
for troubling you. am, &c,
WADE HAMPTON.
---%->e-@
TERRIBLE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN
WEST tRIn RI-c1y pDpDr -,