The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1866-04-18
The Destruction Of Columbia.

addressed to Mr. Benz. RawlS, OF Columbia.
! Below is letter from Nr. NawlS taken from
! the Columbia Phoenix Of yesterday, throwing
! the whole responsibility Of tie obstruction Of
that city upon General Sherman this, too,
from Union man:
CoLrHB1A, S. c., March 30, 1866.
! To Nlj0T- Genelwl y. I. Sh@IwHn,
United Staics Army:
SIR: Your letter of the 8th March instant
| is before ne, in which you, in positive terms,
! deny giving orders for the destruction, by
fire, Of the city Of Columbia. I have in my
| hand an affidavit made before one Of the AS
sociatc Judges Of Superior Provost Court, lst
! Sub District, Western Department, South
! Carona in the words following: "On the
evening Of the 18th day Of February, a SOL
| dicr at my gate said to ne, did you ever see
! he'll? | told him no. Well, said he, you wait
until night and you will see he'll, for We in
! tend to burn every damned house that there
! is in the town. Accordingly, about o'clock,
! or little after, I saw the fire commence C.;
! the next square from where | live" "On
the 18th day Of February, 1868, soldier Of
! Gen. Shcrman's army met me at my gate
! he said that Gen. Sherman had given them
! furlough for thrty-six hours to come into
/ Columbia and do as they pleased in regard to
| firing and the destruction Of the city,
But sir, as regards the liability Of the Gov
mcnt to indemnify their loyal subjects for the
! loss of their property You we're in command;
| and if the loss occurred through either neg
! lcct or incompctcncy, it is immatcrial to the
sufferer; he does not lose his right Of redress
by either.
And it is not to be presumed that the Gov
! ,.o,,lJ with tho
| mand OF fifty or sixty thousand troops, and
that he could not make them obey his orders;
and there is the greatest abundance CT proof
to bc obtained here that the soldiers under
your command, on the 17!h FcbrnAry, 1868,
threw iirc-balls hambcau ard other fireworks
into the houses the bedrooms and on the
rocG>, and prevented the firc-engines from
Stacking the fires, by cutting holes in the
leather hose to keep the water from t1o"lnS
to the engines You know the old law adage:
"What you do by your agent you do by your
self" As for the order Of Gen. Hampton
causing the destruction of this city, it is in
consistent with nature and with reason, to
home and Properv % ifs IFS e. 5rdsf dfsFT2T TBs h6 Is
vent property falling into the hands Of the
enemy.
You, sir, presume, believe with me- that
our lorcrathcYs, who framed our Government,
verc wise and good men. Bnt, as all men
are b"rn in ignorance, and have to get wisdom
by experience, they had not arrived at per-
fiction; nor did they sec the absurdity of the
State rights doctrine, and the doctrine OF the
Constitution being the supreme law OF all the
States, at the same time. This doctrine ol
State sovereignty was maintained with great
tenacity by large portion OF our leading poll
tcians to the close Of the late war. In 1857
it ran so high rs to cause South Carolina to
pass an ordinance multiplying an Act Of Con-
gress. But rs God would have it, We had in
the chair of the Federal Government, a. that
time, a master spirit, in the person OF Andrew
Jackson, who, by issuing to the State spirit
ed and friendly proclamation, declared that
all the forces and power at his command, IN
the United States, would be put in reQuiSltlon
to enforce obedience to the law. Would to
God similar proclamation had been issued
bv Buchanan or Lincoln; for, without that
obedience, the wheels of Government must
stop. But as there is only very slight diff
ference between jackson and Johnson, | hope
there NAV be no more difference in their sue
cess in restoring the reign cf law and order
throughout the United States, by doing JUS
tice to both parties according according to
merit.
"Say We to the righteous, it shall be we'll
with him, for he shall eat the fruit OF his DO
ing; say We to the wicked, it shall be i'll with
him, for the reward Of his hands shall be Civ
en- him." This is Gods eternal irreveTsible
decree; and person may as we'll say, | can
put nv hand into fire and it shall rot be
burned, as to do evil and escape punishment.
Sir, rejoice that this bloody, unnatural,
uncalled.for war has ended, and settled the
question Of State Rights and State sovereign
ty, hope forever; for know it has been
source of discord ever since the formation of
the Government, and even before and at the
time of it's formation, between the Federal
and Democratic parties. Ny father, brothers
and unccs fought, suffered and b}ed to achieve
the indcpcndcnce Of the United States. l re-
member the angry discussion between the
Wmc and Tory Parties (as they were then
callcdD, and, afterwards, they ~cTe the tcdG-
rails sud Democrats
When South Carolina passed the ordinance
of secession in 1861, my poor heart trcmOIed
! in my breast with the apprehension OF war;
but great many Of our people did firmly be-
Ncye that the United States Government
onld not make war, but would let the Seccd-
! ing States 60 in peace. I did have hope
! that we would in that way avoid war; for,
although was only child in the Revolution,
! had Suffered enough to know some Of the
evils Of a war, besides the destruction Of life.
The thousands Of innocent ard helpless wo-
men, children, aged and unofFcnding farmers,
tradcsmcn, and, in fact, al classes of people,
! it is enough to sicken tie heart Of any human
who has sensibility. And the horrid barbara
ty, such as that brought to view in the attida
yit quoted above, is too bad for the contem-
plation Of any human, much less ofany CciS-
! fian people. 10 give h furlough to fifty or
sixty thousand soldiers, to go into city
among females, children and old men, without
arms or any protection, to do as they please
! for thirty-six hours; it is not any wonder
! that man would feel ashamed to let the
world know that he had done so, without he
! intended to either quit the country, or make
! the country quit him; far better would it be,
and more Cbristianlike, to 60 with and keep
them under command, and see that they did
only what was right, and not infict pain and
punishment on the innocent: "lcst, in Destroy
! ing the tares ye root out the wheat also"
! Sir hope and believe there are in Con-
gross men Of good feeling and good sense