The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1866-05-26

The folio wing letter, addressed by
Gen. Wade Hampton to the Honorable
Johnson in reference to the
burning of Columbia, South Carolina,
was read by the latter in the Senate on
the 1st:
WILD WooDs, MISSISSIPPI,
April 21, 1866.
To the Hon. ReUerdy Johnson, United
States Senate:
SRA few days hgo ! saw In the
published proceedings Of Congress
that a petition from Benjamin Rowls,
of Columbia, South Carolina, asking
compensation for the destruction of his
home by the Federal army in February,
1866, had been presented to the Senate,
accompanied by letter from Major
General Sherman. In this letter Gen
Sherman used the following language:
aThey," the citizens Of Columbia, "set
fire to thousands of bales of cotton
rolled out into the streets, and which
were burning when we entered Coluin-
bia. 1 myself was in the city at nine
and saw these fires, and know that eff
forts had been made to extinguish them,
but a high and stormy wind kept them
alive. I gave no orders for the burning
of your city, but, on the contrary, the
reverse, and I believe the confagration
resulted from the great imprudence of
cutting the cotton bales, whereby the
contents were spread to the winds, SO
that it became an impossibility to ar
rest the fire.
. 81 saw in your Columbia newspapers
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,
have no hesitation in saying that he
was the cause of the destruction Of
your city"
This grave charge made against me
by General S., having been brought be-
lore the Senate of the United States,
am naturally most solicitous to Tindi'
{ cate myself before the same tribunal
J But my State has no representative il
: that city. Those who should be there
= are debarred the right of entrance. Ii
, those halls there are none to speak fo1
;, the South-none to participate in the
II legislation which governs her-none t.
D impose the taxes she is called on t.
u pay-and none to defend her or t.
y vindicate her sons from misrepresenta
. ton, injustice or SANDER. Under thes
- circumstances I appeal to you, in tn
II confident hope that you will use ever
1t effort to see that justice is done in thi
matter.
ie deny most emphatically that an
e cotton was fired in Columbia by my OF
20 der-I deny that her citizens set fire
" thousands of bales rolled out into To
~ streets-I deny that any cotton was o
IL fire when the Federal troops entere
ne the city. And 1 most respectfully as
IS of Congress to appoint a committ'
charged with the duty of ascertalnln
and reporting all the facts connecte
with the destruction of Columbia, an
thus fixing upon the proper author
that enormous crime the infamy th
GO he deserves. !.
So 1 am wiling TO submit the case
" any honest tribunal. Before any su'
lly I pledge myself to prove my posltl
aw order. By direction of Gen. Beauregar
that no cotton should be fired-th
W. not one bale was on fire when She
mt mans troops took possession OF q
RI city-that he positively promised pr
cal lection to the city-and that in spite
,;s- this solemn promise his soldiers burn
nd it to the ground deliberately, systel
90 atically. atrociously. I therefore m'
70 earnestly request that Congress M
nj take prompt and efficient measures
en- investigate this matter fully. Not o.
.;th is this due to themselves and to the
~ mutation of the United States arr
nd but to 3usticg and to otruth.
18th Trusting that you will pardon me
ate troubling you, am, &C.,
g.. WADE HAMPTON
mo The following shows the way
I'll which this manly letter was treated
Senator Sherman, brother OF
nor General, said:
,+ar The impudence of this whole tn
tor surpasses imagination. He writes
- this Senate that the State OF 30
IL Carolina is excluded from represel
49, 49, ton in this body. And why is she
cluded? Because they violated I
ne oath, and have for years been tryln
wri- get out of the Union, and now t'ia'
are beaten and defeated, they 70
,ors - like sohipped cars to get back.