Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1866-04-07

: Letter from General Wade Hampton.

Gents-ln your paper or the oth or May, 1
have lust seen General Sherman's official re-
mort OF his march through the two Carollnas.
AS this report misreEresents me III the gross
est aud falscst manner, trust you will not de-
nv me the right to vndicate myself. 1t is
due to history, il not to me, THAT the talsehoods
of General Sherman in reference to the de-
struction of this city should be exposed, This
sYall be done in the brietest possible manner: {:
The reports s;y, General Wade Hampton,
who commanded the Confederate rear guard of
cavalry, had, in anticipation of our capture of
Columbia, ordered that all cotton, public and
nriyatc. should be moved into the street and
fired to prevent our making use OF it,
Some of these piles of cotton were burning,
especially one in the very heart OF the city,
ntor the court house, but the fire was partially
subdued by the labor Of our soldiers.
Before one singlc public building had been
fred by order. the slnouldering fires set by
fIampton's order were rekinded by the wind,
and communicated to the buildings around
About dark they began to spread and got be-
yond tho control of the brigade on duty within
the city. The whole Of Woods division was
brought in, but it was impossible to check the
flames, which, hy midnight. had become un-
manageable, and ragged until about o'clock,
Is. NJ, when tic wind subsiding. they were
,,,t un,)nr control * disclaim,
nn the part Of; my~assnSy- agency in7thfa
fire, but ON tho contrary. claim that we saved
what of Columbia Remains unconsumcd. And,
without hesitation, charge Gen Wade lamp
TN with having burned his own city OF Co
lumlia. mt with mrlicious INTENT as the man
icstation ot u silly Roman sioicisn,' but
from folly and want of sense in filling 1T with
lint. 'c,stu,i aud tinlcr. Our officers and men
on duty worktti well to cxtnguisll the flames" "
It would be difficult, if not impossible to
express n, an equal number of paragraphs,
greater number of falschoods than are con.
t,incd in the above extracts. There is not
one word of truth in all that has bccu quoted,
cxccpt the statement that " General Hampton
commanded the rear guard of cavalry. lie
did not order any cotton "movcd into the
street aud fired" On the contrary, my first
act on taking command of the cavalry-to
which | was assigned only the night before
the evacuation Of Coumbia-was tn represent
to General Beauregard the danger to the town
of firing the cotton in the streets. Upon this
representation, t,c authorized me to give or
1crs that no cotton in the town should be
burned, which order was strictly carried out.
] left the city after the head of Sherman's
column had entered it, and | assert what can
bc proved by thousands that not bale of cot
ton was on fire when lie took possession of the
city His assertion to the contrary is false,
and he knows it to be so. a distinguished
citizen of this State--whose name, were ! at
liberty to give it, would he sufficient vouch-
cr, even at the North, for the truth OF any
statement made by hm-las given to the
public minute history of the destruction of
the city.
From this document, which is too long for
iisarton in your paper, will makc Il few cx-
tracts, which will show how true is General
Shcrman's solemn disclaimer of "aDy agency
in this fire" and his claim to have "saved
what of Columbia remained unconsumed. -
The Mayor had been informed that he would
be notified whom to surrender the city, know
ing that inefectual resistance on. our part
would furnish the ready excuse for all |awess-
ness ON the part of the enemy ! would not
allow my troops to become engaged in the
city, and they were withdrawnon the morning
Of tho 17th Of February
at nine o'clock, a. M.. on that day, the
Mayor, at the head Of the dcputntion from tho
|. City Council, went out to meet General Sher.
n;en for the purpose of surrcndering the city,
which he did in the following letter:
CoLUNBrA, S. c., Feb. II, 1865.
\ q 70 1Knj. Gen. Sherman:
"The Confederate forces having evacuated
Columbia, ! deem it my duty, as Mayor and