The Daily empire. (Dayton, Ohio) 1865-1867, 1866-01-30
THE DAILY EMPIRE.
H. II. ROBINSON.
The Once Beautiful Capital of
South Carolina.

The Once Beautiful Capital of
South Carolina.
A highly correspondent of
the Providence Journal, writing from CO.
lirmbia, presents the following shocking
picture of the scene of ruin and desoation
now reigning in that once Ioveliest city of
all the South. The attempt to iastcn upon
the Conicderates the blame for this fearful
and most wantOn act of destruction has
been sgnally rcfuted by the clear and
crushing statement of Gen. Wade Hampton.
But the past is gone. Here is the present;
and we call attention to the closing sentence
quoted from this writer, in which he cx-
presses the prevailing Abolition astonish-
ment that the process of conflagraHon and
destruction has failed to "humbie' the men
upon whom it was tricd
We arrived-just lighted by the horns of
the new moon-latc in the evening at the
capital city of South Carolina.
! never shall forget the first appearance
of that city of ruins, ms sat ON top of the
rumbling stage, forgetting for the moment
my hunger and weariness, and thinking of
and seeing nothing but this scene'of desc.
lation.
have now passed around and through it
all, and had no conception of the amount
of devastation. The whole city seems
gone. Scarcely anything remains. House
sites and blocks and streets and squares are
marked only by fallen walls and heaps of
begrimed brick and stone. All of the bus
iness part of the city, warehouses and retail
stores, public buildings and private resi-
dcnces, churches, prisons, markets, schools,
banks, hotels, all have gone, and in hardly
an instance were any of the contents saved.
never saw ravage SO extensive from any
fire. The destruction in Richmond, rela-
lively, Will not compare with this. In the
former place not onc-third was destroyed.
while hcrc-l think speak within bounds
nearly three-quarters of the place was
suddenly and completely burned @
Here lived the elite of South Carolina.
As the people of this State were the physi-
cal, moral and intellectual supcriors of all
the rest of the country, so the residents of
this once beautiful city were theimpersona-
tiOns of all the chivalry, beauty, goodness
and intelligence OF this most excellent peo-
pie. South Carolina was the sgTabernacle"
and Columbia was the "Iloly of Uolies."
into the sanctity of whose limits it was
supposed no Yankee would ever dare ven
ture except with bowed form and Vciled
cOuntcnance. But the spell is broken, and
the ebony idol which had so long been
worshipped has sprung forth living being.
w HtTt SOHlc me TcSluellcttS SLOud, nOtll-
ing now remains but broken columns
ruined arches, and fallen walls. Porticocs
and balconies approached by broken mar
bic staircases stand alone, of all the ediiices
they adorned the sole remaining portion
The wings of bats rustic now where sweet
melodies were once heard, and where
beauty and fashion so lately held court
thistles are now growing. The walls and
tower of the market building remain, while
the interior was swept clean. The prison
is half fallen in and crumbled stone and
brick mingled with burned and twisted
doors and grating.
The Capitol, half finished, was saved, |
understand, on account of the bronze sta
tute of Washington which stands in the
centre of the vestibule. Ii is certainly
very fine building, bearing some rescm-
blancc to the national Capitol. Over Il
large space in front of the building lay in
profuson capitals for columns, cOrniccs.
brackets, and all the multitude of architec-
tural decorations which would be used ON
so great and elaborate an ediGcc, cut and
carved from all kinds and varieties and
colors of marble. But these are now min
utely cracked and scaled, ruined in beauty
and for use by the heat of the burning of
the buildings In which they were placcd.s
The college, which had become univors-
| ity, Is how used rs the barracks for soldiers
and public offices. IL hardly seems posSi-
| bic a city so ruined could ever regain its
original position and beauty. One would
| think that IL these aillictiOns had not CON
vertcd the hearts of the people, IT, would at
least have humbled them. Yet II has not.
| "rhis writer forgets to state-what Others have
/ statod ~ a faCt-the many Of these splendid col
umns We're broken, not by the heat" but by the
united and persistent efforts of some of General
Shcrman's men.