The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1866-08-04

| OOuiSucTALo capital " re To De bludlOuSlV
Yelled from the eyes fIhs enemy. The
Federal force on The moth side. of The
James river consisted of three divisions
4 undeElthe command of General Weitzel
while General EWeil covered this approact
to the capital with force of sabJut four
thousand stIohg. The Gonfederaies were
silently withdrawn from WeitzsHs front,
! their Tear guard fraVersing the city befors
day break. Weitzel had been instructed
| TO push on Whenever satisfied OF his abil.
! ity tOenter Richmond. During the whole
day that GRAFT had beer engaged.io front
OF Petersburg, the entire lines north Of
the James were perfectly qnieG. WAt
zels command had orders 10 make as grea,
show a. possible. - s,-3,l5 5igI',
He fred no gun during the day, but as
darkness came on, he set all his bands oil
music to work upon national airs. The
Coufederates We'd with the musical enter
taiumeut; for many hours the night was
filed with melodiOus strains. But about
midnight complete aud absolute silence
fell upon the tines. IL was dead quiet
q close mask to What lRas taking place Ia
the doomed city; and not until the morn
ing hours did the direlul blszou in the
sky proclaim to WeiIzel that his hour had
come, and that Richmond was at his mercy
There had been but htIle sleep for the
people Of Richmond in the night which
proceeded their great misfortune. It was
an extraordinary night; disorder, pillage,
shouts, mad revelry of confusion. In the
now dimly-lgbted city could be seen black
masses OF people, crowded around some
object of excitement, besieging the com
missary stoTes, destroying liquor, intent,
perhaps, upon piliage, and swayins to and
fro In whatever momeutary passion pos
sessed them. Tie cutters ran with a
liquor freshet, and the fumes filled, the air.
Some of the struggling. soldiers passing
through the city, easily managed to gel
hold Of quantities of the liquor. Confu.
sion became more COMO unded; the side
walks were.eneumbered with broken glass;
stores were entered at pleasure and strip
ped from top to bottom; yelis of drunken
men. shouts of rowing pIllagers, wild
cries of distress filled the air, and ight
made hideous. s.. ..a-. me-
But new horror was to appear upon
the scene and take possession ofthe com
munity. To the rear guard of the Con-
tederate force on the north side of the
James river under General Ewell had been
lett The duty of blowing up the iron-clad
vessels In the James aud destroying the
bridges ACROSS that river. Tue Richmond,
Virginia, and anGirOn ram were blown To
the winds; the little shipping at The Wharvs
was fired, and the three DrIdge that span
ned the river were wrapped in flames As
soon as the last troops had trayersed them.
The work of destruction might well have
ended here. But General EWelI. obeyiuo
the letter of his Instructions, had issued
orders TO fire the tour principal tobacco
wareh ouses of the city; on of them
the Shockoe warehouss-situated pear the
center of the city, side by side with the
Gallego fl our mills, just in position and
from which CONFEDERATION |
might extend to the whole business Dor.
lion Of Richmond. Invain Mayor Mavo
anda committee of citizsns had remon
slrated against this reckless military or
der. The warehouses were cred: the |
flames seized on the netghb5ring buiIings
and soon involved wide and wideniuv
area; the conf4gration passed rapidly be
yond control; aud in this mad lire, this |
wild, unnecessary destruction of theirl
properly. the citizens of Richmond had
a fitting SouVenir of the imprudence and
OF the departing Admins
tration. "a. -.a- g.. pm a.9T
Morning broke on scene never to be
forgotten. 1t was "a strange picture
impossible TO describe 1.-The somke and
glare OF frs mingled wjtht the golden beam
of the rising sun. The great warehouse
on the Basin was wrapped in flames; the |
fire was reaching TO whole block sof build
iUgs; and as the smoke rose maiesticalIv
abo$ethe horiz N. il FURNISHED the fringe
of smoke with IuriI aud golden glory. |
Curious crowds lwa'ched the Ere. It's
roar sounded in the eats; il leaped from
street to- street; pillagers we're busy at
their aYoeation. and in the hot breath of
the Gre were figures as of demons con
tending Tor prey. a!e1Hs p
The sun was an hour or more above
the horizon, when suddenly there ran uD
the whole length of Main street the cry
of Yankees ia ''Yankesst'' The up
per part of the street was choksd with
crowds OF pillagers-men provided with
drays, others rolling barrels up the street, |
or bending under heavy burdens, and in
term,xed with them women aud children
with smaller lots OF plunder 10 bags, bss-
ksts, tubs. buckets and Tin pans. AS the
cry of Yankees was raised, this molly
cry crowd tore up the street, cursing,
screaming, trampllng upon each other,
alarmed by an enemy not yet in sight.
aud madly seeking toextricate themselves |
from imaginary dangers. Presently, be-
yond this crowd, following up the tang,
led mass of plunderers, but not interter-
ing with them, was seen a small body of |
Federal cavalry, riding steadily along.
Forty Massachusetts, troopers, dispatched |
by General Weiizsl, 70 investigate The con.
dition of affairs. had ridden without hin
drance into Richmond. Atthe corner o.
Eleventh street they broke into trot for
the public square, and IN a few moments
their guidons were planted on the capitol,
and huttered a strange spectacle in the
early morning light.
A few hours thereafter, and WeitxsPs |
troops were pouring through the streets