Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-20

{ Esiii5rs Memphis APDeai:
/ | read in yours of the 18th inst, an al
ticle written by Maj. Nichols, u. $. A
upon the subject Of the plundering Of tn
: citizens Of Georgia and South CarOlin
by the soldiers OF Gen. SherIuanis com
: mand during his campaign thrOug
those states, and as he owns up to som
! Of the facts, and denies, or onits others
rs one who at that time was a citizen il
the very midst Of their depredations,
, feel it my duty 10 endeavor to give
little more light on the subject for the in
formation of the public. l must say tn
major, as far as he goes, tells the trutl
very nearly as il was, but he stopped to,
soon. Thousands OF us who were tn
sufferers, 70 our sorrow, financially, car
vouch for the truth of the statement re
lative 10 the rohbing.
While we were in the army, battling
for our cOuntry's rights, some i'm the
west and others in the Virginia army
the federals were in our states commit.
ting all the depredBtions possible fol
human creatures of the most barbar0us
ages to do. On the approach of the army,
our wives aud children did make the
effort to hide some of their valuables
/ but, unfortunately for them, the soldiers
: found them, and of course took possess
sion of them all, as wen as every
/ thing else they could find. They
even took the last particle of food,
Z furniture, clothing, stock, and every
! thing necessary for a support, aud
i'm many cases, burned their houses,
leaving them penniless, h0useless, aud
in a perfectly destitute cOnditjOn-so
much so that but for the aid of those be.
yond their linc7 they would have starved
Vet all this .gas in violation of all
rules Of civil Warfare, as adopted by all
military ohleftdins from the days Of hea-
thenism up 70 that most awful of all
times IN the 1!stOry of ours or any other
so.calleh christian country. In all pre-
vious nationahcOntests, tile orders were
positive prohibiting the molestine OF pri-
vate citizens or their rights, in any man
ner whatever; but in this no such course
was pursued by the federal forces.
And even while those things were
going on in those STATES we, under the
command of the noble and ever hon
orable Gen. r. T.. Lee, were i'm the
country, prohibited, even il we had have
been disposed. land | feel confident that
no southern soldier wasl, by special
orders, from in the smallest degree vio-
lating the, rights of priVste individuals
under pain OF death 6ut, at the same
time, we knew that our wives and little
ones We're being robbed of the last
mOuthful OF bread by the husband,
brothers and sons of those same women
and children, whose rights we were 50
strictly guarding.
Yet we could, II We were with our
rights respected 10y the national authOn-
ties, forgive all those thinga, II their
depredaiiOns had have gone no further.
But, oh! my heart is made to shudder
at the thought OF it, much less to know
ii is true. And l do not blame the
major for trying to evade that part of the
truth. More especially when american
citizens are the parties concerned.
In many instances, not being satisfied
with leaving the poor defenseless women
in starving condition, the worse than
under the plea of their
husband and other relatives being in the
rebel army, they ia every manner posi- /
bic and imaginable, insulted, cursed, and I
abused them, worse than sayages would
have done.
Oh ! it is awful in tine extreme, to i'm /
agine that any honest lady, IN the most /
country, should be thus |
treated. And yet, to kAOw that those {
same ladies, and the creatures calling /
lucliStINEo ultiit are american tliIEeRs : J
rhe country WHICH, iOp nearly a CEN .
.ury, has hseG the guiding star for the
civilized world, to point AZ us, the most
christian, intellectual, moral, virtuous
and prosperous in its government and [
public institutions, I DO not write this
As haarsay and speculative, in order 10
produce a sensation.
| only wish the public to know few
If the real facts, unyarnished, as they
'eallY did exist, and 10 siicw that federal
.oldiers We're not, by orders from their
officers, restrained from
any act of violent OUTRAGE
which their vicious natures promulqJ
hem to. While ON the other hand, our
hiGf Confederate officers would not per-
nit any such acts. And rs q plain evi-
Ience of the truth of the above state
nenis, we merely a. X the reader TO refer
o HdTPer's Magazine, where those
'oasting articles are Published, and rs
he publishers OF that most radical Of all
he Journals pretended 10 Ice strictly q
literary work for ladies, who have con
Hhuted most lihsTaiiy 10 the support of
heir ilthX l2Et-, aDd if they answer cor
Getty you viii he informed that the
outh before the war was their main sup
.ort. ONE OF THE SUFFERERS.