Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-05-27
The Doipg- of sherman,s Ban,

'.Mack," the correspondent of the Cincin-
natl Commercial, now travelling in the
South, gives the following picture of the
traces of Sherman's bummers in Georgia
Every five or six miles you pass big
chimney, standing by the roadside, to tell
where a house once stood, with here and
there a lovely garden in full blossom close
by, and If you ask native what's the mat
| ters they'll tell you "that's where Sherman
left his mark as he went.along." But, as i
was told on the train yesterday, the army
itself did nothing compared with what "the
bummers" did. did the bummers call to
see you?" Iasked good-humored planter
who sat near me, as we passed the ruins of
a large machine shop. "They didn't see
me-" said he, "for was in Lees army, but
they called at my house, and you'd better
believe they played hell, too. There were
about twenty in the squad. My wife was
at home: and they told her they
some meat and bread, which she
could give them in a few minutes,
They asked her what kind of meatit was.
She said it was pork. Pork be ID
said one of them, I'VE didn't come down
here to live on pork We can get lots of
is chickens and fresh bread and butter''
They saw some chickens in the yard and
they made the niggers catch them and kill
them and cook them. They made them
drive up some COWS for fresh milk too.
While they were waiting for dinner they
went into the parlor and one of them play
ed the Star Spangled Banner-and play
it well, too, while the rest sang it. One of
the niggers told them that some OF our
(rebeD soldiers were near by. They asked
what kind of soldiers they were. The Mig
ger said they were some of the State mi
litia. 'Oh, that's all right" said one of
them; 1--WE don't care d-n for the militia;
this little squad can whip regiment OF
that sort. Don't be uneasy boys, it's only
the melish." So they stayed in the house
amusing themselves until dinner was ready.
They were very civil, my wife says; didn't
insult her at all but after dinner they in
quired after the silver plate. My wife beg
ged them not to take il; but they said they
were bound to have it. Finally, as my wife
saw them carry it off she began. to cry.
The fellow who had been playing the piano,
and who was quite gentlemanly fellow
in his manners, seeing her cry, said to his
comrades, "Hold on, boys, let's not be too
/ mean, let's leave this silver stuff; we don't
want it." They put down the silver then,
and one of them proposed to compromise
by taking spoon apiece. That's all they
took, except one fellow, who said he
couldn't compromise with treason 80
cheap as that, and that as he was
tired OF drinking out of a tin cup,
and as his tin cup leaked, he would
take silver goblet and call it square,
So he did. They were fellows of very good
taste, for they carried off some of the very
best books in my library. They tore things
upside down a good deal, but they didn't
steal so much after all. Some of them were
| from Ohio and some from Indiana. AS they
were about to leave, the fellow who had
strapped the silver goblet to his knapsack
said to my wife: "Madam, war is dread
full thing" and they all bid her good bye.
He then told me how some of the neighbors
fared-most of them much worse than he
at the hands of the bummers. A family liv-
ing close by was robbed of everything, and
what wasn't carried off was broken or de-
stroyed. They took four thousand dollars
in gold and silver from one house and two
thousand dollars from another. A short
distance from his house, three men called at
the residence of an old lady who was living
at home with her two daughters. They in
suited the ladies very grossly, and behaved
| very indecently. Just as they were about
to leave, squad of Browns militia came
up. They tried to run, but were caught,
and when they found out what they had
been doing, they took them to the woods
and hung them right up. They were from
New York.