The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1868-01-08
The Burning of Columbia.

A correspondent of the Louis
Vile Courier furnishes, III the fol-
lowing extract, some official evil
dence of the spirit which animated
the authorities at Washington, as
we'll as the commander Of the
army at the time Of General sher-+,
mans campaign through Georgia
and the Carolinas: -"
r. I have lately been reading Sher-
mans report to the ';Joint Com
mittee on the conduct Of the war;
and am struck with the total ab-
senee ofall dispatches in regard to-
Columbia, S. C. Up to the 18th
of February, 1866, his daily orders,
&C., to his, subordinates are given
ver6atim, but when he gets to that
date all are left out with the. ex-
/ eeption of two seemingly unimpor-
tant ones, until he reaches Winns-
boro, ON, the 21st of February.
No. mention-not a line-not, a
word .hardly-is made of Colum-
bias being burnt. No mention of
the place for a day Or two before
he takes it-nothing afterwards.
stranget But may be it was best
Eleft out. His last order Of any
Importance, before taking Colum-
bia, is, ''in. the field. twenty-one
miles from Columbia, February
18th, ls65"-then comes the two
seemingly uninportant ones OF
the 10th, one of which I will copy,
directly, and then a clean jump
made to- the 21st at Wipnsboro',
SC, beyond Columbia. On, page,
as7 of this work. (aCohduct of the
war -supplement-Part 70, will
be found these words, concluding
a dispatch from Halleck to Sher-
man, and: dated at Washington,
December IS, 1864, and addressed
/. to "Majo General W, T. Sherman"
written when Sherman's plans
were decided: SHOULD you cap
ture Charleston, I hope that by
some. (his italics). accident the,
place may be destroyed; and if a
little salt be sown upon:its site it
may prevent the growth of future
crops of nufttfcatton and seces--
sion."
Now hear sherman's reply
(eopied from page 291), dated s'in
the field, Savannah, December "a,
1884" which, taken:in conjunction
with this unimportant order OF
the 18th of February, 1865, will
explain who burnt Columbia, and
who allowed it, if he did not order
it, Listen all ye who "hanker arter
crow IS
+ II Will bear in mind your hints
as to Charleston, and don't think
salt will be necessary. When I
move the Fifteenth Corps (these
and the following italics are mine)
will be on the right of the right
wing, and their position will bring.
them naturally into Charleston
first; and ifyou have watched the
history of that corps you will
have remarked that they generally
do their work up pretty we'll.
The truth is, the whole army is
burning with an Unsuitable desire
to wreak vengeance upon South
Carolina. I almost tremble. at her
fate, but feel she deserves all that
seems in store for her. I look up
on, Columbia as quite as bad as
Charleston.
Now for the little dispatch Of
the 10th Of February, the night
before Columbia was plundered,
pillaged and burned. 1t is ad-
dressed to General Howard (the
Christian soldier (?) to whom an
insulted Georgia woman of his
own name said, upon his claiming
relationship with her: "No kin! l
thank God the blood Of all the
Howards is not in my vcins"):
"Dear General: I see the bridge
over Broad burning. 1t is very
important that you effect cross
ing to night. If necessary, get
over the Saluda the bulk of the
(look out 'crow eaters) Fifteenth
Corps, then take up enough pom
xoo. 4o 6,;eb ooa ocrocc th q