Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1869-05-20
al MvAN1lix,

about the city. by 'tnative Georgian"
who took great pains to show US where
the Union troops burned whole squares Of
the city, but who, nevertheless, was, like
every rebel soldier we have met, genial,
kind and hospitable, leaving nothing un-
done that could contribute to the pleasure
of ga man he had met in the field" Here
let US say that wherever we have been
abused and cursed as o id Yankee, we
always found that the party was '1ook-
er on" in the rebellion, while those who
treated us best were the soldiers who
"honorably surrendered" With this gem
tleman was made the trip to
FORT M'ALLIsTER,
But we hardly felt repaid for our long
dusty drive, when we arrived at the fort
near the Ogechee river, and saw only a
few low mounds aud scattered timbers,
and nothing by which to identify the spot
where General Hazen's troops made .'the
most gallant charge of the war;" in full
sight of General Sherman The charge
on this fort was the grand finale Of Sher-
mans march to the sea. Along the route
we saw many detachments of
NEGROES
working in the rice fields, and We're in
ed we'll, and our own observation confirms
his statement, as well as in regard to
the negroes in North and South Carolina
as i'll Georgia. But some of them live
like the heather, and in several fields we
saw men and women working together
stark naked, and in many places they
wore nothing but an old shirt. A rather
questionable way of excepting COOL" we
thought, but yet it may be pleasant when
people get FUSED to it." Having occupied
SO much time at the fort, it was far i'll
the evening when we arrived in sight of
Savannah. The negroes had finished
their labor, and " it'll the satisfaction of
having done an honest days work. which
is the necessary result of free labdr, they
sat by the roadside singing and chatting
in cheerful and happy manner. At one
place We saw a company of darkeys
gathered around a large fire, which they
had built of pine logs. and we were sur
prised to learn that it was
PRAYER MEETING.
i We halted awhile to listen to their
prayers and exhortations, and we must
say that many contained more sense, ear
nestness and spirit than exhortations in
meetings we have attended among the
whites. One old gray-headed darkey in
his exhortation, spoke nearly as follows .
. Brederen, de goodness of de Lord am
spoken about in de Bible, an, when
read him de Lord he spokens to me in dis
wise : hab commanded Faro to let my
people go, an / hab led you out of de
Egyptian bondage; an now what Why,
my brederen, we are complainin'.
We say de Lord haint done huff for US
I'VE say we want land, we want larnin,
but we don't show no earnestness. We
many of US say we wont work wild all our
might and git desc things, but complain.
Now brederen, ives got to wander in de
wilderness forty yeahs an be most starved
and suffer, afore our children will be pu-
rified huff to go up an possess de land"
Amen" /" Amen" "Glory," came from
the whole company, after which sister
spoke, and "Old Hundrad" was sung
Just before we drove away, an old gentle
man got up and said, "as how he knowd
a Yankee face that there was " a friend
listenin' tew de meetin," {reierring to
u.s. and hoped we would bear " clean
record OBJ DER doings to de white BREEDER
en- of de norf" At the close of his speech,
the whole company, which stared at Us
and showed considerable excitement be-
gan hymn or song to the tune of
| GLORY HALLELUJAH,"
which they sang with such vigor that
the dark pine woods echoed back the song
from every direction, and we began to
fear that some of them would go wild in
their efforts to sing louder, and the fran
tic demonstrations they made to show
their approval of the sentiment. 1t al
ways shocked US, such sudden transition
was it from sacred to temporal things. As
near as we can remember, three of the
most striking verses ran in this wise:
De Yankees comm and de cullud folks is
tree
+ Dc a comm and the culud folks Is
free,
De Yankees am "a comm and the cullud folks is
De Lord am comm down,
De spirit of de Lord Dress de white folks too,
De spirit of de Lord hreSs de white folks too,
DE spirit of de Lord bress de white folks too.
When de day oh judgement comes.
Well meet Gene1 Butler at de big Jubilee
Wen meet Gene'l Butler at de big jubilee
I Well meet Geue1 Butler at de big jubilee
When We an he gets dare.
The reference to General Butler evil
IDENTIFY displeased our companion, who
tmuttered something about New Orleans,
and drove rather hastily away.
he next DAY We 1fliGc ii lIiD up the
railroad, into the interior, to look III the
TRACES OF suERMAN's GREAT MARCH,
which are still 10 be seen on every side
The whole country through which he
passed Is IA hdeous ruin. Old chimnevs.
once belonging to the mansions of plant
erS or the quarters of negroes. stand sur
rounded by weeds and wild shrubs. Old
posts, and here and there "A broken rail, is
all that Is left of the fences. The great
forests of pine and oak show the runous
effects of the fire which followed the
sword, and the negroes plant cotton be-
tween the dead and leatless trees, where
before the war was wild and impossible
thickct. The blackened remains Of
bridges tresilr work and railroad ties are
piled along tire roadside, while here and
there II line of brcastworks aud jeff Da-
Wis ncck-tic-," in the shape Of bars of rail
road IRON doubled around tree, are still
I to be seen.
DREADFUL TALES
4 the people told us about the march, and
say, that when for miles and miles around
the sky was red at night with the flames
of burning buildings and forests, and the
air filled with smoke by day, and when
they heard the booming guns and felt the
shocks of the heavy pieces, they felt that
the day of judgment had come at last.
Many relate how the ruthless soldiery
came into their parlors and stabbed their
horses there; and how they drove the
women and children ont of the houses
and occupied them as quarters; how they
broke up all they could find and than set
every building on fire; how they came in
the night and awakened the family, po-
litely informing them that their house
and barns were on fire, and leaving them
to escape without clothing, and in some
eases were burned to death how the sol
diers stole or destroyed every thing. and
the impoverished people were obliged to
walk forty miles for a meal TO. eat,--not
even COW, horse or pig being left; how
the men, and in some cases the women,
] ,.-L, Mod 70 tLoir L.,ila