The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-06-07
THE BURNING OF COLUMBIA.
An UnintcMtional Confession by One of
Shcrman's Bummcrs.

| An Uhintehtional CoMfe ssioN by One OF
| Shcrman's Bummcrs.
The Columbus, Ga, Sun and Times
publishes the following letter, which, it
is stated, was found in the streets of
Columbia Immediately after the army
Of Gen. Sherman had left, and the orig
inal of which has been preserved, and
can be shown and substantiated
CAMP NEAR CAMDEN, S. c.,
February 26, 1865.
My Dear Wife-I have no. time for
particulars. We have had a glorious
time in this State. Unrestricted license
to burn and plundcr was tho order
of the day. The chivalry have been
stripped of most of their valuables.-
Gold watches, bracelets, silver cups,
pitchers, spoons, forks, &C., arc us COM
mon in camp as bfackbcrrics. The
terms of plumber arc as follows: the
Naluablcs procured are estimated by
companies; each company is required
to exhibit the results of its operations
at any given place; ono fifth and first
choice falls to the share OF tho comman-
dcr-in>chief and staff, onc-titth to the
corps commanders and staff, onc-tirth
-,
tifths TO the company.
Officers arc not allowed to join these
expeditions without Disgusting them
selves rs priVatcs. One of our corps
| commanders borrowed Il suit OF rough
clothes from one OF my men, and was
successful i'll this place. lie got Il large
quantity OF silver (among other things
an olu-timc milk pitcher) and IL very
fine gold watch from Il Mr.. DcSa,,ss,,rc
at this place. DeStissttrc is one of the
! t.. +. VS. of South Carolina, and was
| made to fork over !ibcrally Officers
! over the rank of Captain are not made
| t" put their plumber in the estimate for
general distribution. This is very It'll
fair, and for that reason, in order to
protect themselves, subordinate officers
and privatcs keep back everything that
they can carry about thcir persons, such
as rings, earrings, brcaspins, etc, of
which, If over live to got home, have
about quart. lam not Joking; l have
at least ut Il quart of jcwclry for you
and all tho girls and some No. dia-
mond rings and pins among them.
Gcncrtt Shcrninn has silver and gold
enough to start Il bank. His share in
gold watches and chains alone mt CO.
lumbil was two hundred and seventy
five (273).
But said l could not go into partic-
utars. All the general officers and
many besides had valuablcs of every
description, down to embroidered
ladies' handkerchiefs Ct had my share
of them, too). We took gold and silver
enough from the ID rebels to have
redeemed their informal currency twice
oyer. This Qhc currency whenever
we came across it, we burned, rs we
considered it utterly worthless.
l wish all tho jcWclry this army has
could be carried to the Old Bay State.
1t would deck her ont in glorious style,
but alas, it will be scattered all over
the North and Middle States. The
Id niEgcrs, as u general rule, prefer
to stay ut home, particularly after they
found out that we only wanted the
ablr-bodicd men {:tnd to tell YOU the
truth, the youngest and bcst-tooI<ing
Womcn). Sometimes we took Off whole
families and plantations Of niggcrs, by
way OF rcpaying scrcssionists. But the
useless part of them we soon manage
TO lnsc-somctimes in crossing rivers
sometimes by other ways.
! shall write to you again from VIII
mington, Gollsboro, or some other
place in North Carolina. Tho order to
march has arrived, and 1 must close
hurriculy. Love to grandmother and
aunt Charlotte. Take care Of yourself
and the children. Don't show ,his
letter out Of the family.
Your aNrctiouatc husband,
THOMAS j. MNEHS,
Lieutenant, &r.
i. S.-I viii send .his by the first
| flag of truce to l." mailed, unless I have
an opportunity to send il to Hilton
Head. TEL Sa!lir ann Saving. II pearl
bracelet atlh earrings for bcr; bui Irln-
bert got ihn neck lace ana breasti,in Of
tlI" same set. I am trying to trade him
out of them. These were taken from
Che Misses .IHni-ons, daughters of the
President Of t!ir South Carolina S5crc5-
sion Convention. We found thrS, on
nur trip through Georgia.
This letter was addressed to "NIr4.
Tho'nas J. Myers, Hosto't, MasS.'
t EifE tf.tt<S1