The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-09-20

i.Sfr. ssorstairy BslIfnap Il doGbsIsss,i
happy at being 40 promptly Sustained
by Major MoArthur; ct least he would
be, were iknot for tho doubt that per.
plexes himj as well as the; ;lo urnal. 9o M
! 3sTs..:::a y y Inc HJE.fsg>S; ~ w gshick
Major Macarthur ;makssa ;bapdsoE four
out of Colonel Kennedy, Major Good
reli, color bearer with Gag, )sand him.
self.' Was the horse one OF the little
band, or was the color bearer not
Major Goodrell. but another man, and,
II so. what was his name?
e,Wo have heard about lbs celebrated
chaIgeiof the 600 at Balaklava, and we
have heard about the. wooden horse
that played so important part IN the
fsfege Of Troy, but this Columbia bust
ness is sort of combination Of both Of
them, and superior to either. Who
would not have q photograph Of that
'little band of four as it dashed up
Main street?' General Sherman will
have to furnish better testimony than
the Impressions of u sn who capture
towns in horse and buggy. before
he will relieve himself of the load OF III
fanny laid upon him by the burning Of
Columbia"
We append Sherman's and MoAr.
thurs letters. merely to show how far
from the truth they have kept:
HEADo'Rs ARMY UNITED STATES.
WASHINGTON, D. G., Sept. IL, 1873.
To The Editor of The Chronicle e-DEAR
Sn: When you applied to me some time
ago for material bearing on the contro-
versy OF "Who burnt Columbian" I
gave you two printed pamphlets, which
I had obtained from Judge Holt, con-
tanning all the testimony taken in the
cotton cases growing out of that event,
and submitted to the Mixed Commits
sion appointed to adjudicate these cases
under the treaty with Great Britain.
Judge Holt could have obtained the tes-
timony OF all tho eight or ten thousand
officers aud soldiers who were at or near
Columbia when the conaagration oc-
CURED, but lie thought he had enough,
without putting the Government to the
expense Of bringing moro witnesses
from o distance. suppose he did not
summon Col. Stone, who commanded
the leading brigade of the Fifteenth
Corps, because he did not know where
to find him. surely did not know his
whereabouts till he voluntarily pub.
lished his statement.
In my official report of the affair,
published before tho close Of the war,
when General Wade Hampton was fight.
ing us, and not when, as ho alleges, he
was prisoner of war, referred Incl
dentally to fact of which I had know
ledge, that small detachment of the
Seventeenth Corps had passed over the
Congaree, had entered Columbia and
hoisted flag on the new State House
in advance of the regular entry of the
Fifteenth Corps, which had made q
circuit to CROSS the two branches, Sa-
luda and Broad, which make the Con.
garee. treated the performance OF
this detachment as somewhat irregular,
but the men who composed it now be-
come important Witnesses, and I here
with enclose copies of their written
statements, together with the official re-
ports. which explain the whole uffair.
These witnesses go back to time three
quarters Of an hour before the entry of
the head Of Stones brigade, and about
two hours ahead of the time I per-
sonally reached the piles of burning
cotton, of which there we're many, and
I invite your careful psrusal of them.
for they are positive that they saw rebel
cavalry soldiers ripping open the bales
OF cotton and applying fire. They also
saw rebel soldiers plundering the stores
on Main street, which General Hamp-
ton attributes TO our men; and they
further positively assert that Hampton
had already gone out of Columbia. so
that he personally could not aud did
not see his men applying fire. Now,
Hampton admits that the cotton was
rolled out in the streets, ''for the pur-
pose OF burning" but that he forbade
the burning. lest the fire should extend
to tho houses, and T reiterate that, no
matter what his orders were, the men of
his army. either his rear guard or his
stragglers, did apply the fire, and that
this was sufficient cause for all else
that followed. With great respect,
yours, W. T. SHERMAN, General.
UN1TRD STATES INTERNAL REVENUE
ASSESSORS OFFICE, 3D DIsT'cr. Mo,
MEMPHIS, September 1, 1873.
Hon. ". ". BeMnap, Secretary of
W'w, Washington, d. c.: In reply to
your communication of the 22d ultimo,
in relation to the firing OF the city of
Columbia, s. c., February II, 1865, l
would respectfully submit the following
report:
On fha n,orn;rn or Eol.,,o~ 1oc-