Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-06-20
Who I1urmcd Columbin state.
ment OF the OFFICER Whose Union
brigade Guarded the City.

Who Burned Columbia State.
nlent OF the OFFICER Whose Union
Brigade Guarded the City.
General George A. Stone, who COM
manded the Third Brigade, First Di-
vision, of the Fifteenth Army Corps,
of General Sherman's army, which
guarded the city on the night it was
burned, writes an interesting letter to
the Chicago Tribune, giving new so
luton to the conundrum, Who fired
Columbia? He says the army was
animated by feeling of intense hatred
toward South Carolina, and that this
animosity increased as they approach
ed Columbia His recollection is that
''outsde of the town not house was
left standing unless occupied by ne
groes; and from the dense clouds Of
smoke few miles each 70 CIR right
! and left-plainly defining The march
I the columns advancin., III parallel
Iines-it seemed that the same de-
struction was following in the wake of
those columns" After deScr1bing the
! entrance of the army into the city,
General Stone says:
UD to this time no fires had occurred
I in any part of the city save those OF
public buildings and quartermasters'
stores, fired by the enemy the day be-
! fore we entered, think, but which fire
| had not extended, and did not extend,
| to any other part of the city. The
| streets in some places contained bales
! % cotton, which had been cut open.
/ and these caught fire twice or three
| times during the day; but these fires
had been promptly put out by some OF
| The Iircmen Of the city, aided by de-
tail o. soldiers under charge of an
| officer BY this time [ realized how
| much too small my command of 1890
men was to properly guard city OF
| 40, 600 inhabitants rich almost beyond
conception in such stores as we covet-
| Ell. In addition to their own-more
than ordinarily found anywhere
Richmond and Charleston had sent
for safe-keeping all their surplus.
| [ represented to General Woods,
commanding the division, how made
Quate my command was to the task,
particularly as this was the capital of
| South Carolina ! And while he ex-
| pressed himself as of my opinion he
could do nothing further than refer me
| to General Logan, commanding the
corps. Logan expressed himself even
more strongly than Woods had done,
that my command was too small for
the provost duty of Columbia but
said Towards orders were one brigade
must guard the city, and he could not
change them.
now had intimation that the Union
officers released by us from thecity
prisons had formed society, to which
had been added many members from
our soldiers and the negroes, and the
object OF which society was to burn
Columbia. Colonel D. J. Palmer,
commanding my regiment, the Seven
ty-fifth Iowa, and to whom [ had in
trusted the charge of the most danger
Gus part of the city-viz., that on
the river and in 90 Cotton Town -
confirmed my opinion that there
was a plot to burn the city by
telling me that several fires had start
ed in his district: that he had succeeded
in putting them out SO far, but could
not hold out much longer; and that in
his opinion, the next one would fire
the city. The wind after sunset had
increased in violence, and about nine
O'Clock was blowing almost hurricane
from Colonel Palmer's district right
toward the heart of the city. All at
once fifteen or twenty flames, from
as many different places along the river
shot up, and in ten minutes the fate of
Columbia was settled. Most of the
officers and many Of the men worked
like heroes in saving property and
life. General Sherman set the exam
pie; and often during the night [ no.
tee nm as hard at work as any private
soldier or fireman. By the next NOR
ming it was discovered that the guard
had been too small, and although one
square mile of the heart. of tie city
had been eaten out, the mems appetite
for revenge was not satiated