The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-09-16


speech, to disavow all completely Herewith |
and all knowledge thereof. He, even, goes
further and charges distinctly and unequi- |
vocally that the fire was kindlcd by federal |
soldiers. acting under the express orders of |
General sherman. II having done service
during the campaign. without Mr.. or Gen |
eral' Hampton receiving any especial bene
fit thcrcfrom. it might have been supposed
that it would have been put at rest, but ii
was not so to be. The discussion has been
continued and is again brought into proml-
hence by letter from General Sherman to
the Washington chronicle, published in our
tccgraphic columns, Monday morning.
When the history of this transaction comes
to I've written. il is important that ii should
be correctly done. We do not so much
wonder that something of discussion has
taken place as 20 ''who took Ticondcroga,
although there does not seem to he any
doubt about it. and the testimony is all one
way. because |, was a transaction upon
which the dust of nearly century had
accumulated But Columbia was burned
less than nine years ago. and thousands
upon thousands of those who witnessed it
are still living, many of whom have given
in their testimony in relation thereto. and
thc remaindcrarc easily accessible.
II was that matters like Til, might he
settled beyond question and beyond doubt,
that >vo hoilnl thn r,rY,o,i,,, &c q, ,.South
crn Historical Society" whose especial du-
ty It was to gather up and preserve the rec
Crds of the war OF the rebellion from
southern standpoint. With this object in
view. and feeling assured from the names
of the movers in the project that the work
would he honestly and faithfully pursued,
we were not troubled or alarmed because
Jeff Davis and one or two other impracti-
cables saw fit to make an unsecming dis
play of themselves upon the occasion Of
not ata meeting of the society, and to de-
clare that the 'causc" was not ''lost. the
south not reconstructed but was only abid-
ing her opportunity, and so ON. The pco-
pie IF the north and particularly the SOL
diers Of the north, acknowledge the gal
lantry and bravery Of the men of the south,
and they do not wonder at their natural
desire TO preserve the history of their brave
deeds and gallant acts. We are. hereafter,
to live together ~ one people. Secession
and dsunion are things of the past and
never can be revived. Approaching the
.
perhaps, honestly-rendcred in their be-
half, and remembering that VIC are now
and are always to remain, one people, they
will make their researches with an eye
single to the truth. Our honor is as much
their honor as it is ours, and any stain to
the American name which follows the
burning of Columbia will, in the future,
attach TO the south as much as to the north.
We do not apprehend, however, that they
will find much difficulty in fixing the res
possibility of this deed on Wade Hampton
himself All of the testimony, except that
of Hampton, is to that effect, and the
probabilities point in the same way. Let
us again briefly look upon there facts and
| at~ iiPlNii W III oHNe
more brought into notice. On the 18th
day of February, 1865, several hundred
buildings, including the old State House,
one or two churches, most of the carved
of construction, and large number OF
public siorehOuses were destroyed by fire.
In some of the public buildings, stored
there by the rebels themselves, were large
quantities of shot, SHE'LL and other amuni-
ton, which, when the flames reached these
magazines, scattered the fire nearly all oven
the city, and which, with the high wind
then prevailing. accounts in some measure
for the immense destruction of property
that followed. Hundreds upon hundreds
of helpless men, women and children were
left houscless and homeless, and were al
once cared for by General Sherman and
his soldiers. In reference 10 these facts there
is no doubt, contest or question.
In his official report of his operation,
written soon after the fire. General Sher-
man states that General Wade Hampton,
who commanded the confederate real
guard ri cavalry, had in anticipation OF
our capture of Columbia ordered that all
cotton, public and private, should be moved
into the streets and fired, to prevent ON
making use of it. Bales were piled every.
where, the rope and bagging cnt. and tufts
of cotton were blowcd about in the wind
lodged in the trees and against houses.
= Some of these bales Of cotton were
burning, especially one in the very heart
of the city"-he is speaking Of the moment
of time when the union forces entered thu
city--''but the fire was pdrtiaily subduet
by the labOrs of our soldiers" He had be
fore stated that ia perfect tempest of wine
was raging at the time, and then goes OF
to say, that before one single public
building had been fired by Order" the fire.
set by liampton's orders were ''rckindlet
by the wind and communicated TO tn,
buildings around This report, it mus
be remembered, was written at the time of
or Immediately after, the transaction, wher
; the circumstances were fresh in the mem
, DRY of the general himself and of his Off
GERS, and before the propriety Of the &C
had ever been called in question. Tn,
probabilities, too, are in favor of its truth
and, moreover, General. SHERMAN is not tn,
man 10 shrk any responsibility arising
from his acts. lie had conducted, and wa
. conducting the campaign for the avowct
/ purpose of bringing the realities of the wa
home to the planters and other residents o
the south. Destruction and ruin marked
his pathway, and he had intended they
should. He made war, too, on cotton
Weeks before;he had informed confederate
commanders that of cotton "all you dom
: burn, will, adding ''we don't want 1t
| md Ii has DrOypn n curgp IN our country