Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-05-30


one ox Shcrmlan's Es.:naners.',
The Columbus (Ga.) Sun and Tine
nublishes the following letter, which
was found in the streets Of Columbia
Immediately after the army of General
sherman had left, and the original of
which has beerpreserved and can be
shown and substantiated:
CAMP NEAR CAMDEN, S. c..
February 26, 1860.
NJ Dear IiLfc:-I have no time for
particulars We have had a glorious
time in this State. Unrestricted IL
causc to burn and pllinder was the or
der of the day. The chivalry have
beenstrippcd Of most of their valuables.
Gold watches, silver pitchers, cups.
spoons, forks, &c, are as common in
camp rs b'ackberries. The terms of
plundcr are as follows: The vaIuao Dies
are estimated by companies. Each
company IS required to exhibit the re-
suits of its operations at any given
place-one-f fifth and first choice falls
to the share of the commandments
and staff, One-fifth to the corps com
mHiiJttfS anu Stiti, oiic-iitun TO neld
officers of regiments, and two-fifths to
the company.
Officers are not allowed to Join these
expeditions without Disgusting them
selves as privates. One of our corps
commanders borrowed Il suit of rough
clothes from one of my men, and was
successful in this place. He got a
large quantity Of silver (among other
4
p very fine gold watch, from Mr..
DeSaussure ut this place. DeSaussure
is one of the L. I. Y. s of South Caro-
lima. and WIS made to fork over Hber-
ally. Officers over the rank of captain
do not put their plumber in the esti-
mate for general distribution. This
is very unfair, and for that reason, in
order to protect themselves, suborGi-
nate officers and privates keep back
everything that they can carry about
brcastpins, NC, OF which, if ever / live
to get home, / have about quart. |
am not ioking-l have at least Il quart
of jewclry for You and all the girls.
and some No. | diamond rings and
pins among them. General Sherman
has silver and gold enough to start
chains alone at Columbia was two hun
drcd and sevcnty-fve (275).
Blu. | said ] could not 60 into par
ticulars All the general officers and
many besides had valuables of every
description, down to embroidered
ladies pocket handkerchiefs. q have
my share of them, too.) We took gold
and silver enough from the ID rebels
to have redeemed their Internal cur
rency twice over This (the currency
whenever We come across it, we
burned, as we considered it utterly
worthless.
wish all the iewclry this army has
could be carried to the" Old Bay State"
II would deck her out in glorious style,
but alas. it Will be scattered all over
the North and Middle States. The
ID niggers, as a general rule, prefer
to stay ut home, particularly after they
found ont that we only wanted the
abIe-bodied men land to tell Won the
truth, the Youngest and best looking
women Sometimes we took off whole
fam lies and plantations of niggers, by
way of rcpaying sCcessionists. But
the useless part of them we soon man.
age to lose-sOmetimes in crossing
rivers sometimes by other ways.
L shall write to You again from Viii
mington. Goldsboro, OF some other
place in North Carolina. The order to
march has arrived, and | must. close
hurrledly. Love to Grandmother and
Aunt Charlotte. Take care of your
self and the children. Don't show this
letter ont of the family.
Your af1,cctiOnate husband,
THOMAS J. MYERS,
Lieutenant, &c.
p. 81 will send this by tie first
flag OF truce to be mailed, unless ]
have an opportunity Of sending 1t to
Hilton Head. Tell Sallie [ am saving
a pearl bracelet and earrings for her;
but Lambert got the necklace and
bTeastpin of the same set. l am trying
to trade him out Of them. These were
taken from the Misses Jamisons.
daughters of the President OF the
South Carolina Secession Convention.
We found these Oh our trip through
Georgia.
Tins letter was addressed to "NIrs.
Thomas j. Myers, Boston, Mass.
In connection with the above We take
the following from the Raleigh (N. c.
Sentinel:
As a slight contribution to the evil
dence that IS accommodating as to who
burned Columbia, we give the follow
ing facts: When Howard's Corps
passed through Warrenton, one of the
officers, staff officer Of Gen. Logan's,
if we are correct, said to Il lady of the
town, ut whose house he was staying:
Il am glad, madam, the war is over,
or it might become my duty to burn
your handsome town, as 1t was my
pleasure to burn Columbia i'll Obedl
ence to General Sherman's orders"
We suppress the name of the lady,
but this conversation can be proved
both by the lady and one or two gen
tlemen who were present.