Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-01-16
The Cradle of the Rebellion Some War
"reminiscences,
[oharleston, > c., Correspondence Of the Phlla.
delphia Press1

lcharloston, =. G., Correspondence Of the phlla-
delphia Press.l
In February, 1865, the boat Of General
2. A. Gilmore, the General then in com
mand of the department of the South, |
deamed one night from Hilton Head 5. |
G., and on bright windy morning lust |
about daylight, " touched the wharf at |
Charleston, which had Just surrendered TO |
the Union forces. Among those on board |
were General Gilmore, Colonel Stewart L. |
Woodtord, since Governor of New York, |
and now Representative in Congress from |
that state, accompanied by his brave little |
wife, X l.. Shelley, correspondent of sew.
eral New York journals, now in New
Orleans; Kane O'Donnell correspondent
OF the Philadelphia Press, since dead, and
your present correspondent, then South |
for the Washington Cd. c. Cht0nicle. It |
was a strange scene we beheld upon en-.
tering this fallen city of the South. There
were none but negroes upon the wharf,
and our appearance so overjoyed them
that they fell prone upon their faces, and
rolling over and over in the dirt cried
aloud "Bless de Lord, bless dc Lord, de
day of halleluiah hab come at last!" They
clung to our feet, and it was with diff
Guilty we made our way through them.
The wharves were decaycd and falling to
pieces all along the battery, and through
the town were seen evidences in shat.
tered houses of the destructive shells;
fires were raging throughout the city,
grass grew in the streets, the windows
and doors of the dwellings were barred
shut, not a white man or woman was Wis
ible; excepting the blacks there were no
signs of life. Charleston was an utterly
dead city. How terrible and yet how
well deserved the fate which had fallen
upon it, II was in the nest of Charleston
that the egg of treason was warmed into
life. From the broad balconies Of the
Charleston Hotel were delivered the
speeches which fired the Southern heart,
and at its door was erected q "libCTty-
pole" from which waved the first flag of
the rebellion. To its citizens belongs the
"honor" of having thrown the first shot
at the country's standard. 1t did not suf-
fer. however, as it might have suffered,
had Sherman's army reached it. They
were wild for Charleston, and the General
but short time before its fall had declared
in Savannah: "If | go to Charleston
God help the cityl My soldiers would
not leave one stone upon another; could
not control them there" True, its de
serted homes were ransacked and true,
too, it was hard for 1t to bear all that it
had to bear; but 1t was simply the for
tunes of war, and of war for which it
was in such great measure responsible.
From the hour that Charleston was oc.
cupied by the Union troops, its recupcra-
ton commenced l came here several
times in the succeeding month, and each
time there We're new signs of progress.
The moment war left its door, Charleston
set about removing every mark of the
conflict To-day it is greater city than
ever, yet here and there is still seen
ruin-mementOes of a sad past. We had
intprpStinU tiInps in fhpaa dave nf yuar in,
Charleston. James Redpath, now the
head of the Boston Lyceum, which con-
trolls nearly all the brighter lights of the
rostrum, writing then for the Boston
Journal, and Coffin another Boston cor
respondent, were here. Redpath, YOU
know, has ever been consistent and very
active AbolitiOnist-his connection with
John Brown proves that well enough
and one Of his first proceedings in Char
lesion was to give a dinner, to which he
invited all the prominent colored men of
the city. | shall never forget that din
ner, nor the great CONSERVATION it caused
me. 1t was not altogether to the liking
OF the correspondents, but they came,
nevertheless, as did also quite a number
of army officers. 1t would, think, be
safe to wager that that was the first
dinner of the kind ever had in Char
lesion, and doubt if there has been any
similar to it since. Redpath collected all
the cOlored children, and aided by noble
women from the North, estab'is 'ished
schools. He worked quietly but earn ,stly,
and one afternoon, having made flying
visit to the city, | encountered Redpath
on horseback on Meeting street, at the
head of several hundred little darkios,
who were marching along singing John
Brown" at the top of their voices. At the
old Save mart we obtained any number
of letters-we had a cartfull of them
giving instructions for the sale and pun
ishment of slaves. l published column
or two Of these documents in the ChrOR-
Sc}e. They were curious then to Northern
eyes. How much more so would they be
now! Coffin, with Yankee shrewdness
took down from over the door the gilt
letters forming the word Mart" and with
the heavy paddock and auction block,
which he also secured, made quite good
thing of it when he returned North, or,
as we used to say in those days, to Gods
country" BY lecturing about them Four
years after Colonel Anderson had hauled
down the stars and stripes from Sumter,
he raised again the selfsame flag
over the same fort Very many distin
guished men were present at the impress
i've ceremony, among them Henry Wilson,
then Senator, now Nice-P President; Adju-
tantGeneral Townsend, William D. Kel-
ley and Daniel Dougherty, Of Philadel-
phia. There were others of equal prom
inence, but their names have escaped me
in the lapse of time To the memories of
those who returned in the Arago after the
raising of the flag must be ever present
the effect of the heartrending news we
heard off Fortress Monroe. The joyous
party of ladies and gentleman, happy in
the end of the war, and impatient for the
proposed visit to Richmond, which had
Just fallen, were surprised by seeing the
flags of the vessels in the stream and on
the fort at halfmast. What was the mat
ter? Hailing passing sailor we soon
learned, and w. d. Kelley, standing upon
coil of rope, told the assembled passen-
gers what not one of them could believe
it was too terrible to be possible that
President Lincoln had been assassinated
We went direct to Washington.
| ask pardon for thus looking back,
but as l sat this morning again in the
Charleston Hotel, the remembranccs
crowded themselves upon me, and l
could not refrain.