The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1881-06-18
THE BURNING OF COLUaIDfd.
Ft'steniDg tho Crime Oh sherman by Union
Testinaony---A Eockd0loyor.

"e'"' Niiciiilal. III feceDt speech
renewed the controversy about tho
destruction Of Columbia by agail
charging it npon Hampton and tho
ConfrGeratcs.
! This statement is: that the cotton
Or some cotton, in Columbia, was sci
nre 10 D! the Confederate cavalry, that
The fire was subdued by Gen. Logan,
corps, "the Fifteenth" that whcIi tho
Federal soldiers ceased to carry water
ut night, the fire broke out anew and
spread rapidly, and that what OF
Columbia remained the next molni,o
was wholly due to Logan's trooDs'
The first fact is as to the burning ot
cotton by the Confederate cavalry.
| Gen. Hampton, in a letter dated
April %, 1866, published in an account
OF the burning Of Columbia, written
in 1906 by DR.. W. III. TrcZcvant, and
published in that year, SAYS that Inc
was directed by Gen. Bcaurcgard, his
superior officer, on the morning that
the Union forces came In, "to issue an
order that the cotton should not be
burncd,' and that there was "not q
| bale Oh fire" when the Fcderals entered
the town. Gen. Bcaurcgard says that
THIS statement is correct, and that "thc
only thing Oh fire, ut the time of the
evacuation, was the depot building of
tue South Carolina Railroad, which
caught fire accidentally from the cx-
ploslon OF some ammunition ordered
70 DC sent towards t. hnrlottc, n. ="
Mayor Goodwin and Aldermen Stork
and Mckenzie certify that Gen. Stone
was III possession of the city al hour
before Gen. Sherman arrived, and
that when they passed the cotton with
Stone it wos not on fire, and that cit
did not take fire for some time after
the authority WAS vested in him. !"
Alderman Stork says further that "he
saw the
YANKEE SOLDIERS LIGHT THEIR CIGARS
and throw the matches in among the
cotton," and Capt. Pratt, of the Union
army, salu to Alderman Mckenzie: ~
Wish Fon had burned the whole (of the
cottoW; it would have saved us trou-
bic, us our orders arc to burn all the
cotton III town." Moreover, Alder
man Mckenzie says it was some time
after ms return with Stone and Pratt
mat the cotton was on fire. and when
the alarm was given he went to the
spot and cXtinguished the; fire, so that
IL dld not at any time blaze out again.
The Rev. MIR. Shuud, Of Columbia,
says that the fire in the cotton urigi-
llatcd irom lie fire Of the cigal 8
OF the Union soldiers, und that
"hclthcr sparks nor flames were cX-
tended to the ncighboriny buildings,
unu no aalila9c was done except to the
cottoli." In fact, the cotton which
sherman saw, an" to which he alludcs,
WAS ex'inguisbrd by one O'Clock aid
never again ignted. The gentlemen
whose statements we have given are
llvlng, with one exception. Hundreds
or witnesses will subStaniiate their
assertions. 1t should be noted also
thut Col. Conyngham, u. S. A., and
MaJoi Nichols. OF Shcrman's staff, in
Their published accounts Of the occu-
patton OF Columbia, show that the fire
Which ravugcu the town commenced
aiter dark. How then did that fire
originate?
MIR. thand, n venerable Episcopal
clergyman, says in Ills account Of tho
burning That, at eight o'clock ut night,
ROCKETS WERE SEEN TO ASCEND,
ana Immediately thereafter q fire
broke out in the central portion of the
city hear tho market, and soon assumed
alarming proportions" Then he no.
tlccd "trcsh flames bursting out on the
east, west and south, at points very
distant from each other, and not Dossi
ply caused by the communication of
liamcs from one TO another" The
Key. William b. Yates, Il wcll-known
Episcopal clergyman, SAYS he was in
his yard when the fatal rocket went
up, and one Of the Union soldiers cx
claimed, "Now you will see hell"
Asking what this meant, he was told:
"Illat is the signal for general set
ting OF fire to the city" Immcdatc-
~ thereafter, a number of fires could
DC seen in every direction. Mr.. Shand
saw the soldiers attempt to set fire to
ono OF his outhouscS. Alderman
Stork also saw them set fire to the
cotton, and to private houses. Sol
tiicrs told Capt. Stanley, a veteran of
the Mexican war who is still living,
that "thcy would give them (thc CO.
lumbianS) hell Tonight" and that the
arrangements for burning the city
were all made over the river before
the troops came in. 1t is, in fine, as
we'll established as any fact can be
that the cotton which did burn was SET
tre to by the Union soldiers, that this
ire diu not cause the general cOnila-
grafton, and that the town was set tirc
to by Federal soldiers, at one time and
~ different places, and apparently Mt II
gwen signal. Nay, in Dir. Trczcvant's
pamphlet Gen. Sherman is quoted bv
Mayor Goodwin as telling him, the
morning after the city was burnt, that
he "rcgrettcd very much that il was
burned, and that il was the MAYORS
fault IN suffering liquor to remain in
tbe city wien it was evacuated"
There was 10 word then of llampton's
cavalry and Confederate cotton! How,
too, was the fire stopped? at three or
four o'clock the next morning Gen.
Sherman gave this order to Capt. An
drcws,: "Tbis thing has gone far
enough. See that stop is but to it.
Take Woods division, and [ hold YOU
and them responsible. if it Is not ar
rested" The fire then was quickly
stopped. by his own showing, Gen.
Sherman
ALLOWED THE FIRE TO GO on
for hours when he could have caused
it to be cxtimguishcd. This, however,
wiTrdt'H question at issue. $50, ,or
)apanlng for white; it taken One viz
IN ltl Isl n h,.. Il