, 1884-10-14
TWENTY YEARS AGO.
The Twentieth Anniversary Of sher.
mans Visit to Atlanta
How the City succumbed To over
PoVverinE Forees-Sherman Pos
sessss the Town Burned
and Reaurrected.


twenty years ago O1ermAn8 NlCtOrlOua
hosts marched into Atlanta, and like a blue
wave spread into every nook and corner of
the city. $1,000 strong. The last retreating
cavalryman Of the defeated rebels dashed
down Decatur street twenty years ago
TO the invigorating rattle Of musketry
as Slocum's men came down Marietta street
behind them.
"Yes, sir" said Councilman Mahoney. Il
saw the last cavalrymAn dash down this
street followed by the whizzing bullets. As
the Confederate clattered down the strset,
one MANTLE last handicapped his mus
ket Did he stop to pick it upf No. He
drove the spurs into his horses sides and
soon was in the midi OF his fleeing compan.
ions. The Yanks were too close to him
and the bullets were flying too thick for him
TO lose any time picking up a musketl"
IL was on the 1st Of September, 1854 The
city had been shelled for six weeks, and the
reign Of terror was at its heat The battle Of
the goth Of July, the great battle Of the 22d,
and the battle Of Ezra church had been
fought, the Jonesboro fighting was over, and
defeat had settled upon the Confederate ban
ner. Many houses were deserted by the
panic-stricken people. For two days the nom
combatants had been unable TO get any re-
liable information of the movements Of the
two armies. On the night Of the LIST there WINS
- 80 u OAtIa hgbAH al luE CllI
and an increased tramp, tramp, tramp Of the
moving army as Hood prepared to withdraw
his troops from the city he could no longer
defend.
At midnight the ORDINANCES train and sew
enty odd car loads Of powder, shells and
cartridges was run from a point near the
center Of the city to about opposite Gen.
Gartrelrs residence. and the rebels began
the destruction Of the engines OF death they
could no longer use. Boom after boom OF
battle thunder rent the air and startled the
city, shaking 1t as an earthquake. As a
mass Of explosives would fire of the air for
hundreds OF feet upward would be, las II
filled with a million rockets" Woman aud
children screamed with terror. In the midst
OF all this there lived near tho place many
families OF very poor people, whose misera-
Bile little children ran about the yards beg
ging most piteously to DO saved from the
volcano Of fire that every moment
belched from the burning ambulancs
train, flashed into the darkness far above
their heads and then fell backward TO tho
earth The rumble and thunder Of the ex-
ploding ordnance train was accompanied by
wild shocks Of locomotives as their boilers
went 10 pieces under the exploding hands OF
the Confederates.
When morning broke, most Of the soldiers
wore gone, only a few Struggling cavalry
men being left behind to bring up the rear,
and they seemed bent ON getting out Of town
as rapidly rs possible. In the midst Of this,
the non-combatants we're in a state OF terror
and for the greater part, remained In doors.
As soon as the Confederate had left town,
however, a horde OF people from the country
came In and proceeded to plumber houses and
stores, but they were quickly put 10 flight
when the first blue-coat showed up
Gen. Sherman came into Atlanta the
second day after the Confederates had left it,
and Immediately made his headquarters at
the old Lyon house, now the girls hlgh-sehool
building. How many Atlantians to-day re-
call his figure as he passed to and fro about
the house or sat on the shady verandaf
Gen Geary made his headquarters In the
lovely Hawley mansion, and Cen. JEFF G.
Davis made his headquarters in "A house
about two doors below tho Jewish synagogue
on Forsyth street
And then what n wonderful change came
over the city,
Within forty-eight hours every business
house In Atlanta was occupied by suffers
stores. There were book stores, clothing
stores, confectionery stores, drygoods stores,
and 10 cap the climax, a minstrel show
opened on Decatur street, and two or three
billiard saloons were put in full blast There
was revelry in the house Of death
On Sept 4 Gen. Sherman issued his order
for all the non-combatants TO leave the city
within ten days, and the women and children
prepared to shake the dust OF Atlanta from
their feet Away they won't, and Atlanta
was a vast military camp, occupied by Sher-
mans conquering army.
Then a season Of despoliation followed.
Some Of the finest houses in the city were
torn down and the lumber used in making
shanties for the soldiers. Judge Erskine's
handsome place was one TO suffer in this way.
There was a notable case Of a soldier who
sported "A crystal palnce-a house made en-
urely Of window sashes.
Thus did ShermAn's troops occupy Atlanta
until that fatal November night.
Sherman had prepared to leave. From the
aTst entrance OF the blue-coats, there had
been a general belief that the city would be
burned. Such a fate was talked Of on all
sides.
At last the fatal time arrived and the torch
was applied. A wild fire Il was as the busy
little city Of 1900 people was turned over To
the devouring element All the business part
Of the city was a mass Of lame that rapidly
spread in every direction, and when morn
ing dawned the smoking ruins and lettering
walls, and sentinel-like chimneys marked the
chArred spot and as the last Federal disap.
PGoANd oNcT Tue bToW OF 0hllFeuh NIL etlll-
ness and desolation reigned about the spot
where Atlanta had stood. Piles Of brick
from which purple smoke lAzily curled up
told OF the ravished city, and over it all tho
silence Of death brooded.
Think of standing where the Kimball now
stands with its seven stories towering up
and looking in every direction without seeing
a living soul, and a few weeks later when
Mr.. J. c. Hendrix rode down Whitehall, he
soliloquized;
$50 desolAtel l would be thankful to see
even a bird"
But Atlanta to-day has nearly 00,0O0 souls
and the hustle and crush OF business ON her
streets is in striking contrasts to what she
was when twenty years ago her people began
to gather and shuck their coats for the labor
Of rehabilitation