The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-09-04
.0UR WOMEN IN THE WAR.
THE sACKsoF COLUMBIA.
THE TORCH APPLIED TO HER HOMES,
Mrs. s.. a. Cfittenden, of Greenville County,
IS. C.. IN Charleston Weekly News.

Mrs. s. a. Criaenden, of ,Greenpil2e County,
S. c., III Charleston Weekly News.
The Federal army, under Sherman, lay
lust on the other side of the Congaree.
and the ;bombardingy went on steadily,
without, however, doing much damage.
( Hampton, with feeble. force, was left in
! command of the defence of the Capital,
when Gen. Joseph E. Johnston withdrew
towards North Carolina. To the women
and children Of that doomed city things
& began to look gloomy in the extreme.
Many refugees who had come from Char
lesion, and other parts of the low. country,
resumed their flight, seeking safety in the
upper districts, nearer the mountains.
MANY residents of Columbia followed
them; in fact, nearly all who could get
away fed, leaving their household goods
J TO the mercy of the invaders. Shells and
cannon balls have voices of singular
peBuasiyeness to induce non.combatants
to- srnoye. or, Q. and not many willingly
keep reserved seats to listen to their
music.
Never shall / forget little incident
that occurred on Thursday afternoon
before the occupation on Friday morning.
I was promenading the front piazza,
listening to the dull boom of the cannon
~ sas t;came borne on the western breeze
from across the river, feeling all the
horrors of the situation, when my atten-
tion was attracted te earagged little darkey
-One Of fthelinstitutions of all Southern
cities as he went whistling quite uncon-
cernedly on the opposite side OF the street.
1 Suddenly d bombshell came hurting
through the air, struck limb just over
his head, shiYering it into q thousand
3 8 pieces. Like lightning the little Arab
rolled himself into az inconceivably
+ small black ball, crouching against the
fence, with scarcely anything visible but
the whites of his eyes, which he turned
in amazement towards the shattered limb.
For one brief moment he lay there, then
4springing up he exclaimed in accents of
) the most abject terror, Fore God, I
thought he;had me pand fed like the
wind.
THE BELEAGUERED CITY.
On Thursday night there was little
sleep in the beleaguered city. / had
dressed 9 day or two before for any emer.
pency, ard did not remove my dress for q
week. / had taken an apron of strong
Scotch ginghams. doubled It up and run
casings i'm it, and into these castings
slowed away important papers belonging
) to my husband, some money and few
articles of jewelry. This wore as q
hustle and was .uud disturbed in its posses.
sion. Others wsre not 80 fortunate.
Many had their clothing torn off and
their persons searched by the lawless
soldiers. and the mob who reaped such q
harvest on that fearful night of February
II, 1856.
On Friday morning, while we we're at
breakfast; q sound of mnsketrys broke the
ominous stiffness. and we learned that
the Yankees had crossed the river on
pontoon bridges, and that the city was
virtually in their hands. The mayor and
& some of the chief municipal officers had
gone to Gen. ShermaD.s headquarters and
surrendered our beautiful Capital, and
received from him the comforting assu.
rance that Columbia should be IS safe'as
1t had been under Mayor Goodwyn's own
administration.
.sSome Of the public buildings, such
as the Arsenal and Armory, will have to
be destroyed = said Sherman, "but I will
select calm day for the purpose, and
nothing else shall be injured. Go home
and sleep in peace, Mr.. Mayor; your
city shall be SAFE" How well he Kept
this promise let Columbia's burning
homes. her desolate streets and her house
less, starving children tell.
z I hope bnt few of my readers know
from experience what the sacking of
city is. L hope fewer still may ever
know. Columbia had foes without and
within, for though. the slave population
had behaved well during the war, it was
bnt human nature when freedom came
to them so suddenly that they should
receive it extrayagantly, and 60 with
outstretched arms to welcome their de.
liperers. heard of some of these delu-
ded people who actually knelt in the
street before the, incoming troops, like
the heather throwing. himself before the
car of Juggernaut for the wheels to roll
over him. Well, the wheels did roll over
many Of them. Of the thousands who
left Georgia and the Carolinas to follow
the fateful fortunes of the Yankee army
few reached Virginia, aud fewer still
returned to their old homes, which they
sighed for when too late.
"A friend told me of one old mauma
who was more fortunate than many of
her compeers. On Tuesday, when the
army was leaving with its motley train
of camp followers, this old woman was
seen seated in stolen carriage, drawn
by stolen horses, dressed in the enormous
headgear of aristocratic, ante.bellum
DAYS, tanning herself-Febrrary though
it was-with q huge palmetto fan. My
friend accosted her:
..Hallo Aunt Sallie; where are you
going?"
aLa honey, rs gwine back inter de
Union I" with complacent and patron
izing nod of her sable head.
THE CITY IN FLAMES.
No pen can adequately depict the hor-
rors of the burning Of Columbia. Every
hearthstone was an altar on which the
Yankees sacrificed to their gods-Ven.
geance and Hatred-and every blazing
roof-tree will be burning record against
their wanton cruelty in the day of inal
count. All day the storm had been
gathering. Here and there some out
rageous act gave foretaste of what was
in store for the "Rebs" between the set
ting and rising of the sun.
Mr.. B., among other merchants, had
struggled hard to protect his property
through the day but his store had
repeatedly been broken open, aud Yam
KEGS, negroes, and, oh shame, some
Southern whites, had plundered it at
will. Seeing how useless it was to con-
tend for order among the disorderly, and
for law among the lawless, he abandoned
everything and came home, where we
waited, in treacheoas calm, the unfold
ing ofsevents.
About 10 o'clock p. m. the signal