The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-08-21

Daisy only nestled more closely to her
mothers side, and seemed intuitively to
feel that this was no common calamity.
The first sound that broke the stiffness
was the ejaculation from my sister:
"The death.knell of the Southern Con
ederacy and all bloodshed aud suffer-
ing of our poor soldiers gone tor
naught"
''BLUE COATS" ON THE STREETS.
From that time, O'Clock a. M, there
was no more sleep for US, for explosion
followed explosion in quick succession
all through the day. 1t seems that the
retreating g soldiers had put slow.matches
to all the government storehouses, arse
nails, &C., and the fires was now reaching
them one after the other. About Z
o'clock it reached the armory, where, l
am told, there were lying $4,000 bomb.
shells. and those who have only heard
these explode one at time can form but
little conception of the pandemonium
when dozens are bursting at once for
hours in succession. One shock was 80.
violent that we thought the house had
been struck, for the window-shades were
knocked from their fastenings and fell
to the floor with terrible crash, and
poor Fannie, with the supernatural
strength of terror, sprang from her bed
and fell PROSTATE and fainting many feet
from it, and the still burning fuse from
a she'll was picked up in the yard.
Our toilets that morning were very
hasty, and we were just making a feint
to eat our ill.cooked breakfast, for poor
Chany was the most terrified of the
family, and persistently declared her
belief that "de judgment day done come"
when about quarter-past Z Eddie Mills,
boy about IL years old, came running
into the room exclaiming: "The Yam
KEGS are comingp I went to the front
door to ascertain if this was really so.
tt was true indeed; for there, riding
quietly up the street and looking eau
tiouslY and inquiringly about them, were
two cavalry officers, the first "blue coats"
! I had seen, except as prisoners of war,
since happy, light. hearted girl, l had
danced with them at "Old Point Com
fort" to the music of the military band,
little dreaming in my thoughtless glee
that the time would ever come when l
would regard those same Charming
officers" as my own and my country's
bitterest foes; but "times change and we
change with them" However, these
two looked very harmless, and, q little
surprised to find that their sabres, instead
of being drawn and carried naked and
threatening, merely hung peacefully IN
their scabbards, l felt much relieved, and
took cheering report to the eager listen
ers in the back room.
Very soon after We were told that there
was a soldier with a gun standing by our
front steps who, on inquiry, proved to be
a guard stationed there by the Union
authorities; for to their credit be it
spoken, the first act of the Federal com.
,nander on entering the city was to place
a guard at every street corner tor the
protection of person and property.
| Every few minutes the children of the
household were running in with accounts
of everything that was transpiring, for
little realizing the situation they rather
enjoyed the novelty and excitement OF
the occasion.
| THE CITY IN FLAMES.
About 8 o'clock the terror.stricken
face of Chany appeared at the door, she
crying in dismay, "OhI Miss Luck, de
town burnin' upl" And so indeed it
was. The first sight that met my eyes on
reaching the front door was DR.. Reeds
(Presbyterian) Church, corner Of Sth and
Franklin streets, enveloped in flames,
and in few minutes the fiery tongues
had Tapped up and around the steeple,
which they encircled in a serpent-like
coil, fascinating my gaze with its fatal
beauty, till it swayed, tottered moment,
and then fell with terrible crash where
it had stood for half century like SEN
tinel on the watch tower of Zion, and it
seemed to my excited fancy to exclaim
with its dying wall, like Montcalm st the
fall of Quebec, "Thank God | I will not
live to see the city in the hands OF the
enemy" Casting my eyes to the South
and Southeast I beheld the most sublime.
| " awful spectacle that it has ever been
nv fortune to witness-the whole city in
that direction seemed one sheet of fire,
while dark clouds of smoke bung like
pail over the scene, and rolled in vast
volumes to the North and West. Every
moment the devouring monster seemed
coming nearer and nearer to the place
where stood, and where the old frame
buildings offered tempting food for its
ravenous NAV; even now it did not ap
pear to be more than two blocks of.
One frightful feature in the scene. invest
ing it with an almost unearthly horror,
was the death-like silence that prevailed.
No cries of fire, no ringing of fire bells,
no rattling by of engines, not even the
shrieks of women and children, for all
seemed dumb with terror, and shrank
pale and mute into their dwellings.
How longed for one loud manly cry of
| fire, or one clang of a fire bell to break
the dreadful spell. But there was moth
| ing but the eloquent silence to tell us
that our beautiful city would soon be in
ruins, and the voiceless helplessness was
almost sufocating.
The reason that up to this time no
effort had been made to check the pro-
gress of the fire was that every Confed.
crate male not MANNED, halt or blind ex.
cept those in charge of the sick, had left
the city the evening before, and the
Federals Just coming in had not had
time to organize a fire department, nor
knew yet where to find the engines or
any of the appliances for suppressing the
flames. AS soon as possible, however,
they went to work and by blasting and
all the means within their reach did their
utmost to save the city, aud thanks to
their efforts the ire was kept chiefly
within the business quarter; SO that
comparatively few homes were destroyed,
though we had numerous alarms from
the falling of cuders or burning brands
upon our house, which did actually take
fire three times, and it was with the ut.
! most difficulty extiuguished by the little
water that women and children could
carry up in pals from the hydrant in the
yard to the skylight in the roof.
Little Eddie Mills quite distinguished
| I. IL I. IL L