Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-07

this day. Previously to setting her on
IRE the executive officer ordered that she
should be allowed to drift down below
the bridge, some 400 Yards. where she
was fired; and the connagratlon lit up the
scene with lurid glare to me absolutely
sickening, because IL was the signal Of
retreat from pleasant abode. What be.
came Of her boats, OF which she had three
or four good ones, don't know have
since suspected that they were appropeI-
ated by the Irish seaman and that other
Emeralder, Boatawain Taft, neither of
whom / ever afterwards saw. AS the
train numbered over the long bridge
took one last lingering look at the yard,
at the kissing flames OF the steamer as
their light struggled with the surround.
ing darkness, thought OF the dreadful
scenes of war, OF ''the girl left behind
me-" and sighed. That night we got to
Florence. Next morning two OF three OF
the men pressed" horses and went into
the cavalry company of one Capt. Nc
Clennahen, which fingered for some I'M
known purpose on Sherman's rear. Late
IN the day | heard through the pine
woods the
TwANGING OF A. CAVALRY HORN
sounding ito horse" and saw my for
hA1A NNhipdillOur nO IllOIts NtNl OAN 00-
other train conveyed us to Sumterviile, a
village farther southwark. Here we dis
embarked from the train; put aboard two
wagons, such commissary stores as Capt
johnson thought 1t advisable to carry;
the crew, now TO all intents aud purposes
military company, were formed into
line; forward, marchl and we were soon
trampihg the streets Of Sumter. making
for the Columbia & Charlotte railway
The officers were fast enough TO pro-
cure an ambulance in which TO avoid the
! fatigue OF marchingi one or two OF them
dropped OUT and, as we marched through
j observed the slaves, arlstocratiC as their
masters, observed US with curious won
deri thinking it strange, no doubt, for
company OF rebels to be thus marching ia
the rear OF Sherman's powerful army IL
was my first march, and by sunset Of the
first day was wearied and footsore. We
marched twenty-five miles day, and the
distance to Charlotte was over hundred
miles, at which town we finally arrived
On the march several men "dropped out''
and went to their homes, deeming the
Confederate cause hopeless and further
exertion useless. We passed the old
revolutionary battle-ground of Camden;
and, as we struck Shermans route, the
effects Of
FIRE AND SWORD
became apparent. | had read OF the
ravages of war; of pillaged districts; OF
burnt towns and ruined provinces. But
these had been things of the imagination
merely. Now l saw the reality, They
were all before and around me. | speak
from personal knowledge when say that
the sight of the devastation which APP
peared on Sherman's route was sicken-
ing and painful to behold. We marched
twenty-five miles on his route; namely,
| from Camden to the Northwest. The en-
tire distance was a scene OF ruin which
the pen OF the historian must shndder
to record. The best, The business por-
ton OF Camden had been laid in ashes;
the embers were not yet cold. All along
the road could be seen lone chlmneys,
monuments Of the power of the tri-
umphant enemy. Whole plantations ap-
peared without the vestige of Il
fence; the blackened and charred
remains OF stately mansions were,
in some cases, still smoking as
we passed.; and everything wore that
saddening aspect of desolation which
must be seen TO be understood, and
which wakes chord of painful sadness
III lnN OChOldSls hOuCt Nuo Jul Nv
Churches and negro cabins alone were
left. Two other houses, fine mansions
were the only planters dwellings in the
twenty-five miles that appeared intact
! One of these, four miles from Camden
the residence of Gen, Chestnut, a splen
did building, was said to have been saved
; at the instance of one Of the generals Ole
slaves. Another was also a fine mansion
! further on the line of our route. il stood
, on the edge of vast clearing; all the
. fences were burnt, and the building alone
! remained of the wreck On inquiring the
reason why this house had been left when
so many others had been left In ruins, we
were told that it had been a
generals headquarters. All along our
I route we at intervals passed what had
been the bivouacs of the enemy, where
the stakes to which their horses had been
tied were still standing, and the fodder
| and other forage upon which their ami
j mails had been SO recently fed were
G strewn and scattered around the encamp-
c ments. All the signs OF the passage of q
9 large and ponderous army were TO be
] seen all along the road. This was terri
e bly, torn up, the ruts through which the
. broad and heavy artillery wheels had sc
0 LACEY revolved were In some places sew
e eral feet deep in the red clay. When We
7 had gone some miles In the devastated
T, region, one cold morning ct was about
: the last of February we
y MET WHITE WOMAN
9 with an infant in her arms, with al
q old negress as her sole attendant. Bott
{ were poorly clad, misery was in the iac'
e of the South Carolina matron Gas she ev
7 idently was) and she was eyi
| =