The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-12-05
GEORGIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Sherman's Sold rs Believed 70 Have
Carried Away Soma of T.s P,o,a-+,

Sherman's Sold rs Believed 70 Have
Carried Away some Of It's Property.
The committee appointed under the
resolution OF the society TO examine into
tne disposition Of the objects Of interes CSt
the society in 1864, and to ascertain what
became OF said property, report:
mat IN ey have examined into the facts
ana ma that the following action is re-
corded IN the minutes of the society of
July IA. 1862:
by resolution, the president and librarian
were AUTHORISED to have the historical
iauuscrlpts OF the society, together with
suco otner ValuableS as cannot be replaced.
removed to some place of security IN the
Interior OF the state, if, in their discretion,
IL should become necessary"
lney further find the following action re-
corded IN the minutes of the society of Oct.
10, 1864:
motion was made and carried that the
valuable documents packed up in 1862 for
preservation be stiil retained in their
boxes"
No report is found in the minutes of any
subsequent meeting showing the fate of the
property In question. The president, in
1904, was DE-. William NJ. Charters, and the
librarian Mr.. J. It. Cam. Both are dead.
ana your committee are not able to ascer-
taln from any person, either connected with
them or then active in the affairs of the
society, whether the officers 50 charged
were able to keep safely and return the
property so packed nor, indeed, is it known
whether that property was ever removed
from the historical hall, on BRYAN street
Ihere are certain facts, however which
your committee are able to state, and which
leads us to the conclusion that the boxes
were mover removed.
On Oct. TO- 1864, Sherman was still in
Atlanta, preparing for his march south
ward, and between that date and the capt
ure OF Savannah it is very improbable that
the officers of the society would have set
Tied upon any place 10 the interior as a safer
asylum for the valuables of the society,
than Savannah. 1t appears to US, most
likely. that they remained locked I'D in the
hall, which was certainly as safe a place for
such property as any other in the city, ex-
cept the vaults of banks, and that they were
there at the time of the capture Of the city.
Conhrmatory evidence of this conclusion
exists In the fact that many important and
valuable manuscripts owned by or in the Gus
tody OF the society at the time, have been
IN the custody of the society since the end of
the war. The nature of these documents
makes it certain that they were among the
papers packed up, some of them having boon
original important documents from the ar
cnlVeS OF UnS state loaned to the SC clety
before 1864, and returned by the society to
the state after the war. If, therefore, the
boxes had been sent away by the officers, it
seems clear, from the return of the papers
referred to, that all would have been re-
turned together. But the subsequent pos
session by the society of portion of them,
taken in connection with the well-known
history of our property, permits us to infer,
with little doubts, as to the fate of the
boxes. When Sherman's army entered the
city his men broke into the hall and raw
aged it. 1t would seem to have offered lit
tie to satisfy the cupidity of soldiers with
only ordinary passion for robbery, but
these appeared TO take pleasure in purely
wanton injury, and when the officers of the
society were again permitted to have their
hall, many books and articles had been
looted, and all the library and property, not
carried away by the thieves, were left in
confused masses oG the floor.
Ii, therefore, the boxes in question were
not removed before the capture they were
certainly opened by the thieves and the
contents taken or scattered This would
account for the fact thai the society subse-
quently had a portion'ot theIn5 and no other
reasonable hypothesis does.
Your committee, therefore, concludes that
the society was robbed of the missing papers
and property by Sherman's soldiers. Re
spectfulIy submitted,
CHARLES N. WEST,
R. j. NUM-,
JOHN SCREVEN.