Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-09-29
az FALL OF ATLANTA.
ERAN's REcoLLECTIoNs OF STIR
RING WAR TIMES.
rman's Prejudice Against the Array
of the Cumberland and Regard fer
the Army of the Tennessee.


twenty-six years ago-and saw the
capture and destruction of that city. /
remember the day Sherman started on his
triumphant march to the sea with $4,000
men, the firing of the Confederate strong
hold, and the return to Tennessee of the
great Thomas with his small army of
protection. It was generally understood
that Atlanta was too far off for safe Fed
eral base Of supplies, so the intrepid Sher-
man moved toward the east with twenty
days ratlons for man and horse, and the
gallant Thomas returned to bis base of
supplies in Tennessee with two small corps
and nearly all thecannon of the combined
commands, closely followed by the impetu-
Gus Hood, who gave the grim hero Of
Chickamauga a hand -to-hand battle at
Franklin and suffered the destruction Of
his superb army almost within sight of
Nashville during the month following.
No place felt the dire effects of war to so
great an extent as Atlanta-not even
Richmond-and no person not a spectator
of its ruin can fully realize the magnitude
of said Jubilee of destruction and desola-
ton. The demon of war was king; and
and he was red-handed and no mistake
This rebel stronghold had actually rained
shot and she'll over the Federal army since
the battle Of Peach Tree Creek, and DEATH
dealing messengers of metal had pierced
the hearts of one of the McCooks and the
beloved Mcpherson, and made thousands
for number of weeks Union soldier had
been sent 10 his long account. Night and
day shot and shell came screaming and
tearing over and among our soldiers, kill
ing and manning husbands, sons, and
fathers There was no love for Atlanta or
any inhabitant thereof. So, when the
orders were given for the conhagration and
general destruction of one of the finest
cities of the fair South, the torches were
lighted quickly and Indignantly, and the
devilish work was commenced as II under
the auspices of Satan himself. All the
railroad buildings, which were very extern
sive, and every description of rolling-stock
were speedily destroyed-the car wheels,
even, that were left uniniured by fire,
were rendered useless by the breaking OF
their flanges, while switches, frogs, engines,
boilers, wood piles, water tanks, etc, were
all ingeniously mutilated.
/ have often wondered how any South
erner who witnessed that appalling sight
could have been genuinely reconstructed.
What day Of devastation and wreck it
was How the brothers of those who had
been made to bite the dust did get in their
almost unholy and revengeful work? 1t
was the true fulfllment of the awful pro-
phecy made by Andrew johnson and Alex
ander H. Stephens upon the secession OF
South Carolina. Every pump in the city
was destroyed except one. All the hotels
but one nearly all the business houses lex
cept those on Alabama street,, machine
shops, rolling mills, arsenals, prisons, Ia
boratories and armories shared in the COM
mon fate, and were spectacularly swept out
of existence by the awful confagration of
war. Women and children shrieked and
wept, and men looked On and wandering
frantically about, muttering curses and
doubling the existence of Jehovah. In
the angle between Hunter street, COM
mencing at the City Hall, running east,
and McDonough street, running south,
there were 1900 structures licked up by
an imposing tongue of flame.
How well | remember the proud city
after its destruction, and how my heart
bled for its homeless people Men, women
and children crept into holes, and some of
them went without food and drink for
DAYS. The Empire City Of the Empire
State Of the South had been wiped out.
Only monument Ct debris remained. Not
a dog or cat even could be seen. Not
bird sung a note even of mourning. Here
and there was church edifce left that
seemed to look down with mock solemnity
upon the devastation and desolation all
around, and here and there were citizens
and soldiers studying the stern results Of
war. 1t was banquet Of its kind such as
few had ever seen. 1t was the retaliation
for the burning of Chambersburg. 1t was
the horrors of AndersonVille revenged. 1t
was the humiliation of one of the strong
holds of the shareholders dream. 1t was
the dislocation of the backbone of the
Southern Confederaey-and it only wanted
a Nero or some other delirious devil to
fiddle upon some elevation overlooking the
dreadful scene.
But, presto, change Where there were
smoking buildings, desolate homes, discon-
solate people, and downright ruin as far as
the eve could reach, there are to-day evil
dences of progress, peace, happiness, and
greatness. Thousands Of splendid business
and residential structures proudly rear
themselves upon pretentious thoroughfares;
locomotives 90 screaming through the
beautiful city at all hours of the day and
night; great commercial activity demon
strates the presence of prosperity and
peace, and a cementing of fraternal feeling
is more and more emphasized daily, as the
Northerner and the Southerner see and
meet and become acquainted The soldiers
who shot at one another from opposite rifle
pits then accompany each other to the
graves of their dead and mutually bestrew
the mounds with floral remembrances now.
1t was they who first shook hands over the
bloody chasm, and they have been gen.
orally friendly since the conclusion of the
war.
There is not single interest in Georgia
that is languishing That State made a
spendid exhibit at New Orleans in 1856,
and IL will take care Of itself at Chicago
in 1898. Free labor is better than slave
abor. as the revenues from cotton and cot
tonseed and calico show. Factories and
mills are running night and day in many
parts Of Georgia, and there is not one
among them all that is not paying substan-
TAI many Sc anu uuMlcltsy
plantations have given way to small farms
well titled. The hidden treasures of the
spurs of the Blue Ridge are being uncov-
cred, and the reverberation of the ponder
Gus stamp may be heard along many a
babbling creek. Ten years ago Robert
Toombs, who could get further wrong on
some things than any great man have
ever known, said TO me that 'the sun rises
every day on poorer Georgia than it set
the day before" ! repeated this to Gen
eral Gordon and "Joe" Brown short time
afterward, and they said the old man was
mistaken He surely was.
/ spent day or two in Columbus six
months after the war and again three
wears ago. Columbus is only short dis
lance from Macon. 1t was laid out in
1888, at the foot of the falls, on the east
ern bank of the Chattahoochee river. 1t
was once the first city of Georgia in gen.
eral importance. 1t was laid out with
great care, and many of its inhabitants re-
side in elegant mansions, inclosed by
grounds adorned by trees and shrubbery.
Ii was about 1850, / think, that a spirit Of
enterprise seized upon the people of Co
lumbus, and commerce and manufactures