The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1893-06-15
SACKING OF THE VALLEY.
Plea for the People who Suffered from
this Visitation.

49, lIghtened OF baTbaTous nations
has always been attended with
deeds of revolving cruelty and by the wanton
destruction of property, acts which cal
neither advance the triumph of armies, the
success of causes, nor add renOwn 10 the pro-
fession of arms.
Two articles appearing in these columns
of recent date incidentally describing and
directly approving of the sacking of the
Shenandoah Valley, is the cause of this plea
for recognition.
1t is generally conceded that the burning
of Chambersburg was by orders from Gen.
Early, under the f1imsy pretext that the
citizens thereof refused TO pay the tribute
which he demanded: and that the sacking
of the Shenandoah Valley was done by Gen.
Sheridan under orders enormously claimed
by some, from Gen. Grant.
/ am pleased to note that an order from
Gen. Lee TO Gen. Early giving either direct
or indirect authority for the burning Of
Chambersburg can nowhere be found; and
my appreciation of the exalted soldierly and
gentlemanly qualities OF Gen. Lee would he
dOubly enhanced had he convened a court
martial and had Early summarily dealt
with for the commission Of crime that IS
strongly forbidden by the laws of civilized
warfare.
Gen Grant in his order to Gen. Hunter
does not authorize the burning of buildings,
but, on the contrary, plainly says: 1t is not
desirable that the buildings should be de-
stroyed They should rather he protected"
Then, upon whose shoulders rests this re-
spOnsibility? / quote a clause In Gen.
Sheridan's order to Gen Grant, dated Wood
stock, Va, Oct. z, 1864: q In moving back to
this point the whole country from the Blue
l,s-l
untenable for a rebel army. / have de-
stroyed over 1000 barns filled with wheat
and hay and farming implements; over 20
mills filed with flour and wheat
This destruction embraces the LuTay Valley
and Little Fort Valley, as well as the main
valley"
Greeley, in his history Of the American
Conflict, says in reference to this destruc-
ton: 1t is not obvious that the National
cause was advanced or the National prestige
exalted by this resort to one Of the very
haTshest and most ques ionable expedients
not absolutely forbidden by the laws Of CIV
ilized warfare"
One point in the above dispatch of Gen.
Sheridan to which l wish to call attention
is the statement that the 1000 barns and 20
mills destroyed were filed with wheat, -four,
hay, and farming implements. Greeley, in
the same work, says: Whatever of grain
and forage had escaped appropriation or de-
structiOn by one OF another of the armies
which had so frequently chased each other
up and down this narrow bat fertile and
productive vale, was now given to the torch;
some of it was the property of men whonot
only adhered to the Union, but were fight
ing to uphold it; more belonged 10 Quakers,
Dunkers etc, who abhorred bloodshed and
had taken no part in the strife, unless under
absolute constIalDt"
The reader viii observe that this destruc-
ton occurred in the Fall Of ga. near the
close of our struggle, at time when con-
scription aud volunteering in the South had
virtually ceased. The Southern armies were
wasting away by the ravases Of battle and
disease until their ranks had become SO deci-
mated that they were but the shadow Of
their former selves.
Much of the Sc n, especially the Shenan-
doah Valley, presented an unbroken scene
of desolatiOn and waste; her barns could
not be filed with hay and grain, nor her
mills with wheat and -four, owing to the
scarcity Of labor and almost continued in
terruption of farming By one or another Of
the contending armies Fields were OYerrun,
growing crops destroyed, fences burnt,
horses. cattle and sheep, wagons and harness
appropriated, or impressed into the service,
until the poor, unfortunate farmer was
lucky, indee ed, if he could raise and keep
enough Of tie absolute necessities of life to
keep the gaunt wolf from the door of the
loved ones at home.
1t is a well-known fact that hundreds of
valuable barns were burnt that contained
nothing of earthly value, save, perhaps, an
old fanDing-milI. a set OF TWO of worn harness,
and few loads of fodder.
II seems this destruction was committed
for the ostsfAible purpose of making it un-
tenable for rebel army, but there is evil
IDENTIFY another phase of the question which
does not manifest itself on the surface. This
isshown III the following quotation from Chas.
M. King, author of the articles in this paper
above referred to. In the issue of Jan. 5,
he says: "The Valley that had supported and
nursed the parent of treason must weep, too;
the Valley that. under Gods blessing had
bloomed as the rose and from its richness
had fed for years the armies Of the rebellion;
that had been passage way for the advanc-
ing rebel hosts TO invade the North, and
endanger the Capital of the Nation; whose
people were emiDently disloyal and bitterly
hostile, and who had promoted as far as
possible every expedition Of invasion, must
feel the avenging hand Of freedoms army.
"0nly few weeks previous, the rebels
had burned beloved Chambersburg, and,
while its women and children shed tears
over the ruin of their homes the people of
the Valley in their reasonable hearts APP
proved; too soon the curse had come home
to roost; ashes for ashes"
This remarkable effusion Of long pent-up
spleen must sound symphonious TO the ears
of those whose breasts still heave with the
accused passion of spite and revenge; TO
those whose tOttering frames and gray hairs
time has utterly failed in exercising its me-
lowing influence, and TO those whose nOstrils
are still RECALLED In breathing fumes from the
god Of FIRE.
The fact is, this maligned and long-suffer-
ing people had no hand or heart in the
burning of Chambersburg, and had less to
do primarily with the cause Of secession
than any class Of people south Of Mason &
Dixon's line.
The Shenandoah Valley, as the informed
reader is aware, was settled almost exclusive
ly by German and Scofch-Irish emigrants
from the State Of Pennsylvania class of
people who never took kindly to the insti-
tuition Of slavery.
In all West Virginia west Of the Blue
Ridge, in 1850, there were but 10000 slaves
to nearly 100000 whtes-not one slave TO
eight of the white population; and the
treatment of those that were held to slavery
was so humane that, comparatively speak