The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-04-01
SHERMAN'S LIBEL.
He Char ed Hampton With Turning
Columbia to Injure Him.
GEN. HAMP.oN's INDEGRATIoN,
Hoped Mover to Meet Sherman as
: He Could Not Trust to Keep
His Hands or the NIilioi-
OlIs q n u1Inror,
GUS SIantIcrer.

In a resent issue OF The Saturday
Evening Post, former Senator George
G. Vest, of Missouri, writes OF Cen
Wade Hampton with whom he served
in the Senate, and was on terms Of in.
innate friendship. One OF the most
Interesting portions of Senator Vests
article is that dealing with the burn.
ing of Columbia, which Gen. Sherman
falsely, maliciously charged against
Gen. Hampton. Senator Vest brings
out no new facts in relation to the
matter, but presents the whole case
very concisely and clearly, as follows:
1t is not my purpose to revive any
bitter memories of the civil war. /
hold 1t to'be the first duty OF every
citizen to promote as far as he can the
era of good feeling which now exists
to il large degree between those who
we're once engaged in armed conflict.
L should not now allude to the con-
troversy between Gen. Sherman and
Senator Hampton in regard to the
burning of Columbia, but for the fact
that have lately seen the statement
made in a widely circulated publica-
tion that Hampton was responsible
for that terrible event. deem it my
duty To lay before the public. without
comment, the unqucStionable state
mcntS OF Gen. Sherman himself and
his officers as to the responsibility for
the destruction by fire OF thirteen
hundred houses inhabited by non
combatantS and not used for any mill
tary purpose.
in the oIiiciai report, made in the
spring Of 1865, of his march through
the Carolnas, Gen. Sherman made
the statement that the burning of
Columbia was caused by Gen. IIamp-
ton, who commanded the rear guard
of the Confederate forces, ordering
the cotton, which he had caused to
be piled up in the streets of the city,
TO be fired, and that, although Sher-
mans soldiers labored earnestly to
extinguish these fires the wind rose
and caused the burning cotton to be
blown upon the roofs of the adjacent
houses until the fire became unman-
ageable. And without hesitation,
charge Gen. Wade Hampton with
having burned his own city Of CJlum
bia; not with malicious intent, as the
manifestation OF silly Roman stole.
ism, but from folly and want of sense
in filling it with lint COTTON and tin
der.''
On July. Il. 1865, Gen Z Hampton re.
piled to this charge, and stated that
So far from ordering the cotton to
he tired in the streets of Columbia, he
mad, on taking command of the rear
guard the night before, issued an or
der that no cotton should be fired
within the city, and that when he
evacuated Columbia on the next morn
ing there was not bale OF cotton on
in the streets nor anywhere else.
In Il letter published in the proceed
ings Of Congress in April, 1866, Gen.
Sherman says:
The citizens Of Columbia set fire
to thousands Of bales OF cotton rolled
out into the streets, and which were
burning before we entered Columbia.
| myself was in the city as early as 9
O'Clock, and l saw these fires"
IN a deposition of Gen Sherman,
taken before United States commits
Sioncr at Washington city in 1872 in
the case of Browne VS.. United States,
he SwUre that a brigade Of the Fir,
tcenth army corps, commanded by
BriE. Gen. stone, OF Iowa, were the
iirSt Federal troops to reach Columbia
and that this brigade formed the pro-
vost guard which was distributed
throughout the city. lie also reit-
Grated his charge that the city was
burned by the flaming cotton which
Hampton had fired before he left, and
which was carried 10y the high wind
To the adjacent houses.
In January. 1873, Brig. Gen. Stone,
who commanded, the Federal troops
that first occupied Columbia, made
the following statement in The
Chicago Tribune:
The entire brigade was dist ributcd
through TIC city Up to this time
no fires occurred in any part of the
city save those OF public buildings and
quartermaSterS' stores, fired by the
enemy the day before We entered,
think, but which fires had not ex-
tended and did not extend to any
other part Of the city. The streets
III SpiliC pIiCcS COll IdlIlcu DuIcS OF cot
ton, which had been cut open, and
these caught fire twice or three times
during the day, but these fires had
been promptly put out by some Of the
iiremen, aided by detail OF soldiers
under charge OF an officer"
He further says: "Col. ID. j.. Pal
mcr, commanding my regiment, the
Seventy Iowa, and to whom |
had intrusted the charge Of the most
dangerous part of the city, confirmed
my opinion that there was Il plot to
/ burn the city by telling me several
! tires had started in his district: that
he had succeeded in putting them out
SO far, but could not much longer,
and that, in his opinion, the next one
would lire the city. The wind after
sunset had increased in violence, and
about9 o'clock was blowing almost a
( hurricane from Col. Palmer's district
right toward the heart Of the city
All at once fifteen or twenty flames
from as many different places along
the river shot up, and i'm ten minutes
The fate Of Columbia was settled.
The next morning it was discovered
the guard had been too small; and al
though a square mile of The heart o
the city had been eaten out, and thu
mems appetite for revenge satiated
vet it, was thpp rnnSi6nrpI that ~ RI