The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-02-22
A SIIlYALR0US FOE.
The Burial Of Fdrs Henry

on the fatciul 18th Of February,
1863, the Southern Confederacy was
sgonizing in its death throes; South
Carollna's Capital lay at the mercy of
implacablc foes, Sherman's army,
sixty thousand strong, invested the
Fair city on the Congaree.
An army Of which history chroni-
cles: Fire and sword marked it's ap.
proach: desolation and ruin lay in its
wake"
AS Capital Of the bold State, that
was first to sever the bonds Of the
Union, and pass the ordinance of
secession, Columbia was doomed.
Sorrowfully Mayor Goodwin had
surrendered the city, and with batcd
breath the inhabitants, consisting
chiefly Of women and children, await
ed the result.
AT this critical moment the pure
spirit Of Mrs. Henry took it's flight:
and scared from troublesome scenes
OF warfare and carnage, to the Celes-
tial abode Of Eternal Peace.
This Christian gentlewoman was the
widow of DR.. Robert Henry, for many
years, prior to the civil war, an hon
ored professor in the South Carolina
College.
The tramp of marching blue-clad
soldiers, the ring of horses hoofs,
the rattle Of small arms, the thunder.
ing roll Of heavy artillery, broke the
ominous silence, which erstwhile had
reigned in the deserted streets.
AL too soon the gloomy February
day gave place to night of borrow
A dozen red flames shot upward to-
ward the murky sky; dozen, rapidly
increasing, until hundreds could be
counted. Here, there, everywhere,
until the black dome overhead grew
luminous, rejecting the flames, and
the Congaree mirrored in it's swolep,
muddy bosom tho fiery illumination
OF earth and sky.
Cries Of fear, shrieks Of terror burst
from tho lips of helpless children
and terrified women, as they Aod,
panic stricken, from their burning
homes. The flames roared and
cracked, and mounting higher, seemed
to touch and embrace the lurid
heavens; and swept like solid wall
of fire around the street corners;
devouring everything within reach.
Inc night wind caught the fire brands
| and hurled them hither and thither.
Added to the roar of the flames and
! children, were the loud oaths of intox
icated men; the ribald jests aud the
taunting laughter Of tho plundering
soldiers robbing and then applying
the torch to the homes of tho unfor.
tunatcs. Military discipline was
removed. Law and order manacled
hawlessnoss, and rapacity, rampant
Pandemcnium reigned supreme:
Hark :! as tho smouldering piles, with
thunder fall,
A thousand shrieks for hopeless
mercy call!
Earth shook-red meteors flashed
along the sky
Aud conscious nature shuddered at
The e.;;." . =
1t was panorama of Dan.e's Iu-
ferro, with terrible reality the poet 8
Imagination could not give.
Women, reared in homes OF cul-
ture and wealth, rushed bareheaded
through the fire-lit streets, among the
rude soldiery, dragging their helpless
children to places OF safety. .
The College campus, the park and
the cemeteries, together with the few,
remaining homes which escaped the
confagration, were the havens tf
refuge, to which tho panic. stricken
creatures fed.
But even the roughest soldier paus-.
ed with the unuttered oath on his
profaue lirs-awed with silence as
one procession fled slowly by. The
Mother Superior and her black robed
nuns; with the frightened pupils
committed to her charge.
Relying on q promise of protection.
from Sherman, himself, the superior
deemed her convent safe, and willing.
~ assumed charge Of the young girls
sent to her for protection and educa.l
,tion. But to her dismay the good
woman found that her sacred habita-
toin was no exception to the clunder-,
ar and his torch. And with her little
band, she was forced to leave the
burning convent and seek ,ahelterFin
the Catholic Church. {.