The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1907-04-19
THEY ALL STOLE.
Federal Officer Tells Of Stealing
by Sherman's Army.
A BAND OF ROBBERS.

| N'SASehihB Ahey OOul(
Find and That Was Worth Carry
ing or. How the Valuables Tba,
Wero Stolen Was Divided, ant
What Became Of Tho Old Negro
Men and Women.
In the possession Of O lndy in Nh
con, Co., who with her uister, also +
resident Of Macon, was an eye-wit
ness Of tho sack of Columbia forty
Blk years ago by Sherman's army
there is q letter found In the street,
OF that city after tho Yankees hat
left 1T In ashes, which shows the pro
cess by which the union was restor
ed The signature is that Of a lieu.
| tenant IN Sherman's army, the ad.
dress that Of his wife in Boston. The
| letter speaks for itself.
Camp near Camden, s. G.
February &c, 1856.
MY. Dear Wife: have no time for
particulars. We have had a glorious
time In this state Unresisted license
to burn and plumber was the order of
the day. The chivalry have been strIp
pea or most OF their valuables. Gold
watches. silver pitchers, cups, spoons
Iorks, ETC., are as common in camp as
black berries.
The terms of plunder are as fol-
lows: The valuagles procured are esti
mated by companies. Each company
IL required to exhibit the results OF
lts operations at any given plac--.
al Hrnf oh h1t1 C.l
snare OF the cOmmander-in-c chief and
STAFF, one-tifth to the corps command
er and star, one-ffth to the field Of
tlcers Of the regiments and two-fifths
to the company.
Officers are not allowed to ioin
these expeditions withous Disgusting
themselves as privates. One OF our
corps commanders borrowed q rough
suit or clothes from one Of my men
and was successful in this place. He
got a large quantity of silver among
OTHER things an old silver pitcher.
and very fine old watch from q Mr..
DeSaussure at this place. DeSaus-
sure is one Of the +. II. VS. of South
Carolina and was made to fork over
literally.
officers over the rank of captain
are not made to put their plumber In
the estimate for general distribution.
This Is very unfair, and for that rea-
son, In order to protect themselves,
subordinate officers and privates keep
back everything they can carry about
their pesron, such as rings, earrings,
.breast-ptns. etc, of which, liz i ever
live to get home, / have about o.
quart. am not Joking, I have mt
least quart OF jewelry for you and
all the girls and some No. diamond
pins among them.
Gen. Sherman has silver and gold
enough to start a bank. His share In
gold watches and chains alono at Col
umbia was $275.
But | said / would not go into
particulars. All the general officers,
and many besides, had valuables OF
every description, down to embroid-
cred ladies' pocket hankerchiefs.
have my share Of them, too. We took
gold and silver enough from the id
rebels to have redeemed their infer
nal currency twice over. This (the
currency whenever we came across
1t we burned, as we considered 1t ut
terly worthless.
| wish all the jewelry this army
has could be carried to the old Bay
State. 1t would deck her out in glor-
ious style, but, alas! 1t Will be scat
tered all over the North and Middle
states.
The ID niggcrs, as a general
rule, prefer to stay Mt home -partic-
ularly after they found out that we
only wanted the able-bodied men and
to tell the truth, the youngest and
best-looking women. Sometimes we
took Off whole families and planta-
tions OF niggers, by way OF repaying
the sccessionists. But the useless
part OF thcs we soon managed to
lose sometimes by crossing rivers,
sometimes by other ways.
/ shall write you again from VIII
mington, Goldsboro, or some other
place In North Carolina. The order
to march has arrived, and / must
close hurriedly. Love to grandmoth-
Grand Aunt Charlotte. Take care of
yourself and the children. Don't
show this letter out Of the family.
Your affcctionate husband,
Thomas j. Myers,
Lieutenant, etc.
p. S.: will send this by the first
flag Of truce to be mailed, unless
have opportunity of sending 1t to Hill
ton Head. Tell Sallle | am saving q
pearl braceles and earrings for her.
But Lambert has the necklace and
breastpin Of the same set. | am try
ing to trade him out OF them. Those
were taken from the Misses Jamison
daughters Of the president Of South
Carolina secession convention. We
found these OH our trip through Geor
gla.