The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1907-05-15

seldom dares 10 express itself IN vim
dication OF truth, honor or justice.
will surely agree with ne in pro-
nouncing you guilty Of murder, if
carried out.
Before disnissing this portion Of
your letter, I beg to assure you that
for every soldier Of mine murdered
by you I shall have executed at once
two of yours. giving in all cases pref
erence to any officers who may be in
my hands.
ssIn reference to the statement YOU
make regading the death Of your
foragers, I have only to say that 1
know nothing Of it; that no orders
given by me authorizes the killing Of
| prisoners after capture, and that do
not believe that my men killed any
of yours except under circumstances
in which it was perfectly legitimate
and proper they should kill them.
ct is part Of the system Of the
thieves whom YOU designate as your
foragers TO fire the dwellings OF those
citizens whom they have robbed.
s'To check this inhuman system
which is justly execraeed by every
civilized nation. have directed NY
men to shoot down all your men, who
are caught burning houses. This or
der shall remain in force as long as
YOU disgrace the profession OF arms
BY allowing your men 70 destroy pri-
va5e dwellings.
you say that I cannot, Of course,
question your right TO forage eu the
country. IT is a right as CID as his
tory do not sir. question this
right But there is right even old
er than this. and one more inaliena-
ble-the right that every nan has to
defend his home, and to protect those
who are dependent upon him. And
from my heart wish that every Old
man and BOY n my country, who can
fire gun. would shoot down, as he
would a wild beast, the me-. who are
deso1ating their land, burning their
houses and insulting their women.
You are particular in defining and
claiming war rights. May I ask if
you enumerate among them the right
to fire upon defenseless city without
notice, to burn that city to the ground
after it had been surrendered by the
authorities who claimed. though in
vain, that protection which is always
accorded in civilized warfare to nom
combatants; to fire the dwelling
houses OF citizens after robbing them,
and to perpetuate ever darker crimes
than these-crimes too black to be
mentioned.
| /"You have permitted, if you have
not ordered, the commission ofSthosa
offences against humanity and the
rules Of war. You fired into the city
Of Columbia without warning. After
its surrender by the mayor, who de-
! raanded protection to private proper
| ty, you laid the whole city in ashes,
! leaving amid its ruins thousands of
old men and helpless women and
children, who are likely to perish OF
starvation and exposure. Your line
of march can be tracked by the lurid
light Of burning houses and in more
than one household there is an
agony far more hitter than that of
death
The Indian scalped his victim re-
gardless of sex or age, but with all his
barbarity, he always respected the
persons Of his female captives. Your
soldiers. more savage than the In
dian, insc!1el these whose natural
protectors aye absent
IN conclusion, I have only to re-
quest that whenever you have any Of
my ,nea Disposed CT or numbered
fol the t2r.,s a!...ear to be synony-
NOUS win son, gu VIII let me hear
Of il, in o.Gee' ,hat may know what
action = take II the matter. in the
meantime !! sl1&l; hold dety:-six Of
yc,;r men az hostages To-. those whom
YOU have ordered to be executed.
q am yours, etc,
(signed} Wade Hampton.
Lieutenant General.
"oa:cia!: John N. oteI
a. A General"
aao.!cr Dance in Arinory Hau.
The reg,,,le,:. weekly informal dance