The Washington herald., 1915-01-10
STRUGGLE TO RESTORE DE-
VASTATED GEORGIA.
January Z.


Georgia through which Sherman's army
had passed on the march to the sea was
struggling vainly to resume its normal
condition.
Stories of life in the desoIated territory
| commonly known among the people of
the Confederacy as ''Sherman's track
cleaned from wartime diaries and mar
ratives-show the bitterness of the peo-
! pie. especially the women, against Sher-
man and his gang"
One of the most interesting and re-
markable diaries of the great struggle,
| that of Miss Eliza Frances Andrews. re-
Gently published by D. Appleton & Co..
New York, The Wartime Journal of a
Georgia Girl" reveals the demoraIiza-
tion and blight that Sherman's march
/ cast upon Central Georgia
Miss Andrews had been in the town Of
Washington. northwest Of Augusta, dur
ing Sherman's march, and had escaped
seeing it. Late in December she and her
sister Meta had set out to visit Mrs.
| Troup Butler. their sister, who lived in
the icinity Of Albany, Ga, ninety miles
south of Macon. They had taken a train
at Camack on the Atlanta and Augusta
Railroad. forty miles west of the latter
point, and there had transferred for
MayfieId
Since the destruction of the Georgia
the Macon and Western and the Central
railroads by Sherman's army" she noted
in her diary few days afterward. the
whole tide of travel between the east
ern and western portions of our poor lit
tie Confederacy flows across the country
from Mayfield TO Gordon Cseventeen miles
| east of Macon). Meta and I, with two
! other ladies, whom we found on the
| train at Camack, were the first to ven
ture across the gap-sixty-fve miles OF
bad roads and worse conveyances
through a country devastated by the
most cruel and wicked invasion of mod
ern times.
1t is only eleven miles from Camack
to Mayfeld. but the road was so bad
and the train so heavy that we were
nearly two hours in making the dis
tance Some of the seats were without
backs and some without bottoms, and
the roadbed so uneven that in places the
car tilted from side to side. as if it was
going to upset and spill US out.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon we reached
Mayfield, a solitary shanty at the pres
ent terminus of the railroad
"MiIIedEevIIIe's Like He'll"
At that point a wagon. the choice OF
all the vehicles there. for it had springs.
of which none OF the others could boast, ."
was boarded for a thirteen-mile ride to
Sparta. on the way to Milledgeville. the
State capital. The driver charged $40 hire
for his conveyance. Besides the two girls
the wagon bore a collection OF trunks and
baggage. a Confederate colonel and his
bride. and a surgeon, DR.. Shire.
That night the party reached Sparat
| and the next morning started out for
MilIedgeville, twenty-five miles distant,
! in a four-mule wagon, the charge being
| SO apiece. AS the girls started out on
the long ride they were alarmed TO hear
a countryman, replying to an inquiry
about the chances of hiring a conveyance
at Milledgeville say: "Milledgeville's like
hell: you kin get thar easy enough, but
Eittin out agin would beat the devil him.
self" Then the man nodded toward the
ladies and remarked: "Ef them ladies'
ever gifts to Gordon. they'll be good walk
ers. Sherman's done licked that country
clean: damn me cf you kin hire so much
as a Niger and a wheelbarrer."
"AGout three miles from Sparta. the
diary continued we struck the burnt
country as il Is well named by the ma
tives and then I could better understand
the wrath and desperation Of these poor
people I almost felt as II I should like
to hang a Yankee myself.
There was hardly a fence standing
all the way from Sparta to Gordon. The
fields were trampIed down and the road
was lined with carcasses OF horses, hogs
and cattle that the invaders. unable either
to consume or to carry away with them.
had wantonly shot down to starve out
the people and prevent them from making
their crops
The stencil in some places was un-
bearable: every few hundred yards We
had to hold our noses or stop them with
the cologne Mrs. Elxey had driven u.s. and
it proved a great boon. The dwellings
that were standing all showed signs Of
piIlage, and on every plantation We saw
the charred remains of a ginhouse and
packing screw. while here and there, lone
chimney stacks, 'Sherman's sentinels,'
told of homes laid in ashes"
Soldiers Feed on Scraps.
These sights fred the heart OF the fair
narrator. who continued:
The infamous wretches' I couldn't
wonder now that these poor people should
want to put rope around the neck of
every red-handed devil of them they
could lay their hands on.
Hay racks and fodder stacks were de-
molished. corn cribs were empty, and
every bale of cotton that could be found
was burned by the savages. I saw no
grain of any sort, except little patches
they had spilled when feeding their horses
and which there was not even a chicken
left in the country to eat
"A bag of oats might have lain any
where along the road without danger
from the beasts of the field. though I
cannot say Il would have been safe from
the assaults Of hungry man.
Crowds of (Confederate) soldiers were
trampinE over the road in both direc-
tions: IL was like a travelling through the
streets Of a populous town all day. They
were mostly on foot, and 7 saw numbers
seated on the roadside greedily eating
raw turnips. meat skins, parched corn
anything they could find. even picking up
the loose grains that Sherman's horses
had left. felt tempted to stop and
empty the contents of our provision bas-
kets into their laps, but the dreadful ac-
counts that were given of the state of the
country before us made prudence get the
better of our generosity"
Crossing the Oconee River at Milledge-
vile the travellers turned south, remained
for the night at Scotsboro, and the fol-
lowing day continued their journey to
Gordon. on the Central Railroad. There