The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1948-08-26
HORSE AND
BUGGY DAYS
by
Ida 10 Martin

who can remember the days when
the guns of war sounded over our
fair land We of the present genera
ton don't know what it is to have
our homes, our cities and our land
destroyed Historian Williams
makes this remark about the Civil
War:
THE suffering, privation, anxiety,
and loss by the people of Washing
ton County during the four years of
war, and especially in the latter
part of it, the men and women of this
generation find it hard to realize"
He reports that this County had CIV
en- heavily of our young men to both
Sides Being in the path of the con-
fiict, and therefore occupied almost
constantly by armies, wraught such
general destruction that the histor-
ian made the following observation
on conditions at the close of the war:
"Thus it was that Washington
County emerged from the War al
most bankrupt, while the farmers
removed from the track of the armies
found great profit The domestic
problem-the problem of providing
food for the family-was one of the
most difficult, with crops destroyed
and nothing to sell. The prices of
ordinary groceries were exorbitant,
and some, such as tea and coffee,
could scarcely be obtained at any
price" This is indeed good pic
ture of all wars: those who are
caught in it must take an active
part and must suffer, while those
far removed find it a time to get
rich.
One of the reasons for unusual suf-
ferings in this County was mention
ed in the Philadelphia Times in about
1873, in an article written by Gen.
MeCausland, the man who held up"
Hagerstown for a tidy ransom, as
told last week in this column, and
who burned the city of Chambers
burg. This article was written by
Mr.. McCausland in an effort to clear
himself of the responsibility of these
acts, and to give the reasons why
these acts were commanded. Each
one of us will have to judge for him
self whether his reasons justify the
burning and the ransoming, but his
article does bring to light some very
interesting facts, some of them prob
ably little known, and some of them
no doubt 'undesired" in the North.
McCausland began thus: ''The
wanton destruction of the private
property of citizens of Virginia by
the orders of General Hunter,
Federal commander, may be consid-
cred as one of the strongest reasons
for the retaliation, by Early's order,
upon the city of Chambersburg
1t seems that Gen. Hunter had been
burning homes and all kinds of prop
erty, not even sparing the home of
near relative near Harper's Ferry.
McCausland related that on one oc-
casion Hunter had stayed in home
overnight, enjoyed the hospitality
and promised protection to the
women of the home, and then stayed
for several days, making the house
his headquarters. Two days after
his departure he sent a small group
of men back with written orders to
destroy the house and everything on
the place This was the home of J.
T. Anderson.
1t is interesting to see confrma-
ton of these charges against Hunter,
by a well known man who took no
active part in the war, minister and
educator who was loved and re-
spected by people from North and
South alike, man who stood for
justice for all-Dr. Kerfoot of ST.
James College. In letter to Bishop
Nottingham he said: "The wicked
and needless destruction of private
and other unwarlike property by
Hunter lately, made us anxious for
mills and colleges. I wish Mr.. Lin
coin would reprobate and prohibit
what WE should agree would be
gross wrong against us if done here
by Confederates.
Some time back this column re-
printed several claims made by cit
liens of the County for loss of prop
erty, mostly of fences. Many of
these claims were paid, but as Will
hams points out, the amounts paid
were insignificant" compared to the
actual losses:
A daughter of a family who lived
at the northern edge of the Antietam
Battlefield told the following Incl
dents and observations:
1T is hard to describe the change
which is made by the encampment of
an army. In an incredibly short