Year: 1866

! The Burning OF Columbia.
In the United States Senate, ON Tues.
day, Mr.. johnson read the following, and
moved its reference to the Committee on
Military Affairs:


WILD WOODS, MISS, April 21.


To Hon. Reverdy johnson:


SIR A few days ago saw in the pub
lie proceedings Of Congress that petition
from Benjamin Rawls, of Columbia, S. c.,
asking compensation for the destruction of
his house by the Federal army in Februa
ry, 1865, had been presented to the Sen.
ate, accompanied by letter from Major
General Sherman. In tais letter General
Sherman used the following language


They" the citizens of Columbia, "set fire
to thousands of bales of cotton rolled out
into the streets, and which were burning
before he entered Columbia. myself was
in the city as early as nine, and saw these
hires and knew efforts had been made to
extinguish them; but high and strong
wind kept them alive. l gave no orders
for the burning of your city, but on the
contrary, the reverse, and l believe the
contagratioE resulted from the great i'm.
prudence OF cutting the cotton bales, where
so that it became an impossibility to arrest
the fire. saw in your Columbia newspa
per the printed order Of Gen. Wade Hamp-
ton, that on the approach of the Yankee
army all the cotton should thus be burned,
and from what l saw myself, have no
hesitation in saying that he was the cause
of the destruction of your city"


This grave charge made against me BY
General Sherman having been brought be
fore the Senate Of the United States, am
naturally most solicitous to vindicate my
self before the same tribunal. But my
State has no representative in that city
Those who should be there are debarred
the right OF entrance. In those halls there
are none to speak for the South-none to
participate in the legislation which governs
her--none to impose the taxes witch she
is called on to pay, and none to defend her
or to vindicate her sons from misrepress..
tation, injustice, or slander. Under these
circumstances appeal to you in the conf
dent hope that you will use every effort to
see that justice is done in this matter.
deny most emphatically that any cotton was
fired in Columbia by my order. deny
that her citizens set fire to thousands Of
balls rolled out into the streets. deny
that any cotton was on fire when the Fed
eral troops entered the city. And most
respectfully ask of Congress to appoint n
committee charged with the duty of ascer
tanning and reporting all the facts connec.
ted with the destruction of Columbia, and
Evt, hn Of hot
nous crime the infamy he deserves.


l am willing to submit the case to any
honest tribunal. Before any such pledge
myself to prove my positive order, by d.
rection of Gen. Beauregard, that no cotton
should be fired that no one bale was on
FIRE when Sherman's troops took possession
of the city and that in spite of this solemn
promise, his soldiers burned it to the
ground, deliberately, systematically, and
atrociously. therefore most earnestly re-
quest that Congress may take prompt and
efficient measures to investigate this matter
fully. Not only is this due to themselves
and the reputation of the United States
army, but to Justice and truth.


Trusting that you will pardon me for
troubling you, am, &C.,


WADE HAMPTON.


We lop Of the remarks of Mr.. Sherman,
which we do not consider as worth the
space they would consume. Upon motion
of Wilson, Mr.. johnson withdrew the pc
ton for the reference of the above letter te
the Committee on Military Affairs



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