| From the Raleigh Daily Progress |
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| March 10, 1865 |
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| Sherman's Visit to Columbia |
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| We have received the Columbia
Carolinian, now published at Charlotte, of Monday and Tuesday
last, from which we get the following interesting account of the
evacuation of Columbia by the Confederates and its occupation by the
Federals: |
| (From the Carolinian of Monday) |
| Last Hours in Columbia |
| The evacuation of Columbia not
yet having had its history, we gather, today, some of the tangled
threads of experience that will bear weaving into the fabric or a
connected narrative. |
| Everyone present in that city,
anterior to the event, is aware that until a late hour, Sherman was not
generally expected to appear. Public opinion, fostered by the expressed
convictions of officials, had come to regard the movement of the Federal
army as one designed to operate principally on Kingsville, from which
point it was confidently believed it would file off towards Florence,
Wilmington, or possibly, Fayetteville, via Cheraw. The fall of
Orangeburg, however, and the steady advance of the Yankee column along
the State Road {South Carolina RR} leading
to the capital, quickly dispelled the illusion. Those with large
interests at stake, began to cast bout for a place of safety. Officers
in charge of Government property telegraphed to Richmond and elsewhere,
to their superiors, for instructions. The invariable reply was "Until
further orders, stay where you are." Families began to pack their goods
and chattels, and long-headed men to set their houses in order to meet
the impending event. Time moved on -- so did the enemy. Monday, the
13th, found them pressing back our thin lines within twelve miles of the
city. At every creek, on every hill-side, our brave cavalry, under
Hampton, Wheeler and Butler were holding them in check, and our infantry
were rendering such support a was practicable, under the circumstances;
but it was like an effort to stay and avalanche. The greatly superior
number of the Federals afforded them every advantage, and they used it.
In town, astonishment soon gave way to excitement. The distant booming
of artillery was not to be mistaken. The enemy were already knocking at
the gates. Orders now began to be issued with some promptness, and men
to move with more celerity. Government transportation was called into
requisition, and night and day the streets gave back the echo of a
thousand wheels. Col. Wm. Johnston, the President of the Charlotte &
South Carolina Railroad, had arrived, and in person was superintending
the active exertions of those connected with his department. A vast
amount of rolling stock had been accumulated for the purpose, and train
after train, heavily burdened with the supplies of the Government,
whirled away, to return and be freighted again. Families congregated at
the passenger depot, and there waited for hours to secure seats. Ladies
piled themselves among the bacon and salt of box cars. The rain poured,
the streets ran mud, and the town looked blue. |
| On Wednesday, the 14th, the
city was placed under martial law. The stores were closed, detailed men,
militia, and volunteers assembled under arms, and prepared to go to the
front. The fire Department was ordered out, a patrol, and all ordinary
business generally suspended in anticipation of the event near at hand.
The enemy were within three miles; the smoke of their camp-fires could
be seen from the housetops, and the sounds of musketry along the
skirmish lines, as they rolled back, filled hearts which had never heard
the like before, with fearful forebodings. Still the work of evacuation
went bravely on. The scenes at the Charlotte depot from brisk had become
bustling. The cars and engines from the South Carolina and Greenville
{& Columbia} Roads having been shifted to the Charlotte depot
track, were taking part in the removal. The platform of the depot was
loaded and unloaded during the day and night as fast as hands could
move, and yet the mass of trunks, boxes and bales seemed never to grow
less. |
| Be it said to the credit of
the officers of the roads and officers of the Government, amid all this
apparent confusion, perfect order prevailed. |
| It has been the fortune of the
writer of these lines to have been in several cities in process of
evacuation, and in none of these instances was there observed more
coolness, system and regularity than marked the present occasion.
Thirteen hundred prisoners were to be suddenly moved. In two hours Capt.
Sharp, the Chief of Transportation, had the cars ready for the purpose.
Six hundred (more or less) ladies of the Treasury Department, with
beaux, bags and baggage required passage for Charlotte "by order of the
Government." The scene of packing in some of its aspects, was worthy of
the pen of a painter, but we cannot linger. In a few hours, Capt. Sharp
had them in transports in a double sense; and all the while the work of
shipping valuables thus went on. |
| On Wednesday evening it became
evident that the end was not far distant. Our troops had begun to drop
back to the limits of the town, and three or four shells had lodged
within it precincts. The bridges over the Congaree were in flames; army
wagon trains, with their attendant shouts, curses, and cracking of whips
began to move rearwards through the city; and amid the ringing of fire
bells, the hurried tramp of men, the fright of women, the hasty packing
here, and sad farewell there, the scene after night fall was as nearly
like an incipient Pandemonium as we trust Providence will ever permit us
to witness. |
| On Thursday, without warning,
without provocation, and in violation of the rules of civilized warfare,
the enemy opened on the city with shells. The State House, Nickerson's
hotel, South Carolinian office and other edifices, public and private,
were visited by these iron messengers, and, as we have since been
informed, one or two citizens were killed or wounded. Preparations for
an immediate evacuation of Columbia were now consummated. Cotton was
hauled into the streets and there left for a funeral pile. Government
property which could not be removed was given to the poor, and to such
soldiers as chose to carry it away. Hundred of thousands of dollars
worth of goods were destroyed, and much, if not as much as possible,
made useless to the enemy. It is unquestionable that had the proper
authorities, controlling the respective Bureaus, been alive to the
situation, and acted promptly in the premises, every pound of valuable
stores in Columbia could have been saved, but by refraining from
instructing their subordinates until the last moment, when wagons,
negroes and cars could not be had to aid in transportation, they lost
millions. The truth come out some time, and it might as well be told
first as last. |
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