energy or prevent the full execution of his own or the Government's plans. General Lee's answer (which we give in the Appendix) shows how well he appeared to appreciate the disinterestedness marking General Beauregard's conduct. We must say, however, that had General Beauregard been aware of the personal intervention of General Lee and of the reason assigned for his removal, he would, while unhesitatingly sacrificing his rank for the public good, have plainly shown his consciousness of the injustice done him. By some curious fatality, worthy of note, it seems to have been General Beauregard's destiny, at various periods of our four years' struggle, to be subordinated to officers of his own grade in the army, ranking him only by date of commission. At the battle of Manassas, in July, 1861, he was placed under General Joseph E. Johnston; in February, 1862, during the Shiloh campaign, under General Albert Sidney Johnston; in June, 1864, at Petersburg, under General R. E. Lee; in February, 1865, again under General Joseph E. Johnston. And it may be remarked that no other full general was ever so circumstanced, until, near the close of the war, when General Lee was given what Mr. Davis, perhaps appropriately, called "the nominal dignity of Generalin-chief" of the Confederate armies. General Hood, when under General Beauregard's orders, during the Tennessee campaign, was only a provisional general, and had been elevated to that rank in order to give him precedence over other officers of his own army, who held commissions of older dates than his own. To General Beauregard's honor, it must be said that it was always through his single-minded efforts to effect a concentration for some great object that he thus lost the prerogatives of his rank, and often the power to carry out his own plan for the defeat of the enemy. The truth is-and both the army and the people knew it-that his desire for the good of the service always predominated over the ambition to command. Congress, in acknowledgment of his eminent services, on four different occasions passed votes of thanks to him and to the troops under him: first, after the fall of Sumter, in April, 1861; second, after the battle of Manassas, in July, 1861; third, after the battle of Shiloh, in April, 1862; fourth, for the repulse of the Federal * "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," vol. ii., p. 361. ironclad fleet in Charleston Harbor, in April, 1863. No other Confederate general was honored to that extent during the war. And may it not be added that a strange contrast was thus presented between the ill-will of the Administration and the manifest admiration and gratitude of the representatives of the people? It is known, furthermore, that Congress would have reiterated its thanks to General Beauregard, after the battle of Drury's Bluff, in May, 1864, and also after the almost incredible stand he made at Petersburg, from June 15th to 18th, of the same year, had not the fear been expressed by some members, that to pass votes of thanks again in his honor would indicate too much partiality for him. General Johnston arrived at Charlotte on the 24th, and, after a long conference with General Beauregard, assumed command the next day. He desired the latter to continue the concentration of our forces, at the most available points, from Charlotte to Raleigh, which General Beauregard had been so long endeavoring to effect. General Johnston's intention, as soon as the place of concentration could be definitely fixed, was to repair to it and assume command in the field, while General Beauregard should complete all other arrangements, and, with such troops as he might have at hand, watch over our various lines of communication. The Appendix to the present chapter contains the telegrams, orders, and instructions issued by General Beauregard in furtherance of this end. After burning and destroying Columbia, as will be shown in the next chapter, General Sherman sent forward the right wing of his army in a northerly direction, towards Winnsboro', where, on the 21st, a junction was made with his left wing, under General Slocum. From Winnsboro' they marched as follows: the right wing, crossing the Catawba at Peay's Ferry, went towards Cheraw and Fayetteville; the left wing, crossing at Rocky Mount, after a delay of several days, also began its march towards Cheraw. In the mean time, according to General Sherman,* Kilpatrick, with his force of cavalry, had been ordered to make a feint in the direction of Lancaster, so as to lead General Beauregard into the belief that the whole Federal army would soon be marching upon Charlotte. General Beauregard was perfectly aware of Kilpatrick's presence * "Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman," p. 288. "on the Lancaster and Camden road;" but he was convinced, nevertheless, as is shown by his despatch of the 24th to General Lee, that "the enemy's movements would seem to indicate Cheraw and Fayetteville as their present objective." The tenor of this latter despatch and its date, which corresponds with the arrival of Kilpatrick near Lancaster, are proof sufficient that the "delusion" so complacently referred to by General Sherman existed more in his own mind than in General Beauregard's. While these movements were being executed Fort Fisher and the other Confederate works at the mouth of Cape Fear River, after a short but glorious resistance, were captured by the Federal forces operating against them. It was there that General Whiting redeemed his reputation, and, after receiving a mortal wound behind the shattered ramparts of Fort Fisher, died in the hands of the enemy. Wilmington surrendered to General Terry on or about the 22d of February, and General Bragg, with nearly eight thousand men, retreated towards Goldsboro', to form a junction at last with General Johnston's forces. The wisdom of the policy advocated by General Beauregard weeks before, but which had been disapproved of by the War Department, was here clearly demonstrated. Had our untenable seaports and harbor defences, and even the Confederate capital, been abandoned in time, and the troops occupying them withdrawn and concentrated at or about Branchville, S. C., reinforced by two or more corps from the Army of Northern Virginia, a stand could have been made by which Sherman's invading army, then so far from its base-the sca-coast -would have been effectually checked, and the course of events materially changed. As it was, place after place fell before overpowering numbers, and the junction of General Bragg's forces with those of General Johnston was only partially effected, after Schofield had united his forces with those of Sherman. *See, in Appendix, his despatch of 27th to General Lee. + See, in Appendix, his despatch of that date to General Lee. CHAPTER XLVI. General Sherman's Preconceived Determination to have Columbia Burned.His Denial.-His Despatch to General Halleck, Showing his Intent.— Contradictions Contained in his Hartford Speech.-General Hampton's Advice not to Burn the Cotton in Columbia.-General Beauregard of the same Opinion.-Orders to that effect Issued on the 16th of February.— Statement of Generals Beauregard, Hampton, and Butler.-Surrender of the City.-How it was Pillaged.—Signal Thrown up at 8 P. M.—Outbreak of the Fire.-Vain Efforts by the Citizens to Arrest its Progress.—General Sherman's Connivance in the Plan.-Testimony of General Howard.— Admission by General Sherman that his Troops Burned Columbia.-The City Destroyed.-Orders of General Sherman in the Morning to Arrest the Fire and Pillage.-Letters of General Wade Hampton. IN a preceding chapter (Chapter XLII.) we had occasion to comment upon the threats, indirectly made, by General Sherman. in his demand for the surrender of Savannah (December 17th, 1864); and the intention was declared to recur to the matter at the proper time, as evidence of the Federal commander's preconceived purpose in regard to other Southern cities that might eventually fall into his power. The following is the passage: "But should I be forced to resort to assault, or to the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army, burning to avenge a great national wrong they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war."* It will give additional significance to this utterance, and show that it was not written in vain, if the reader will note the following passage from Major-General Halleck's despatch to General Sherman, bearing date of Washington, December 18th, 1864the day after the demand made for the surrender of Savannah: "Should you capture Charleston, I hope that by some accident"[the word "some" is italicized by General Halleck himself]" the place may be destroyed; and if a little salt should be sown upon its The italics are ours. site, it may prevent the growth of future crops of nullification and secession."* General Sherman says, in his Memoirs, while speaking of the burning of Columbia: "Many of the people think this fire was deliberately planned and executed. This is not true." Despite irrefutable evidence staring him in the face, he denies the part taken by his army in the work justly asserted to have been done by it. But on the 24th of December, 1864, he sent the following answer to Major-General Halleck's official despatch of December 18th, 1864: "I will bear in mind your hint as to Charleston, and don't think 'salt' will be necessary. When I move, the 15th Corps will be on the right of the right wing, and their position will bring them naturally into Charleston first; and if you have watched the history of that corps, you will have remarked that they generally do their work up pretty well. The truth is the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems in store for her. * * * I look upon Columbia as quite as bad as Charleston." † Thus, General Sherman agreed with General Halleck in the barbarous programme, and promised its thorough execution. This furnishes unequivocal proof of "malice aforethought" and premeditated incendiarism. The fate of the towns, villages, and hamlets lying in the track of General Sherman's army in South Carolina shows the sincerity of his expressions. Hardeeville, Grahamville, McPhersonville, Barnwell, Blackville, Midway, Orangeburg, and Lexington, situated between the border of Georgia and the City of Columbia, were given to the flames, and a like doom was reserved for the capital of the State. The torch was mercilessly applied to buildings, public and private, for hundreds of miles on the route of the invading army. Gross indignities were perpetrated on the persons of inoffensive inhabitants. Agricultural implements were wantonly destroyed; dwellings, mills, barns were pillaged and pitilessly reduced to ashes; horses, mules, cattle, goats, and donkeys, *"Supplemental Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War," vol. i., p. 287. The italics are ours. +"Supplemental Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War," vol. i., p. 291. |