oners are greatly troubled by the terrible accounts of Sherman's destructive march through their native State.
February 25th and 26th—The terrible reports of Sherman's cruelty during the burning of Columbia, and of his subsequent march into North Carolina, are appalling and disheartening to us all. The Carolinians are specially grieved and indignant. Sherman's whole course in the South is in bold and dishonorable contrast with the gentle and generous conduct of Lee and his veterans in Maryland and Pennsylvania. I well remember that memorable march into the enemy's territory, far more daring and heroic than the unapposed marches of the brutal Sherman through Georgia and Carolina. I was with Lee when he invaded Pennsylvania, and was wounded at Gettysburg, just before our brigade entered the town, July first, 1863. General Lee's famous order, dated June 27th, 1863, at Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is brought forcibly to my mind. The following immortal words, extracted from that renowned order, ought to be repeated daily in the ears of the inhuman Sherman:
"The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace could befall the army, and through it our whole people, than the perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the innocent and defenceless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such proceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators and all connected with them, but are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of our army. The yet unsullied reputation of our army, and the duties exacted of us by civilization and Christianity, are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy than in our own. It must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered, without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, and offending against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, and without whose favor and support our efforts must all prove in vain. The Commanding General, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or wanton injury to private property; and he enjoins upon all officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall, in any way, offend against the orders on this subject.
This Christian and humane effort to mitigate the horrors of war confers greater glory on Lee than all the villages, towns, cities and private residences burnt by Sherman and his cruel followers can ever reflect upon his dishonored name. Many of Lee's soldiers
