Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 12.djvu/161

Rh these people, and have said: "Let this town, which Federal soldiers have fired, pay the penalty for our town of Darien, which their vandal troops have tried to leave in ashes. "But these noble Georgians, under guidance of their Christian leader, suppressed their just indignation and saved the property of their enemies.

But it may be asked: "Did not the Confederates burn Chambersburg, Pa., the next year?" Yes! they did, and Northern writers do not intend to let the world forget it, for they are sure to mention this one instance, the only one they can find, of the burning of a town by Confederates, though careful to omit all mention of the scores of Southern towns ruthlessly burned by the Federals. But it is fair to say that while General Early ordered the burning of Chambersburg in retaliation for Hunter's burnings and other acts of vandalism in the valley of Virginia, and also upon the refusal of the town to pay the ransom demanded, yet the act was without the knowledge or consent of General Lee or President Davis, and was disapproved by both of them. And as it was, that gallant soldier, W. E. Peters, positively refused to obey an order to fire the town, saying: "With a full knowledge of the consequences of refusing to obey orders, I have to say that you may take my sword, but I will not use the torch against innocent non-combatants."

As for the treatment of prisoners, despite all of the slanders that were published against the Confederacy and are still unjustly repeated, the fact remains that the Confederate records have been searched in vain for proof that the Confederate authorities ever ordered or connived at any ill-treatment of prisoners. The Confederates did everything in their power to mitigate the suffering of prisoners and made various humane propositions to that end, which were rejected by the Federals; and while the sufferings of prisoners were very great and the mortality among them fearful on both sides, yet the official reports of E. M. Stanton, United States secre-