Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 08.djvu/214

202 prisoners were taken. *  *  *   *  In this battle I did not use a piece of artillery.

My division performed its share in the destruction of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and about the 1st November, took position at Castleman's ferry, near Snicker's gap. *  *   *   *   *   *

, Major-General Commanding Light Division.

[We have already published most conclusive proofs that General Sherman was responsible for the burning of Columbia; but the following report of the committee of citizens who thoroughly investigated the question, soon after the cruel destruction of their beautiful city, should go on the record as conclusively fixing the responsibility for that act of vandalism.]

The committee who were charged with the duty of collecting the evidence in relation to the destruction of Columbia by fire, on the 17th of February, 1865, submit the following report: By the terms of the resolution appointing them the committee do not feel authorized to deduce any conclusion or pronounce any judgment, however warranted by the proof, as to the person responsible for the crime. Their task will be accomplished by presenting the evidence that has been obtained with an abstract of the facts established by it. More than sixty depositions and statements in writing, from as many individuals, have been placed in the hands of the committee. The array of witnesses is impressive, not merely because of their number, but for the high tone and elevated character of some of them, the unpretending and sterling probity of others, and the general intelligence and worth of all. The plain and unvarnished narrative subjoined is taken from the testimony referred to solely and exclusively, except so much as refers to certain declarations of General Sherman himself, widely circulated through the public press, and to the ravages of his army in this State after their departure from Columbia; matters of such notoriety as, in the judgment of the committee, to dispense with the necessity of formal proof. The forces of General Sherman's command while in