Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 23.djvu/181

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[From the Richmond Dispatch, November 24. 1895 ]

THE EVACUATION OF RICHMOND, APRIL 3, 1865,

AM) 1 1 1 I

DISASTROUS CONFLAGRATION INCIDENT THEREON.

Interesting Communications Regarding It.

RICHMOND, VA., No-cember /j, 1895. To the Editor of the Dispatch :

Some months ago, at your request, I made you a statement, which was published, as to the origin of the Richmond fire of the 3d of April, 1865, based upon judicial records in the great insurance liti- gation which ensued. I observed in your last Friday's issue an affi- davit of the late Mr. James A. Scott, filed in Vial's Executor vs. The Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia, a part of that litigation, in which interesting facts were given respecting the occurrences of the memorable occasion.

[This appeared in the Dispatch of November loth, and was in response to a query as stated in an issue of the paper November 3d. It is subjoined ED.]

To-day, in looking over some old papers in my office for another purpose, I came across several letters that were written to me at the time I was making investigations, as counsel of the insured, for reli- able information upon the subject, and which were intended to be used, if necessary, in the litigation (unless depositions should be required), but which I had no need to use. Since every fact touch- ing the matter ought to be preserved, as part of the history of the great disaster and fall of the Confederate capital, and these letters seem to me to be of particular interest and value, I send them to you. The first is from Colonel John Wilder Atkinson, of the Con- federate artillery, who was stationed near Chaffin's Bluff, and on the retreat approached Richmond early on the morning of the 3d of April, and saw the fire from a distance that lent sublimity to the view, without the terrors of the scene. As is well known, he was before the war a prominent citizen of Richmond, and since the war has resided in Wilmington, N. C. During the war a more gallant and, for a civilian, a more justly distinguished Confederate officer was scarcely known. If a pleasing reminiscence of his life in Rich-