charlotte, N. C,
Feb. 19th, 1865.
. . . I take advantage of this sweet, quiet Sunday afternoon
for a little chat with you. It is so quiet in my little nook and the bright
sunshine outside looks so cheerful and calm that ’tis hard to realize the
terrible storm of war that is raging within a few miles of us, or the scene of
excitement and fatigue I have gone through myself. At last Sherman has planted
himself upon Carolina soil, and the pretty little town of Columbia, we learn
to-day, has been partially destroyed; and alas the poor women and children, who
were forced to remain there, of their fate we know nothing; but oh horrors, have
everything to fear from the nature of the savages who are desolating their
homes. What a sight it was to see the poor people flying almost terror stricken
to know what they could do — many leaving with only little bundles of clothes —
and many compelled to remain, for they had nothing but God to look to for
shelter. . . . I left at the last moment
on the car that brought the powder out. We only saved our clothes. How
fortunate we were to do that, for many saved nothing. We left with the roar of
the cannon in our ears!
. . . I arrived here, after spending two days and nights on
the road — three hundred poor women on the car ahead of us — none of us able to
get rooms. A gentleman came down to the cars at twelve at night and brought me
to this home and gave me this delicious little room, and here I am quite sick,
with a Doctor visiting me. I am waiting to hear from the General to know what
to do. Oh these terrible times of shipwreck — everything looks hopeless to me
now, and then if we are to go down — we are so far apart that we can see
nothing of each other, but the glimpse of a pale face as it sinks out of sight!
What a glorious struggle our brave people have made for their liberties! The
sight of this town to-day is lamentable: women hunting in every direction for shelter
— and the people themselves beginning to move off for a safer place.
SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in
’61, p. 228-9
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