General Early has returned from Maryland, bringing horses,
cattle, etc. While near Washington, the army burned Mr. Montgomery Blair's
house, which I cannot persuade myself to regret, and spared the residence of
his father, by order, it is said, of General Breckinridge. I know that General
B. was right, but I think it required great forbearance, particularly in the
soldiers, who have felt in their own persons and families the horrors of this
cruel war of invasion. It seems to our human view that unless the war is
severely felt by those in high authority, it will never cease. Hunter has just
passed through the upper part of the Valley of Virginia, his pathway marked by
fire and sword; and Sheridan has followed Early into Virginia, with no very
gentle intent, I fear. I am glad that Maryland was spared as a general thing,
particularly as our friends might have suffered with our foes, for it would
have been difficult to discriminate; but I cannot avoid thinking that if other
places, besides Governor Bradford's house and the town of Chambersburg, had
been burnt, it would shorten the war. Yet God has said, "Vengeance is
mine, I will repay;" and I hope that Christian principles will ever be
observed by our commanders. There seems to be no touch of pity in the hearts of
many of the Federal generals. Women and children are made homeless at midnight,
and not allowed to save any thing, even their clothes. When houses are not
burned, they are robbed of every thing which a rapacious soldiery may desire.
The last barrel of flour, the last ham, is taken from store-rooms; and this is
done, not in Virginia only; nor are Hunter, Sheridan, Kilpatrick, or Stoneman
the only men who do it; but every State in the Confederacy has felt the heel of
the despot. North and South Carolina have suffered on their eastern borders
most severely; the same of Georgia and Florida. Alabama has had much to bear.
The Mississippi country in Louisiana, Arkansas, and the State of Mississippi,
has been ravaged and desolated; Tennessee has perhaps had more to bear than any
of them. But poor old Virginia has been furrowed and scarred until her original
likeness is gone. From the Potomac to the Roanoke, from the seaboard to the
Kentucky boundary, including the downtrodden Eastern Shore, she could scarcely
be recognized by her sons. Marked by a hundred battle-fields, and checkered by
fortifications, almost every spot is classic ground. From the beginning she has
acted her part nobly, and has already covered herself with glory; but when the
war is over, where shall we find her old churches, where her noble homesteads,
scenes of domestic comfort and generous hospitality? Either laid low by the
firebrand, or desecrated and desolated. In the march of the army, or in the
rapid evolutions of raiding parties, woe betide the houses which are found
deserted! In many cases the men of the family having gone to the war, the women
and children dare not stay; then the lawless are allowed to plunder. They seem
to take the greatest delight in breaking up the most elegant or the most humble
furniture, as the case may be; cut the portraits from the frames, split pianos
in pieces, ruin libraries, in any way that suits their fancy; break doors from
their hinges, and locks from the doors; cut the windows from the frames, and
leave no pane of glass unbroken; carry off house-linen and carpets; the
contents of the store-rooms and pantries, sugar, flour, vinegar, molasses,
pickles, preserves, which cannot be eaten or carried off, are poured together
in one general mass; the horses are of course taken from the stables; cattle
and stock of all kinds driven off or shot in the woods and fields. Generally,
indeed I believe always when the whole army is moving, inhabited houses are
protected. To raiders such as Hunter and Co. is reserved the credit of
committing such outrages in the presence of ladies — of taking their watches
from their belts, their rings from their fingers, and their ear-rings from
their ears; of searching their bureaux and wardrobes, and filling pockets and
haversacks in their presence. Is it not then wonderful that soldiers whose
families have suffered such things could be restrained when in a hostile
country? It seems to me to show a marvellous degree of forbearance in the
officers themselves, and of discipline in the troops.
SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern
Refugee, During the War, p. 282-4
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