[St. Louis, March 24,
1866]
I am sorry to hear
that the President is likely to break with the party. It should not be, but
Congress should defer much to him, as an executive feels how much more
difficult to execute plans than a Congress dealing with abstract ideas. I still
hope that mutual concessions will result in a practical solution.
I have no doubt
myself, and Howard, Logan, Woods, and all who were in Columbia that night
concur with me. The fire which burned up the city, began about dawn, after I
had been in six hours, and I know that great exertions were made to stop it,
but there had been all day and continued till late at night, a perfect tempest
of wind, and I saw hundreds of bales of cotton on fire flying hundreds of
yards. It is barely possible some malicious soldier started the fire, but I
rather think this devilish spirit grew as the fire progressed. I know that the
general judgment of the country is that no matter how it began it was all
right, still I know that the cotton was the cause of the rapid spread of the
fire, and this resulted from the fact that the bales had been ripped open with
knives, so that long before the fire began the houses and trees were white with
it, and it was plain a spark would spread like gunpowder. It was not specially
my business, for Howard was in actual command of the troops in Columbia, but
being present in person the world holds me responsible. I should like you to
introduce the petition, and to say that I have no doubt as to the parties
responsible for all the consequences.
It was not until the
day after the conflagration that I destroyed the Arsenal and other public
factories which were in the suburbs and had escaped the fire that burned the
town.
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