Diary of 1st Lieutenant Daniel L. Ambrose: February 18, 1865—4 a.m.

The Seventh cross Broad River and go into camp near the doomed city. We can now see the great conflagration. Oh! how terrible those sweeping elements, causing innocent ones to cry as they behold their childhood's place of play crumbling into ashes. But such is war! Terrible in its legitimate vengeance, powerful in its tread, it hearkens not to the cries for mercy. The question is now asked, "Who will be held responsible for the burning of the capitol of South Carolina." The impartial historian will tell the world that Wade Hampton burned his own city of Columbia by filling the streets with lint, cotton and tinders, and setting fire to it, which was spread by the raging wind. But it matters not with the seventy thousand who will be charged with the burning of South Carolina's capitol, for this great army who had swept a continent thus far, smiled and felt glad in their hearts when they beheld this city laid low in ashes, where rebellion was born, and where pampered and devilish treason first lifted its mad head and made its threats against the Union and freedom.

SOURCE: abstracted from Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 297-8