ATLANTA, GA., Nov.
7th, 1864.
The last train for
the North leaves here to-morrow morning. Our soldiers are scattered along the
railroad a hundred miles north, and as soon as that train passes the work of
destruction will commence. The railroad will be completely destroyed and every
bridge burned. Then both armies (the Armies of the Tennessee and the
Cumberland) will assemble here, and after destroying this city will commence
the march. I fear their track will be one of desolation.
I have been to the
R. R. depot for the past three days several times, and have witnessed many sad
and some ludicrous scenes. All citizens (white and black) begin to apprehend
that something is about to happen. The whites are alarmed, and many are leaving
the city, giving up houses, lands, furniture, negroes, and all. The blacks want
to go North, and the Car House is surrounded by them. Hundreds of cars are
literally packed with them and their dirty bundles, inside and out. Old
toothless hags, little pickaninnies, fat wenches of all shades, from light
brown to jet black, are piled up together with their old bags, bundles, broken
chairs, etc. Some are gnawing old bones, some squatted by the cars making
hoe-cakes, some crying for food. Many of the whites are as anxious to get North
as the darkies, and gladly accept a place in a car reeking with the odor
peculiar to "the American of African descent." It is a sad sight, but
I anticipate seeing many such before spring.
I wish for
humanity's sake that this sad war could be brought to a close. While laboring
to make it successful, I shall do all in my power to mitigate its horrors.
SOURCE: New York
(State). Monuments Commission for the Battlefields of Gettysburg and
Chattanooga, In Memoriam: Henry Warner
Slocum, 1826-1894, p. 98
