History of the War, Part XI [pp. 641-654]

salutary reaction. Had they been c-pabelf
Hof generous and jiust feeling, they vet'o;
have seen in this stern ani unpttying, se1 hsacritice,a patriotism never to be sublde,
aTh would loave cea,sed th eir war uporl i.
people ready to lo:)se all except libert'y,
hlonor.
But thle Nortlhern people felt ro em(,
tion, except wrath, that this preciouis co,
tmn had turned to ashes in their,ragfr,
Their papers boasted of thle great quan-t, ties they had secured, d eclaring that.thdr~;,
thouisanlcd bales wou'!d soon airrive. F; t
whien these batcs were received, they w,-,"
found to be only bags of uinginned cot-.,),
which, when cle-arel of the seed, weighe,i
only six. pounds each!
Hiltdn Headi speedily became the sir?~,
of Northern industry and thrift. Greiat
efforts were made to re-establish planta tions and induce the liltera!,.ted- slaves!,
work. But the past exp er e,ee of alL su lc
efforts, was once m-nore repeated. Instea,.
of a population of heahlty,;ndustriotus 1.
borers, working faithfully for thtemselvpes,
as well as their owners, tlhe negroes qai,
ly gave themselves iup to idleness, dran g,
rations for their suipport, never work,",.
except uwhen fit,reed and bringing on thei r,
— elves, and all aroutnd them, disease anrt
;discomnfort by their vicious hiabits. S..c,t,
t;erthe results alnmost immediately fl!owi}
Tlhe Federal3 hasten.ed t.o *Iak posses-c
-sion of Beaufort, hut they found it.eserted
by its white inhabitants. Somre negroes
"emained, and many slaves from the cotton
s.and rie-e plantations flocked to the Northern
armny. The brigand policy witQl which thet e
.war had been commencedl, was carried out
as far as prwer fell into their hands. InT
wars, ant,ong civilizedl.atons, it at long t e ci t
!) en hoeld, that private'-r'))-rty -w(~a-] b re-t
r-rected, unless absolutely neede<d for emn w ergencies beyond ordinary war sopp'es But
the Northerners openly announced their.
pFurpose to seize all the cotton, r,ne ol a tn3ohacco in the South that they colld, fit, Hdd,
and to give freedom to all slaves who
would come into their lines.
The conse,-quences of tdis scheme, of
r.bbery, were soon apparent, Th'e resoI.te planters of the Soith, determined to
burn their crops, rather than siifier them to
fall into the hands of their eneimies. In
a few days, the smoke of conftiagration
was seen rising from nearly every planitaion of the Sea Islands. J J MiJkell
Mrs. Hopkinson, J. Legare, burned theire
entire crops, with their negro houses,
bar ns and gins, and gathering all theirdis
slaves, who had not escaped, retired to the
interio. Their example was:followed by
others and soon this wealthy reg.ion wa,s;
filled with smokling, ruins. Crop,; amotngt —
o. XXXVII-41
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'CHAPTER Vi.l,
a Letter in Co31lum,bia Carolinian. i:.'3
p qech:November-'2th.