t I conceive to be a true relation.

The city was surrendered by the mayor and three aldermen to Colonel
George A. Stone at the head of his brigade. Soon afterwards Sherman and
Howard, the commander of the right wing of the army, rode into the city;
they observed piles of cotton burning, and Union soldiers and citizens
working to extinguish the fire, which was partially subdued. Let Sherman
speak for himself in the first account that he wrote, which was his
report of April 4, 1865: "Before one single public building had been
fired by order, the smouldering fires [cotton] set by Hampton's order
were rekindled by the wind, and communicated to the buildings around.
[Wade Hampton commanded the Confederate cavalry.] About dark they began
to spread, and got beyond the control of the brigade on duty within the
city. The whole of Woods' division was brought in, but it was found
impossible to check the flames, which, by midnight, had become
unmanageable, and raged until about 4 A.M., when the wind subsiding,
they were got under control.

"I was up nearly all night, and saw Generals Howard, Logan, Woods, and
others, laboring to save houses and protect families thus suddenly
deprived of shelter, and even of bedding and wearing apparel. I disclaim
on the part of my army any agency in this fire, but, on the contrary,
claim that we saved what of Columbia remains unconsumed. And without
hesitation I charge General Wade Hampton with having burned his own city
of Columbia, not with a malicious intent or as the manifestation of a
silly 'Roman stoicism,' but from folly, and want of sense, in filling it
with lint, cotton, and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked well
to extinguish the flames; but others not on duty, including the officers
who had long been imprisoned there, rescued by us, may have assisted in
spreading the fire after it had once begun, and may have indulged in
unconcealed joy to see the ruin of the capital of South Carolina."
Howard, in his report, with some modification agrees with his chief, and
the account in "The March to the Sea" of General Cox, whose experience
and training fitted him well to weigh the evidence, gives at least a
partial confirmation to Sherman's theory of the origin of the fire.

I have not, however, discovered sufficient evidence to support the
assertion of Sherman that Wade Hampton ordered the cotton in the streets
of Columbia to be burned. Nor do I believe Sherman knew a single fact on
wh