Columbia phoenix. (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1865, May 03, 1865, Image 1
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By J. A. SELBY. COLUMBIA, S. C., WEB9BKDAY, MAY 3,1865. VOL. L-NO. 30.
THE COLUMBIA PHON1X
IB POBtUHED SAI LT A?D TEI-Wl? KLY,
B Y JULIAN A. SELBY.;
The Daily ia issued every rr. oi n inp, except
Sunday, at ?40 a month. Tri-TV eek ly, Tueeday,
Tnareday and Saturday, at *20 a month, inva?
riably m advance- Single copies $2.
Advertisement' isertrd nt $10 per square
(ten lines) for eac' insertion. /
Richmond.
The Richmond Whig publishes the fol
lowing details of the evacuation:
TH? CITT OK F?BE.
The evacuation of Richmond commenced j
in earnest Sunday night, and closed st d?y- I
light on Monday morning with n tciri?t
conflagration, which was kindled by the
Confederate authorities wantonly and reck?
lessly applying lite torch to Shockoe w: <
house end other bvttdlngs in which was
stored a large quantity of tobacco. The
fire spread rapidly, and it was teme tim?
before tbe Fir? Brigade could be gotten to
work. A free!: breeze was bloring frc m
tbe South, and the fire swept over a great
tpsee ta aa in<*>adible short space of time.
By nocn th? fiaanes bad Irsnsfoimed into s
deaert waste that portion of tbe city
bounded between Seventh and Fifteenth
street?, from Main street to tbe river, com?
prising tb? mair, business poition. "We
can form so estimate at this moment of the
number of houses destroyed, but public
?cd private they will certainly number jrix
cr eight bundled. ' .
At present we cannot do more than
.nt merate some ef the most prominent
bnildirgs destroyed; These include the
tf; i k of Richmond, Traders' Bank, Bank
of ti t Ci nvmenwerhb, Bank of Virginia,
l-YimcrV Bank, ali lb? banking houtes, the
An eii.an Hotel, ike Columbian Hotel,,
thc Enquirer building en Twelfth street]
ire Dispatch Office ard job room?, corser
ci' ?l.iiteemh ?nd Wain street; all that
>>ia? k of buildings known as Devlin's
jjlcik. th* Examiner Office, engine ard
in nebine! y roomr; the Confederate Po?t \
Office Dopnilmtnt buildings; the State
Ceint Hoare; a fine old building situated
. n Cfpitol Square, at its Franklin street
< nnrfc? ; the* Mechanics' Instiiute, vacated
by the Confederate States War Depart
cent, und nil the buildings on ibat square
up to Eighth street and back to Main street;
ibe Confederate Arlena] ana Laboratory,
Seventh street.
A t eusriae, oa Monday morning, Bich
wend presented a spectacle that we hope
never to wilne?s again. The last of the
Gonfederate <ffio.ials had gone; the air waa
j lurid v. iib thc ?mok? and flame of hundred?
I of houses weltering in a sea of fire.
? The streets were crowded with furniture.
land every description of wares, dashed
clown to be trampled in the mud or burned
up where it lay. All the Government
; I ore-bouses were thrown open, and what
could r.et be gotten off by the Government
was left to the people, who everywhere
abend of the flame?, rushed in, and secured
m?nense rmounta of bacon, clothing,
boola, ??c.
Next to the river, the destruction ef
property br.s been fearfully complexe: The
Danville arid Teteisburg Raiboad Depots,
?nd the buildings ?nd shedding attached
tl. ateto, for tbe distance of half a mile
hom the North aide of Main street to the
river, and between Eighth acd Fifteenth
j st'eel*, embracing upward of twenty block: ,
presenta ene .waste of smoking rums,
I blackened walls and smoking chimneys.
After the surrender of the city and its
1 occupation by Gen. "Weitzel, about ten
o'clock, vigorosa efforts were set on foot to
.stop tbe progTesa of the flames. Tbe sol
diers reinforced tbs Fire Brigade, and la?
bored nobly, and with great success. The
flames East on Main street were checked by
tbe blowing up of the Traders1 Bank about
soon. The flames gradually died out at va?
rious points as materials failed for them to
?>ed upon; but in particular localities the
work of destruction wert on until towards
tlrree or four o'clock, when the mastery of
the flames was obtained, and Richmond
was safe from utter desolation.
We regret to karn that a serious lois of
life resulted from the blowing up--of the
powder magazine on the suburbs early on
Monday morning. Tbs shock was tremen?
dous, jarring every bouse in tho city, ex?
tinguishing the gas, and braking a great
quantity of glats in dwellings. It is said
H at thirty or forty persons, residents of the
immediate neighborhood of tbe magazine,
were either killed or wounded, but at this
writing we br.ve,becn unable to obtain par?
ticulars or names.
The fire made sad bsvoc with the ?a
loons, and none of any account remained,
We enumerated Henry SmithV, Cary and
Virginia streets; Charle? Hunt's 'Oui
House;' Tom Griffin's 'Congress Hall;
'The Place;' The Cbiekamauga,' and s
score of others. Tho burning ot' tbe sr
loons is very distressing, as hundreds o
people rendered homeless by tbe fire wil.
be mable to obtain food.
Of cours? we cannot be expected at this
time to enter into nn estimate of the losse?-,
but they are immense, rind will amount to
hundreds of millions of dollars.
"When it was made known on Sunday
morning that tbe evacuation of Richmond
wat a foregone corclusioD, the City Coun?
cil held a meeting, and in secret session
pulsed an order for the destruction* of all
the liquor in the city. Accordingly about
the hour of midnight tbe work commenced,
under tbe direction of committees of citi?
zens in all the wards. Hundrede of barrels
?f liquor were robed into the streets rind
i lie beads kno<ked in. The gutters ran
vtith a liquor ' eshet, and the lumen filled
and impregnated the air. Fine cases of
bottled liquor wete tossed into the street
from tbird-story windows, and wrecked into
a thousand pieces. As tbe work progrese*
ed some straggling Confederate soldier?,
retreating through tbe city, managed to
get hold of a qjoantity of liquor. From
this moment law and order ceased to exist;
chaos came, and a Pandemonium reigned,
Drunk with vile liquor, the soldien
roamed from store to store on Main street,
followed by a reckless crowd, drunk r.s
'hey. "With the butts of their muskets
they dashed in tho plate glass of the store
doors, and entering, made a wreck of
everything with the celerity of mn gie.
Jewelry stores, clothing Btore?, boot, and
!iat stores, and confectionary stores were
objects of spec-al attention to theso pil?
lagers, who, be it remembered, were no1:
Federal soldiers, but Confederate strag?
glers. t '
About daylight on Monday morning ti e
city was shaken to its foundations by tea
sxplosiou proceeding from the blowing up
"jf the Confederate iron clads in thc river.
The Patrick Henry was in flames at Rock?
ets, and tbe Navy Yard and all tbe public
buildings therein situated were in procees
if destruction. Several of the smaper
ressels were burned at the city wharves.
At six o'clock, the evacuation kn vir-g
3con completed aa far as the Confederate
irmy was concerned, fire was set to Mayo's
>ridge and the Danville Railroad bridge,
md these structures were soon in darner
md fell into the. river.
TUE ruEzicATroN or TfE wino, nmsinti,
Thc publication of the Whig is re.-urned th;a
ifternoon, with the consent ot tin* military s. -
horitiee. Tbe editor and all who heretofore
ontrulled it* caJrnins, Lave tuleen tbeir deprtit
ire. Tbe proprietor sad oi.e atteehe oj the
eeeat editorial corps i emain. Thc former hat
nd a conference with Cen. Shepley, the Mi'i
sry Governor, who assented to thu pnblieatiea
f the paper ea conditions whiefe will ba sheff