Franklin County: Diary of J. Kelly Bennette, (1864)
Summary:
J. Kelly Bennette writes in his diary about the burning of Chambersburg and
describes the different attitudes in the armies toward private property, women,
and children.
30th. Scarcely had we time for our hungry horses to satisfy their hunger on Pennsylvania corn & we to snatch a hasty bite for ourselves when the bugle sounded "to horse" & we are again on the dusty road. We have been driving before us all day a small body of yankees & tonight concealed by the darkness they stop at every turn in the road & fire on our advance guard & although they did no hurt to anyone yet it made it very unpleasant to the advance guard. Arrived at within a mile of Chambersburg a little before day light. The first thing I knew of being in its vicinity was a dull "Boom"! & a charge of grape came flying over us like a flock of pigeons. At this place the 36th Batt lost another man killed. The yankees moved their position & we went into line of battle & waited for the other Brig. to come up. While waiting I went to sleep & when I awoke the town was in our hands & on fire. A levy was made on the town thro' Gen McC. by order of Gen. Early for $100,000 in specie of 500,000 in U.S. currency toward paying for private property burned by Hunter. The Mayor being absent the demand was made known to fifteen of the most prominent citizens who replied that we as rebels against the General Government had no right to make such a demand; and moreover that Gen. Averill had telegraphed that he would be there in time to save them. Gen. McCauseland immedi[ately] ordered the destruction of the town giving the women & children two hours to leave & remove what they could but many of them made no improvement of the time thus afforded & when our men urged them to save what they could they replied that we dared not burn it, nor would they believe that Gen. McC. meant what he said 'till the fire was in their homes.
The burning of Chambersburg was generally condemned by our Regt. at first when all the sympathies were all aroused, but when reason had time to regain her seat I believe that they all thought as I thought at first; that it was Justice & Justice tempered with Mercy. That burning per se is wrong no one can deny; and the bare idea of turning out of doors upon the cold charities of the world unprotected women & unoffending children is sufficient to cause the feelings to rebel. But there may be circumstances under which it is not only justifiable but becomes a duty, - stern it is true but nevertheless binding. Thru several times since the beginning of this war we have had opportunities of laying waste northern cities & private property generally. But instead of this we have pursued toward them a course uniformally conciliatory hoping by this means to set the war on a civilized footing & thus protect our defenceless ones at home. Orders were issued that private property must be respected as we came not to pillage & destroy but to conquer a Peace. Not what has been the consiquence of this conciliatory policy? From Princeton for 30 miles toward Raleigh C. H. you do not see a house, the blackened chimnies alone marking where once the farm-house stood. From Memphis Norfolk & N. Orleans women without number have been sent thro' the lines not knowing where they were to find a home. Jackson Miss. Washington N.C. Guyandotte Va. a large portion of Lexington Buchanon, Fredericksburg Wytheville Va., Newbern N.C. Winchester Va. & hundreds of other towns & cities have been laid in ashes & often not giving the women & children five minutes notice. Private farm houses of which there are thousands are not mentioned. In Wytheville for instance when David St. Clair carried his sick child from his burning house & took up its cloak to wrap about it he was cursed as a d--n'd rebel & bid to lay it down, & as he passed thro' he had to steal from his own porch the sheep-skin on which his dog slept to shield his child from the cold night air. We are in this war to defend the women - if we try one expedient & it fails we are recreant to our duty if we persevere in that expedient instead of changing the prescription. Now everyone knows that the conciliatory policy has failed - utterly failed - & we are driven nolens volens to the opposite mode of proceedure. Instead of snatching from the hands of the ladies what they had saved from their burning houses & throwing it back into the flames as the yankees did in K. Valley, or stealing & destroying it as they did Mrs. Anderson in the Valley of Va. our men could be seen all over the city checking the fire or carrying trunks, bundles &c. for the ladies. How beautiful the contrast! It must be acknowledged that there were some who having become drunk seemed to glory in spreading destruction but it must also be remembered that many of them have had strong provocation.
Leave what remains of C.burg & retrace our steps through St. Thomas & after a march of 31 mls find ourselves at McConelsburg Penn. where we go into camp. 1220+25+31=1276
