concert, of which notice was given with signal rockets; ninth, that Federal soldiers in large numbers aided in spreading the conflagration by brand, match and torch; tenth, that as to the cotton, General Beauregard on the 14th ordered Major Greene, commandant of the post, to have the cotton moved out of the warehouses to a place or places where it could be burned, if it should become necessary to burn it, without endangering the city, and that Major Greene, having no available transportation, placed the cotton in the broadest of the streets, as the best he could do under the circumstances; eleventh, that on the 16th, when General Hampton was assigned to duty at Columbus, he urged General Beauregard, his superior officer, to order that the cotton be not burned, that General Beauregard so ordered and that the order was issued by Captain Lowndes, Assistant Adjutant-General, from General Hampton's headquarters; twelfth, that all the fires that arose from the burning cotton during the day (Friday), in whatever way caused, were extinguished by the local fire companies, assisted by the citizens and Federal soldiers; thirteenth, that several citizens of Columbia, during the day (Friday) were warned by officers and soldiers of Sherman's army of the impending conflagration of the city to take place that night; fourteenth, that the conflagration did take place that night, announced by signals and beginning at several places to the windward of the heart of the city; fifteenth, that numerous Federal officers witnessed the active agency of the soldiers in spreading the conflagration without taking timely steps to prevent the same; and, sixteenth, that in fine, General Sherman is morally responsible for the burning of Columbia.
New York, June 15, 1875.
