CHAPTER LXXVII.—THE BURNING OF COLUMBIA.

The Fall of Pride.—Infatuation of the People.—Scenes of Panic.—Citizen Plunderers.—General Sherman’s Promise.—Origin of the Fires.—Accounts by Responsible Citizens.—Rocket Signals.—Fire-Balls thrown into Houses.—Stories of Federal Guards.—Skill at finding Treasures.—“Divining Rods.”—The Fire in the Distance.—Dismay and Terror.—Thirty Millions of Property Destroyed.—Sacking of the Churches; of Masonic and Odd-Fellow Lodges.—Drunkenness.—Discipline.—Robberies.—Many Guards faithful.—Curious Incidents.—Funeral of a Lapdog.—Popular Jokes in the Army.—Mrs. Minegault’s Bracelet.—Destitution.—Doing as we would have been done by.—War and Institutions of Learning.—Horrors left behind.—Ruins. 553