Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2008 - (Page 23) loyal to the Union] kept their promise to burn the place rather than have it go into the hands of the enemy again. About daylight this morning cries of fire and the ringing of the alarm bells were heard on every side. I think a hundred fires must have been started at one time. We grabbed the few things we had to carry and marched out of the fire territory, where we left them under guard and went back to do what we could to help the people. Fires were breaking out in new places all the time. All we could do was help the people get over the levee, the only place where the heat did not reach and where there was nothing to burn. There was no lack of help, but all were helpless to do more than that. Only the things most needful, such as beds and eatables, were saved. One lady begged so for her piano that was got out on the porch and there left to burn. Cows ran bellowing through the streets. Chickens flew out from yards and fell in the streets with their feathers scorching on them. A dog with his bushy tail on fire ran howling through, turning to snap at the fire as he ran. There is no use trying to tell about the sights I saw and the sounds of distress I heard. It cannot be told and could hardly be believed if it were told. Crowds of people, men, women, children, and soldiers, were running with all they could carry, when the heat would become unbearable, and dropping all, they would flee for their lives, leaving everything but their bodies to burn. Over the levee the sights and sounds were harrowing. Thousands of people, mostly women, children and old men, were wringing their hands as they stood by the little piles of what was left of all their worldly possessions. Thieves were everywhere, and some of them were soldiers. I saw one knocked down and left in the street, who had his arms full of stolen articles. The down to it, and then scattered the fire instead of stopping it, making the destruction more complete than if nothing of the kind had been attempted. A correspondent for the St. Louis Republican was a witness of the conflagration too and filed his report about the burning of Alexandria, which was picked up and reprinted in the Richmond Enquirer. When all the gunboats were over the falls, and the order to evacuate was A combination of factors resulted in an ill-tempered, ill-disciplined band of soldiers with larceny in their hands and arson in their hearts. provost guards were everywhere, and, I am told, shot down everyone caught spreading the fire or stealing. Nearly all buildings were of wood; great patches of burning roofs would sail away, to drop and start a new fire. By noon the thickly settled portion of Alexandria was a smoking ruin. The thousands of beautiful shade trees were as bare as in winter, and those that stood nearest the houses were themselves burning. An attempt was made to save one section by blowing up a church that stood [the Episcopal church] in an open space, but the fuse went out and the powder did not explode until the building burned promulgated, and the army nearly all on the march, some of our soldiers—both white and black—as if by general understanding, set fire to the city in nearly every part, almost simultaneously. The flames spread rapidly, increased by a heavy wind. Most of the houses were of wooden structure and were soon devoured by the flames. Alexandria was a town of between four and five thousand inhabitants. All of the city north of the railroad was swept from the face of the earth in a few hours, not a building left. About nine-tenths of the town was consumed, comprising all the entire business district and all of the city’s finest Spring 2008/LOUISIANA ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES 23
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