• Full Citation: Michael C. Garber, Jr., "Reminiscences of the Burning of Columbia, South Carolina," Indiana Magazine of History 11, no. 4 (December 1915): 285-300.
• Home: Jefferson County (Madison)
• Year: 1865
• Abstract: Garber accompanied his father (Garber, Sr.), to Columbia at the age of 14 when his father was the Chief Quartermaster in the Field of the Army of the Mississippi. He explains the Columbia burning- in which 84 of 124 city blocks were destroyed- as a combination of forces: recently released Union soldiers venting their anger, cotton being stored on the street, high winds, and no city fire department. Mostly, however, Garber follows the official Union reports of the fire and blames it on African-American residents, Southern convicts, camp followers, and Confederate evacuees.
• Sample Text:
  1. "To read all the other data obtainable, finally, is to reach a conclusion, doubtless correct, and honorable to each of the exceedingly militant generals, whose splending characters, heroic careers, and lovable personalities will eventually win and hold the admiration of the American people of all sections for all time to come." (p. 286)
• LC Subject Headings:
  1. Columbia, S.C., Burning of, 1865

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