tskirts, and feeling it the call of duty to be with my family, I
could only look on from without. The day was sultry and calm, not a breath
stirring, and each column of smoke rose black, straight, and single; first
one, and then another, and another, and another, until the columns blended
and commingled; and then one vast and lurid column of smoke and flame
rose perpendicularly to the sky, and spread out into a vast crown, like a
cloud of sackcloth hanging over the doomed city; whilst the roar and the
surging, the crackling and crash of falling timbers and walls, broke upon
the still air with a fearful dissonance, and the screams and sounds of
agony of burning animals, hogs, and cows, and horses, made the welkin
horrid with sounds of woe. It was a scene to be witnessed and heard once
in a lifetime."

To you and other friends, more or less familiar with Chambersburg, it will
be interesting to specify a little more particularly the localities which
have been laid waste. Beginning on East Market street, the one leading
from Gettysburg to Pittsburg, directly through the centre of the town from
east to west, the burning commenced simultaneously with the Court-house
and Mansion-house (Printing Establishment of the German Reformed Church).
Facing the west from the Franklin railroad, the first building to the
right is the residence of the Misses Denny, in a somewhat isolated
position. This stands in its freshness and beauty, solitary and alone.
Passing down two squares to the centre of the town, not one building and
only two or three stables or barns remain on either side of this street of
private residences, my own with all of my library and manuscripts, among
the number. Passing further on westward for more than three squares in
length, to the top of "New England Hill," five or six more or less
isolated houses remain. The large Franklin Hotel, the Arcade Buildings,
John B. Cook's houses and tannery, Riley's Hotel, the late Matthew
Gillan's large dwelling, J. M. Wolfkill's store and dwelling, G. W.
Brewer's and Mrs. Joseph Chambers's beautiful residences, are among the
many valuable properties on this street, in ruins.

Then from North Main street (the street from Carlisle to Greencastle),
beginning with Mr. Benjamin Chambers's new residence, at the Falling
Spring, and Mr. W. G. Reed's, on the corner, and from here on every house
on both sides up the square, on to the centre, across it to Queen street,
and up to Washington str