SIGOURNEY, LYDIA H. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



757 



compensation than the grateful acknowledg- 

 ments of those for whom she toiled : yet a 

 considerable number of her books yielded her 

 a fair income. In her "Letters of Life," a post- 

 humous work, furnished and published by her 

 daughter, she enumerates fifty-six distinct works, 

 wholly or partially from her own pen, and 

 states that, aside from these, she had contrib- 

 uted more than two thousand articles in prose 

 or verse to different periodicals. Her poetry 

 vras not of the highest order ; it portrayed 

 rather, in graceful and often felicitous language, 

 the emotions and sympathies of the heart, than 

 the higher conceptions of the intellect. There 

 was a strong resemblance between her and Mrs. 

 Hemans in the scope, character, and aims of 

 her poetry. Her prose was graceful and ele- 

 gant, modelled to a great extent on that of Ad- 

 dison and the Aikins, who, in her youth, were 

 regarded as the standards of polite literature. 

 All her writings were in the interests of a pure 

 morality, and many of them decidedly religious 

 in their character. Among those which have had 

 a more than ephemeral reputation, were, "Let- 

 ters to Young Ladies," first published in 1833 ; 

 "Letters to Mothers" (1838); " Pocahontas 

 and other Poems" (1841) ; " Pleasant Memories 

 of Pleasant Lands;" "Scenes in my Native 

 Land" (1844); "Illustrated Poems" (1848); 

 " The Voice of Flowers" and " The Weeping 

 Willow" (1845 and 1846); "Water Drops" 

 (1847); " Whispers to a Bride," (1849) ; " Letters 

 to my Pupils" (1851); " Olive Leaves" (1851) ; 

 "The Faded Hope" (1852); "Sayings of the 

 Little Ones, and Poems for their Mothers" 

 (1854) ; " Past Meridian" (1854) ; " Lucy How- 

 ard's Journal" (1857) ; " The Daily Counsellor" 

 (1859); "Gleanings," a volume of Poems (1860); 

 "The Man of Uz and other Poems" (1862). 

 Perhaps no writer in the country was more 

 constantly called upon for occasional poems of 

 all kinds, elegiac, consolatory, congratulatory, 

 for anniversaries, and for public enterprises of 

 all sorts ; and her kind disposition led her to 

 accede to these constantly preferred requests, 

 often greatly to her own inconvenience and 

 discomfort. 



But it was not simply or mainly by her liter- 

 ary labors that Mrs. Sigourney was or desired 

 to be known. Her whole life w r as one of ac- 

 tive and earnest philanthropy. The poor, the 

 sick, the deaf-mute, the blind, the idiot, the 

 slave, and the convict, were the objects of her 

 constant care and benefaction. Her pensioners 

 were numerous, and not one of them was ever 

 forgotten. In the period of her earlier married 

 life she spared, in order to give ; economizing 

 in her own wardrobe and personal luxuries 

 and enjoyments, that she might be able to be- 

 stow her gifts upon the needy; and in later life, 

 when her income from her books and other 

 property, all, save that which was absolutely 

 needful for home comforts and expenses, was 

 distributed in a wise and well-considered char- 

 ity. Her character and worth were highly 

 appreciated in the city, which, for more than 



fifty years, had been her home : its numerous 

 bells tolled her requiem for an hour at sunset 

 of the day of her death ; and when the last sad 

 honors were to be paid to her remains, its citi- 

 zens came in such throngs as had never before 

 been seen at a funeral service, and among them 

 it was touchiftg to witness the pressure of the 

 thousands on whom she had bestowed her 

 kindly charities, to take one last look of their 

 sainted benefactor. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. The invasion of this 

 State by Gen. Sherman, the fall of the capital, 

 Columbia, and other towns, and the evacuation 

 of Charleston, and its occupation by the Fed- 

 eral forces, are stated under ARMY OPERATIONS, 

 to which title the reader is referred. ' The city 

 of Charleston was placed under martial law by 

 Lieut.-Col. Bennett in command, and the ad- 

 vance of Sherman caused all the military force 

 in the State to be collected in front to resist 

 him. No further military operations of im- 

 portance took place in the State ; and when the 

 armies of Lee and Johnston surrendered, the 

 control of the Federal military power was com- 

 plete. The people were prompt to resume the 

 pursuits of peace, and ready to renew their 

 allegiance to the Federal Government. On 

 May 8th the Confederate Governor of the State, 

 Magrath, issued a proclamation to the civil offi- 

 cers, requiring them to return to Columbia, 

 the capital, and reopen their offices. But on 

 the 15th Gen. Q. A. Gillmore, who was in com- 

 mand of the department, issued another proc- 

 lamation, forbidding all persons from paying 

 any attention to the orders of Gov. Magrath, 

 or to similar proclamations of the Governors 

 of Georgia and Florida, which States were 

 within his department. He added : 



The policy and wishes of the General Government 

 toward the people of these States, and the method 

 which should be pursued by them in resuming or as- 

 suming the exercises of their political rights, will 

 doubtless be made known at an early day. 



It is deemed sufficient, meanwhile, to announce 

 that the people of the black race are free citizens of 

 the United States ; that it is the fixed intention of a 

 wise and beneficent Government to protect them in 

 the enjoyment of their freedom and the fruits of their 

 industry; and that it is the manifest and binding 

 duty of all citizens, whites as well blacks, to make 

 such arrangements and agreements among them- 

 selves for compensated labor as shall be mutually 

 advantageous to all parties. Neither idleness nor 

 vagrancy will be tolerated, and the Government will 

 not extend pecuniary aid to any persons, whether 

 white or black, who are unwilling to help themselves. 



District and post commanders throughout this de- 

 partment will at once cause this order to be cir- 

 culated far and wide, by special couriers and other- 

 wise, and will take such steps to secure its enforce- 

 ment as may by them be deemed necessary. 



Federal troops were stationed at various 

 towns of the State to preserve order, and affairs 

 continued in this shape until June 30th, when 

 President Johnson appointed Benjamin F. Perry 

 as Provisional Governor. The proclamation 

 was similar to the one issued on the appoint- 

 ment of the Provisional Governor of Alabama. 

 (See ALABAMA.) 



