Autograph letter, signed. Malcolm Fleming to his mother. 1864 August 10.

On July 30, 1864, Confederate General Jubal Early sent the cavalry brigades of John McCausland and Bradley Johnson to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Unless the citizens paid $100,000 in gold, the town would be destroyed in retaliation for Union General David Hunter's destruction of private property in the Shenandoah Valley. The citizens refused and the town was burned. Confederate surgeon Malcolm Fleming, an 1860 medical school graduate, described the scene in a letter to his mother.

"Nothing exaggerated can be said about the burning of Chambersburg.... I entered the Town with a stiff neck & stubborn heart, but as much as I hate the yankees, I could not stand it long....The citizens refused to pay the tribute; whereupon McCausland at once ordered the city to be laid in ashes--The scene which followed baffles all description--- Shrieking children & panic stricken men & women running in every direction begging assistance. I saw several women faint upon the side walks....the town was sacked-- soldiers turned loose upon private houses & then the order issued to burn...."