“The sky, Bob, it's glowing!”

“Yep, it sure is, Martha.”

“I told you Billy. Didn't I tell you? They had to know.”

“I guess you did, Jimmy but what is it? Why is the sky all orange?”

“I don't get it Martha. I just don't get it...”

“Me neither, Bob. Maybe they are teaching us a lesson.”

“But we surrendered, Martha. Charlottesville surrendered. They didn't need to burn the cotton factory...”

“ The conflagration was magnificent, sublime, it illuminated the whole canopy of heaven, with a lurid glare.”

Sarah Ann Strickler

Charlottesville, Virginia,

March 3, 1865