O'Connell wants to ask a favor. He is preparing reminiscences of Catholicity in the Carolinas and Georgia. He wants the dates of the deaths of Commodore Raphael Semmes and Major Fitzgerald . He asks if the remains of Fitzgerald are at Greenville, South Carolina. He would write to Mrs. Fitzgerald if he knew her address. He is grateful for the information he has obtained from Clarke's works and hopes to present Clarke with a copy of his own book this winter. The enclosed letter excuses itself. William T. Sherman's army burned Columbia. O'Connell conducted the inmates of the convent through the flames. He and thousands still living are witnesses of the truth of these statements. There was no cotton on fire when he occupied the unresisting city. This was a northern report circulated to conceal the shame of the act. He will insert whatever Clarke may offer in the interests of the Ursulines . His brother Mather J. O'Connell is pastor of St. Michael's Church in Brooklyn. A note in pencil on the back says the other story of the fire in the convent attributed it to cotton set on fire by the Confederate soldiers. The convent was seeking indemnification. :: I-2-n A.L.S. 2pp. 12mo.