Okla-homey
2/17/2009, 08:02 AM
February 17, 1865: Sherman sacks Columbia, South Carolina
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/931/shermans2oi7.jpg
William Tecumseh Sherman
144 years ago today, soldiers from Union Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman's army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake.
Sherman is most famous for his "March to the Sea" in the closing months of 1864. After capturing Atlanta in September, Sherman cut away from base of supply and his supply lines and cut a swath of destruction across Georgia on his way to Savannah.
His three corps lived off the land and destroyed railroads, burned warehouses, and ruined plantations along the way. This was a calculated effort--Sherman thought that the war would end quicker if civilians of the South felt some destruction personally, a view supported by General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Federal forces, and President Lincoln.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9840/shermansmarcher8.gif
After spending a month in Savannah, Sherman headed north to tear the Confederacy into smaller pieces. The Federal soldiers took particular delight in carrying the war to South Carolina, the symbol of the rebellion.
SC was the first state to secede and the site of Fort Sumter, where South Carolinians fired on the Federal garrison to start the war. When General Wade Hampton's cavalry evacuated Columbia, the capital was open to Sherman's men.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7305/shermanssouthcarolinamafr8.jpg
Entering Columbia. February 17, 1865.
Many of the Federals got drunk on liquor they found in a state dispensary before starting the rampage. General Henry Slocum observed:
"A drunken soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other is not a pleasant visitor to have about the house on a dark, windy night."
Sherman claimed that the raging fires were started by evacuating Confederates and fanned by high winds. He later wrote:
"Though I never ordered it and never wished it, I have never shed any tears over the event, because I believe that it hastened what we all fought for, the end of the War."
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3960/shermanburningcolumbiaol3.jpg
Belatedly, some bluecoats helped fight the fires, but more than two-thirds of the city was destroyed. Already choked with refugees from the path of Sherman's army, Columbia's situation became even more desperate when Sherman's army destroyed the remaining public buildings before marching out of Columbia three days later.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8567/shermancolumbiascruins2sx4.jpg
Shot from the uncompleted state capitol steps looking down Columbia's Main street.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Sherman remains a controversial figure. Southerners generally despise him. Northerners are of mixed opinion about his legacy. This fact may be attributable to the fact he didn't care much for media types who, for better or worse, generally control the public opinion of national personalities.
If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
One constant however, is the fact Sherman's troops loved him because of his uncanny ability to outmaneuver enemy forces attempting to block his army's advance. Sherman was among the most conservative combat generals of the war in that he spent his soldiers lives, and those of his enemy, very sparingly. He believed it was better to destroy things than people to achieve his military objectives. For these reasons, his soldiers called him "Uncle Billy" as a term of affection.
At the beginning of the war, on learning of the first secessions from the United States, Sherman observed to a close friend, Professor David F. Boyd of Virginia, an enthusiastic secessionist, almost perfectly describing the four years of war to come:
You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2299/shermabburning20of20coltz1.jpg
At a recent press event in South Carolina, a mixed group comprised of various Neo-Confederates (Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the League of the South (LoS)) hanged effigies of Abraham Lincoln and Bill Sherman on the grounds of the SC capitol after trying them for war crimes. :rolleyes:
Years after the war, he was pressed to run for the presidency, and famously replied; "If nominated, I shall not run; if elected, I shall not serve."
If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you. - William Tecumseh Sherman
Sherman remained in the army until 1883 and retired as a four star.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4788/shermanwilliamtshermanpm5.jpg
General of the Army Sherman in 1881.
Years later, as an old man, he was often visited by old veterans of his campaigns who were down on their luck. His door was always open, and each would leave his home with a few dollars in their pocket given them by "Uncle Billy."
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6513/insane7zovq3.jpg
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/931/shermans2oi7.jpg
William Tecumseh Sherman
144 years ago today, soldiers from Union Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman's army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake.
Sherman is most famous for his "March to the Sea" in the closing months of 1864. After capturing Atlanta in September, Sherman cut away from base of supply and his supply lines and cut a swath of destruction across Georgia on his way to Savannah.
His three corps lived off the land and destroyed railroads, burned warehouses, and ruined plantations along the way. This was a calculated effort--Sherman thought that the war would end quicker if civilians of the South felt some destruction personally, a view supported by General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Federal forces, and President Lincoln.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/9840/shermansmarcher8.gif
After spending a month in Savannah, Sherman headed north to tear the Confederacy into smaller pieces. The Federal soldiers took particular delight in carrying the war to South Carolina, the symbol of the rebellion.
SC was the first state to secede and the site of Fort Sumter, where South Carolinians fired on the Federal garrison to start the war. When General Wade Hampton's cavalry evacuated Columbia, the capital was open to Sherman's men.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7305/shermanssouthcarolinamafr8.jpg
Entering Columbia. February 17, 1865.
Many of the Federals got drunk on liquor they found in a state dispensary before starting the rampage. General Henry Slocum observed:
"A drunken soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other is not a pleasant visitor to have about the house on a dark, windy night."
Sherman claimed that the raging fires were started by evacuating Confederates and fanned by high winds. He later wrote:
"Though I never ordered it and never wished it, I have never shed any tears over the event, because I believe that it hastened what we all fought for, the end of the War."
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3960/shermanburningcolumbiaol3.jpg
Belatedly, some bluecoats helped fight the fires, but more than two-thirds of the city was destroyed. Already choked with refugees from the path of Sherman's army, Columbia's situation became even more desperate when Sherman's army destroyed the remaining public buildings before marching out of Columbia three days later.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8567/shermancolumbiascruins2sx4.jpg
Shot from the uncompleted state capitol steps looking down Columbia's Main street.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Sherman remains a controversial figure. Southerners generally despise him. Northerners are of mixed opinion about his legacy. This fact may be attributable to the fact he didn't care much for media types who, for better or worse, generally control the public opinion of national personalities.
If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
One constant however, is the fact Sherman's troops loved him because of his uncanny ability to outmaneuver enemy forces attempting to block his army's advance. Sherman was among the most conservative combat generals of the war in that he spent his soldiers lives, and those of his enemy, very sparingly. He believed it was better to destroy things than people to achieve his military objectives. For these reasons, his soldiers called him "Uncle Billy" as a term of affection.
At the beginning of the war, on learning of the first secessions from the United States, Sherman observed to a close friend, Professor David F. Boyd of Virginia, an enthusiastic secessionist, almost perfectly describing the four years of war to come:
You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2299/shermabburning20of20coltz1.jpg
At a recent press event in South Carolina, a mixed group comprised of various Neo-Confederates (Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and the League of the South (LoS)) hanged effigies of Abraham Lincoln and Bill Sherman on the grounds of the SC capitol after trying them for war crimes. :rolleyes:
Years after the war, he was pressed to run for the presidency, and famously replied; "If nominated, I shall not run; if elected, I shall not serve."
If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you. - William Tecumseh Sherman
Sherman remained in the army until 1883 and retired as a four star.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/4788/shermanwilliamtshermanpm5.jpg
General of the Army Sherman in 1881.
Years later, as an old man, he was often visited by old veterans of his campaigns who were down on their luck. His door was always open, and each would leave his home with a few dollars in their pocket given them by "Uncle Billy."
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/6513/insane7zovq3.jpg