Okla-homey
2/17/2007, 07:26 AM
February 17, 1865 Sherman sacks Columbia, South Carolina
142 years ago today, proving once again, "war is Hell," the soldiers from Ohio-born Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake.
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/4616/zzzzzzsherman3bp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
William Tecumseh Sherman...loved by his soldiers, they called him "Uncle Billy."
Sherman is most famous for his "March to the Sea" in the closing months of 1864. After capturing and burning Atlanta in September, Sherman cut away from his supply lines and cut a swath of destruction across Georgia on his way to Savannah. His army lived off the land and destroyed anything of potential military value along the way --railroads, warehouses, public buildings, and plantations.
This was a calculated risk -- Sherman knew 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 Union forces, and President Lincoln. IOW, until rebel civilians felt the impact of their support for secession personally, support for the rebellion would go on. Further, a twin aim was to destroy the South's ability to wage war by denying her armies their means of sustenance. (Note: It's really the same notion that manifested itself in the WWII Allied strategic bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan not quite 100 years later.)
In fact, Sherman is often quoted on his stated intent to "make Georgia howl."
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1408/gggggggggggg4a39955rmz8.jpg
Bill Sherman (leaning on the breach of a 20lb. Parrott rifle) and his staff
After spending a month in Savannah, Sherman headed north to tear the Confederacy into smaller pieces. The Blue-clad defenders of the Union took particular delight in carrying the war to South Carolina where the seeds of the illegal rebellion first sprouted. Once crossing the Savannah River into the state, the mission took on an especially vindictive quality since his men saw this as "payback time."
Sherman is remembered as saying, (paraphrasing) "he quaked in fear for South Carolina as his army entered the cradle of the rebellion." To Sherman's men, SC was THE symbol of the rebellion. It had been the first state to secede and the site of Fort Sumter, where South Carolinians fired on the Federal garrison to start the war.
By this point in the war, SC had very little to throw in Sherman's way. Her military forces had been bled white by repeated fighting on hundreds of battlefields in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Georgia. About all that was left to help retard Sherman's advance was a few regiments of "home guard" made up of boys and old men, and LTG Wade Hampton's cavalry.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2706/zzzzhamptonw8nf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
LTG Wade Hampton, CSA. Before the war, he had been on the of top 2 or 3 wealthiest men in the South. With no professional military training, he was one of a handful of Southern cavalry officers to rise to general's rank without benefit of a military education. After the war, he led the fight in SC to shrug off "Reconstruction," opposed the integration of freed blacks into society and was subsequently elected governor.
When General Wade Hampton's cavalry evacuated Columbia, the capital was open to Sherman's men because Hampton's men were the last Confederate military force of any consequence within 100 miles of Columbia .
On Feb. 16, 1865 the city fathers and the mayor of Columbia rode out to meet Sherman's advanced guard and offered to surrender the city without a fight if the Federal's would promise civilians, and more importantly, civilian property, would not be harmed. Of course, Sherman's advanced guard agreed.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/9348/zzzzshermanssouthcarolinamarch.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Sherman's three corps army enter the City of Columbia
Many of the Yankees got drunk 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.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/87/zzzzzslocumhw0mu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
MG Henry Slocum, The NY native commanded one of Sherman's corps.
Sherman 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://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6517/zzzshermanatl2vr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Sherman on campaign...whether you loved him or hated him, you gotta give him props for his uncanny ability to do exactly what he said he'd do on the battlefield.
Belatedly, some Yankees 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://img124.imageshack.us/img124/4895/zzzzplate537eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The aftermath...view of Columbia's main street and commercial core looking south from the steps of the uncompleted SC capitol building
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6754/zzzzplate547is.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Another view of the aftermath.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/8857/zzzzplate553uo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
One more
By a bizarre twist of fate, Bill Sherman was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St Louis, MO very near another an important historical figure from American history...
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/4738/zzzzscott20dred2020st20louis20.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1471/zzzzzscott20dred2020st20louis2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6779/zzzzzsherman20william20tecumse.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After the war, Sherman served as his friend Sam Grant's Secretary of War. He is also famous for his response to GOP "kingmakers" when they approached him about running for the presidency himself:
"If nominated, I will not run. If elected I will not serve!" [/I]
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2466/zzzzb258nr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Almost 140 years after Sherman's men destroyed Columbia, a big-time Yankee with a previous reputation for winning finally left Columbia similarly situated in a smoking shambles.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5772/insane7zo3qu.jpg
142 years ago today, proving once again, "war is Hell," the soldiers from Ohio-born Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake.
http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/4616/zzzzzzsherman3bp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
William Tecumseh Sherman...loved by his soldiers, they called him "Uncle Billy."
Sherman is most famous for his "March to the Sea" in the closing months of 1864. After capturing and burning Atlanta in September, Sherman cut away from his supply lines and cut a swath of destruction across Georgia on his way to Savannah. His army lived off the land and destroyed anything of potential military value along the way --railroads, warehouses, public buildings, and plantations.
This was a calculated risk -- Sherman knew 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 Union forces, and President Lincoln. IOW, until rebel civilians felt the impact of their support for secession personally, support for the rebellion would go on. Further, a twin aim was to destroy the South's ability to wage war by denying her armies their means of sustenance. (Note: It's really the same notion that manifested itself in the WWII Allied strategic bombing campaigns against Germany and Japan not quite 100 years later.)
In fact, Sherman is often quoted on his stated intent to "make Georgia howl."
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1408/gggggggggggg4a39955rmz8.jpg
Bill Sherman (leaning on the breach of a 20lb. Parrott rifle) and his staff
After spending a month in Savannah, Sherman headed north to tear the Confederacy into smaller pieces. The Blue-clad defenders of the Union took particular delight in carrying the war to South Carolina where the seeds of the illegal rebellion first sprouted. Once crossing the Savannah River into the state, the mission took on an especially vindictive quality since his men saw this as "payback time."
Sherman is remembered as saying, (paraphrasing) "he quaked in fear for South Carolina as his army entered the cradle of the rebellion." To Sherman's men, SC was THE symbol of the rebellion. It had been the first state to secede and the site of Fort Sumter, where South Carolinians fired on the Federal garrison to start the war.
By this point in the war, SC had very little to throw in Sherman's way. Her military forces had been bled white by repeated fighting on hundreds of battlefields in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Georgia. About all that was left to help retard Sherman's advance was a few regiments of "home guard" made up of boys and old men, and LTG Wade Hampton's cavalry.
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/2706/zzzzhamptonw8nf.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
LTG Wade Hampton, CSA. Before the war, he had been on the of top 2 or 3 wealthiest men in the South. With no professional military training, he was one of a handful of Southern cavalry officers to rise to general's rank without benefit of a military education. After the war, he led the fight in SC to shrug off "Reconstruction," opposed the integration of freed blacks into society and was subsequently elected governor.
When General Wade Hampton's cavalry evacuated Columbia, the capital was open to Sherman's men because Hampton's men were the last Confederate military force of any consequence within 100 miles of Columbia .
On Feb. 16, 1865 the city fathers and the mayor of Columbia rode out to meet Sherman's advanced guard and offered to surrender the city without a fight if the Federal's would promise civilians, and more importantly, civilian property, would not be harmed. Of course, Sherman's advanced guard agreed.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/9348/zzzzshermanssouthcarolinamarch.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Sherman's three corps army enter the City of Columbia
Many of the Yankees got drunk 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.
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/87/zzzzzslocumhw0mu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
MG Henry Slocum, The NY native commanded one of Sherman's corps.
Sherman 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://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6517/zzzshermanatl2vr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Sherman on campaign...whether you loved him or hated him, you gotta give him props for his uncanny ability to do exactly what he said he'd do on the battlefield.
Belatedly, some Yankees 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://img124.imageshack.us/img124/4895/zzzzplate537eo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
The aftermath...view of Columbia's main street and commercial core looking south from the steps of the uncompleted SC capitol building
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6754/zzzzplate547is.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Another view of the aftermath.
http://img124.imageshack.us/img124/8857/zzzzplate553uo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
One more
By a bizarre twist of fate, Bill Sherman was buried in Calvary Cemetery in St Louis, MO very near another an important historical figure from American history...
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/4738/zzzzscott20dred2020st20louis20.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/1471/zzzzzscott20dred2020st20louis2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/6779/zzzzzsherman20william20tecumse.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
After the war, Sherman served as his friend Sam Grant's Secretary of War. He is also famous for his response to GOP "kingmakers" when they approached him about running for the presidency himself:
"If nominated, I will not run. If elected I will not serve!" [/I]
http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2466/zzzzb258nr.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Almost 140 years after Sherman's men destroyed Columbia, a big-time Yankee with a previous reputation for winning finally left Columbia similarly situated in a smoking shambles.
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5772/insane7zo3qu.jpg