Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
Solid shot, bolts and exploding shell hit the Potter home, to my recollection. The fire was stared by an incendiary shell. The Union works were 1/4 mile away, I think?
From the picture, it didn't appear to me that there was any fire damage. The roof appears intact, and its hard to burn a building without the roof being the first casualty. But I'll take your word for it that it burned.
Cedarstripper
Another look at the Potter House. It doesn't appear it is "in the City" of Atlanta.
Last edited by cedarstripper; 12-09-2005 at 11:08 PM.
In post 471 you included the pictures of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John and St Finbar in Charleston, SC. In some random looking around, I came across the information that the Cathedral was destroyed on December 11, 1861, when "a fire broke out in a factory on Hasell Street, destroying much of Charleston, including the cathedral. Everything was lost."
"Bishop Patrick Lynch was the spiritual leader of South Carolina's Catholics at the time of the Civil War. Born in Ireland, Bishop Lynch immigrated to South Carolina in 1819. In 1840 he was ordained as a priest in Rome. In 1857 he was appointed vicar-general and was consecrated bishop in 1858. He was bishop in Charleston for twenty-four years, and he served as the Confederacy's special envoy to the Vatican.
Patrick N. Lynch was consecrated as the Catholic bishop of Charleston on March 14, 1858 in the Cathedral of St. John and St. Finbar on Broad Street, which burned in the Great Fire of 1861. It was the first consecration of a new bishop in Charleston.
Bishop Lynch's appointment was a popular one. He had been a priest for eighteen years and was a favorite speaker. "Father Lynch preached and his sermon impressed me profoundly," William T. Sherman, then a lieutenant, wrote home from Fort Moultrie in the 1840's."
I wonder how many other monuments to Sherman's cruelty were also remnants of the original fire.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Actually Sherman didn't attack Charleston. His troops passed well to the west of seacoast city. The bombardment of Charleston(which did happen) was either from the sea, or seige guns like "The Swamp Angel" The Union troops(including the 54th Massachusetts) were a seperate department from Sherman.
I was in Charleston about ten years ago. It's a beautiful city.
This thread is moving so fast, a post I wanted to reply to is now two pages back. Pardon If I'm redundant -- I just want to make sure we know what I'm replying to.
Rob:
Just looked through Scaif's Order of Battle; The Atlanta Campaign. According to him, there were no mortars in all three armies under Sherman's command. Generally each division had two batteries fairly evenly divided between rifled pieces (3" ordnance rifles and some Parrotts) and smooth bores (mostly napoleons but a few 24#).
Cedarstripper.
Thanks for the alternative photograph of the Potter house. It clearly borders a defensive trench and would be subject to less-than-surgical precision fire. And I agree, the Potter house, if it had a fire in it at all, was not burned. As you pointed out, the roof was intact. You will note the absense of those tell-tale soot streaks outside each window?
It doesn't matter whether it burned or not; that's immaterial. I'm just a bit anal when it comes to leaving a detail with two different, unresolved descriptions.
It appears that Sherman did order the town bombarded twice -- from an earlier, "demonstration" version to a later, "let's get it over with" tone.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
In post 471 you included the pictures of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John and St Finbar in Charleston, SC. In some random looking around, I came across the information that the Cathedral was destroyed on December 11, 1861, when "a fire broke out in a factory on Hasell Street, destroying much of Charleston, including the cathedral. Everything was lost."Cedarstripper
Cedarstripper & Sam:
Thanks for the links which I read with great interest. I checked back on the date that these photos were issued and The Library of Congress states that they were created/published in 1865. The ruins in Charleston are part of the Selected Civil War Photgraphs Collection which contain thousands of images "made under the supervision of Matthew B . Brady, and include scenes of military personnel, preparations for battle, and battle after-effects."
I'm very curious now regarding these particular photographs and I've written to the Library of Congress, American Memory, for clarification.
Thanks Cedarstripper for bringing this to our attention.
I got your point. No problem here. ;-)
I was only making sure is all.
The Potter house caught fire IIRC but was quickly extinguished. Therefore it didn't burn down. Like I said, I'm recalling info from some 20-plus years ago.
The Potter home was indeed a 'close to the trenches' house which WAS used for CS defensive abatis. I have no problem with this point and thoght I made myself clear in one of my posts "the trenches/ditches w/the 'fence' looking structure at the lower left of Dawna's photo" reply. And like I said, the building only caught fire (IIRC) but was quickly extinguished.
Now to much MORE important matters: What do you all think of bombarding an occupied city by Union troops??
My ENTIRE point is that many NONMILITARY (emphasis only) civilian structures were targetted deliberately by Union guns. The Potter home is a poor example due to it's being close to the CS lines. In all honesty, I thought ALL knew this fact. I didn't attempt to hide the fact. Other homes, churches, etc., weren't close to the lines, however.
Ole: I do make many mistakes unlike most, :-) and I'll certainly take your quick research that no Union mortars were with Sherman. My mistake actually helps my point in this. Thanks! Knowing that mortars were LESS accurate than say Parrot's or rifled pieces, accuracy and longrange guns which were at Sherman's disposal equaled more efficiency/accuracy of Union firepower. Nonmiliary targets were hit. I'll set back and let some of you comment if you will.
Shelling a civilian-occupied position is never nice. Hood earned a good share of responsibility for that shelling by setting up defenses in the city. And that is not an excuse for Sherman's shelling, it's a reason.
I believe you will find that the shelling stopped when Hood quit the city. Didn't we just go through, in the Ft. Pillow thread, that "there would have been no excessive killing if the Union troops had not resisted so desperately"?
Regards,
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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