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.
Well, to be fair to me I didn't say that. If you want to boil my comments down to a single sentence, it was a combination of factors that led to the mostly accidental burning of Columbia.
Regards,
Cash
Now don't go gettin' all defensive or anything, there was no cynicism in my remark. Since joining this forum today I've come to respect your opinions and know you to be a straight shooter [thus far ]. I was taking you at your word and didn't really need an actual estimate.
Dawna, anyone who has read Sherman's memoirs/corespondance,
Does Sherman mention what his motives were concerning the Columbia SC burning, or does he simply acknowledge it as Dawna cited in a prior post on this thread?
My suspicion is that Sherman not only had the civil war secession in mind, but also the nullification crisis 30 years earlier.
Matt
Last edited by milhistbuff1; 12-14-2005 at 08:04 PM.
South Carolina as the "birthplace of the rebellion" I can concede, even if I don't agree. I'm not about splitting hairs here, but as you said, saying things like: "don't start nothin', then there won't be nothin' " as a justification for the dishonorable actions visited upon Columbia is irrational.
There was indeed a military design that included the razing of Atlanta, Columbia and the "path of Sherman," so I'm not whining about why it happened; although I don't agree with the extent of the destruction as just being simply: "war is hell, get over it."
Hey, Gooch, welcome.
As to the ending quote (which I believe is your paraphrasing of Sherman (?)). That is not so much reflective of the S. Carolina episodes in particular, I think, but more about the entire "march" campaign.
And I think it would not be "get over it", but rather "understand it" ("and don't think about ever doing it again!").
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
Sam,
You raise an excellent point, Sherman would not only have the past in his mind but as any career military officer would, think of the next war, which given the bitterness of the one he was fighting at the time, more likely than not, to occur.
Respectfully,
Matt
Dawna, anyone who has read Sherman's memoirs/corespondance,
Does Sherman mention what his motives were concerning the Columbia SC burning, or does he simply acknowledge it as Dawna cited in a prior post on this thread?
My suspicion is that Sherman not only had the civil war secession in mind, but also the nullification crisis 30 years earlier.
Matt
Matt, see my posts #529 and #530 in this thread. I have posted what Sherman says in his memoirs about Columbia.
JohnW,
I realize that this is a mite late, but, in reference to your comments on the North & South mini-series, and post #48, you probably know by now, that all three segments of the triology were made, and aired on TV. The last, of the TV series, Orrie was killed by some unknown assassin. In the books, he was killed in the second book. I read all three books, and I also viewed all three of the TV mini, and, I also have the CD set, which I purchased last Christmas. It was one of the first WBTS series that I actually enjoyed, the other, was a old regular weekly series enititled 'The Gray Ghost', which aired many years ago.
Sherman tells about the protection of the ladies that were his past acquaintances and of the provisions he left with them. Then he explains that should prove he had no malice or desire to destroy the city or it’s inhabitants. What is glaringly apparent here is that he helped only two old friends, not out of any consideration of Columbia or her citizens, but out of mutual friendship.
Sherman claims, “In my official report of this conflagration, I distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and confess I did so pointedly, to shake the faith of his people in him, for he was in my opinion boastful, and professed to be the special champion of South Carolina.”
That sounds suspiciously convenient for Sherman. It allowed him to blame Hampton and at the same time put a seed of doubt in the minds of the Columbians. I find it hard to imagine cotton bales set into the middle of the street to burn and smolder could have set the better part of the city on fire, especially since the fires had been tended since before Sherman arrived.
The bold emphasis placed in the following excerpts from the diary of Miss Emma LeConte are mine, intended to highlight certain passages, Miss LeConte was a citizen of Columbia and recorded the entire event:
This is the first sight we have had of these fiends except as prisoners. The sight does not stir up very pleasant feelings in our hearts. We cannot look at them with anything but horror and hatred - loathing and disgust. The troops now in town is a brigade commanded by Col. Stone. Everything is quiet and orderly. Guards have been placed to protect houses, and Sherman has promised not to disturb private property.
How relieved and thankful we feel after all our anxiety and distress! -
Later - Gen. Sherman has assured the Mayor, "that he and all the citizens may sleep securely and quietly tonight as if under Confederate rule. Private property shall be carefully respected. Some public buildings have to be destroyed, but he will wait until tomorrow when the wind shall have entirely subsided". It is said that one or two stragglers from Wheeler's command fired on the flag as it was borne down Main Street on the carriage containing the Mayor, Col. Stone and officers.
Later she would remark:
“Two Corps entered town - Howard's and Logan's - one, the diabolical 15th which Sherman has hitherto never permitted to enter a city on account of their vile and desperate character. Slocum's Corps remained over the river, and I suppose Davis' also. The devils as they marched past looked strong and well clad in dark, dirty-looking blue. The wagon trains were immense. Night drew on. Of course we did not expect to sleep, but we looked forward to a tolerably tranquil night. Strange as it may seem we were actually idiotic enough to believe Sherman would keep his word! - A Yankee - and Sherman! It does seem incredible, such credulity, but I suppose we were so anxious to believe him - the lying fiend! I hope retributive justice will find him out one day.”
Saturday, Feb. 18th:
By the red glare we could watch the wretches walking - generally staggering - back and forth from the camp to the town - shouting - hurrahing - cursing South Carolina - swearing - blashpheming - singing ribald songs and using obscene language that we were forced to go indoors. The fire on Main Street was now raging, and we anxiously watched its progress from the upper front windows. In a little while however the flames broke forth in every direction. The drunken devils roamed about setting fire to every house the flames seemed likely to spare. They were fully equipped for the noble work they had in hand. Each soldier was furnished with combustibles compactly put up. They would enter houses and in the presence of helpless women and children, pour turpentine on the beds and set them on fire. Guards were rarely of any assistance - most generally they assisted in the pillaging and firing. The wretched people rushing from their burning homes were not allowed to keep even the few necessaries they gathered up in their flight - even blankets and food were taken from them and destroyed. The Firemen attempted to use their engines, but the hose was cut to pieces and their lives threatened. The wind blew a fearful gale, wafting the flames from house to house with frightful rapidity. By midnight the whole town (except the outskirts) was wrapped in one huge blaze.
“The College buildings caught all along that dise, and had the incendiary work continued one half hour longer than it did they must have gone. All the physicians and nurses were on the roof trying to save the buildings, and the poor wounded inmates left to themselves, such as could crawled out while those who could not move waited to be burned to death. The Common opposite the gate was crowded with homeless women and children, a few wrapped in blankets and many shivering in the night air. Such a scene as this with the drunken fiendish soldiery in their dark uniforms, infuriated cursing, screaming, exulting in their work, came nearer realizing the material ideal of hell than anything I ever expect to see again. They call themselves "Sherman's Hellhounds".
Mrs. C. who had been to see after her house now returned, and sitting down sobbed convulsively as she told us of the insults she had received from the soldiery engaged in pillaging her home. An officer riding by ordered the men to stop. So broken down and humbled by the terrible experience of the night was she that she cried - out - "O, sir, please make them stop!" You don't know what I suffered this night." - "I don't give a **** for your suffering" he replied, "but my men have no right to pillage against orders."
“Aunt Josie says the northern side of their house became so heated that no one could remain on that side of the house, and it caught fire three times. Being outside the hospital buildings they were more exposed than we. Once a number of Yankees rushed in saying the roof was on fire. Andrew, the negro boy followed them up, saw them tear up the tin roofing and place lighted combustibles, and after they went down he succeeded in extinguishing the flames. A tolerably faithful guard was some protection to them. The view from their attic windows commands the whole town, and Aunt Josie said it was like one surging ocean of flame. She thought with us that it was more like the mediaeval pictures of hell than anything she had ever imagined. We do not know the extent of the destruction, but we are told that the greater portion of the town is in ashes. - Perhaps the loveliest town in all our Southern country. This is civilized warfare! This is the way in which the "cultured" Yankee nation wars upon women and children! Failing with our men in the field, this is the way they must conquer! I suppose there was scarcely an able-bodied man, except the hospital physicians, - in the whole twenty thousand people.
It is so easy to burn the homes over the heads of the helpless women and children, and turn them with insults and sneers into the streets. One expects these people to lie and steal, but it does seem such an outrage even upon degraded humanity that those who practise such wanton and useless cruelty should call themselves men. It seems to us even a contamination to look at these devils. Think of the degradation of being conquered and ruled by such a people! It seems to me now as if we would choose extermination.”
“Dr. T. says some of the officers feel very much ashamed of last night's work. Their compunctions must have visited them since daylight. The men openly acknowledged that they received orders to burn and plunder before they crossed the river. The drunken scoundrels who tried to force their way into the Campus this morning have been under guard at the gate - several hundred of them - fighting and quarrelling among themselves, for sever hours.”
“The Yankees plunder the negroes as well as the whites, and I think they are becoming somewhat disgusted with their friends. Although the servants seem quite willing, it is difficult to get any work out of them on account of the wild excitement. Ah, the dreadful excitement - I seem to stand it very well, but it seems to me we must all be ill when it is over. Anxiety, distress, want of rest and food must tell upon us. Mrs. Wilson (Mr. Shand's daughter) with a babe one week old was moved last night from her father's burning house. The Burroughs escaped with only the clothing they wore. Many, many fared similarly. Some tried to save a little food - even this was torn from their hands. I have heard a number of distressing incidents but have not time to write them down. O, the sorrow and misery of this unhappy town! From what I can hear their chief aim, while taunting helpless women, has been to "humble their pride" - "Southern pride". "Where now", they would say "is all your pride - see what we have brought you to" - "This is what you get for setting yourselves up as better than other folks". The women acted with quiet dignity and refused to lower themselves by any retort.”
Monday, Feb. 20th:
“Mrs. Bell tells us that Sherman turned loose upon us a brigade that he had never allowed to enter any other city on account of their desperate and villainous character. And yet they talk now of being ashamed of what followed, and try to lay it on the whiskey they found!“
Tuesday 21st:
“O God! When we think of what we have escaped and how almost miraculously we have been saved we should never rise from our knees. There is not a house I believe in Columbia that has not been pillaged - those that the flames spared were entered by brutal soldiery and everything wantonly destroyed. The streets were filled with terrified women and children who were offered every insult and indignity short of personal outrage - they were allowed to save nothing but what clothes they wore, and there is now great suffering for food. It would be impossible to describe or even to conceive the pandemonium and horror. There is no shadow of doubt that the town was burned by Sherman's order. All through Georgia, it is said, he promised his men full license in South Carolina. The signals both for firing and ceasing were given - the soldiers were provided with the materials for the work - and yet I hear that he already denies it and tries to put the responsibility on Gen. Hampton. At one time Friday night, when Aunt Josie's house and other buildings were taking fire, the College buildings were given up and the poor wounded soldiers who could not be moved resigned themselves to death.
Dr. Carter says it was a touching sight to see the poor fellows trying manfully to nerve themselves to meet their fate. And there was the regiment ostensible sent to extinguish the fire, calmly looking on without raising a finger, and the patriots on the streets themselves applying the torch. The hospital was saved by one Yankee Captain and two men - yet it contained many of their own wounded soldiers. The unfinished granite State house was not blown up because they were short of powder and it is unroofed. All that could be destroyed was ruined by the burning of the work-sheds - fine carving, capitals, columns, ornamental work etc., I can hardly help feeling that our total exemption from insult and plunder was due in some way to the influence of the strange man who called himself Davis and promised us protection. Why in many houses the very guards stationed to protect helped the soldiers in smashing and destroying. It is sickening to listen to the tale of distress, much more to try to write of it. A heavy curse has fallen on this town - from a beautiful bustling city it is turned into a desert.”
__________________ "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names".--J.F.K.
The War Between the States established... This principle that the Federal Government is, through its courts, this final judge of its own powers.
-- Woodrow Wilson
The standard work on the burning of Columbia is Marion B. Lucas' Sherman and the Burning of Columbia.
"Confederate policy, however, was that as the Union army advanced into the South, the stored cotton was to be burned; with Sherman in central South Carolina the authorities knew what had to be done. Consequently, on February 14, Beauregard, through General Hampton, ordered the post commander to move both Confederate and privately owned cotton outside the city to be burned. Unfortunately, the lack of transportation made it impossible for Major Green to carry out this order, so he decided to roll the bales into the streets, with the idea of burning the cotton there. The next day, February 15, the order to burn the cotton was published in the Columbia newspapers. During the fifteenth and sixteenth most of the cotton was moved into the streets." [Marion B. Lucas, Sherman and the Burning of Columbia, pp. 64-65]
So up to the 16th, the order was to burn the cotton.
In compliance with this order hundreds of bales of cotton were moved into the streets by the confederates themselves. They moved the cotton out of storage and into the streets.
"At about eight o'clock on the night of February 16 Wade Hampton learned that he had been promoted to Lieutenant General and placed in command of the cavalry operating in South Carolina. Shortly thereafter, when he met with Beauregard to discuss Columbia's evacuation, Hampton urged that the cotton not be burned because it would endanger the city. Beauregard was apparently of a similar opinion but, for reasons never explained, delayed a final decision until the next morning. Early on the seventeenth, upon assuming his command, Hampton once again discussed with Beauregard the problems involved in firing the cotton placed in the streets. The South Carolinian reiterated his position that the cotton should not be burned because the stiff wind blowing out of the northwest would spread the flames and destroy the entire town. Hampton argued further that Sherman obviously could not take the cotton with him and perhaps it might be spared the Federal torch. Beauregard concurred.
"Hampton's order not to burn the cotton, issued at approximately seven o'clock in the morning, was the first he gave on February 17 after assuming command." [Ibid., pp. 66-67]
So the decision not to burn the cotton wasn't made until the morning of the 17th, with Hampton's order not going out until 0700, 17 Feb. The late time of the order is very significant:
"The order could not be issued through the post commander, Major Allen J. Green, under whose authority it [the original order to burn the cotton] was originally published, since he had fled the city the previous morning. The matter was further complicated by the fact that the order could not be published in the newspapers, and with the confusion that existed in Columbia it was going to be exceedingly difficult--if not impossible--to see that every soldier became aware of the new order. Finally, Hampton did not post guards over the cotton during the evacuation either on the night of the sixteenth or the morning of the seventeenth." [Ibid., p. 67]
So Hampton did order the cotton to not be burned, but there was no way to transmit that order because he issued the order only three and a half hours prior to the Union forces entering the city, and it was too little and too late because the burning had already started.
"During the night of February 16-17, as the Confederate army withdrew, there was a complete breakdown in discipline. Straggling soldiers and town rabble created the 'wildest terror' as they plundered warehouses and stripped depots. In the midst of the chaos several fires broke out. 'The city was illuminated with burning cotton,' a Confederate officer wrote, describing the situation at three o'clock on the morning of February 17. Just how extensive these fires were is difficult to estimate, but at least two separate blazes can be located. One pile of cotton was seen burning that
night on Blanding Street between Richardson and Sidney Park, and another fire was observed in the more than two thousand bales used for breastworks near the South Carolina Railroad depot." [Ibid., p. 68]
As Lucas writes, "The conclusion is inescapable that cotton was burning on the
morning of February 17, 1865." [Ibid., p. 69]
As Bell Wiley writes in his introduction to Lucas' text, "Professor Lucas concludes that the burning of the city resulted from a series of fires, beginning with cotton ignited by Southerners as they were leaving Columbia. The fire smoldered in the huge piles of cotton bales that had accumulated in 'Cotton Town' on Richardson Street, thus converting that portion of the city into a firetrap. City firemen, with the help of the vanguard of Federal invaders, tried hard to bring the initial conflagration under control, but a brisk and persistent wind rekindled the flames, and new fires were started
by resident hoodlums released from prison, by blacks celebrating their new-found freedom, and by poorly disciplined Union soldiers. Many of the incendiaries were intoxicated on liquor dispensed by well-meaning citizens of the city or seized in raids on grogshops and distilleries. Burning cotton and shingles borne through the air by the wind spread the flames rapidly until about three o'clock in the morning of February 18, when a belated roundup of drunks by the Federal provost marshal and the abatement
of the wind enabled firemen, soldiers, and local civilians to get the situation under control." [Ibid., p. 12]
So the burning of Columbia was caused by rowdies, most of them southerners, and kept alive by the wind. Federal soldiers actually helped bring the fire under control and prevent further damage.
More evidence:
"Sherman and Howard led the way into the city after the mayor surrendered it, the streets littered with broken furniture and other household items left there by pillaging Confederate soldiers and civilians. The railroad depot and a large storage building had been burned to the ground. Bales of cotton piled in the middle of many streets had been torn open, and lint was flying around, catching in trees and bushes. The scene reminded Sherman of a 'northern snow-storm.' The first Union troops into the city turned to trying to extinguish fires in a number of the cotton bales. So many were burning, in fact, that Cump had to ride his horse along the sidewalk to avoid them."
[John F. Marszalek, Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order, pp. 322-323]
"An American and British commission established under the 1870 Treaty of Washington absolved Sherman's army of responsibility, but Confederate sympathizers were not convinced. Southern publications like Confederate Veteran regularly accused Sherman of incinerating Columbia." [Ibid., p. 325]
"It seems clear now that neither Sherman nor anyone else was solely responsible for the fire. It was an accident of war. Hampton and his soldiers set fire to the cotton bales that fueled the fire, but it was released Southern civil prisoners, former slaves, and some Union soldiers, many of these groups intoxicated by the liquor provided by town's people or stolen from storage areas, who set other fires. The Union high command worked valiantly to extinguish the blazes, but the high winds made their
task impossible. 'The principal demons in the drama were cotton, whisky, and wind,' a later historian surmised. Sherman phrased it more bluntly in later years, refusing to accept the blame for the Columbia fire. 'Had I intended to burn Columbia,' he said in 1881, 'I would have done it just as I would have done any act of war, and there would have been no concealment about it.' " [Ibid., p. 325]
"Before the Fifteenth Corps left Columbia on February 20, Sherman had it destroy several foundries, the state arsenal jammed with weapons, and a factory that printed Confederate money." [Ibid., p. 325]
"One word about Columbia. It was not burned by orders, but expressly against orders and in spite of the utmost effort on our part to save it. Everything seemed to conspire for its destruction. The streets were full of loose cotton, brought out and set on fire by the rebels before they left,--I saw it when we rode into town. A gale of wind was blowing all that day and that night, and the branches of the trees were white with cotton tufts blown about everywhere. The citizens themselves--like idiots, madmen,--brought out large quantities of liquor as soon as our troops entered and distributed it freely among them, even to the guards which Gen. Howard had immediately placed all over the city as soon as we came in. This fact is unquestionable, and was one chief cause of what followed." [Henry Hitchcock, Marching With Sherman: Passages from the Letters and Campaign Diaries of Henry Hitchcock, pp. 268-269]
"My mechanics came up with their personal effects, and we found a car (freight) filled with some Treasury employés and their baggage. These we turned out by force, put aboard the ammunition (no easy task), and by dint of threats succeeded in getting the car switched on the train then about to start. In the meantime the city was in the wildest terror. The army had been withdrawn (3 a.m.), the straggling cavalry and rabble were stripping the warehouses and railroad depots, and the city was illuminated with burning cotton." [Maj. N. R. Chambliss, CSA; O.R. Series I, Vol LIII, p. 1050]
Major Chambliss is not a Yankee source. He was a confederate quartermaster who told us that at 0300 on the 17th, "The city was illuminated with burning cotton." This is almost 8 hours before the first Union soldiers entered the city.
"In the confusion of the evacuation and occupation of Columbia, the city endured a series of fires, the first of which occurred during the early hours of the morning of February 16 when the Congaree River bridge was burned against Beauregard's orders. That action can with little doubt be attributed to a diligent soldier who was uninformed of Beauregard's intent or to a straggler bent upon delaying the enemy. The next fires, of unaccountable origin, were those of the burning cotton which Major Chambliss reported were illuminating Columbia at three o'clock on the morning of February 17. That same morning before daylight there was the enormous explosion at the South Carolina Railroad station, generally attributed to the recklessness of greedy plunderers carrying torches; when the Federal army entered the capital, the terminal was still smoldering. Also burning when the Federal troops entered the city was the Charlotte Railroad station, which Beauregard had ordered Hampton to burn as he withdrew his last forces. There was one other fire in Columbia when the Union army entered, the fire in the cotton on Richardson Street. When Sherman arrived at the town hall about noon, two of Columbia's volunteer fire companies, the Independent commanded by John McKenzie and the Palmetto of William B. Stanley, aided by several of Stone's men, were working to extinguish the fire in the 100 to 200 cotton bales in the area." [Marion B. Lucas, Sherman and the Burning of Columbia, pp. 90-91]
There were indeed fires set by drunken U.S. soldiers which contributed to the destruction of the city. These were not by order of anyone and instead were criminal acts perpetrated by drunken soldiers who had received the liquor from the townspeople of Columbia themselves.
"When the Union soldiers of Colonel Stone's brigades entered the city, they were at once supplied by citizens and negroes with large quantities of intoxicating liquor, brought to them in tin cups, bottles, demijohns, and buckets. Many had been without supper, and all of them without sleep, the night before, and none had eaten breakfast that morning. They were soon drunk, excited, and unmanageable." [James Ford Rhodes, "Who Burned Columbia?" American Historical Review, Vol VII, No. 3, April, 1902, p. 491]
After the war a mixed American-British commission was empanelled to adjudicate claims of damage. They studied the Columbia case and heard from witnesses. They "disallowed all the claims, 'all the commissioners agreeing.' While they were not called upon to deliver a formal opinion in the case, the American agent was advised 'that the commissioners were unanimous in the conclusion that the conflagration which destroyed Columbia was not to be ascribed to either the intention nor default of either the Federal or Confederate officers.' " [Ibid., p. 490]
As the best evidence tells us, the destruction of Columbia was a tragic accident. Retreating confederates set cotton on fire, and the burning embers were carried by the wind. Some cotton bales continued to smolder during the day, and the high winds whipped them into a blaze as well that evening, spreading more embers around. Some Union soldiers, drunk on the liquor provided them by well-meaning but mistaken civilians, set fires themselves, but the record shows that more Union soldiers tried to stop the fires but were unable to do so.
I am a big Sherman fan, he knew what war was about; and in general, I think he was entirely correct in bringing the war to the sources which supported the rebellion.
However, I do believe that I read somewhere that he later recanted his accusations about Ben Wade being responsible for those fires. Not that he said it wasn't the doings of the rebels, but he took back that Wade was personally responsible.
Comments?
__________________ -
"It was a very peculiar time." - Franklin D. Cossitt
Ancestors in USA Army: 6th IA Inf, 11th IL Cav, 1st AL Cav; 122nd NY Inf; 6th MI Cav; 35th MA Inf; 100th IL Inf; 1st CO Inf/Cav; 22nd IN Inf
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]. I was taking you at your word and didn't really need an actual estimate.
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