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.
“It was famed for its fine public buildings, its magnificent private residences, with their lovely flower gardens, which savored of Oriental ease and luxury. It is hard to conceive of a city more beautifully situated, or more gorgeously embellished, with splendidly shaded walks and drives, with flowers, shrubberies, and plantations…Most of its stores and public buildings were of brick, while most of the private residences were framed, neatly painted, with piazzas hanging with plants and creepers….unsurpassed in the elegance of their finish, the beauty of their grounds, and the luxury seemed to pervade the place.” David P. Bonyngham (Correspondent for the N.Y. Herald)
It is difficult to imagine the conflagrant hatred of an army whose sole purpose led to the destruction of a State whose only 'crime' was to exercise the right to liberty and self-determination. It is even more difficult to understand that this army unleashed it's terror on the remaining inhabitants of cities such as Columbia, which consisted mostly of women, children, and those too old or sick to fight. The Leiber Code of Conduct did not seem to apply to the citizens of the South.
In remembering South Carolina, I would like to post several quotes and photos from those times.
“We have conquered and occupy the capital of the haughty state that instigated and forced forward the treason, which has brought on this desolating war. The city which was to have been the capital of the Confederacy if Lee and the rebel hosts had been driven from Richmond is now overrun by Northern Soldiers.”—Major George Ward Nichols
“In all of our campaigns, no other city in the South awakened our interest and bad feeling as did this city of Columbia; and now, here it was, with all of its beauty and attractiveness, in full view; but, withal, this was the trouble, there attached to it the bad eminence of having been the first of Southern Capitols to lead off in unleashing the dogs of war…The sacrifice, blood and carnage of four years of war through which we had passed, were due to what first took place here in the city of Columbia. Judging from the temper and feeling of the men in the ranks, it was evident that a terrible day of retribution had at last come to this beleaguered and doomed city.” –Private John C. Arbuckle
“There was a grim determination on the part of the men in the ranks to visit a severe judgment on South Carolina…We practically burned a swath 60 miles wide across…The Commanders were powerless…This destruction of property was a matter of revenge.”Private John C. Arbuckle, Company K, Fourth Iowa Veteran Volunteer Infantry (Experiences of a Foot Soldier Who Marched With Sherman)
“The well known sight of columns of black smoke meets our gaze again; this time houses are burning, and South Carolina has commenced to pay an installment…on her debt to justice and humanity. With the help of God, we will have principal and interest before we leave her borders."Major George Ward Nichols (Story of the Great March, G.W. Nichols)
“I never saw such a crowd and rush, the car windows were smashed in, women and children pushed through, some head foremost, others feet foremost.”—Mary Darby de Treville (South Carolina Women in the Confederacy)
“About 2 to 3 P.M. the soldiers began breaking into the stores and banks…the plunder and destruction of valuable property was beyond description…I was passing the Bank of Charleston and the Commercial Bank of Columbia and found a squad of about fifty soldiers breaking them open and loading themselves with silver to the extent of their ability to carry….Every store in the city was sacked…there was a marked air of absence from all restraint and control.”—James Gibbes (Who Burnt Columbia?)
“The streets were crowded with murdering groups of demons from all the corps in the army.”—David Conyngham
“Such an awful sight! The…street filled with a throng of men, drunken, dancing, shouting, cursing wretches, every one bearing a tin torch or a blazing lightwood knot. The sky so dark a half hour before, was already glowing with light, and flames were rising in every direction.”—Harriott H. Ravenel (S.C. Women in the Confederacy)
Sherman, who had just finished supper at his headquarters, stepped out into the yard, “saw the darkness lit up with the lurid hue of conflagration” and remarked, “They have brought it on themselves.” (Who Burnt Columbia?)
Pillaging continued throughout the city. Women and men, black and white were robbed of their valuables at gun and knife point. Black women were raped. (Who Burnt Columbia?)
Soldiers pulled children about their beds while plunging long knives repeatedly between them into the mattresses looking for hidden treasures. Outside, hundreds of men were “probing the ground with their bayonets or iron ramrods, searching for buried treasures.” (Who Burnt Columbia?)
The streets were now also full of terrified women, children and old men seeking safety in the park, lunatic asylum and other open places to avoid the “devouring fire”. (Experiences of a Foot Soldier Who Marched With Sherman)
“Many wandered about wringing their hands and crying; some sat stolid and speechless in the street watching everything that they had go to destruction.” –Captain S.H.M. Byersm (With Fire and Sword)
“Shrieks, groans, and cries of distress resounded from every side. Men, women, and children, some half naked, as they rushed from their beds, were running frantically about.”—David Conyngham
“It was a most fearful night…The illumination was more brilliant than I am able to describe…Not only the glare of the flames, but the millions of sparks and cinders that filled the air all helped to make an illumination that far surpassed the brightness of day….The storm of fire…raged with unabated fury.”—James Gibbes (Who Burnt Columbia?)
At about 11 p.m., the students and most of the nuns at the Ursuline Convent fled to a nearby church. “We marched through the blazing streets with the precision of a military band….Father O’Connell led the procession, a crucifix held high above his head. The main body of nuns followed…then the pupils, the smaller between the larger for protection. Not a cry; not a moan. Even the drunken soldiers seemed silenced for a little while by this grand sight of Church triumphing over War! The roaring of the fire, the scorching flames on either side as we marched down Blanding Street…”—Sara Aldrich Richardson (S.C. Women in the Confederacy)
The guards assigned to the Ursuline Convent began their own rampage of the building forcing the remaining nuns to leave. “Fire was falling so thick that it burned the veils and dresses of the nuns on their way to join their sisters in the graveyard” of the church nearby. (S.C. Women in the Confederacy)
"The 18thof February dawned upon a city of ruins…Nothing remained but the tall, spectre-looking chimneys. The noble-looking trees that shaded the streets, the flower gardens that graced them, were blasted and withered by fire. The streets were full of rubbish, broken furniture and groups of crouching, desponding, weeping, helpless women and children….That long street of rich stores, the fine hotels, the court-houses, the extensive convent buldings, and last the old capitol, where the order of secession was passed…were all in one heap of unsightly ruins and rubbish.” –David Conyngham
“Around the charred ruin of their homes were grouped whole families, mourning and weeping over the terrible desolation. Who could see it and not feel that Justice had been avenged in this great curse on the city.”—Captain S.H.M. Byers (What I Saw in Dixie)
“I have never doubted that Columbia was deliberately set on fire in more than a hundred places.”—General William B. Hazen (A Narrative of Military Service)
Leaving with Sherman were thousands of refugees. “Old men, women and children, blacks and whites, rich and poor, on foot, with packs of everyconceivable kind.” (Story of a Foot Soldier Who Marched With Sherman)
“In the parks and other vacant places were gathered multitudes of the destitute and homeless. Truly it was a scene of appalling distress and suffering…As our columns went by, the people gave vigorous expression to their desire for revenge, hissed and hooted, called us vile names, swore at us, spit upon us, not a few of the women undertook to lay violent hands upon us. While we could not seriously blame them for their abusive words and acts, being mainly innocent sufferers; nevertheless, here was the spot where they had sown the wind, and now at last had come the whirlwind.” Private John C. Arbuckle (Experiences of a Foot Soldier Who Marched With Sherman)
“Columbia will have bitter cause to remember the visit of Sherman’s army. Even if peace and prosperity soon return to the land, not in this generation nor the next—no, not for a century—can this city or the state recover from the deadly blow which has taken its life. It is not alone in the property that has been destroyed…that the most blasting, withering blow has fallen. It is in the crushing downfall of their inordinate vanity, their arrogant pride, that the rebels will feel the effects of the visit of our army.”Major George Ward Nichols (Story of the Great March)
Thousands of words have been written about the destruction of South Carolina. And they alone can wring tears from any Southerner. But pictures speak more than a thousand words.
Let anyone who has seen these pictures try to say how grand and noble Sherman's March to the Sea was. Pictures don't lie.
The Civil Rights Movement will be remembered forever because it is kept at the forefront of the news daily, yet somehow Southerners are supposed to forget our ancestors who lived through such a fiery hell as the destruction of South Carolina.
Never.
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
Thousands of words have been written about the destruction of South Carolina. And they alone can wring tears from any Southerner. But pictures speak more than a thousand words.
Let anyone who has seen these pictures try to say how grand and noble Sherman's March to the Sea was. Pictures don't lie.
The Civil Rights Movement will be remembered forever because it is kept at the forefront of the news daily, yet somehow Southerners are supposed to forget our ancestors who lived through such a fiery hell as the destruction of South Carolina.
Never.
Wars are terrible things. And if you don't want to feel the effects of war, then don't start them.
I'm starting to feel sorry for some of the Northern view to have you representing them.
Regards,
Well, Ashley, I'd have to ask for a substantive response rather than a personal attack. Do you disagree that wars are terrible things? Do you disagree that if you don't want to feel the effects of a war you shouldn't start one?
Cash,
I just don't understand why a man as intelligent as yourself has to say things like you said.Does it make you feel better to insult the South? I really don't get it.I'm immature ,but that comment was like saying I know you are but what am I?I truly believe and hope that you are a better person than sometimes comes across when you post.
Rest assured that I agree that wars are terrible things.I do agree that if you don't want to feel the effects of a war you shouldn't start them.But you and I both know that I'll never see how Lincoln sending an army to subjugate the South is the South's fault.If you didn't know history you could claim Fort Sumpter.But alas, you know that it is perfectly reasonable to assume Lincoln provoked that attack.I don't like Abe as you know ,but the man was certainly no dummy.
Cash,
I just don't understand why a man as intelligent as yourself has to say things like you said.Does it make you feel better to insult the South?
What insult, Ashley?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MobileBoy
Rest assured that I agree that wars are terrible things.I do agree that if you don't want to feel the effects of a war you shouldn't start them.
Okay, we have agreement there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MobileBoy
But you and I both know that I'll never see how Lincoln sending an army to subjugate the South is the South's fault.If you didn't know history you could claim Fort Sumpter.But alas, you know that it is perfectly reasonable to assume Lincoln provoked that attack.I don't like Abe as you know ,but the man was certainly no dummy.
Have a good one.
I know history, and it was the confederates who fired on Fort Sumter in an unprovoked attack.
I agree with you that Lincoln was no dummy, but you seem to be claiming Jefferson Davis was a dummy. I don't think he was a dummy either. I think he was a bold strategist who made a clear-eyed decision to start a war in order to unite his people and bring the upper south into the confederacy. Had he gotten all seven upper south states instead of just four, the problem for the Federals would have been too great and he would have succeeded. He took an educated gamble and came up just a bit short.
"Many people are unprepared to agree that destruction of the South was the real objective of the North, but certainly that conclusion fits all the facts. The South was indeed destroyed, many of her finest lives cut off in their prime, her most influential families impoverished and scattered, much of her most valuable property burned, her storehouses emptied, horses, mules, farm stock slaughtered or confiscated, her slaves freed, farms laid wasted, her currency rendered worthless, her citizens disenfranchised, her courts, laws, and all her government functions displaced by an alien and arbitrary military despotism. Destruction could hardly have been more complete, more deliberately systematic, more thoroughly planned. Annihilation of the white South was the declared objective of the Stevens-Sumner political group that controlled the government during and after the war. Where was any room for preservation? What efforts were ever made to preserve any part of what had been." (War for What?, Francis W. Springer, Nippert Publishing,1997,p.215)
Reading these words, now go back and look at the pictures that Dawna has presented. They tell the tale of South Carolina, but this took place all over the South. War is one thing, but vindictive vengeance is quite another. I see no honor for the North in these pictures. They just fill me with an unbearable sadness, not just for all those lives lost, but for the beauty and majesty of the buildings and the homes; now think of the libraries! What historian doesn't wince at the loss of all those first editions........
There should have been officers who controlled their men from such wanton destruction. But they did nothing to stop it, because they wanted vengeance just as much as the soldiers. What manner of men were these? General Lee never understood it. Nor do I.
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
"Many people are unprepared to agree that destruction of the South was the real objective of the North," (War for What?, Francis W. Springer, Nippert Publishing,1997,p.215)
Primarily because Mr. Springer's thesis is hogwash.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thea_447
Reading these words, now go back and look at the pictures that Dawna has presented. They tell the tale of South Carolina, but this took place all over the South. War is one thing, but vindictive vengeance is quite another. I see no honor for the North in these pictures. They just fill me with an unbearable sadness, not just for all those lives lost, but for the beauty and majesty of the buildings and the homes; now think of the libraries! What historian doesn't wince at the loss of all those first editions........
Wars are terrible things. If you don't want to suffer what comes with war, then don't start one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thea_447
There should have been officers who controlled their men from such wanton destruction. But they did nothing to stop it, because they wanted vengeance just as much as the soldiers. What manner of men were these? General Lee never understood it. Nor do I.
General Lee certainly understood kidnapping free black citizens off the streets in Pennsylvania and sending them south in chains to be slaves, though.
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The Avengement of South Carolina 
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