- Joined
- Oct 10, 2012
- Location
- Mt. Jackson, Va
Sherman's famous ( or infamous ) March to the Sea took just about a month. He telegraphed Lincoln on Dec. 22: "I beg to present to you as a Christmas-gift the City of Savannah." But did Sherman destroy everything in his path? The answer is No. But as a part of his strategic plan to make war hard on the civilian populace, his march left many feeling that way, even to this day.
Since his 50,000 plus army was without supply lines, it had to literally live off the land. "Forage liberally," he famously ordered - and many troops took that as license to pillage.
One letter home describes the spoils that foragers returned to camp with one night: "Pumpkins, chickens, cabbages" for the evening meal, but also "a looking-glass, an Italian harp ..., a peacock, a rocking chair."
Some destruction was officially sanctioned. Anything that was of use to the Confederacy was a target: cotton gins, barns, factories, even Confederate officials homes were put to the torch. Railroads were torn up and their rails turned into Sherman's Neckties. Uncle Billy even ordered some towns that harbored snipers or guerrillas to be burned. The few battles that did take place along the march were quickly won by the Union juggernaut.
Rumors of the unstoppable destruction spread fearfully among those in Sherman's path. And who knew what that path was? Even Lincoln would say: "We know what hole he went in, but we don't know what hole he'll come out of."
And the hard feelings persist even to the present day.
Historian William Marszalek said he's often approached after talks.
"He burned my great-grandfather's barn," a listener will say.
"Where was that?" Marszalek will ask - and it will be nowhere near Sherman's path.
"He got into people's psyche. That's exactly what he wanted to do. And it's still very much there," Marszalek said.
Along Sherman's route today, a visitor will hear about total ruin - but then see signs beckoning tourists to an "antebellum trail" of unburned plantation houses.
Sherman claimed to have inflicted $100 million worth of damage, but this is only a guess. However, the damage to Southern morale was beyond calculation.
Since his 50,000 plus army was without supply lines, it had to literally live off the land. "Forage liberally," he famously ordered - and many troops took that as license to pillage.
One letter home describes the spoils that foragers returned to camp with one night: "Pumpkins, chickens, cabbages" for the evening meal, but also "a looking-glass, an Italian harp ..., a peacock, a rocking chair."
Some destruction was officially sanctioned. Anything that was of use to the Confederacy was a target: cotton gins, barns, factories, even Confederate officials homes were put to the torch. Railroads were torn up and their rails turned into Sherman's Neckties. Uncle Billy even ordered some towns that harbored snipers or guerrillas to be burned. The few battles that did take place along the march were quickly won by the Union juggernaut.
Rumors of the unstoppable destruction spread fearfully among those in Sherman's path. And who knew what that path was? Even Lincoln would say: "We know what hole he went in, but we don't know what hole he'll come out of."
And the hard feelings persist even to the present day.
Historian William Marszalek said he's often approached after talks.
"He burned my great-grandfather's barn," a listener will say.
"Where was that?" Marszalek will ask - and it will be nowhere near Sherman's path.
"He got into people's psyche. That's exactly what he wanted to do. And it's still very much there," Marszalek said.
Along Sherman's route today, a visitor will hear about total ruin - but then see signs beckoning tourists to an "antebellum trail" of unburned plantation houses.
Sherman claimed to have inflicted $100 million worth of damage, but this is only a guess. However, the damage to Southern morale was beyond calculation.