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On February 17, 1865, the soldiers from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake.
Sherman is most famous for his March to the Sea in the closing months of 1864. After capturing 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 railroads, burned warehouses, and ruined plantations along the way. This was a calculated effort–Sherman thought that the war would end more quickly if civilians of the South felt some destruction personally, a view supported by General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Union forces, and President Abraham Lincoln.
After spending a month in Savannah, Sherman headed north to tear the Confederacy into smaller pieces. The Yankee soldiers took particular delight in carrying the war to South Carolina, the symbol of the rebellion. It was the first state to secede and the site of Fort Sumter, where South Carolinians fired on the Federal garrison to start the war in April 1861. When Confederate General Wade Hampton’s cavalry evacuated Columbia, the capital was open to Sherman’s men.
Many of the Yankees got drunk before starting the rampage. Union 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. He 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.”
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.
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sigh. One man with a modern sniper rifle could have changed so much history.
He must be a drunk, because you can’t count on him to show up when needed.
Funny story.
Every year my wife and I spend a week on Hilton Head Island. we both like country roads and always cut the corner to avoid the 20 mile strip of 30 mph strip malls.
we have passed the same signs for 20 plus years. They include:
The south shall rise again
Sherman was a war criminal.
We want our property back.
The last one was sponsered by the Knights…….
Since I was a kid, I’ve seen that are from Hilton head to Charleston slowly turn into an overpopulated, urban shithole of vinyl clad tract shacks, strip malls and fast food joints. Gone is the Southern charm and cultural hospitality. It’s a shame , but the south never will rise again…
Invaded twice.
Beaufort isn’t quite ruined…yet. We have a mini-farm out on Coosaw Island. Hilton Hell is just that.
I love Beaufort. We were just there for the 1st time a few weeks ago. It was a short visit as we passed through. We walked the streets marveling at old houses and architecture instead of looking for tourist things. It also probably helped we were there offseason.
We also visited Charleston expecting the same. Sorry, didn’t like it at all and will never go back.
We stayed overnight at Hardeeville and drove west from there. We saw and appreciated many things along the way.
We love Beaufort too, thanks! But also have a condo in “Chucktown”. It’s become way too “touronic”. And, the Southeastern Wildlfe Exposition (SEWE) is this weekend – downtown is a zoo.
But nothing is as BAD as Myrtle Beach.
Anybody else ever notice how in the 60’s and 70’s the Confederates were the anti-heroes in all the TV and Movies? They were the folks who were ripped off by “the Man?” Now the left wants to tear their statues down and pretend they didn’t exist. I suppose the average dunce today has no idea Democrats had to be endorsed by the KKK to have a chance to win all the way up to the 1950’s.
For you cotton buying yankees, “The Robert E. Lee” (from the song video above) was a grand old paddle steamer. The Johnny Cash album version has soul also.
My ancient great-grandmother in late ’60s Richmond, VA never let me forget that State’s rights had been traded for “civil” rights. I was too young to fully understand the implications. Shameful apologies that we descendants let your Boulevard get vandalized by the worst sorts.
R.I.P. Millicent. We will do better this next time. We don’t have a choice.
The War of Northern Aggression……..when you realize that even if 10% of the population owned slaves,the North didn’t make war against them…. they made war against an AREA,and ANYBODY within that AREA……hmmmm,the “reason”must be a lie….lol,you mean they cared more for the blacks then?????or now???…..please…more like NEVER gave a rats ass!
It was an economic war for resources,labor and territory!
DC’s first hegemonic foray of conquest,which continues to this day,half a world away……why?they got away with it……..
They keep getting away with it…….
In his autobiography, US Grant says the Mexican War was a bad idea to begin with and that the relative ease of the conquest made fools, north and south think a big war was no big deal. In other words, they got away with this war so they just glided into the Civil War expecting nothing like what they got.
If the South had a Sherman instead of a Lee , the CSA would exist today.
Memoirs
by Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Q. State whnt actual hostilities occurred near Columbia immediately be-
fore its occupation, if any.
A. We had very heavy resistance on the other side in the vicinity of
Congaree Creek, and all the way along; we had also very heavy resistance
in crossing the Broad— the last river — the enemy’s troops being posted in a
very covered position ; we hardly could reach them ; they annoyed our
troops and killed many ; then we had our sleeping-camp shelled during the
preceding night — the night of the 15th, if I remember correctly — from the
Columbia side, from a battery in the vicinity of Columbia; it excited the
hostile feeling of the ofiicers and soldiers very much indeed ; they thought
it was contrary to the rules of war. After we crossed the river there was
scarcely any resistance ; I think there was none in the immediate vicinity
of Columbia after the mayor met us.
Q. Do you know where those drunken soldiers obtained their liquor?
A. I know they obtained it in Columbia.
Mr. Walker : I would like the witness to state how he knew this;
whether it is hearsay, or what.
The witness. It was not hears;Ty; I know the troops obtained it in
Columbia ; I know they had not any until they went into the city ; I have
testimony — for I investigated very thoroughly — that citizens carried pails
of whiskey along the ranks, and that the men of the leading brigade of
Colonel Stone drank with dippers out of pails.
https://archive.org/details/memoirs02sher
Had Stonewall Jackson not been killed by his own troops things may have been much different. Lee would not have gone into PA with massive losses. Maybe, just maybe, the border between two nations would have been at PA/MD.
Regardless, Sherman was a war criminal and did to the south what was repeated many times against the Indians.
Don’t forget the War Criminal Phil “The Only Good Indian Is A Dead Indian” Sheridan.