The Sack Of Athens AL

Via The Battle of Atlanta

A Russian brought turmoil to Athens in 1862. Union Col. John Basil Turchin, born Ivan Vasilovitch Turchinov in 1820 near St. Petersburg, Russia, invaded the town May 2 and told his men, "I see nothing for two hours."

DAILY Photo by John Godbey This historic marker ensures the town will never forget that Union Col. Basil Turchin let his men plunder Athens.

During those two hours, his men raped a black woman, scared a pregnant white woman who miscarried and died, and took or destroyed more than $54,000 in property, including about 200 Bibles, which soldiers trampled.

"Not during the remainder of the war was such wanton destruction of property seen by those men," wrote participant Sgt. George H. Putenney of the 37th Indiana.

A once pro-Union town became an enraged town, forcing Turchin's court-martial and delighting in his death in a mental institution. (Though the Tyrant Lincoln pardoned him after the court martial, true to his Marxist thinking.)