Drunk and rowdy, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s troops captured South Carolina’s capital on Feb. 17, 1865. It was nearing the end of the Civil War, and Sherman’s plan was to destroy the state where secession began.
“The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina,” Sherman wrote to Gen. Henry W. Halleck. “I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems in store for her.”
Sherman’s 60,000-man army torched Columbia in retaliation for seceding from the Union. The blaze, which he later blamed on a Confederate general he said left cotton bales in the streets, destroyed a third of the city. Sherman’s troops made off with the Confederate armory. They confiscated cannonballs, rammers, sabers and bayonet scabbards. And, on their way out of town, they dumped whatever they couldn’t carry into the Congaree River.
More @ The Washington Post
Maybe someday NYC will burn totally away.
ReplyDeleteI went there with my mother to see my brother who was working in the government's fisheries department. He took me for a short ride on the subway and as we entered he said "This is how pigs live" and he got that right. Took my mother to the Peppermint Lounge. :)
DeleteA wicked, wicked man with mental instabilities.
ReplyDeleteNothing good to say here.
Delete