Today is the 150th anniversary of General Sherman’s controversial move to deliver the killing blow to the illegitimate Confederate regime. I’ve heard a couple Confederate apologists over the years in Austin bring up the horrors of Sherman’s forces: theft, arson and rape. Given the nature of total war, I wouldn’t be surprised if Federal soldiers engaged in such immoral acts. The details on how Sherman planned his march are given a rather neutral description here. I could see why he chose to have his army live off the land as they went, defending supply lines from Tennessee through Atlanta would be a nightmare due to the terrain. Plus the guerrilla attacks from Nathan Bedford Forrest (future Klansman and “pardoned” war criminal) diverted manpower from retaining Atlanta.
Anyway, Sherman’s strategy was extreme even by today’s standards but I could relate. For several years the US military had dilly-dallied against the Confederacy as Lincoln couldn’t get a competent head general to win this conflict. The Feds had all the resources, rail lines, communication lines and numbers. Past commanders, namely McClellan kept pulling punches while stoking political aspirations. If the US didn’t deliver a decisive blow, the traitorous Confederates were going to carry out an ongoing guerrilla war hoping they’d win their independence.
It worked in the long run. The US held together but the South remains a land of sore losers, revisionists/apologists (Southern Heritage anyone?), an impedance to progress and poverty regardless of how many jobs they poach.
To the Daughters of the Confederacy and other staunch defenders of Dixie, I say f*** you! We Yankees kicked your ass and we’ll do it again, we know how to play the long game yet you’ll probably kill a billion or more before it’s over thanks to your climate denialism.