"The conduct of Sherman's army and particularly of Kilpatrick's cavalry and the numerous parties swarming through the country in advance and on the flanks of the main columns during the march from Atlanta to the coast, is reprehensible in the extreme ... the Federals on every hand and at all points indulged in unwanton pillage, wasting and destroying what could not be used. Defenseless women and children and weak old men were not infrequently driven from their homes, their dwellings fired, and these noncombatants subjected to insult and privation. The inhabitants, white and black, were often robbed of their personal effects, were intimidated by threats — and occasionally were even hanged to the verge of strangulation to compel revelation of the places where money, plate and jewelry were buried, or plantation animals concealed, — horses, mules, cattle and hogs were either driven off, or were shot in the fields, or uselessly butchered in the pens." Today, it is not hard to find Georgians who have ugly family stories to tell from the days of Sherman's March, and still hold hard feelings.
Source:
http://sherpaguides.com/georgia/civil_w ... erman.html
That's taking it too far and is fairly disgusting. I don't think it was necessary to do that.
However, I don't think that was what Sherman intended, at least at first...
The March Begins
In preparing for the long march before him, Sherman left behind all disabled or weak men, and made up a fine army of 60,000 seasoned veterans, of whom 5,000 were cavalry. The army was to feed itself on the country. Each brigade had a party of foragers, called "bummers." These men were instructed to take all necessary provisions, horses and mules, but were ordered not to enter dwellings, nor insult the people, and were told to leave a part of their property to every family, so that none would be destitute. Where the army was not opposed, Sherman ordered that mills, cotton gins and houses should not be destroyed; but they were to be burned, if resistance were made. All these orders were very badly obeyed, no effort seemingly having been made to enforce the instructions.
However, he didn't make an effort to enforce them....soo....
Also, here, it says that he later set out only to cause sheer destruction in Georgia:
Sherman's Conduct in Georgia
No other campaign in the entire war has contributed more to keeping alive sectional feeling than Sherman's march through Georgia and South Carolina. The march began in November, after the crops had been gathered. The "bummers" found the barns bursting with grain, fodder, and peas, the outhouses full of cotton, the yards crowded with hogs, chickens, and turkeys. The soldiers in the Southern armies were starving, not because there was no food, but because the rail roads had been destroyed and it was impossible to send supplies to the front. Sherman was not content simply to use what food and supplies he needed, but boasted that he would "smash things to the sea" and make Georgia howl. His men entered dwellings, taking everything of value that could be moved, such as silver plate and jewelry; and killed and left dead in the pens thousands of hogs, sheep and poultry. Many dwellings were burned without any justification. Sherman in his own Memoirs testifies to the conduct of his men, estimating that he had destroyed $80,000,0000 worth of property of which he could make no use. This he describes as "simple waste and destruction." One of the most serious aspects of his work was the destruction of the railroads; the Central from Macon to Savannah, for instance, was almost totally ruined. According to Angle and Miers (1960), Sherman had no black soldiers in his army and did not think highly of them.
Source:
http://sciway3.net/clark/civilwar/march.html
However, another site gives a fairly different take on it:
After stating "I can make Georgia howl!", on November 15, 1864 General Sherman set out for the sea. His 62,000 troops moved slowly covering a front sixty miles wide. His soldiers had orders to destroy anything and everything that might help the Rebels.
They tore down and burned bridges, railroads, machine shops, warehouses and barns. Food for men and animals was taken as needed, but most was simply destroyed. In areas where the army was not resisted, private residences, farm buildings and mills were sometimes spared.
Each of the regiments organized foraging parties, which kept near enough to be of support if attacked by an Confederates. Each party set out in the morning and returned at the end of the day. These parties were prohibited from entering homes or damaging private property. In the best disciplined divisions, these orders were enforced.
Discipline in the Union armies, however, was not even. Among 62,000 men, there were those willing to become robbers, and officers were often willing to ignore these actions or to share in the loot. The name given to these looters was "bummers". General Sherman probably could have controlled them, but he said his job was to get his army safely to the sea. He could not spare the manpower or energy to protect the people of Georgia.
Source:
http://bizsuite.com/civilwar/march.html
Some intersting excerpts from Sherman's personal memoirs:
The next day we passed through the handsome town of Covington, the soldiers closing up their ranks, the colorbearers unfurling their flags, and the bands striking up patriotic airs. The white people came out of their houses to behold the sight, spite of their deep hatred of the invaders, and the negroes were simply frantic with joy. Whenever they heard my name, they clustered about my horse, shouted and prayed in their peculiar style, which had a natural eloquence that would have moved a stone. I have witnessed hundreds, if not thousands, of such scenes, and can now see a poor girl, in the very ecstasy of the Methodist "shout," hugging the banner of one of the regiments, and jumping up to the "feet of Jesus."
It was at this very plantation that a soldier passed me with a ham on his musket, a jug of sorghum-molasses under his arm, and a big piece of honey in his hand, from which he was eating, and, catching my eye, he remarked sotto voce and carelessly to a comrade, "Forage liberally on the country," quoting from my general orders. On this occasion, as on many others that fell under my personal observation, I reproved the man, explained that foraging must be limited to the regular parties properly detailed, and that all provisions thus obtained must be delivered to the regular commissaries, to be fairly distributed to the men who kept their ranks.
Seems to me that he wanted to gather food to feed the entire army in an organized matter, not just let them randomly loot and steal food for themselves.
We found abundance of corn, molasses, meal, bacon, and sweet potatoes. We also took a good many cows and oxen, and a large number of mules. In all these the country was quite rich, never before having been visited by a hostile army; the recent crop had been excellent, had been just gathered and laid by for the winter. As a rule, we destroyed none, but kept our wagons full, and fed our teams bountifully.
They would usually procure a wagon or family carriage, load it with bacon, corn-meal, turkeys, chickens, ducks, and everything that could be used as food or forage, and would then regain the main road, usually in advance of the train.
The excerpts from the other sites suggest he was either lying or wasn't aware of what his own troops were doing...
Daily they returned mounted on all sorts of beasts, which were at once taken from them and appropriated to the general use; but the next day they would start out again on foot, only to repeat the experience of the day before. No doubt many acts of pillage, robbery, and violence were committed by these parties of foragers, usually called "bummers;" for I have since heard of jewelry taken from women, and the plunder of articles that never reached the commissary; but these acts were exceptional and incidental. I never heard of any cases of murder or rape; and no army could have carried along sufficient food and forage for a march of three hundred miles: so that foraging in some shape was necessary. The country was sparsely settled, with no magistrates or civil authorities who could respond to requisitions, as is done in all the wars of Europe: so that this system of foraging was simply indispensable to our success.
Perhaps some of this is truthful as well?
Source:
I'll learn to dress my links
*All bolded text is my own editing.
Dress long links ~ Stormbringer
