Major General William T. Sherman, commanding the compulsory Union Military Division of the Mississippi, abandons the burned out remnants of Atlanta, Georgia, begining his “March to the Sea,” with the intention of laying waste a 50-mile-wide swath of the State. The purpose of the March is to make war on the civilian population, thus discouraging their support of the Confederate war effort.
NOTES:
- At the forefront of Sherman’s “March to the Sea” were his foragers, a.k.a. “bummers.” The bummers were especially suited to their tasks of pillage, plunder and rape, as many of them had been recruited from New York City jails.
- Sherman used data from the 1860 census, particularly livestock and crop production data to determine which farms would be raided on the march.
[restored 4/16/2022] Thanks to Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.
Subsequent Events:
References:
Calvin D. Linton, ed., The Bicentennial Almanac: 200 Years of America, 1776-1976, (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 1975), 184.
Paul Krugman’s ‘Civil War’ Fantasies by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo204.html
Chronology Of The American Civil War
civilwarhome.com/timeline.htm
Current U.s. National Debt:
