Weak, 4CJ. Very weak. You claim he was hung without any sort of qualifier, and that implies executed. So was he executed? Did he live? Did it even happen at all?
Hundreds of thousands of homes and farms were leveled, entire cities were destroyed, thousands of women were raped, property stolen, numerous slaves murdered, civilian livestock slaughtered for no reason, the women & children of Roswell enslaved and sent north, nunneries and churches looted and destroyed, and entire populations were left to starve to death or to freeze.
Hundreds of thousands? In your day job do you do crowd estimates for the government for things like the Million Man March?
They call Sherman a war criminal, then admit that he wouldn't even execute one person, if this event happened at all.
Nonsense. Hung - 'To fasten from above with no support from below; suspend'. Hanged - 'To execute by suspending by the neck'. The justice was hung by the neck - not killed.
Hundreds of thousands? In your day job do you do crowd estimates for the government for things like the Million Man March?
Excuse me. I forget that we live in the backward south massa. Surely in 1860-1865 there were only a few homes in Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi etc. Forgive me of having the audacity of not worshiping the actions of Sherman [*spit*] for destroying our property, taking their jewelry, gold and silverware, for raping the women, killing their livestock, burning their home and barns, and then leaving them to starve. Thank you for reminding me of just how grateful we should be.
I used the same phrasing the author did.
A cyclone of popular indignation was raised against Gen. Sherman as he led his army through Georgia, and there were no "Union men" left in his track.Besides the gentleman who was choked in Milledgeville, other old men--non-combatants who had nothing to do with the war, further than to indulge in that sympathy which nature prompted--were seized and brutally tortured to compel them to deliver up treasure which they were supposed to possess. Judge Hiram Warner was hung until life was nearly extinct. It was suspected that he had money, and this was what these "truly loyal" "Union Restorers" were most eager to secure. A girl eighteen years of age was stripped and beaten to force her to tell where her uncle, who was also her guardian, had concealed her money and his own. It is recorded with pride that this tenderly reared Georgia girl endured the torture, but never divulged the secret! Weak old men and defenseless women and children were in some instances driven from their homes, their dwellings fired, and these non-combatants subjected to insults and privations. For years the landscape in Sherman's track was disfigured with lone chimneys, which were called "Sherman's Sentinels".
Frances Letcher Mitchell, Georgia Land and People, Atlanta, Ga.: The Franklin Printing & Publishing Co. (1900) , p. 365.
Sir:
You will proceed to the residences of the persons herein named and deal with them in accordance with the following instructions:
In all cases where the residences of the persons are ordered to be destroyed, you will observe the following previous to setting them on fire:
You will first search their houses and premises to see if they have any articles belonging to the U.S Gov. or that are contraband of War, which you will bring away in
case any are found; also all or any of the folllowing articles that may be found belonging to the aforesaid Persons.
First: All Horses, Hogs, Sheep, Cattle, and any other animals or articles of whatever description that may be valuable to the U.S. Gov. especially those that are
valuable to the Quartermaster, Comisary, and Hospital Departments.
Second: All stoves and stove pipes of whatever description and all Kitchen utensils, Queens ware, beds, bedding, knives, forks etc; also chairs, sofas, sociables,
lounges, and everything of the charecter of househotel furniture.
Third: All window sash and glass, looking glasses, carpets etc.
Fourth: Every article of househotel furniture which you do not bring with you must be destroyed or burned with the house.
Fifth: All barns, stables, smoke houses, or any other out houses of any description whatsoever or any buildings or articles that could probably be of use or benefit as
comfort to Rebels or Bushwhackers, their friends or any person siding abetting or sympathising with Rebels Bushwackers etc or which could be used for subsistance for man or beast will be destroyed or burned.
Sixth: All animals, forage or other articles of value brought in by you will be turned over to Lieut. J. W. Raymond A.A.L.M this stuff to be subject to the order of
Major Genl. Milroy to be disposed of as he may think proper; taking a receipt therefor from Lieut Raymond.
Seventh: The Train acompanying will be subject to your orders together with all the persons connected with it whether soldiers or citizens and you will cause any of
them, who may be guilty of committing depredations upon legal citizens or their Protperty to be arrested and you will not yourself or suffer those under your
command to commit any trespass or do any damage to persons or property except those specified in this order.
Eighth: You will burn the houses of the following named persons, take any of the articles named above that they may have, together with all forage and grains
belonging to them that you can bring away which may be useful to the U.S. Gov. for military purposes or otherwise and will give no receipts of any kind whatever.
Names Dist Residences
1. Joseph How 1/2 mile South of Hillsboro one mile west of the Hillsboro and Winchester road.
2. Shadrack McBride 11 On the Pelham & Hillsboro road.
3. Thomas L. Gunn 11 2 miles South of Hillsboro on Bean's Creek
4. Washington Riley Hillsboro
5. Pleasant Nevill 12 On the Pelham & Tullahoma road on Bean's Creek; (crossed out: Some neighborhood as the above named)
6. L. B. Austell 12 Same neighborhood as the above named.
7. John W. Jones 3 miles South West of Hillsboro and one mile West of the Hillsboro and Winchester road.
Ninth: The following persons will be shot in addition to suffering in the manner prescribed in Paragraph Eighth.
Names Dist Residences
Coffee Co.
1. Leroy Moore At Heffers mill on Bradley Creek
Franklin Co.
2. Thomas Sanders 8 On Elk River
3. William Sanders 8 Same neighborhood as the above. Search this house for arms before shooting him
4. Louis Anderson 8 Same neighborhood as the above
By Command of Maj. Genl. Milroy
Thos. Worthington
Lieut. 106 O of I & A.D.C.
SOURCE: National Archives of the United States, Record Group 94, Union Provost Marshall (emphasis added)
Headquarters
Tullahoma, Tenn.
Names of some disloyal citizens of the Fourht district, Franklin County Tenn. A narration of their crimes and the orders of Maj. Genl. Milroy as to what punishment they shall suffer for said crimes...
(NOTE: List contains in excess of 50 civilians. The following are a few excerpts from that list)
Wesley Davis -- Harbors Bushwhackers. CLEAN OUT
Green Denison -- A bushwhacker with Hays. KILL.
Jane Lipscum -- A widow. Harbors bushwhackers. CLEAN OUT.
Cynthia McCullum -- Wife of the above and also instigated her son to murder Kennedy, the same remarks that apply to her husband apply also to her with double force. She is a very bad and a very dangerous woman. SHOOT IF YOU CAN, MAKE IT LOOK AN ACCIDENT
Charlotte McCullum -- An unmarried sister of the above and is almost as bad as her mother. BURN EVERYTHING.
SOURCE: National Archives of the United States, Record Group 46, Union Provost Marshall (emphasis added).
NOTE: By Milroy's definition, a "bushwacker" was virtually any confederate soldier found in his jurisdiction. The charges for murder for which some of these civilians were being prosecuted were based almost entirely upon the allegations of one civilian, Moses Pittman. As a "reward" for his testimony Milroy ordered that a couple confederate prisoners be given to him to "dispose" of as he pleased, i.e. torture them to death.