Sherman the Pyromaniac

LewRockwell.com ^ | June 21, 2002 | Gail Jarvis

[Aurelius]

BUMP

[Aurelius]

BUMP

[dighton]

Dear Sidebar Moderator,

The South is on fire! Please put this in Breaking News.

-- A concerned Yank.

[Non-Sequitur]

" You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices today than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country." - William T. Sherman, September 12, 1864

[TomB]

And I thought this was going to be a boring day.

Looks like the rebs are cranky.

[Aurelius]

"The South is on fire!"

After 137 years, a yank finally gives a damn.

[dighton]

After 137 years, a yank finally gives a damn.

Frankly ....

[BlueLancer]

As pro-Southern and pro-Texan as I am, I still take the stand that, while unconventional at the time, the tactics and strategy of Sherman (and Grant) were appropriate and necessary acts of warfare. You hammer the enemy (and their supporters) as mercilessly as you can.

And it did prove the point: if a Yankee Army could move freely and relatively unopposed through the heart of the South, the war was, for all practical purposes, lost. With Hood's Army destroyed at Franklin and Nashville, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia penned into the Siege of Richmond/Petersburg, and Johnston's Army dancing around in front of Sherman's advance, the game was up. The line of destruction inflicted by Sherman's host made it obvious to even the most die-hard Confederate that the die had been cast and that, for the South, it had come up snake-eyes.

In the end, I think that "unreconstructed rebels" are so upset about the March to the Sea because, when they had the opportunity to do the same, their armies and leaders did not do what had to be done to win. They can frame it in whatever excuses they want to, but, if they had taken the advice of Stonewall Jackson, the Southern Armies would have been doing the same thing.

[Catspaw]

We need to start organizing that disaster relief telethon RIGHT NOW! Can we get the Mouth of the South to sponser it?

[jamaksin]

And, of course, on the State Capital building in Columbia, South Carolina, are stars placed in its facade to indicate the damage done by Sherman's cannon fire.

[Pern]

if they had taken the advice of Stonewall Jackson, the Southern Armies would have been doing the same thing.

If they listened to Jackson, I'd be living in the Confederate States of America right now.

[xkaydet65]

Just a note to unreconstucted confederates. There's only one rule in war.

DON"T LOSE!!!!!! Better luck next time!!!!

[BlueLancer]

"If they listened to Jackson, I'd be living in the Confederate States of America right now."

If only he hadn't gone riding off into the night after Chancellorsville, that would have been a highly likely result.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Consider what Sherman did, and then imagine what would have happened if you had Arthur "Bomber" Harris upset with you.

He made Sherman seem like Wee Willy Wonka.

Sherman's policies ultimately saved lives and ended the war quicker.

It's all boo hoo hoo from the neo-rebs.

Next thing you know'll they be doing group hugs because the Union army oppressed their great great great grand daddies so badly.

Walt

[moyden]

The South demands reparations from the North!

Make your check payable to:

The South

PO Box 5098

Dallas, Tx 75034

Or, as an alternative, you can mow my lawn this summer.

[Pern]

It's all boo hoo hoo from the neo-rebs.

What the in the hell are you talking about? Neo-Rebs?! Just because a few KKK nuts fly a Confederate Naval Ensign at their rallies you label us all as neo-rebs? That's like saying all northerners (yanks) are all arrogant, uptight a$$holes.

I think this should be taken for what it is, a historical essay, nothing more.

American by birth, Southerner by the grace of God.

GOD BLESS THE CONFEDERACY!!!

[stanz]

..... while unconventional at the time, the tactics and strategy of Sherman (and Grant) were appropriate and necessary acts of warfare. You hammer the enemy (and their supporters) as mercilessly as you can.

Exactly. Too bad we couldn't have Sherman at our borders.

[antidisestablishment]

The tactics and strategy of Sherman, Bin Laden (and Arafat) are appropriate and necessary acts of warfare.

And it does prove the point: if a terrorist Army could move freely and relatively unopposed through the heart of the US (and Israel), the war is, for all practical purposes, lost.

Thought I'd add a few other Sherman disciples.

[drjimmy]

GOD BLESS THE CONFEDERACY!!!
Seems to me he didn't. I wonder why that might be?