Posted on 06/15/2013 2:53:18 PM PDT by BigReb555
Do you have any idea what you are talking about.
First when Sherman was in Atlanta, the war was still very much hot and heavy. There had been no surrender.
Second, Atlanta was not "burned" to the ground. Go to Atlanta today and there are still many fine antebellum structures existing. Sherman focused on their 'industrial' and transportation infrastructure.
Wow. Good analogy — up to a point.... Meaning that, whereas I hold a good deal of respect for most of the generals (on both sides) of the Civil War, I have ZERO respect for today’s North Eastern Republicans and Democrats.
Well then I suggest you call Wikki and straighten their asses out!
In 1864, following the capture of Chattanooga, the Union Army moved southward and began its invasion of north Georgia. The region surrounding Atlanta was the location of several major army battles, culminating with the Battle of Atlanta and a four-month-long siege of the city by the Union Army under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman. On September 1, 1864, Confederate General John Bell Hood made the decision to retreat from Atlanta, ordering all public buildings and possible assets to the Union Army destroyed. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, and on September 7, General Sherman ordered the city’s civilian population to evacuate. On November 11, 1864, in preparation of the Union Army’s march to Savannah, Sherman ordered Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the city’s churches and hospitals.[32]
Also... it was 100 degrees??? Clearly global warming was getting an early start.
///////////////////
Very astute observation!
Better notify Mr Gore!
“Democrat Slavers ways and Democrat Slavers deeds never forgotten and still persist to the day!”
Lemme ax you this, buddy:
If you had no prospects of ever owning a slave—as was true of the vast majority of southerners—would you go and fight for slavery, given the hardships involved?
I can’t think of any sane person who would.
Hood stayed outside the city and continued attacking Sherman's supply lines into the city. The war was far from over.
In November of 1864, Sherman eventually made his decision to leave Atlanta but instead of retreating back to Tennessee, he decided to move his best troops through Georgia to Savannah and to send more than half of his army back to Tennessee to deal with Hood -- who they then completely destroyed because Hood was an idiot.
When Sherman left Atlanta, he burned anything of military value, but the city was not 'burned to the ground' as you claim. Factories and rail yards and such were torched, but most of the city was untouched.
That all happened 6 months before there was any 'surrender' by the Confederates, but Sherman's march through Georgia surely hastened that eventual surrender and saved tens of thousands of lives on both sides.
War is hell.
The city was surrendered! Dude! Sherman decided to burn it! What other city was burnd to the ground after surrender and hostilities ceased! I’m not talking Lee I’m talking the people of Atlanta and the Confederates moved out!
Read the text! What ever you want to think is fine with me> Sherman on a Yankee whim burned Atlanta! It’s history! now go beat another dead horse!
Yeah, ‘’states rights’’. The right of states to own slaves.
Lemme ax you this, buddy:
If you were a 20 year old, why would you think you had no prospects of ever owning a slave? Why wouldn't they think they could become prosperous and own slaves some day?
Were all those Confederate solders just resigned to being poor and underclass the rest of their lives or did they have their own dreams and ambitions?
Rebel Yell!
The Confederacy was never called a "foreign government", since it's legitimacy was never recognized by Unionists -- it was no "government" -- and the word "foreign" doesn't apply.
"Traitors" is a different question, since the US Constitution defines "treason" as:
"The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason..."
Yes, after the war, all was eventually forgiven, and nobody was tried as traitors.
But tell us, FRiend, which part of the word "treason" do you not understand?
Conserev1: "The city was surrendered! Dude! Sherman decided to burn it!
What other city was burnd to the ground after surrender and hostilities ceased! "
First, it's important to remember that Confederate forces invaded & operated in Union states wherever and whenever they had the chance, including: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arizona and others not directly connected, such as New Mexico, Colorado, California and even Vermont.
Jefferson Davis' plan to invade Illinois was canceled only because of Grant's 1862 victories at Forts Henry and Donelson.
Second, while Confederate troops were usually very well behaved within the Confederacy, once outside it, then, well not so much.
They always, like Sherman in Georgia, "lived off the land" and left trails of pillage and destruction along every trip north.
Yes, some of Lee's troops in Pennsylvania did offer to "pay" for their pillage, but it was in Confederate money worthless to northern farmers.
Third, there are very few confirmed reports of Civil War soldiers -- Union or Confederate -- murdering, kidnapping or raping civilians, and certainly not as acts of policy, but most of those reports we do have come from Confederate troops invading Union states.
The biggest example of that came on August 21, 1863, when William Quantrill led Quantrill's Raid into Lawrence, Kansas, killing about 200 unarmed men, plundering and burning the town.
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania is another example, invaded by Confederate forces three different times, each time suffering destruction:
"Among the few buildings left standing was the Masonic Temple, which had been guarded under orders by a Confederate mason.[44]
Norland, the home of Republican politician and editor Alexander McClure, was burned even though it was well north of the main fire.
" 'Remember Chambersburg' soon became a Union battle cry.[45]"
Remember, this happened long before General Sherman even thought of marching to Atlanta.
Point is: the idea of "scorched earth" was not a Union invention.
The Confederacy was familiar and practiced it as the occasions arose.
It was all that hot air from Wilson.
The yankees stole my Great-Great Grandmother`s horse and denied her compensation. The Southern Claims Commission said it was because her brothers were Confederates.
There are some in the family today who are still want the horse back............not fourty acres and a mule.....a horse.
Chambersburg was an anomaly that is why it is always "remembered". What are your OTHER examples? For every example you come up with anyone could counter with 100 Yankee examples. So your liberal tactics aren't going to work.
I did not see the word surrendered in your examples.
What right was it that the states wished to retain? It was slavery.
You can paint it over any which way....but slavery was bad and needed to be abolished—north and south.
Anyway, the fight is over and we have bigger fish to fry today. Lets agree to disagree about the causes. Lets agree to work against the current enemy.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.