Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1875-06-04
SHBRMAN'S MARCH TO THE sea-!
ATERRlBLE EXCORIATI0N OF TIE
KING Of BuMMERS.
Grant Need Not Envy Hinl-WiI-
liam Gilmore Sinnas and The
Federal Brigands.
INaw York Law EO1k.l

NEW York Day Book.
As Infamous a record as Sherman's |
worst enemy could wish to impa'e his |
reputation upon was tA&t ''March to |
the Sea. the originator OF which Sher |
man claims to be, but which claim
General Grant, it seems Ivy the c!amor
of the Generals friends, Just now,
seek to rob him Of! Ia Gods naue
let both these men share the honors
o. that cowarclly, urmanly, p;ratical
raid upon dtfenceless women and
children seems to have won. Another
age will do them both full justice. OF
all the brutal iufamouIiT, brutal, If
fairs THAT the history Of the American
war chronicieti, Sherman's ''March to
the Sea-" of which the world has
heard so much, WAS the browning dis
grace, If disgrace could crown an in
human, barbaric epoch. Men, to de-
ftud the homes ana fresides ot
mothers, wives, sisters and little ones
hardly able to toddle, there were
none. Ruthless, long continued war,
campaign of years, had sacrificed the
limited fighting material of n popu:a-
ton of nine millions. Twenty millions
in the North had enough human food
for powder and bali left to continue
the sacrifice that had been kept up IL
this st ction, and Sherman March
to the Sea" was haZarded. i cost the
stalwart warrior nothing. The burn
ng of barns, dwellings and all plantts
ton property that fire would onsume,
was simply the pastime OF army bum
mers Men, patriots, true soldiers.
who were fighting for holy principle,
would have died ere they engaged Iii
such a devils carnival. Weak women
besought mercy, aud prayed to Sher
mans ffends with clasped hands that
their uardrObes, and their food might
be spared; but those braves GU needed
| them not, and the devor-4ng flames
| were fed with ali the necessities and
| Injuries that were combustible, unless
gold and silver were found, in which
case this was claimed as loot, and
| to-day many New England side
| board displays trophies calamity won
by the noble Sons of Mars 20 IN strug
! g!es with weak and dofenseless, over
powered women, during Sherman's
! wonderful March to the Sea" We
| never shall forget the tone, looks and
! bearing of the deeply lamented
| Simms, the poet and novelist Of South
| Carolina, as he sat IN the Office of this
| journal, and mournfulIy detailed the
| passage of Sherman and his bummers
! through the beautiful city of Column
bia, his place of residence. Poor
| Simms was at the tine away from his
| charming home, a home filled with aud
surrounded by every luxury that
wealth, and refined, cultivated taste
could gather together. His lovely
I family of daughters Were there alone,
with only the negro servants Of the
! plantation % protect them. The van
! dals came and pillaged, robbed. de-
! stroyed md burned, and that which
! they could not easily carry away, de
stroy, or consume by fire, III the line
| of food, they, with q barbaritv and
! brutality that would have disgraced
! HOtteutots or Australian Blu hmtn, OF
| the Digger Indians of America, SO be-
! fOuled. that 1t was food no longer.
/ This picture, with its terrible aud in
famous filling up which we Will not
attempt Il re, Gilmore Simms gave Us
wear after the soul-sickening vent
! That man had lived sixty years with
his heart tuli of love for humanity.
| He had looked kindly on his fellow
men everywhere. His writings Shove 4
| his warm, genial sympathy with all
mankind. He bad bssked IL the sun
/ shine Of life, honored aud respected,
and he was UMPIRE pared for the start
| hug proof that there were specimens
OF human beings on earth whose or
ganisms were lower III the scale of hui
manity than brute beasts. Gilmore
! SImms died a changed man. He gave
mp his faith III that order OF creation
which the Bible told him came into
the world little lower than God s
angels"
And Sherman Graves the hon0rs G.
of the conception OF this great achieve
ment which, from inception to culmi-
nation, was one long, black, damninQ
record OF infamy of the character OF
Ibis visited upon the family of Gilmore
Simms, OF Columbia, South Carolina.
! Sherman was the modern Attila, with
| his Huns sacking and pllagirg; he de
stroyed every vestige of Southern CT
viiization that he could reach, aud did
his best to blot out, like the Goth of
! the sixth century, the arts, sciences,
manners and customs of the people he
ravaged, hoping to exterminate the
women and children (there were no
men Left by taking from them the
very means Of subsistence and that
eAtefmihat1oh eIlected, thlS MoCeIu
barbarian, as did his prototype, sought
to plant his heather hordes upon the
ruins of the cities he had Destroyed
History in this "March to the Sea" re
peated itself. The whole Northern
wilderness of Ignorance and fauaticism
was III motion, and Cloths, Vandals,
Visigoths, Alans, Suevi, &c, rushed
like torrent into the South, spread
ing carnage, desoIation and destruc-
ton through the finest portion of that
! then beautiful domain. And the great
originator of this damning disgrace Of
/ the American civil war is actually III
fear of being robbed of the honors @
/ that iufamy won him