Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1881-06-13
l ". ! m. 8 m. 6 m. Tyr.
sherman's March to the sea.

SuGEman'S MARCH 10 the SCh.
From MIR. Davis History of tho Wsr.
Slccs Alva's atrocious crueties to the non-
tombatant population Of the Low Countries, in
the sixteenth century, the history of war records
no iostsrcs of such oarbsrous cruelty as that
which the order of Sherman for al ci.iI-
isps to vacste Atlanta within FIVE days
was designed to perpetrste. 1t involved tue
immedi1te expulsion from their homes and on
y means of subsistence of thou,auds of uuof-
iendiug women and children, whose husbands
aod ta,ners we're either 10 the army, 10 North
ern prisons or had died in battle. In VAIN did
the Mayor and corporate authorities If Atlanta
appeal to Sherman to revoke or modify this in.
buuan order, representing in piteous lapgasge
tine woe, the horror and tbe suffering, not 70
be described By wc,d:," Whicn lis execution
would It f OF on Iplrss women anu infaUt clll.
dren. Hls only reply WAS:
| give full credit to your statements Of the
dishes S. that will Ue ocossloped by it, AID yes
shall not revoke mY order, beosuss ny oraers
sic not des gaGd 70 meet the humsnltlus OF the
oase.
At 'ha tina appointed The women sud chill
drru We're z yelled tr0O their houses, and oos
ioie they Wrre passed within our lines con
rlsnt was generally made that the federal of-
6oers and men who were scot 10 guard them
had rob5ed then OF the few articles ut vaiuu
homes The cnwady dishonesty Of lis execu
,ioners WAS 10 perfect har armooy with the tem'
per aud spirit of the older.
Sud further on Mr.. Davis speaks as irlloss
tcu .h,1g sbs burning of Columbia. S. o.
byp cti.y is the tribute whioh Woe pays to
virtue therefore General Sherman hus GU
dssvorr to eso.p, the repr)achts for the burn.
log of Columbia BY attrloutIog il to Geoe-
ra! H,mptun's order 10 hura the cotton IN tho
ol y. that it ght not fall Toto the hauds Of Tho
enrmy. Gen. Hsmptou has proved crcun-
stanriay that General Snermsn's statement is
un,rus, end, though In aoy controversy to which
General Hampton msy be q party. nu corrobo~
rative evlueDcs Is ueoo.sa,y 10 subsisn,isye his
assertion of B fact c)nlng within his psrlonal
observation, huudroGs oil unimpeaohsble Wit
uesses have tesll6sd that the buruiog of Coum
bia was the deliberate act Of the federal sol-
dlery, and that il WAS certainly permitted if not
ordered by the commanding general.
Were this the only IDsatos Of such borbari9y
perpetrated by General Sherm.us army, bis
effort to escape the responsibility might be
moe successful, bec,uss more psusih!e; tut
when he euloRlss OF his exploits note eXul,iny'
ly that "Slde spreading coiumns of smoke rose
wherever the army went" when it is incont,o.
v:r,ibIy true that the line OF his march could
be traced by the burning dwelling houses aod
By the vail of w,nen aud children pitiles,Y
lift 10 die from starvation and exposure 10 the
depth of winter. his pea of met guiltv" 10 the
case OF the Guy of Columbia canuot tree bin
from the reprobation wbIuh Gu ragged tum,nity
must .Lach to 90 &C; of cruelty which only
6uds parallel In the barharous eXoesses Of
Walleus.eiu's army in the Thirty Years War,
and which, even at that period of the worlds
civilization, sulIied the fame Of that otherWis,
great solCisr.