The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-05
THAT ABANDONED MARCH.

CT Sherman contemplated was not as favorabiy received in the North as some might have expected. The Hart ford Times in referring to 1t remarks that some of the people whose houses Were burned and whose crops were de- stroyedNn that section forty-one years ago are still alive. ard good many of their descendants are there also. They do not like to hear that anybody named sherman, at the head of body of federal soldiers, Is travelling their way. and we don't particularly blame them"
 Of course The Times cannot blame them, nor can any other right-think- ing person. North or South. And then The New York Mail, which is not all ways very tender towards the South. says:
 If the. Rev. Father Thomas sherman bad wished to follow his famous fath- &r's tracks from Chattanooga to the sea, on horseback, in a carriage, or trip alone. or accompanied by a single civilian, 1t is not likely that any South ern objection would have been made. sons Stersst h ceneralp pqrSy per proceedings In the region in question would have been recognized. and he might have received courteous as sistance from the people along the way.
 But who can wonder that the Geor- gia people are offended when the sons tour takes on the character of a milf- escorted by a squad of United states cavalry under an officer, and obtain ing data For the War Department" be- comes co at once an offensive reminder
 We do not know who is responsible at the War Department for the provi- sion<o of military escort for this expe- who was incapable of putting himself in the place of the Southern people whose homes were ravaged in 1864. put hf # R ss Ses s wny n 0a5 9 woad ssSt @ a good thing if the military part of 1t were abandoned. Let Us stand pat on the old march to the sea. This new one is too much like rubbing It in'
 These comments were written be- fore the trip was begun, and they give fair idea of what Northern peo- pie thought of the plan. Both the President and Secretary Taft have dis claimed any responsibility for it, but it seems a little singular that Post Commander should have taken such a responsibility on himself as to order detachment of United States troops out on such a mission. The adminis- traitor recalled the escort and the pilgrimage has been abandoned, but that does not relieve those who were responsible for it's inception.
 FrL .tskt ta fne H the matter is that intelligent people of any section should feel surprised at the position taken by Georgians All who have read anything of the his- tory of General Sherman's march through Georgia know that 1t was an outrageous performance from begin ming to end. In the words of the AL bany, (Ga) Herald that march was one of the most shameful expeditions ever inaugurated and prosecuted un- der the flag of an enlightened people. It was brutal and. viewed from the standpoint of military expediency. wholly unnecessary. Sherman's trail was marked by such desolation as was seldom left by the marauding armies of the Old World in the Dark Ages. and the record of his inglorious achievement will ever remain a black ened page in the history of the repab- lie"
 We have no need or disposition to go into details or particulars on the sub ject. There are many Georgians now living who were witnesses as we'll as sufferers, and there are many others who were with our cavalry and saw with their own eyes such barbarities and excesses as are generally confin- ed to the savages. Nothing can be gained by stirring up these matters and neither the Georgians nor other southerns have any desire to revive the bitterness and animosities of those days. At the same time they have not forgotten, and no one should expect them to forget, nor should any one be surprised that the victims of Sherman's expedition should object to having 1t rubbed in" on them. The Northern people can hardly be so blind as not to see that the proposed trip was really an insult.
 Admitting that Father sherman's in- tentions were good, and that he had not a proper conception of the impro- priety. to say the least of it, of taking an armed escort over the trail of ruin left by his father, that does not re- lieve the War Department or the army officers In the least. They should have seen that 1t was wrong and that Federal troops should not be allowed to take part in any such proceeding. It is well that 1t has been abandoned, but it would have been better If 1t had never been contemplated.