The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-08
HISTORICAL.
Mrs Harvey E. Jones, GA s. Lawrence
 Street. Phone 3015.

" ud8b anu pendntS tial music. gorgeous pagentry and every manifestation of festivity year by year, the Grand Army Regulars in annual reunion endeavor to rekindle enthusi- asm and recall the bloody days of '61- e5. Orations are made and shouts of praise go up at the mention of the names of Grant, Sherman and others. Attention Is called to the magnificent monument standing at the entrance of Central Park, New York, one of the great sculptor, St. Gauden's. most bril- liant achievements. standing there in bronze and marble. the statue of Will Ham Tecumseh sherman, led by the figures of Winged Victory. holding the laurel wreath with which to crown the hero's brow. Costly floral tributes are laid at his tomb, peans of pra.se arise at mention of the warriors name, and then, with criminal indifference to the dark pages of history. which gave rise to the strain, the bands strike up the merry air of Marching Through Geor- gia."g But even in that great metropo- Is, there are hundreds looking on at these festivities whose blood runs cold at the very title of this song-even in | the ranks Of the G. A. R.'s themselves | there are some in whose hearts no re- | sponse Is found for those rejoicings in | commemoration of victories bought at | so great price The memory of the anguish in that trail of Ire and blood .s yet too vivid for them to join in | these shouts of victory.
 It is not our desire to do injustice to | any Federal hero, nor to detract from | any virtue General sherman may have l possessed, for God knows he had sins l enough to answer for, but we are 1 studying history, and 1t Is our aim to | get at the truth and truth only Let us. therefore. for a moment. cast a glance backward and see at what price | General sherman won his laurel crown. 1 It is said that he claimed to have been acting in the Georgia campaign under l orders from the War Department. but l this in no ways shift his own responsi- | bility in those scenes of carnage, many | of which he planned and ordered, and, | Nero-lfke, witnessed with his own l eyes.
 For nearly four years the Civil War had ragged with unrelenting fury with 1 no prospect of abatement. the first two 1 years giving victory almost exclusively l to the Confederate arms, and in the l third year, when the superior numbers ] of the Federal forces, constantly rein forced by. fresh troops, well-equipped. !. began to be. felt. with ports at the ] South stflI closed and the resources of the country exhausted the Confed- crate. soidiars. ragged and often bare- footed. again re-enfisted for further service without thought of surrender. 4 The women. urged on the men and even little boys became so enthusiastic l for their country's cause, that it was often impossible to keep them rom | running away and joining the army. |. A. story is told of q Georgia regi- | ment in those trying days of the great ! march," Some boy volunteers finding themselves too small to shoot over the
 parapets ingeniously devised plan to l overcome this difficulty--one would get
 down upon his hands and knees. form ing in his turn, a sort of bench upon | which the others stood, and fired over 1 the parapet, thus giving each a chance to "shoot at the Yankees"
 General Hood relates as illustrative 1 of the heroic endurance of the Georgia | women, that during the battles around | Atlanta, it was pathetic to see the wo- | men and children living in coal cell
 lars, and such places as they were com
 pelled to seek for protection, yet, he
 says, when they crept forth in Hull | of the battles heat, it was not to weep 1 nor to complain. but on the contrary
 to urge the Confederates on to re-
 newed endeavor. and he adds That amid
 all of these hardships and sacrifices, he
 never once heard suggestion of sur
 rendeE. With women and children like these. and soldiers willing to fight
 on though often sustained only by a 1 handful of parehed corn, there was lit-
 tie hope of the war ending. How were
 these difficulties so unusual in the an-
 nuals of military history to be over-
 come? It was here that the iron hand
 of the cruel lead of the War Depart
 ment reached out to find a man who
 would do his bidding and discovered
 one. who like Bismarck. might be call
 ed man of iron and of blood" Will
 liam Tecumseh sherman was sent forth
 on his mission of annihIlation. No or- l dinary rules of warfare were to be ob-
 served. fHenceforth 1t must be a cam
 paign of devastation and destruction. Everything not needed for Shermans
 own army must be destroyed-dwell- 1 ings. cattle, horses and especially all
 agricultural implements. Any man found blowing or sowing seed must be
 shot. There was to be no chance for | food either present or future to sus-
 tain this unconquerable people. Not
 only must the army of the Confederacy
 be starved out, But the women and
 children; the weak and helpless as
 well. It mattered not that there were l thousands of their own soldiers of the
 Federal army pent up in prisons who
 would be starved also. guarded by lean I and ragged Confederates who were
 just as hungry. To all these the War l Department and General Sherman l turned a deaf ear, and the dark angel of destruction and death was sent forth
 to spread it's black wings over a once 1 smiling land. As the hordes of this
 destroying army advanced General
 Hood, who had succeeded General Jo-
 seph E. Johnston in command, was
 forced to evacuate Atlanta, General
 Hardee having gone further south in
 defense of Savannah. Here it may be
 said that great dissatisfaction was felt
 at this time in Georgia towards the policy of the Confederate Government
 The removal of General Johnston and
 the detention of nearly all the Georgia
 troops outside of the State, when their
 hearts were yearning to go in defense
 of their homes and hresides, scarcely a
 regiment of Georgians being at this
 time of her great need within the
 State, gave rise to much hard feeling
 against Mir. Davis.
 Learning of this dissatisfaction Gen
 eral Sherman sent & petition to the
 legislature then in session, urging the
 state to withdraw from the Con
 federacy, knowing well what damn
 ing effect such a step would have
 upon the government at Richmond.
 There was but one answer to make to such a request. The very suggestion
 was deemed an insult to the loyalty
 and patriotism of this great state.
 No matter what disapprobation was
 felt towards the policy of Mir. Davis,
 they would stand @Ehe to their beloved
 flag. which they continued to hold aloft
 through the din Of many hard fought !