The Burning of Atlanta in 1864

The Burning of Atlanta in 1864 PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985029439
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Get Book

Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting and burning by Sherman and Union soldiers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps; and reaching the hill, just outside of the old rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city." - William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman has earned fame and infamy for being the one to bring total war to the South, and it started at Atlanta. Once his men entered the city, Sherman ordered the 1,600 citizens remaining in Atlanta to evacuate the city as he, in Grant's words, set out to "destroy [Atlanta] so far as to render it worthless for military purposes," with Sherman himself remaining a day longer to supervise the destruction himself "and see that it was well done." Then on November 14, 1864, Sherman abandoned the ravaged city, taking with him thirteen thousand mules and horses and all the supplies the animals could carry. One of the most famous movies of all time, Gone With The Wind, depicts the burning of Atlanta after Sherman occupied it in 1864. Over time, history came to view Sherman as a harbinger of total war, and in the South, Sherman is still viewed as a brutal warmonger. Considerable parts of Atlanta and Columbia did burn when Sherman occupied them in 1864 and 1865 respectively, but how responsible was Sherman for the initial fires? To this day, there is no definitive answer. As part of its retreat out of Atlanta, Confederate forces were ordered to burn anything of military value to keep it from falling into the hands of Sherman's army. Inevitably, those fires did not stay contained, damaging more than their intended targets. In November, preparing for the March to the Sea, Sherman similarly ordered everything of military value burned. Those fires also spread, eventually burning much of Atlanta to the ground. When Sherman's men left, only 400 buildings were left standing in the city. Due in large part to his actions in Georgia, Sherman remains controversial across much of the United States today. He was unquestionably instrumental at battles like Shiloh, his victory in the Atlanta Campaign reassured Lincoln's reelection, and his March to the Sea revolutionized total warfare. At the same time, the South considered him akin to a terrorist and adamantly insisted that he was violating the norms of warfare by targeting civilians. In many ways, Sherman is still the scourge of the South over 150 years after he vowed to make Georgia howl. The Burning of Atlanta in 1864: The History of One of the Civil War's Most Controversial Events chronicles the battle for Atlanta, the Union occupation, and the subsequent destruction of the city. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Atlanta like never before, in no time at all.

The Burning of Atlanta in 1864

The Burning of Atlanta in 1864 PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781985029439
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Get Book

Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting and burning by Sherman and Union soldiers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps; and reaching the hill, just outside of the old rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city." - William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman has earned fame and infamy for being the one to bring total war to the South, and it started at Atlanta. Once his men entered the city, Sherman ordered the 1,600 citizens remaining in Atlanta to evacuate the city as he, in Grant's words, set out to "destroy [Atlanta] so far as to render it worthless for military purposes," with Sherman himself remaining a day longer to supervise the destruction himself "and see that it was well done." Then on November 14, 1864, Sherman abandoned the ravaged city, taking with him thirteen thousand mules and horses and all the supplies the animals could carry. One of the most famous movies of all time, Gone With The Wind, depicts the burning of Atlanta after Sherman occupied it in 1864. Over time, history came to view Sherman as a harbinger of total war, and in the South, Sherman is still viewed as a brutal warmonger. Considerable parts of Atlanta and Columbia did burn when Sherman occupied them in 1864 and 1865 respectively, but how responsible was Sherman for the initial fires? To this day, there is no definitive answer. As part of its retreat out of Atlanta, Confederate forces were ordered to burn anything of military value to keep it from falling into the hands of Sherman's army. Inevitably, those fires did not stay contained, damaging more than their intended targets. In November, preparing for the March to the Sea, Sherman similarly ordered everything of military value burned. Those fires also spread, eventually burning much of Atlanta to the ground. When Sherman's men left, only 400 buildings were left standing in the city. Due in large part to his actions in Georgia, Sherman remains controversial across much of the United States today. He was unquestionably instrumental at battles like Shiloh, his victory in the Atlanta Campaign reassured Lincoln's reelection, and his March to the Sea revolutionized total warfare. At the same time, the South considered him akin to a terrorist and adamantly insisted that he was violating the norms of warfare by targeting civilians. In many ways, Sherman is still the scourge of the South over 150 years after he vowed to make Georgia howl. The Burning of Atlanta in 1864: The History of One of the Civil War's Most Controversial Events chronicles the battle for Atlanta, the Union occupation, and the subsequent destruction of the city. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Atlanta like never before, in no time at all.

Decision in the West

Decision in the West PDF Author: Albert Castel
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 070060748X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 688

Get Book

Book Description
Following a skirmish on June 28, 1864, a truce is called so the North can remove their dead and wounded. For two hours, Yankees and Rebels mingle, with some of the latter even assisting the former in their grisly work. Newspapers are exchanged. Northern coffee is swapped for Southern tobacco. Yanks crowd around two Rebel generals, soliciting and obtaining autographs. As they part, a Confederate calls to a Yankee, "I hope to miss you, Yank, if I happen to shoot in your direction." "May I, never hit you Johnny if we fight again," comes the reply. The reprieve is short. A couple of months, dozens of battles, and more than 30,000 casualties later, the North takes Atlanta. One of the most dramatic and decisive episodes of the Civil War, the Atlanta Campaign was a military operation carried out on a grand scale across a spectacular landscape that pitted some of the war's best (and worst) general against each other. In Decision in the West, Albert Castel provides the first detailed history of the Campaign published since Jacob D. Cox's version appeared in 1882. Unlike Cox, who was a general in Sherman's army, Castel provides an objective perspective and a comprehensive account based on primary and secondary sources that have become available in the past 110 years. Castel gives a full and balanced treatment to the operations of both the Union and Confederate armies from the perspective of the common soldiers as well as the top generals. He offers new accounts and analyses of many of the major events of the campaign, and, in the process, corrects many long-standing myths, misconceptions, and mistakes. In particular, he challenges the standard view of Sherman's performance. Written in present tense to give a sense of immediacy and greater realism, Decision in the West demonstrates more definitively than any previous book how the capture of Atlanta by Sherman's army occurred and why it assured Northern victory in the Civil War.

War Like the Thunderbolt

War Like the Thunderbolt PDF Author: Russell S. Bonds
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 552

Get Book

Book Description
Draws on diaries, unpublished letters, and other archival sources to trace the events of the Civil War campaign that sealed the fate of the Confederacy and was instrumental in securing Abraham Lincoln's reelection.

What the Yankees Did to Us

What the Yankees Did to Us PDF Author: Stephen Davis
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780881466409
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 527

Get Book

Book Description
The name of Union general William T. Sherman is still reviled in Atlanta, 150 years after his soldiers devastated this important Georgia city. Thirty-seven days of artillery bombardment, July-August 1864, wrecked countless downtown buildings and killed perhaps a score of civilians. Longtime Atlantan Stephen Davis describes Sherman's shelling in detail unmatched in the Civil War literature. After capturing Atlanta, Federal troops occupied the city for two and a half months during September-November, further tearing down more buildings to make their huts and fortifications. Before leading his army across Georgia to the sea, Sherman ordered the leveling of much of downtown. His soldiers took up torches on their own and set fires throughout town. The "Burning of Atlanta" is thus only part of the city's wartime travail. Davis tells the story with a thoroughness and understanding that makes What the Yankees Did to Us the definitive work on the subject.

Atlanta 1864

Atlanta 1864 PDF Author: Richard M. McMurry
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803282780
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

Get Book

Book Description
Atlanta 1864 brings to life this crucial campaign of the Civil War, as federal armies under William T. Sherman contended with Joseph E. Johnston and his successor, John Bell Hood, and moved steadily through Georgia to occupy the rail and commercial center of Atlanta. Sherman's efforts were undertaken as his former commander, Ulysses S. Grant, set out on a similar mission to destroy Robert E. Lee or drive him back to Richmond. These struggles were the millstones that Grant intended to use to grind the Confederacy's strength into dust. By fall, Sherman's success in Georgia had assured the re-election of Abraham Lincoln and determined that the federal government would never acquiesce in the independence of the Confederacy. Richard M. McMurry examines the Atlanta campaign as a political and military unity in the context of the greater struggle of the war itself. Richard M. McMurry is an independent scholar and the author of John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence (Nebraska 1992) and Two Great Rebel Armies: An Essay in Confederate Military History.

Sherman's 1864 Trail of Battle to Atlanta

Sherman's 1864 Trail of Battle to Atlanta PDF Author: Philip L. Secrist
Publisher: Mercer University Press
ISBN: 9780865547452
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book

Book Description
Sherman's 1864 Trail of Battle to Atlanta traces the principal routes and sites of battle used by the Confederate and Union armies in the 120-day Atlanta Campaign. Special care is given to locating and identifying local families living along this path of war in 1864, and through their letters, diaries, or books, shares their experiences of war. Frances Howard's book In and Out of the Lines, chronicles the hardships experienced by families in the path of marching armies, and Lizzie Grimes's diary describes the burning of her house and town of Cassville, Georgia.

The Battle of Atlanta

The Battle of Atlanta PDF Author: Grenville M. Dodge
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Atlanta Campaign, 1864
Languages : en
Pages : 196

Get Book

Book Description


Sherman's March to the Sea 1864

Sherman's March to the Sea 1864 PDF Author: David Smith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1846038278
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 96

Get Book

Book Description
Riding on the wave of his victory at Atlanta, Union General W. T. Sherman abandoned his supply lines in an attempt to push his forces into Confederate territory and take Savannah. During their 285-mile 'March to the Sea' the army lived off the land and destroyed all war-making capabilities of the enemy en route. Despite the controversy surrounding it, the march was a success. Supported by photographs, detailed maps, and artwork, this title explores the key personalities and engagements of the march and provides a detailed analysis of the campaign that marked the 'beginning of the end' of the Civil War.

The Bonfire

The Bonfire PDF Author: Marc Wortman
Publisher: Public Affairs
ISBN: 1586484826
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

Get Book

Book Description
In this history of Atlanta's destruction, the author offers points of view of Confederate and Union soldiers and officers during a pivotal moment in the Civil War. By the author of The Millionaire's Unit: The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War and Invented American Air Power, in development as a feature film.

Transforming Under Fire: the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 [Illustrated Edition]

Transforming Under Fire: the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Mark G. Elam
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1782893954
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book

Book Description
Includes Civil War Map and Illustrations Pack - 224 battle plans, campaign maps and detailed analyses of actions spanning the entire period of hostilities. Many historians give William Sherman total credit for the success of the Atlanta Campaign, when in fact it was the success of the Federal team as an institution. Conversely, many blame Joseph Johnston for the Confederate loss in that campaign, when in fact he was only one cog in the Confederate war machine. It was beyond Johnston ‘s ability to adapt if President Jefferson Davis and the rest of the Confederate team failed in fulfilling their duties. More importantly, the Federal team adapted during the middle of the war. In short they were able to transform the way they fought the war. The Confederates in the west were never able to do the same.