November 12: the anniversary of the beginning of Sherman's march to the sea

On November 12, 1864, Sherman marched out of Atlanta toward the Atlantic coast. With a line of march between Macon and Augusta, Sherman carved a sixty-mile wide swath of destruction in the Confederacy's heartland. The practice of bending rails around trees, leaving behind what came to be known as Sherman's neckties, made repairs difficult. Sherman reached Savannah on December 10, 1864, less than a month after the march began. A relevant quote attributed to Sherman: War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out.


Shortly after the fall of Savannah, Princeton University (then known as the College of New Jersey) gave Lincoln an honorary doctor of laws degree.

Sherman was the foster son of Thomas Ewing, and married Ewing's daughter. For a brief period, Sherman practiced law in Leavenworth, Kansas around 1858-1859. Sherman died in 1891. Joe Johnston, a friend before the war, and an opponent during the war, declined to wear a hat while serving as a pallbearer. When asked about this, Johnston famously replied: "If I were in [Sherman's] place, and he were standing in mine, he would not put on his hat." Johnston did catch a serious cold and died one month later of pneumonia.

IPBiz. November 12, 2006.