Day 18: A moment that made you cry

[ericadawn16]

Day 18: A moment that made you cry

This is going to sound a bit redneck but...

Actually, I'm always sad just reading about Sherman's march to the sea in history books.

One one hand, it can be argued that it was a necessary evil to end the war quicker.

On the other hand, it severely hampered reconstruction efforts and must have been very traumatic for the civilians. Suddenly, all their land, their possessions and their livelihood are destroyed and done so by the military. Poor, rich, white, black, it didn't matter. They burned everything and how hard would it have been for the children? The younger ones wouldn't have understood what was going on and the older ones would have greater incentive to hate the north.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a Northerner, it makes me sad too. It was a terrible brutal thing. Makes me sad too. GTW (movie and book,) really shows the destruction-- makes it real by showing how people struggled to cope.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

makes it real by showing how people struggled to cope.

Yes, exactly!

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

Another non-Southerner here. It doesn't sound redneck to me at all. *Shakes head* The methods General Sherman used in his attacks were horrible! I've neither read Gone With The Wind nor seen the film version of it, but a little bit was shown in another film called Glory (it was about one of the first all-black regiments to fight on the side of the North during the Civil War), and I've of course read about General Sherman in history books, like you have.

[amerally.livejournal.com]

As an Atlanta native, Sherman has never been one of my favorites from history. For one thing, it's because of him that my hometown has no historical buildings to speak of. Burn the train-related structures, yes, but what was done was inhumane. "War is hell," Sherman declared, and he certainly demonstrated it.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Yep, I totally agree.

New York Times Editorial (on the destruction of Penn Station)- "We will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."

[hippediva.livejournal.com]

*G* Did you watch GWTW last week, too? I have it on my nook and spent the blackout rereading it. *G*

As for Sherman's March, it was necessary and war is hell. Yes it was damned horrible, but that is the price of war, is it not? Railroads were the supply lines and they had to be cut. We, at a distance of over 150 years can afford to be judgemental. And I might also add that despite romantic notions, 'chivalry' on the battlefield is pretty much a myth. War is never fair and civilians are always collateral damage. If you ever get the chance, see if you can get a hold of some of Matthew Brady's Civil War battle photography. (The library my mother presided over had a full set and I spent hours and hours, sitting on the floor of the 'research room' (card catalog closet) pouring over them. They are horrible and fascinating at the same time and they tell a lot about the kind of carnage of each battle.)