Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 29.djvu/123

 Report of History Committee of Grand Camp C V. 107

Later on, General Sherman said: "War is hell." If we could record here all the testimony in our possession, from the people of Georgia and South Carolina, who had the misfortune to live along the line of his famous " march to the sea," during nearly the whole length of which he was waring against, and depredating on, women, children, servants, old men, and other non-combatants (as to which he wrote in his telegram to Grant, ' ' I can make this march and make Georgia howl," Boynton, page 129), it would show that he had cer- tainly contributed all in his power to make war "Hell" as he termed it; and has justly earned the distinction of being called the ruling genius of this creation.

We will first let General Sherman himself tell what was done by him and his men on this famous, or rather infamous, march. He says of it in his official report:

"We consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah; also the sweet potatoes, hogs, sheep, and poultry, and carried off more than ten thousand horses and mules. I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia at one hundred million dollars, at least twenty million of which enured to our benefit, and the remainder was simply waste and destruction. ' '

But we will introduce other witnesses, and these some of his own soldiers, who accompanied him on his march : Captain Daniel Oak- ley, of the Second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, in Battles and Leaders, says this:

" It was sad to see the wanton destruction of property, which was the work of 'bummers,' who were marauding through the country, committing every sort of outrage. There was no restraint, -except with the column of the regular foraging parties. * * The coun- try was necessarily left to take care of itself and became a howling waste. The 'Coffee Coolers' of the Army of the Potomac were archangels compared to our ' bummers,' who often fell to the tender mercies of Wheeler's cavalr.y, and were never heard of again, meet- ing a fate richly deserved. ' '

Another Northern soldier writing for the Detroit Free Press, gives the following graphic account: After describing the burning of Marietta, in which the writer says, among other things, "soldiers rode from house to house, entered without ceremony, and kindled