17 February 1865 A.D. GEN “Uncle Billy” Sherman & Union Army Sacks Columbia, SC—And It’s Ugly; “War is Hell;” “The Worse We Make It the Sooner It Will Be Over”
17 February 1865 A.D. GEN “Uncle Billy” Sherman & Union Army Sacks Columbia, SC—And It’s Ugly; “War is Hell;” “The Worse We Make It the Sooner It Will Be Over” Editors. “Union troops sack Columbia, South Carolina.” History.com. N.d. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/sherman-sacks-columbia-south-carolina . Accessed 16 Feb 2015. Union troops sack Columbia, South Carolina On this day in 1865, the soldiers from Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's army ransack Columbia, South Carolina, and leave a charred city in their wake. Sherman is most famous for his March to the Sea in the closing months of 1864. After capturing Atlanta in September, Sherman cut away from his supply lines and cut a swath of destruction across Georgia on his way to Savannah. His army lived off the land and destroyed railroads, burned warehouses, and ruined plantations along the way. This was a calculated effort--Sherman thought that the war would end more quickly if civilians of the...