One hundred and sixty years ago, in the fall of 1864, Union General William T. Sherman left the charred devastation of the city of Atlanta and turned his combined army of 65,000 men south with the personally declared objective to “make Georgia howl”. Much of the state was already destitute from three years of wartime deprivation, but following his siege of Atlanta, Sherman meant to make the civilian population in the rest of Georgia suffer the horror of armed conquest. He ordered that a sixty-mile-wide stretch of destruction and waste be inflicted on the state and marked by burned earth to herald his march from Atlanta to Savannah. Word of his plan sent families fleeing from Atlanta, Macon, Milledgeville and many other points south. Those who had no escape or no other shelter hid in swamps, forests, half-burned buildings, and other places of opportunity. Many families were forcibly evacuated to northern cities. Defenseless farms occupied only by women and children, were subject to plunder and abuse as Sherman’s army took whatever they could find. As they moved through Georgia from November 15 to December 21, railroad tracks were pulled up, burned and twisted to cripple the vital transportation system. Bridges over streams and rivers were burned as well. Elements of Sherman’s Fifteenth Corps crossed the Ogeechee at Midville leaving only burned piers of the railroad bridge there. Unless Union soldiers were specifically told not to burn a certain house or building, the orders were to leave nothing standing, and thousands of structures were incinerated leaving only chimneys remaining. These solitary stacks of blackened brick came to be known by the name “Sherman Statues”. The largest encampment of union soldiers in Emanuel County came during the last days of November 1864 in areas near Summertown and along the old Savannah Road. The conduct of the infamous campaign in Georgia was largely the idea of Sherman, himself. He convinced a reluctant General Ulysses Grant and later President Abraham Lincoln to go along with the disreputable idea of making war on a civilian population. Lincoln at that time was worried about the strong possibility of losing the 1864 election and had originally sought to delay the Georgia campaign until after November. However, he soon gave in to Sherman’s plan of psychological warfare, and even agreed to allow the same destruction to be visited on civilians in South Carolina. Following the war, Sherman was derided by many in the North and labeled a war criminal in the South. Many historians, however, refer to the years of Reconstruction in the South as being far more devastating and inflicting longer-lasting damage than Sherman’s march.
It is sobering to think that in the span of roughly two average lifetimes, this country has come so far and seen so much change take place. The trials of the past tell a reassuring story of the ability of this democracy to persevere through challenges of every sort. Time and again this nation has been tested, and time and again it has consistently shown that there is something special that sustains it. Doubt, disagreement, and concern about leadership, political policies, candidates and our sovereign character will always be a part of our national conversation, but the inspiration of this country’s heritage gives us the confidence and calmness to look beyond those doubts that invariably visit us every four years as we select a national leader. Even though the level of contempt and acrimony in political discourse seems to increase every year, it is important for us to remember that through a tempestuous history, this nation has weathered far greater storms and far more perilous Novembers than the one we will face in 41 days. As we approach this November election, it might be a good time to remember a few words from a well-known Longfellow poem,” Sail on O Ship of State, Sail on O Union, strong and great, Humanity with all its fears, is hanging breathless on thy fate.” This November storm, will also pass. Its story will find the proper place in history, but most importantly, the ship of state will sail through the bickering and pettiness of the day and, with providential guidance, continue its 248 year journey, strong and inviolate.
