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by Charles River (Author)
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting and burning by Sherman and Union soldiers *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "We rode out of Atlanta by the Decatur road, filled by the marching troops and wagons of the Fourteenth Corps; and reaching the hill, just outside of the old rebel works, we naturally paused to look back upon the scenes of our past battles. We stood upon the very ground whereon was fought the bloody battle of July 22d, and could see the copse of wood where McPherson fell. Behind us lay Atlanta, smouldering and in ruins, the black smoke rising high in air, and hanging like a pall over the ruined city." - William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman has earned fame and infamy for being the one to bring total war to the South, and it started at Atlanta. Once his men entered the city, Sherman ordered the 1,600 citizens remaining in Atlanta to evacuate the city as he, in Grant's words, set out to "destroy [Atlanta] so far as to render it worthless for military purposes," with Sherman himself remaining a day longer to supervise the destruction himself "and see that it was well done." Then on November 14, 1864, Sherman abandoned the ravaged city, taking with him thirteen thousand mules and horses and all the supplies the animals could carry. One of the most famous movies of all time, Gone With The Wind, depicts the burning of Atlanta after Sherman occupied it in 1864. Over time, history came to view Sherman as a harbinger of total war, and in the South, Sherman is still viewed as a brutal warmonger. Considerable parts of Atlanta and Columbia did burn when Sherman occupied them in 1864 and 1865 respectively, but how responsible was Sherman for the initial fires? To this day, there is no definitive answer. As part of its retreat out of Atlanta, Confederate forces were ordered to burn anything of military value to keep it from falling into the hands of Sherman's army. Inevitably, those fires did not stay contained, damaging more than their intended targets. In November, preparing for the March to the Sea, Sherman similarly ordered everything of military value burned. Those fires also spread, eventually burning much of Atlanta to the ground. When Sherman's men left, only 400 buildings were left standing in the city. Due in large part to his actions in Georgia, Sherman remains controversial across much of the United States today. He was unquestionably instrumental at battles like Shiloh, his victory in the Atlanta Campaign reassured Lincoln's reelection, and his March to the Sea revolutionized total warfare. At the same time, the South considered him akin to a terrorist and adamantly insisted that he was violating the norms of warfare by targeting civilians. In many ways, Sherman is still the scourge of the South over 150 years after he vowed to make Georgia howl. The Burning of Atlanta in 1864: The History of One of the Civil War's Most Controversial Events chronicles the battle for Atlanta, the Union occupation, and the subsequent destruction of the city. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Atlanta like never before, in no time at all.
