I have no need to defend Wm. T. Sherman.  I have a sense of how people in
the deep South feel about him.  But, for the record I think that it should be recognized
that Sherman was neutral to pro-slavery, a close friend of many southerners who had attended
West Point with him, and the Commandant of the Louisiana
Military Academy, when that state seceded from the Union.
  U.S. Grant, with Sherman and Sheridan, brought total war to the
South after the fall of Vicksburg.  Had Robert E. Lee ordered
Jackson and Longstreet to wage total war on the North in say
1862, I dare say they would have done it.  The North, of course,
had the advantages of more men, more material, and more money;
but the potential of total war was a clear possibility from the
moment the War commenced.
  For all intents and purposes, the War was over July 4, 1863, with
the Army of Northern Virginia in full retreat from Gettysburg and
Pemberton surrendered at Vicksburg.  Grant's military and political
problem was how to make the Confederates stop fighting.  Surely,
there are military historians on this list more competent than I, but I
think that Grant's (and Lincoln's) solution was total war:  against
food supplies, against slave coerced support for the Confederacy,
against cotton and tobacco, against factories, rail lines, and
against cities.
  I understand that many think the Civil War would have been
preferable without Sherman depredations in Georgia and the
Carolinas, but I suspect that it would have been longer and, more
important, I think Lincoln, Grant, and Sherman thought it would
have lasted longer.
  By the way, Sherman's army did pass through Virginia.  I have
just been reading some interesting documents about what
happened when after Appomattox, Sherman marched his army
through the Southside on its way to Washington, DC and
demobilization.

Harold

Date sent:              Wed, 15 Aug 2001 14:30:03 -0400
From:                   Deane <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:                Re: Virginia and South Carolina in the wars
To:                     [log in to unmask]
Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
        <[log in to unmask]>

> To my knowledge that bastard Sherman never came near us here on the
> Virginia Peninsula! Thank God! Deane Ferguson Mills York County VA
>
>
> > Randy and All,
> >
> >   Did Sherman take Yorktown?  I thought General Benjamin Butler
> > was in command at Fortress Monroe when Yorktown fell.
> > Moreover, like Fortress Monroe and Hampton, York County
> > became a major location of resettlement on freedpeople.  The
> > importance of this being that had Confederate troops returned to
> > the County, black irregulars would have been mustered to defend
> > these communities, even prior to actual enlistment of black
> > Virginians into the Union Army.
> >
> >
> > Date sent:              Wed, 15 Aug 2001 08:50:42 -0400
> > From:                   Randy Cabell <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject:                Virginia and South Carolina in the wars
> > To:                     [log in to unmask]
> > Send reply to:          Discussion of research and writing about
> > Virginia
> history
> >         <[log in to unmask]>
> >
> > > I am interested in any Virginia military presence in South Carolina in
> the
> > > Revolutionary War.  I am aware of:
> > >
> > > Revolutionary War:
> > > - Gen Danl Morgan coming out of retirement to lead continental troops
> > > at Cowpens. - Some Va regiments surrendering at Charleston in 1780
> > > when Cornwallis took the place.  Does anybody know the designation of
> > > the regiments and how many troops surrendered?
> > >
> > > Civil War:
> > > - No knowledge of any Virginia troops there.
> > > - But a general question.  Did Sherman take the city the same way
> > > Cornwallis did by cutting it off from the rest of the mainland.  i.e
> > > NOT by sea.
> > >
> > > Randy Cabell
> > >
> > > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> instructions
> > > at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >
> >
> > Harold S. Forsythe
> > Assistant Professor History
> > Director:  Black Studies
> > Fairfield University
> > Fairfield, CT 06430-5195
> > (203) 254-4000  x2379
> >
> > To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
> > instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html
> >
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
> at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html


Harold S. Forsythe
Assistant Professor History
Director:  Black Studies
Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT 06430-5195
(203) 254-4000  x2379

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html