Hosted the talk. Thank you for that brief introduction. I know everyone appreciates that. Welcome to georgia. I know many of you are traveling and are in our state probably for the first time. We specially ordered this weather for you. I know you have been on battlefields and im glad it has cooperated and we have been able to provide you with a great experience. We hope you will come back. I want to thank the Shenandoah Valley battlefields association for asking me to speak about somebody and something i have no idea when i started hitting my phd would become such an important part of my life. I cannot get away from general sherman. Topics ate to change some point and move into another area, but he is a fascinating person. A fascinating topic. I am delighted to see so many folks here. That you care this much about the civil war, battlefields, and preserving the battlefields. One of my favorite things to do is to hike battlefields. When you can unite the outdoors and the study of the ci
To provide you with a great experience. I am delighted you are in our state and hope you will come back. I want to thank the Shenandoah Valley battlefields association for asking me to speak about somebody and something i had no idea when i started hitting my phd would become such an important part of my life. I cannot get away from general sherman. The more i talk about it, the more people will be to talk more about it. I will have to change topics at some point and move into another area, but he is a fascinating person. And a fascinating topic. I am also delighted to see so many folks here. And that you care this much about the civil war, battlefields, and preserving the battlefields. One of my favorite things to do is to hike battlefields. I think its wonderful to get out, enjoy the outdoors and you can unite those two things. The outdoors and the study of the civil war, theres nothing else like it. Thank you for all you do come and the association does to help us preserve our battl
Atlanta. Both times he was greeted as a hero. Many atlantans said thank you for taking the torch to our Downtown Business area and getting rid of it. Weve been able to rebuild. The phoenix has risen. This is the symbol of atlanta is the phoenix rising. And so he was greeted as a hero by. People. It wasnt until the lost cause and the development of that narrative really kicks in in the late 19th century early 20th century that sherman becomes demonized to the extent he was. Theres a great book. I have my list of books and i figured somebody would ask me whats good to read. One of them that i would recommend to you is a book by Ann Sarah Ruben called through the heart of dixie, and looks at shermans march and the memory of how it develops on both sides. Another great book is called shermans march in myth and memory. They explore this is phenomenon of what sherman comes to represent. From their argument, he comes to represent everything thats the antithesis of the cavalier society. Its th
60 miles across from one end to the other as it goes out to the sea. She said in reality it was more like fingers of destruction. Stitches through the landscape. Because the army was advancing down roads. And most places they stayed a day. If that much. So the destruction, the destruction is limited to how far off the roads they can go. So she said there are vast areas in between those roads. That were untouched by it. And those people of course applied food and help to the other people who had lost so much during the march. Its interesting, because i had not even thought about this. We do have this image of tsunami of fire going across and if fact it really is more like fingers of destruction going across georgia. Yes, sir . People in the valley recognized that sheridan not only planned, organized and carried out zonal destruction, so this was an order of destruction. And it was very thorough, although theres many other phases to it. But thats different than what happened in georgia.
Becomes that, i think the term they use was the wind. This wire and wind that came through georgia. Sarah reuben made an interesting point about the destruction itself. I thought it was interesting, i left it out of my talk. She said we have the sense of the march to the sea as being the giant tidal wave this tsunami. 60 miles across from one end to the other as it goes out to the sea. She said in reality it was more like fingers of destruction. Stitches through the landscape. Because the army was advancing down roads. And most places they stayed a day. If that much. So the destruction, the destruction is limited to how far off the roads they can go. So she said there are vast areas in between those roads. That were untouched by it. And those people of course applied food and help to the other people who had lost so much during the march. Its interesting, because i had not even thought about this. We do have this image of tsunami of fire going across and if fact it really is more like