I would like to just add a few points to this issue if I might. First of all, I would like to say I had ancestors serve on both sides of the war and just as simple privates. I do not want to get across that I condone any actions taken by anyone but there are more barbarous acts that have taken place in history than Shermans march through Georgia and South Carolina. My ancestors them selves lost many-a crops and houses and slaves(not condoning slavery either) when Shermans men marched through Orangeburgh and columbia SC. But the fact that Sherman himself said that "We need to take this war to the people, to the families, so that it would be a 1000 generations before they thought of civil war again". is worth it alone. To point out a mans faults is one thing but to point out what he did or did not do is another. We can go through every general that Lincoln put in place up to Grant and Sherman and sheridan and they were all complete failures. And lincoln had enough. Total war is the only option. We lost Vietnam because Johnson would not release the generals in charge to wage war. And War my fellow listers is HELL. I have seen my share of what war does to people and it is humbling. Oh and remember that History is written by the winners not the losers. But that is beside the point. Sherman condemned the actions he took himself in later years but still said he would have done it again to achieve the result. And that result was the end of the war. By all definitions the War ended when Sherman burned Atlantia(which he didn't really do). One more thing. Just a question you all should ponder. When Truman authorized the dropping of "little man" and "fat Boy" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was a means to an End. No one said Truman was a bad man and that he should be brought up on war crimes charges. But you say that Sherman was a bad man. Lincoln authorized "total War" and that is what Sherman delivered. It ended the Blood shed. Estimates where that to attack Japan by invasion would have cost over a Million American Lives. Was the bombing worth it? I say YES. Was Shermans march to the Sea worth it? I say YES. Well that is my opinion anyway. Dan Geyer Esq.

You make some valid points, Dan. Jim Gilmer -------Original Message------- From: CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com Date: Sunday, August 31, 2003 08:13:08 AM To: CIVIL-WAR-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CIVIL-WAR] William Tecumseh Sherman I would like to just add a few points to this issue if I might. First of all, I would like to say I had ancestors serve on both sides of the war and just as simple privates. I do not want to get across that I condone any actions taken by anyone but there are more barbarous acts that have taken place in history than Shermans march through Georgia and South Carolina. My ancestors them selves lost many-a crops and houses and slaves(not condoning slavery either) when Shermans men marched through Orangeburgh and columbia SC. But the fact that Sherman himself said that "We need to take this war to the people, to the families, so that it would be a 1000 generations before they thought of civil war again". is worth it alone. To point out a mans faults is one thing but to point out what he did or did not do is another. We can go through every general that Lincoln put in place up to Grant and Sherman and sheridan and they were all complete failures. And lincoln had enough. Total war is the only option. We lost Vietnam because Johnson would not release the generals in charge to wage war. And War my fellow listers is HELL. I have seen my share of what war does to people and it is humbling. Oh and remember that History is written by the winners not the losers. But that is beside the point. Sherman condemned the actions he took himself in later years but still said he would have done it again to achieve the result. And that result was the end of the war. By all definitions the War ended when Sherman burned Atlantia(which he didn't really do). One more thing. Just a question you all should ponder. When Truman authorized the dropping of "little man" and "fat Boy" on Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was a means to an End. No one said Truman was a bad man and that he should be brought up on war crimes charges. But you say that Sherman was a bad man. Lincoln authorized "total War" and that is what Sherman delivered. It ended the Blood shed. Estimates where that to attack Japan by invasion would have cost over a Million American Lives. Was the bombing worth it? I say YES. Was Shermans march to the Sea worth it? I say YES. Well that is my opinion anyway. Dan Geyer Esq. ==== CIVIL-WAR Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from list mode, email CIVIL-WAR-L-REQUEST@rootsweb.com and in the text area of the message, type only the word unsubscribe .