Sherman's March to the Sea

[@warographics643]

Thanks to Under Lucky Stars for sponsoring today's video. Go to underluckystars.com/warographics to get 10% off your order right now.

[@cheebsgod]

aw you think people watching war videos on YT have a significant other :P

[@brett4264]

*One of the DUMBEST ideas I've ever seen!*

[@greenkoopa]

19:23 🤣🤣🤣

[@rc59191]

Hope you cover some of the war out West like Battle of Wilson's Creek. Western theater was always my favorite part of studying the war.

[@Ewen6177]

Have you ever considered covering Montrose's year of victories. During the War of the 3 Kingdoms, but more commonly known as the English civil war.

[@ethanbell6762]

Legend says that if you say "It's my heritage!" Three times to a foggy mirror in a darkened mirror, Sherman will climb out and burn your house down.

[@fiallachm]

If only.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

Legend says that if you're a plain tribes and you're resisting the US government 3 times, Sherman will appear and wipe out your tribe, destroy your way of life, and force the survivors into reservations with the threat of extermination

[@richardjohnston2557]

@@EternalEmperorofZakuul Touche. We are an odd people with a messed up history. While what we did to the Native Americans was an atrocity, what we did to the South was called "letting them off easy".

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

@@richardjohnston2557 adding insult to injury, the plain tribes never recovered. Neither did the Buffalo, whom Sherman and other Americans, had a role in nearly wiping them out

[@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356]

@@richardjohnston2557 fascist

[@troidva]

Sherman used a detailed report of the 1860 census to plot his route through Georgia. He used its details of factory and farm output to literally plot his path forward, county by county, in order to maximize his men's access to food along the way - and ravage the richest farms and war making potential in each county.

[@als3022]

He had also been through Georgia as a young officer. Most don't mention what he was doing. I found the documents as a young Archeological technician. He was auditing the military outposts in Georgia.

[@kegsofvomitspit]

As callous as it may sound, it is strategically advantageous. Before Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War, mankind had figured these things out.

[@Jarod-te2bi]

A brilliant man.

[@johnbox271]

Strategic bombing before bombers.

[@SStupendous]

@@johnbox271 Back then, a wiard cannon or rifled siege gun is the closest you got to strategic bombing. There's some pretty chilling photos from the war of massive artillery trenches with 100-In cannon.

[@BardovBacchus]

"Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other." - William Tecumseh Sherman

[@evanjohnson1299]

"War is cruelty, and the more cruel it is the sooner it will be over" - William Tecumseh Sherman.

[@evanjohnson1299]

"Hard War, Easy Peace"- Ulysses S. Grant

[@LordOfAllusion]

“If they nominate me, I shall not run. If they elect me, I shall not serve.”

[@Woody_Florida]

"make women and non combatants suffer" - Sherman and Grant.

[@BardovBacchus]

Lost cause nonsense @@Woody_Florida but then, look who's talking

[@MrGouldilocks]

It's important to understand two things about the march to the sea. 1) The American Civil War was fought along railroads and rivers; it was the only way to adequately supply armies of tens of thousands of men. Marching from Atlanta to Savannah meant abandoning the Union Railroad Network. There was a very realistic chance that Sherman's army could have starved to death. 2) Georgia truly was the heartland of the Confederacy, and the land from Atlanta to Savannah was (and still is) the heartland of Georgia. Sherman wasn't marching through the wilderness, he was marching through many of the major population centers of the state which included highly productive farms, manufacturing centers, and plantations which were critical to the Confederate war economy.

[@mjfleming319]

The danger of starvation was and is wildly overblown. Grant had already demonstrated that cutting loose from the railroads could be done, and Sherman faced no serious opposition. His march was a cakewalk.

[@Focalpoint223]

@@mjfleming319 the reason why the bridge was cut was because of slaves following them, feeding 60k plus soilders and the slaves was getting harder to do.

[@28lobster28]

Cutting your supply lines had worked before in the Mexican American war. After Winfield Scott decided to march on Mexico City without a link back to Veracruz, Wellington famously said "Scott is lost". After Mexico City was captured, the duke changed his opinion - "His campaign was unsurpassed in military annals", "Scott is the greatest living general". Sherman's rail connection from Chattanooga to Atlanta was also tenuous at best. It was only a single track railroad and the Confederates did their best to tear it up. Herman Haupt's work as general of the railroad corps ensured supplies kept flowing but even still, Sherman couldn't march much further than 10mi off either side of the track without wagon supply becoming difficult (really any more than 7mi meant the oxen pulling the wagons were pulling mostly fodder for themselves rather than useful supply). Even if Sherman wanted to continue with a supply line through GA, it would have been difficult to coordinate and would have limited his raiding range.

[@h-ideas7217]

Augusta had the second largest weapons factory in the state. Also Sherman tried to cross into South Carolina through Augusta into Aiken, Aiken would hold their grounds and he had to go around the city to march to Columbia.

[@fosterlanham1379]

They all came out fatter than they went in and also richer. Bunch of thieves and rapists. Disgusting behavior by american soldiers.

[@goutymike2971]

Still to this day in South Carolina, there is a billboard near the Georgia border calling General Sherman a terrorist, and arsonist, and a thief. Funny thing is I'm pretty sure it this would bring a smile to uncle Billy's face. That he is still so deeply ingrained in the southern psyche even other after 150 years.

[@jerroldbates355]

Gouty Mike, more evidence, Sherman's plan worked.

[@goutymike2971]

@@werewolfmoney6602 I am not a descendent of Sherman but I did have a GGGD that served under him in the 19th Ohio Calvary.

[@stevenlovejoy6838]

@Jonathan Chaney well maybe don't declare war against the federal government 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

[@unckieherb]

@Jonathan Chaney You guys started it, Grant and Sherman finished it.

[@dadian803]

@Jonathan Chaney I'll give Sherman a pass on that lol! Slavery but "northern aggression" was it?

[@SuperPiratesfan]

Some great Sherman quotes: “If the people raise a great howl against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity seeking.” “I would make this war as severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.” “My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us.“ “If you get blown up, I don’t care.” (spoken to Confederate prisoners whom Sherman forced to dig up land mines that Confederate soldiers had planted in the roads ahead of his army) “War cruelty. There’s no use trying to refine it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” “You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization.” (written in a letter to a southern friend at the very beginning of the war).

[@wfb.subtraktor311]

sounds like a pretty big cynic.

[@tayjaytesla1142]

The PoWs clearing landmines sounds pretty messed up, the rest are pretty on point but I am reminded of the MASH quote about hell being hell and war being war and of the two war is worse

[@EchoTravelsUSA]

@@tayjaytesla1142 confederates are the worst and lowest form of life the americas have ever produced. They should have all been sent to Elmira after the war…

[@alexsmith7801]

@@EchoTravelsUSA I disagree. The North and South both had (and continue to have) lifetime politicians HEYOOOOOO

[@misskate3815]

Don’t enslave people in horrific forced labour camps, then. Did we all just decide to forget the fact that that happened while we were feeling bad for literal slavers and their supporters?

[@LtColShingSides]

"...make Georgia howl." That's such a chilling line, brilliantly written, but damn...

[@erraticonteuse]

He was a very good writer, I recommend his memoirs.

[@LtColShingSides]

@@erraticonteuse Sherman got no chill lol

[@diggernash1]

South Carolina is where Sherman truly unleashed terror and it was fully sanctioned.

[@pyromania1018]

@@diggernash1 And well-deserved.

[@diggernash1]

@@pyromania1018 No less well deserved than the colonists rebelling against England.

[@theoz-zone7470]

Abraham Lincoln: "Sherman, have you taken Atlanta yet?" Sherman: "That's a strange way to pronounce firewood, sir."

[@weregonnalose9147]

You made my day, sir.

[@emperornortoni2871]

I feel I need to point out that, contrary to pop culture, he didn't burn Atlanta. He blew up a good chunk of it, though. After he left the city he left no garrison, so he wanted to blow up the factories and the railways, which he absolutely did. Atlanta's industrial district was in bad shape when he left, but the city was largely intact. I think it was Savannah or Columbia that burned, and those two get conflated. He swears in his memoirs he didn't order it, though.

[@theoz-zone7470]

@@emperornortoni2871 Thank you for the historical correction. ✌️

[@MarsJenkar]

@@emperornortoni2871 It was Columbia that burned. South Carolina was the first state to secede, and the war started off the South Carolina coast, so the Union army that Sherman brought was not going to be magnanimous toward the state's capital.

[@Jamietheroadrunner]

I believe as he burned down Atlanta, Sherman became the first soldier in history to utter the phrase “don’t start none, won’t be none, cucks”. It’s history!

[@bobbiemanueldelapena4997]

Gen. Sherman: I wonder how these fools would remember me for? M4 Sherman tank: *exists* Gen. Sherman: An arson locomotive... 🤠

[@drummerhere]

Lmao! Brilliant.

[@SamaritanPrime]

👏 Bravo!

[@politicalsushi3191]

That tank isn't named after him...

[@ComradePhoenix]

@@politicalsushi3191 Well, it sure as hell wasn't named after Sherman T. Potter.

[@schipfan360]

@@politicalsushi3191really?

[@MartinLopez-mo7tm]

In the beginning Sherman was the only one who understood what was coming. So he had a mental breakdown, got over it and then got the job done.

[@aaronfleming9426]

Not sure if he really got over it. The guy never could fight a complete battle...did not have the nerve to make a decisive move on the battlefield. Since he couldn't destroy the Army of Tennessee, he left the hard work to Thomas and Schofield, and marched off to burn stuff in undefended country.

[@BritIronRebel]

In the late '60s, my friend and I were stopped for speeding by a Georgia State Trooper. He was delighted to have caught a car with Pennsylvania plates. He said "I ain't never seen Yankees speed through my state like you boys". To which my friend in the passenger seat that couldn't help himself said "I guess you never heard of General Sherman?". Needless to say, we spent the night in a Georgia jail cell......

[@seancooper6415]

Yankee mouths can write checks their brass balls can easily cover.

[@ninamancuso8924]

Yeah well being tormented because you were born somewhere is generally not a fun experience.

[@BritIronRebel]

@@ninamancuso8924 The Georgia cop singled us out because we had Pennsylvania plates. That is a common practice in the South to this day.

[@ninamancuso8924]

@@BritIronRebel I live in the south and went through Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi with Illinois plates without issue. I had those plates for the first 3 years I lived in the south. I will say many Illinoisians do complain about this issue in Indiana and Wisconsin, but I never had issues in either of those states either. If anything, most of the time the cops are a danger are the instant you cross into Illinois and the entire ride up. So maybe there's another reason yall are getting pulled over?

[@BritIronRebel]

@@ninamancuso8924 Late 1960s Georgia isn't the same as today. and Pennsylvania plates are considered more Yankee than Illinois most likely because of Gettysburg

[@AvoidTheCadaver]

Sherman correctly applied the principles laid out in the art of war

[@Matt-xc6sp]

“All warfare is based” Sun Tzu

[@perstaunstrup3451]

More like von Clausewitz’ ‘On War’; he was big on total war and overwhelming the enemy, no gentleman’s game there.

[@idlehands1864]

Sherman was a war criminal

[@mjfleming319]

“In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.” - Sun Tzu “Meh. Just burn it all.” - William T. Sherman (paraphrased)

[@breadman32398]

@@perstaunstrup3451 an interesting comparison is that this older version of total war is so much less destructive than today's. He said cities were issued evacuation orders a week before the army arrived, and even then it would be hard for an army to catch and kill a majority of the towns residents. (if that was acceptable to them.) Nowadays a town can go from completely safe miles behind the front lines, to a smoking parking lot in a bombing run over a few hours.

[@paulday5722]

"War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want." William T. Sherman

[@ChickenPermissionOG]

War is what Lincoln wanted.

[@benrockefeller6334]

​@@ChickenPermissionOGWe have Lincoln's original communications with southern leaders. Lincoln wanted to preserve the Union at all cost. That meant that he was going to have to either invade the south or provoke the south, since it was clear that southern leaders weren't going to back down. That doesn't change the fact that Lincoln gave the Confederacy a choice: Put up, or Shut up. They chose to put up, and they lost everything. They made their choice, and they lived with it.

[@dwchen1]

"War is hell. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it. Those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out." - William Tecumseh Sherman -

[@12floz67]

That’s exactly why I don’t think that any of this controversial. War is extremely brutal and his tactic worked. It’s just that people don’t understand that when they don’t get the outcome they want. I personally think that the south had a legal right to secede but it didn’t happen so this is what you get.

[@ThaGr1m]

This, I don't understand why so many people thunk war is fought in a neatly ribboned off area where nothing really matters. It's the attitude of invaders and warmongers that war should only affect the other side and that they should do nothing but gain. And when war comes knocking at their own door in an overly civil manner like this one they still claim it was as bad as Hitler... People need to start feeling some reality

[@MatthewChenault]

And then he proceeds to harass the population that didn’t want the war in the first place while fighting for the people who made the war happen to begin with. This is why Sherman will never be viewed as a “good man” among the southern population. The south did not want the war, yet they were the ones punished for the war the northern elites brought about. Once you understand this, then the south’s disdain for the federal government will make sense.

[@Creek0512]

​@@MatthewChenault Insane to claim people engaged in an armed rebellion didn't want a war.

[@MatthewChenault]

@@Creek0512, considering they tried to actively avoid the war for months on end. sending delegations to Washington DC to have their grievances addressed - suggests to me that they didn’t want to fight a war to begin with and wanted for it to be resolved peacefully. Yet all of those discussions are ignored in favor of parroting the “south man bad” narrative of the war. Or should I called it the “south man bad myth?” If some Neckbeard atheist like Cynical Historian can do that with something that’s more honest than anything that came out of that double chin of his, then I don’t see any reason to not call it as such

[@christianjones1834]

I’m from Ohio, and I have a shirt with this wonderful man’s face plastered on it that reads “undefeated out of conference” I wear it every time I go down south, and the pure comedy gold that happens every time is freakin amazing lol

[@azazel166]

I take it the hillbillies aren't exactly pleased.

[@Sleepy7666]

Oh that's beautiful. 😂

[@flickcentergaming680]

This... Does put a smile on my face.

[@elgooso9645]

I have a shirt with wild hogs picking the meat off of skeletons that reads "Don't Mess with Florida, We Leave You To the Hogs"

[@primigenius623]

Legend.

[@Bergie847]

Love your multitude of shows. One point that’s been overblown is that Grant was a drunk. He struggled with alcohol, but if you read his dispatches from the war and the accounts of contemporary witnesses, he was stone cold sober during his campaigns. He saved the Union and was an amazingly effective leader.

[@billwilson3609]

Grant's problem was that it didn't take much to get him drunk so had a big native Indian aide assigned to him just to monitor and control his drinking.

[@GeroldGarthcia]

Say what you want about Sherman and Grant, but they got the job done. I think both are underrated as generals.

[@mamaliamalak7825]

Agreed, and as I understand it Grant's reputation as a drinker has been greatly exaggerated. That reputation came from his pre war years when he was separated from his wife and stationed at Fort Vancouver in Washington, on the other side of the country. It is this old reputation that was used by his opponents after Shiloh. He was a rising star, and a lot of people didn't like that. Along with Shiloh being so bloody, it was a shock to people who thought the war would be over quickly and with few casualties.

[@QuantumLeapt]

​@@mamaliamalak7825 I get the impression that other officers just took Hallek's lead in lambasting Grant for anything and everything in the early months of the Mississippi Valley campaign. It was a time when military conspirators could literally take control of the nation through rank. Hallek wanted command of the Army West of the Mississippi River, he requested it and was denied. And there's McClellan taking his time and throwing his name in the presidential candidate pool running against Lincoln.

[@mamaliamalak7825]

@@QuantumLeapt The accusations of him over drinking continued well after Hallek left the Western Theater. At times, it seems like the US generals had to keep an eye out as much as power plays from below as much as the enemy movements.

[@billwilson3609]

@@mamaliamalak7825 Grant's problem was that it didn't take much to get him drunk so had a big half-breed Indian officer assigned to be his aide in order to monitor and control Grant's imbibing. Grant was drinking too much at times during the siege of Vicksburg when troops reported he was having a difficult time staying on the saddle as he rode around inspecting the artillery batteries and the canal the troops were digging. That was reported to Lincoln with calls for Grant's removal from command. Lincoln responded that at least Grant fights then ordered that a case of whatever Grant drank to be sent to each Union general with a note saying this stuff helps Grant to get things done.

[@buckdraper303]

@@mamaliamalak7825 Grant was an alcoholic and a great general. From what I understand he never allowed drink to affect his generalship. But when the work was done, he'd go on benders. Nothing wrong with that per say. He took care of his business.

[@adrianscorch]

Sherman did exactly what Sun Tzu advised in terms of supply lines.

[@oasisgaming7005]

Sherman: "execute order 67" Union soldiers: " it will be done my lord"

[@MatthewChenault]

*Proceeds to beat up the former slaves for entertainment.*

[@hectorsanchez1377]

Half-starved irish union voluntolds: “good soldiers follow orders.”

[@timjaeger6589]

I was waiting for this comment haha

[@schwunkie]

​@@MatthewChenault mald confederate

[@fkboyStalin]

@@MatthewChenault do you have this idea that the north wasn't racist? nah they definitely had issues but they weren't out here fightin wars to keep slavery so there is that. "Those people made war on us, defied and dared us to come south to their country, where they boasted they would kill us and do all manner of horrible things. We accepted their challenge, and now for them to whine and complain of the natural and necessary results is beneath contempt." - William T. Sherman

[@comradekitten9883]

"In one word, how would you describe the Confederacy?" Lincoln: "Treasonous" Davis: "Righteous" Sherman: *_Flammable_*

[@kevinnsevinn799]

That was fire bro 🔥

[@stephens.3483]

Can't wait for Part II: The march through the Carolinas. Love your shows!

[@als3022]

Battle of Aiken and Burning of Columbia WHOO!!!

[@pyromania1018]

@@als3022 During said burning, black men got the soldiers drunk and led several of them to the houses of particularly cruel slave-owners, whom they humiliated and often flogged. Karma is quite the bitch, isn't she?

[@KingofDiamonds85]

@@pyromania1018 Interesting, considering Sherman's men raped and killed many slave women in Georgia.

[@pyromania1018]

@@KingofDiamonds85 Source?

[@KingofDiamonds85]

@@pyromania1018 Books, hand written accounts, etc.

[@als3022]

To be fair to Johnson, when Sherman learned that he had been replaced by Hood he did celebrate. Sherman and Johnson respected each other and Sherman having to constantly outflank his enemy and fight while his enemy retreated to new fortifications had worn out the army a bit. And when he tried an attack at Kennesaw Mountain it shredded part of his army. The fact of the matter was Johnson was dragging his campaign out. And doing something even more important; preserving his army. Jefferson Davis might not have had faith in Johnson, but his men did. They saw that he valued them and the officers such as Cleburne realized that he did too. Sherman fighting Johnson for Atlanta would have had to fight a delayed action. Fighting for pieces of Atlanta until he eventually conquered it. Johnson would have never fought the suicidal attacks that Hood did. (Who considering how medicated he was should never have been in command of anything.) Sherman would have found after Atlanta a city, and a completely intact army in front of him. Johnson also would have never invaded Kentucky to fight the horrible Battle of Franklin and let Sherman ravage Georgia. In the middle of 1864, you have Sherman in Atlanta with Johnson right in front of him again. Of course, Davis hated him, and he was the replacement for his personal friend Bragg. So instead, Hood replaced Johnson and Sherman celebrated. On a last note, Johnson and Sherman became friends after the war. Close enough that Johnson was one of his pall bearers. It's said he left his hat off and got a chill that eventually led to his own death. If I remember it right.

[@pyromania1018]

You're correct about all but one thing: his last name was Johnston, not Johnson.

[@tomservo5347]

I think Johnston is unfairly portrayed also. His soldiers, like Sam Watkins loved him because he always made sure his soldiers had food, clothing, and luxuries like molasses and even got them whiskey. They also knew Johnston wouldn't throw away their lives in hopeless attacks like Hood did because Johnston knew preserving his army's fighting power was the most important thing. Johnston knew he couldn't meet Sherman head to head because of the numerical disadvantage so Johnston would delay until Sherman slipped and an opening showed. He proved this at Bentonville when he attacked and caught Sherman completely by surprise. Many of Sherman's soldiers were unhappy that he'd allowed this to happen and lost more than a few buddies at so late a stage; Sherman's war record is pretty spotty. As Sam Watkins wrote when they found out Johnston had been relieved and replaced by Hood: 'I don't believe there was a man in the army that wouldn't have gladly died for him (Johnston). Farewell old fellow; we privates loved you because you made us love ourselves. With him everything was his soldiers, he would feed his soldiers even if the country starved.'

[@TommyOnTheRun]

Growing up in a prideful southern family I was taught Sherman’s March was on par with Hitlers Blitzkrieg through Russia. The inaccurate memory of the civil war in America is astounding.

[@JakeSezz]

Oh 100%! WTS is truly spoken of with that same distaste, followed by a spit to the ground, that’s often saved for Hitler or “commies”. When I got older and went to college, I started to feel like any number of teachers let me down by not teaching the whole story of history, regardless of how much is controlled by the textbooks and state curriculum.

[@bman6065]

Yup as a reformed Lost Cause proponent it runs deep.

[@fbksfrank4]

That was the south true downfall….pride.

[@bman6065]

@@fbksfrank4 I disagree the war sucked more than southern pride.

[@Bergie847]

Totally agree. It is surprising that there’s still passion 150 years after the fact. Whether in the north or the south, none of us alive can really claim pride or feel shame from the Civil War simply based on where we live now. Seems like we should be able to objectively teach it like any other historical period since it doesn’t affect us one way or another. Guess that’s why we have Simon to get an outsider’s perspective!

[@kellyrus408]

After the war, Sherman was asked to compare the Savannah Campaign (the march to the sea) with the Carolina’s Campaign. He said, “The march to the sea seems to have captured everyone, whereas it was child’s play compared to the other.”

[@temijinkahn511]

The desertion rate for Lee’s Army skyrocketed after Sherman’s march.

[@aaronfleming9426]

Lee's army was already starving. Sherman could have ended him much faster if he'd taken a swift route toward Virginia instead of leisurely burning his way across Georgia. Sherman didn't need to destroy civilian infrastructure to cut off supplies to Lee; all he had to do was get astride the railroads. But Sherman had a weird obsession with tearing up railroads. Totally blew the chance to destroy Hood at Jonesboro because of his obsession.

[@DariusHasDogs2]

Simon pronouncing Macon with such prestige when us Georgia kids just say it like bacon but with an M. This is why the brits always seem so posh. Awesome work Simon!

[@als3022]

Oh my god I thought the same thing. And Milledgeville I think got caught in his mouth.

[@greaseman01]

Can confirm.

[@devintorbert8876]

From Alabama. We say "Makin"

[@wesleybilbrey9406]

Yep from TN it's bacon wit an m 100%

[@c.2518]

I am from Macon, and yes, we pronounce it as bacon with a m

[@ArakDBlade]

I've lived nearly my whole life in and around Atlanta. Hearing so many familiar place names is kinda cool. I'm not gonna sit here and armchair judge a military action that's going on 160 years past. Of course marching through civilian populations and upending their life strikes me as horrible. But so does rabidly defending the institution of slavery as the South did. I'll just say I'm glad I wasn't there to have to be a part of it, nor be the one having to decide if the March was the lesser evil. Slavery had to go, and as such so did the Confederacy. On a more light hearted note, we like to joke that the reason so many streets around here are called Peachtree (too damn many) is to confuse Sherman if he comes back.

[@nickschulte3915]

Not to mention all the Streets named Roswell.

[@davidcollins2648]

If 6% of Southerners owned slaves what were the other 94% fighting for? They wouldn't lose any money if slavery ended. Wages were depressed because of slavery making labor cheap. They fought because their states were being invaded by Union armies - that is reason they fought.

[@indy_go_blue6048]

@@davidcollins2648 Easy enough to answer your question: Rich man's war, poor man's fight.

[@tsdobbi]

@@davidcollins2648 They still supported the institution of slavery. That's what you people fail to understand. There are plenty and I mean plenty of writings and letters of regular soldiers that didn't own slaves vigorously in support of slavery. Regardless, even if most of the rank and file were indifferent to slavery and fighting for whatever reason, so what? Do you seriously think most German soldiers in WW2 were fighting to exterminate Jews and other state sanctioned undesireables? Doubtful. I mean at least in their case there are actually examples of the Wermacht coming into conflict with SS units that were trying to liquidate populations in occupied regions. In the end it doesn't matter, their efforts on behalf of the Nazi state were contributing to helping the state ultimately with their nefarious goal, no matter what individual soldiers were fighting for. Where are the cases of regular Confederate Army units coming to the defense of blacks because "they aint fightin for slavery"? There isn't any.

[@rc59191]

@@davidcollins2648 how many American's fought in Iraq to support Haliburton and exploit their oil field's? Those plantation owner's were the military industrial complex version of the 19th century ya they made up a small percentage of the population but they had vast amount of influence in government.

[@hughs.citizen5388]

The southerners suffered far less than they themselves treated and inflicted upon their slaves for decades..

[@PollodelKenverso]

And what about the British, colonists and Americans who enslaved them for more than 2 centuries?

[@aaronfleming9426]

@@PollodelKenverso Thanks for the reminder that southerners had owned slaves a lot longer than decades...

[@seancooper6415]

So Sherman's march is 'controversial' and 'brutal' but owning human beings is just fine bro.

[@LexIconLS]

It's controversial in the southern US, not so much anywhere else. So the host isn't incorrect, but the script doesn't bother to make that distinction.

[@crampusmaximus8849]

Yes, raping and pillaging civilian communities and destroying entire towns is horrible. It was undoubtedly a series of war crimes by today's standards. Dipshit

[@FuzzyMarineVet]

Sadly, the majority of soldiers in the Confederate armies never owned another human being and were duped by the slaveholders into bleeding and dying to preserve their "Peculiar Institution" that was economically doomed to end in any case. Many officers held humans as property, but not the rank and file cannon fodder.

[@ninamancuso8924]

Yeah blame the Brits for that one. The Brits brought slavery to the US and tied net worth to amount of slaves owned. Most of the others in the south are the white trash England sent over to get rid of until they found out that they sent their trash to a lucrative place. Then they came back over, took control of a majority of the colonies, and instituted slavery. It is ALWAYS the Brits.

[@williamblackfyre4866]

​@FuzzyMarineVet you're not entirely wrong but I wouldnt say they are duped We have plenty of journals from confederate soldiers and they understood exactly why they were fighting and had their own personal motivations for being there. They weren't under any false pretenses or delusions.

[@Hefflm]

"the whiskey soaked genius" is the best description of Grant I've ever heard. 😂

[@joeyr7294]

I was almost half through the geographics about the moon but saw this and had to click....don't worry Simon and Co. I will go back and finish it to give you that sweet sweet watch time!

[@seandawson5899]

I love it. The only interruption worthy to interrupt Simon, is more Simon.

[@joeyr7294]

@@seandawson5899 exactly lol

[@omarrizo5816]

Right? Nice seeing a video of my hometowns burning lol

[@josephwilliams7995]

Just finished The Moon on Geographics. Before that watched Today I Found Out about Magic Mike the headless rooster. After this I'll check for a new Biographics or Into the Shadows, maybe a Casual Criminalist. Having a sick day with Simon and co.

[@joeyr7294]

@@josephwilliams7995 🍻 ahhh the daily routine!

[@fritztm9261]

You go to Columbia, SC or Augusta, GA you can still see the scars. These cities STILL haven’t fully recovered almost 140 years later. I’m from the south and I love him, even my hometown was burned and I’m glad he did it. Edit: When Sherman got to Savannah, he set up a headquarters. One of the first things he did was ask the now former slaves what did they want to do. This shocked and angered the Savannah elite because never did a black person have any voice in societal affairs in any capacity. Sherman did not care, he still proceeded. When I first read that it touched me so much. I really think Sherman is a true American hero.

[@theawesomeman9821]

You're the first Southerner I've read who liked the guy

[@als3022]

Augusta or Atlanta? Except for Aiken there were no battles for Augusta. Too many entrenchments and also where the south was prepared for a battle. We found them once by accident when I worked for the archeology lab at AU. Neat stuff. Also got to see the map of the entrenchments too. It looks like a smaller Petersburg. Did I find it in the archives at the library? Shit I forgot. Also, I love Wheeler too much to like Sherman. The man was a card and even when he fought for the US in the Spanish American Wars, he got so excited he forgot what war he was in. "We got those Yankees on the run." "Don't you mean Spainards sir?" "Whatever"

[@blakelyedwards8118]

As a Mason, he did direct his forces to avoid pillaging Masonic plantations, houses & temples. His path was to end the damn war, much as Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended another. I am born and raised Georgian, FYI. Vision is the power to see beyond the obvious.

[@angrydoggy9170]

@@blakelyedwards8118 Time to get out of the rabid hole. There’s no such thing as a Masonic overlord plan. At best they are just another fringe group doing some lobbying.

[@pretzelhunt]

@@angrydoggy9170 You added the words "overlord plan". Are you trying to convince yourself? You might not even realize the "rabbit hole" you're talking out of.

[@michaelsinger4638]

Sherman caused a lot of physical damage. But civilian casualties were actually fairly low. And well, it worked!

[@gomahklawm4446]

The terrorist slavers deserved it. Edit: Corrected "auto correct" slavery to slavers***

[@Sororvulpes]

@@gomahklawm4446 try to make a actually sentence not a string of buzzwords.

[@williammobley2110]

The Union army recorded few civilian deaths as they pillaged the countryside. Perhaps they just didn't report any murder. How many would starve to death?.

[@pyromania1018]

@@williammobley2110 Dunno. Care to look for a source? And I'm not being snarky, would you be willing to find one?

[@williammobley2110]

@@pyromania1018 From the people who were looting and burning the available paper with which to keep records? I'm not saying it was a genocide, but I'd bet that they didn't record quite a few murders.

[@RaulHernandez-lg5nw]

I have a friend who grew up in Virginia and tried to tell me Sherman was a war criminal! I told him the south wanted war and he gave it to them! So what's the problem? War isn't a love in!!! We are still good friends to this day. We differ on the civil war, but on most issues we agree! I wish I had a brother like Bob!!

[@averyisaiah1]

The South didn't actually want war, they just wanted to be left alone. The North were the aggressors from well before the start.

[@MatthewChenault]

Sherman is a war criminal. That’s not a opinion, but a statement of fact. He even admitted to committing such warcrimes and openly condoned them. “BuT dA sOuTh WaNtEd Da WaR!” The _Union_ wanted the war because they made absolutely no attempts to avoid it. The south actively tried to avoid the war and constantly petitioned to bring the war to an early end. The _North_ did nothing to avoid the war and rejected any attempts to try to bring it to an early close.

[@davidbrandt112]

@@MatthewChenault reconstruction ended way too soon

[@indy_go_blue6048]

@@MatthewChenault Oh hell, the South was still the poorest and least educated part of the nation until the 1930s when FDR poured federal money in for things like the TN Valley Authority, and especially after Yankees and corporate money poured into the region in the 1980s. The South rebuilt itself; what a joke.

[@MatthewChenault]

@@indy_go_blue6048, imagine thinking Appalachia is the entirety of the south? This is how I can tell you’re a Yankee.

[@bkayser05]

Wasn't really controversial. I remember one of my professors in college graduated from VMI, Virginia Military Institute. He once recounted a story where he was researching Sherman's March and some local telling him about how Sherman's Army had ransacked his family's farm, my professor asked where the farm was located and when it happened. Once the local told him the details, my professor had the unenviable task of telling the farmer that not only did that most assuredly not happen, Sherman's Army was over 100 miles away at the time of the alleged raid. It just goes to show how regardless of any military value the March to Sea had and an early example of 'total war,' the psychological impact of it can still be felt today because even people who's ancestors were not impacted by it, still believe they were. That is exactly the kind of propaganda victory Sherman was looking for, even if he, himself, didn't recognize it by that name at that time

[@dkupke]

In point of fact, very little of the famed looting and taping was committed by Sherman’s army, he had a pretty tight command over his troops. In point of fact the March was thoroughly planned and organized. The real devastation was caused by the refugees who tagged along after his army.

[@ronaldparker4353]

The results was the Releasing the Black Plague ever American sees today......People are leaving the northern city's coming south because of the Black Plague.

[@bkayser05]

@Daniel Ryan yep, exactly. It was strategic targeted to ensure Sherman's army had enough supplies and food but yes the path of destruction by the army specifically was far more curtailed then what Lost Cause historians like to claim

[@ronaldparker4353]

Shermans Army Separated into many groups to cover more Area.....those families that tried to protect their crops, livestock were killed

[@thomasbaagaard]

there was nothing total about shermans march.

[@bnkosu]

I really love that old History Channel Documentary “Sherman’s March” (Back when they showed history) It had decent acting and narration from a late great narrator.

[@SuperPiratesfan]

I remember that documentary. That was a good one but I am saddened to hear the narrator is dead. He was one of my favorites.

[@JA-lr5ix]

Is there anywhere we can stream it or watch on youtube?

[@bnkosu]

@@JA-lr5ix It was on KZbin, but it got taken down. I actually ended up buying it digitally on Amazon Prime for like $1.

[@erraticonteuse]

I don't think there's any beating the guy who did Sherman's parts in Ken Burns's series. It was Arthur Miller, the playwright! And his voice sounds exactly like how Sherman's photographs look.

[@pyromania1018]

@@erraticonteuse I respectfully disagree. I think Bill Oberst, Jr. kicked ass. They even got his hair color right! He certainly did better than the guy who played him in the "Grant" 2020 series. What makes it even funnier is that Oberst is born in South Carolina.

[@WhiteCamry]

Some of those escaped slaves were put to work digging trenches at Savannah. At 5 cents a day, it was a bonanza they'd never imagined - they'd never been paid for work before.

[@ronaldparker4353]

They were paid then , they had to work .... now they don't work and get everything free at taxpayers expense, just keep paying your taxes

[@newelllondon724]

Understand that it was 5 cents times 40 because of the value of money then or about $2 per day. $20 per month While this was half or a third of what Caucasian laborers were paid, you are kerrect it was a pretty good amount of money then

[@ballinlikestalin878]

Sherman absolutely NEEDS his own biographies video. Make it happen

[@SgtBackbone]

I agree! This man understood the concept of “total war”.

[@Commander99ash]

Too controversial. It wouldn't sell, but Box Office is not everything. It would be an instant classic most likely.

[@jfridy]

Sherman is one of my heroes, the man who broke a nation while barely killing their soldiers.

[@MrIluvbutts]

Traitors they were, but OUR traitors

[@numberpirate]

@@MrIluvbutts Not our traitors. You southerners can keep your traitors. Next time the gallows will be singing the song of the south. Time to correct Johnson's mistakes. Reconstruction will be punitive next time around.

[@hgbugalou]

Same. Him and Grant are heros of mine. They had horrible choices, but had the guts to make them and saved a nation.

[@samizdat113]

@@MrIluvbutts How can you be a traitor to a country you are not a citizen of?

[@woodsplitter3274]

@@samizdat113 I don't think that The North saw The Confederacy as actual non-citizens.

[@FuzzyWuzzy75]

Sherman understood that war is a hard business and that that it is pointless to try and sanitize it. Sherman believed that trying to find a kinder and gentler war was the cruelest way to fight a war because it would only prolong the war.

[@matthewbetancourt4166]

Very close to what Carl Von Clausewitz said, in On War.

[@silvagto]

After the emancipation of the slaves, this campaign is my favorite part of The Civil War to talk and read about. Sherman made Georgia AND South Carolina howl😂

[@NancyPollyCy]

Sherman was an amazingly principled man. It was he who said, "War is hell." (Actually, it was "war is all hell," but that's not how history remembers it.) He never sought or desired political power,. When is was urged to run for president, he famously declared, "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." How many other powerful military leaders are so averse to such power?

[@theCommentDevil]

"Don't start no shit, won't be no shit" Sherman 1862

[@kevinnsevinn799]

😂😂😂

[@breadman32398]

Fantastic writing on these episodes. Good jokes too. I'm glad you go into detail on such a serious topic like this. In contrast to your other shorter format channels.

[@davidandrew1078]

Sherman did not go far enough and was not ruthless enough.

[@iand4374]

100%

[@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356]

War criminal

[@Trackrace29582]

@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 like Ukraine’s president

[@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356]

@@Trackrace29582 bucha

[@Sparrows1121]

@@kittycatwithinternetaccess2356 I am glad Confederate non cotton picker got what was coming to them

[@AntonioThunderbottom]

That's how you get a tank named after you

[@MatthewChenault]

Stuart, Lee, and Jackson: “Uh-huh…”

[@robertjames6640]

Sherman ran out of matches: he should have wiped out the rebel’s entirely.

[@robdon3472]

Love this channel, it's like you took the coolest parts of the best Biographics and Geographics videos and said "fuck it, let's make the whole plane out of the black box"

[@muninrob]

"It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it."- Robert E. Lee, at Fredericksburg.

[@jaypandya7441]

He's not wrong

[@pyromania1018]

He also said he was "sending [his] men to God" by sending them to certain death.

[@davidcollins2648]

The day before the battle of Fredericksburg Union troops had gotten drunk and looted the town, destroying homes. Next morning the Federals sacrificed 8,000 men in front of the stone wall on Marye's heights. Payback's a bitch, eh?

[@matthewdavies2057]

@@davidcollins2648 We won.

[@marknewton6984]

@@matthewdavies2057 Not really. Where does everytone want to live today? It's Halftime

[@ThatGUY666666]

A lot of mystique is placed around Robert E. Lee whenever the American Civil War is brought up. To be fair, Lee was probably the best tactical commander of the entire war. But when it comes to strategy he was far outclassed by Grant and Sherman. With Grant, you had an overarching Grand Strategy that fully utilized the Union’s logistical advantage far more than his predecessors. With Sherman you have the man who for the US and many who studied him afterwards modernized our understanding of total war. His campaigns devastated the Confederacy’s ability to wage war and had an under appreciated psychological component I did not think of until watching this video. I find it funny that those who condemn the March to the Sea rarely make such complaints about Allied Bombing campaigns in WWII. Even when you adjust for scale those campaigns killed far more people (especially civilians) and did not produce nearly as much in terms of strategic gains. To be clear, I do NOT condemn the Allied Bombings, my point is I do not think you can logically condemn Sherman but have no issue with them. To me, the people who decry the March to the Sea make me think of someone who walks away from a bad car accident that leaves scores dead with only scrapes and bruises but then tries to act like they are most tragic victim in human history. If you want to criticize Sherman, you are better off focusing on the fact that he was NO abolitionist and his treatment of freed freed slaves and black people in general left much to be desired. It is also my understanding that after the civil war he advocated outright genocide against Native Americans.

[@perstaunstrup3451]

Indeed; too many civilians think of war as the old Brits did, as a game between equals (or near equals). What you want to reduce suffering and keep a war short (old style kinetic war that is) is as large a disparity as possible so to cause one-sided devastation on the enemy’s forces and knock them out quickly. The first Gulf War is a prime example. Next best is to destroy the enemy’s ability to fight which entails rendering all infrastructure useless, which is what Sherman did amongst other things. Psychological warfare is also a great part.

[@pyromania1018]

And even his white supremacist views changed overtime: he was highly critical of the Jim Crow laws, declaring that African-Americans are legal citizens and entitled to everything that entails.

[@mitchspurlock3626]

Thank you, well put, so many people fail to use logic in their arguments.

[@tsdobbi]

Lee was a general much in the same vein as Hannibal in the 3rd punic wars, in which one of Hannibal's own generals criticized him in saying "You know how to win battles, Hannibal, but you do not know how to use them." Hannibal racked up stunning victories against the Romans, but they accomplished nothing. Hannibal like Lee thought if they just delivered enough defeats to the enemy, they would come to the negotiation table, both underestimated the resolve of their opponents.

[@doncorleole2356]

@@tsdobbi I agree, only you confuse the 2nd and the 3rd punic war (im sorry but you're triggering the nerd in me)

[@Don3PO]

Title for this video should be "The Invention of Fuck Around and Find Out"

[@kevinnsevinn799]

Boom!

[@rogerd777]

Just before the war, Sherman was out of the Army and was the superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy. After the war, this school changed its name to what it is known as today Louisiana State University (LSU). Sherman knew the south because he had lived there both as an Army officer and a civilian.

[@billwilson3609]

CSA General P.T. Beauregard was a highly respected Army engineer before the war and was appointed superintendent of West Point Military Academy just before it started. He was a Louisiana native that was raised on a plantation so Washington D.C. politicians demanded his resignation. P.T. considered that to be an insult to his integrity so refused to resign so got dismissed by Congress. He was made a CSA general that turned out to be a lousy battlefield commander so was placed in charge of the defenses of Charlestown, South Carolina. There he designed innovative and effective shore defenses while providing assistance for the development of innovative sea mines and semisubmersible torpedo boats. After the war, he returned to New Orleans where he and other wealthy planters and businessmen decided that the only way to make the freed slaves productive citizens was thru education and assistance with land ownership. They provided funds and raised more to build schools with books that were supported by local property taxes that the negroes now had to pay.

[@marknewton6984]

Sherman was rejected by a Southern Belle.

[@GregoryCunningham]

Every Confederate statue should be torn down, pissed on, and replaced with General Sherman. Absolute legend and his victory at Atlanta won the war.

[@phreakingpenguin]

Um no leave them because those who erase history are destined to repeat it

[@kevinnsevinn799]

@@phreakingpenguinyea…nice try

[@bjkarana]

The Union: Confederates, lay down your weapons! Confederates: Come and take them! The Union: hold my beer.

[@boxxman451]

Edit: "Uncle Billy: hold my beer..."

[@carloschristanio4709]

Grant: drinks that beer

[@nickschulte3915]

The South: “how about we fuck around and you find you?!” Sherman: “I’ll be your huckleberry” paraphrased

[@kevinnsevinn799]

@@carloschristanio4709😂

[@MudPig6110]

Johnston made the right moves for the better part of the Atlanta campaign. At least by 19th century standards. Suck the enemy in, extend their supply lines, offer battle only when the terrain was overwhelmingly in your favor. He also had constructed multiple lines of defense to where he could retreat at will and move back to another defensive position, essentially making a defense in depth across a large part of Georgia. Grant even admitted to such in his memoirs speaking of how precious time was and Johnston prolonging the war was a huge threat to the Union as many in the North wanted to make peace. Hood and Davis played right into Grant and Sherman's strategy. They cut their own throats, the north simply gave them the knife.

[@baneofbanes]

Doesn’t really matter when Sherman was still able to sack multiple cities.

[@Adamdidit]

It did matter. He got replaced and Hood got smashed just in time for the entire campaign to more or less win re-election for Lincoln. Had Johnston been able to delay Sharman longer the election could and likely would have gone differently. @@baneofbanes

[@dutchray8880]

I believe it was Sherman who said that Johnston was the only Confederate general he actually feared.

[@graciedennis1610]

I live in one of the major areas he marched through, we still don’t have building before the march because he burned them all down. I can use a metal detector to find stuff in my backyard tho so that’s cool

[@billwilson3609]

My ex's mother's family name was Davis whose great grandparents had big farms and dairy operations between Atlanta and Savannah. Sherman's soldiers stole everything they could carry and drive off before burning down the buildings. All of the Davis men survived the war thanks to being stationed on the coast down by Brunswick. They still had some money after the war ended so sold their land to nearby planters and moved to sparsely populated West Central Louisiana, taking their former slaves with them since they had nowhere else to go and also could get cheap land from the state. The Davis clan still owns most of the original homestead and have a retirement community there. Down the road a piece is a block of land where the descendants of their former slaves have done the same thing. That region was still a massive virgin pine forest and both homesteads still have large sections of the virgin forest still standing.

[@Potatotenkopf]

The best part about Sherman is that he understood senseless slaughter would accomplish nothing and only sought to financially destroy the south, a task that was already underhand due to the union blockade.

[@SuperPiratesfan]

By far my favorite Civil War general. An absolute badass. His bromance with general grant was also awesome.

[@AKAZA-kq8jd]

Agreed

[@NijimaSan]

Grant’s avenging angel and his right hand of destruction.

[@SuperPiratesfan]

@@NijimaSan Grant was like an avalanche: implacable, methodical, and unrelenting. Sherman was like the Tasmanian devil from Looney Tunes: a whirlwind that destroyed everything in its path. All Grant had to do was let him off his chain, point him in the right direction, then stand back and watch.

[@bnkosu]

Their loyalty to one another is not often seen. Sherman convincing Grant to stay on, Grant defending Sherman from the press allegations of him going crazy, Sherman refusing a promotion to make him Grant’s equal, etc…

[@SuperPiratesfan]

@@bnkosu Absolutely. They had one of the greatest bromances in American history.

[@cliffwaltz8223]

I live in Barnwell SC.. a small town that Sherman and his troops stopped at on the March to Columbia.after the fall of Savanah. It was strategic as it was a way to cross the swamps after the skirmishes on the Salkahachee to get to Aiken then move on Columbia. Also to forage for supplies and attack the railroads in town and neighboring Blackville. fun facts, he nicknamed our town Burnwell as it was put to the torch completely. The only surviving structure was a Cyprus Presbyterian church he used as a stable for his calvary and horses.. that still stands. Though the townsfolk buried our famed sundial (to this day the only vertical sundial of its kind in the US giving exact standard time before standard time was a thing. Given to the town by a Barnwell native Captain Joseph D Allen in 1858) under the courthouse grounds. That thing has kept exact time and date within 2 minutes for over 150 years...

[@chroniclesofnowhere1269]

I didn't know about the sundial. Is that out the one in front of the court house?

[@cliffwaltz8223]

@@chroniclesofnowhere1269 yes it is. You can Google the mimages of it

[@seanmarshall5463]

As a Yankee, born and raised (Ironically enough I’m from Ohio) who now lives in Atlanta, it’s amazing how many Atlantans still believe he burned the city to the ground when in fact he mostly burned railroad and industrial targets, and rarely killed civilians. The real horror happened in Savannah where, although he still didn’t kill many civilians outside of the bombardment, he burned about 90% of the city to the ground. “Sherman’s neckties” can still occasionally be found in the rural Georgia forests wrapped around Oak trees.

[@chaosXP3RT]

That "Sherman's neckties" fact is actually really cool, considering it happened over 150 years ago!

[@andresc5915]

I heard he didn’t burn Savannah as it was a strategic point on the coast and the entrance to the ogeechee (i think that’s the river).

[@MatthewChenault]

They have a Sherman Necktie up at the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, which I sometimes call “the churro” due it looking more like the food than a necktie.

[@marknewton6984]

Too bad he didn't wear one.

[@MarsJenkar]

You sure it was Savannah that burned from Sherman's Army? I always heard it was Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, during the subsequent Carolinas campaign. I'm not sure why Sherman's army would have burned Savannah, since it was more valuable to them intact. Maybe the Confederates burned their excess supplies on the way out of Savannah and that was misattributed to Sherman?

[@rockylewis5218]

I would like to see one of these on the raid on Point Du Hoc. When the US Army rangers scaled the cliffs to silence the artillery guns before D-day

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:30 - Chapter 1 - The road to atlanta 5:50 - Chapter 2 - Due south 10:00 - Mid roll ads 11:20 - Chapter 3 - Burning down the house 15:20 - Chapter 4 - Cries in the darkness 19:00 - Chapter 5 - Total War 23:20 - Chapter 6 - The sea breeze at last

[@donrog5035]

🎶 Hurrah! Hurrah! We bring the jubilee Hurrah! Hurrah! The flag that makes you free 🎶 So we sang the chorus from Atlanta to the sea 🎵 While we were marchin' through Georgia 🎶

[@michaeltheundeadmariachi4494]

Hell yeah, someone gets it

[@MrTmac9k]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oKO8nYVsh9yFedk

[@jeffreywilliams5093]

Late in the Civil War, a Yankee soldier came to one of the family farms, according to my Grandmother Ruth, who grew up in Wayne County, North Carolina.. The memory of that soldier is only that he gave one our young female ancestors, a child, a ride on his horse in the front yard. Then he left. He didn't harm anyone or damage anything. This was not far from Bentonville, the site of a battle, in 1865. Grandma always called the Civil War just The War, like it recently happened, or the War of Northern Aggression, or The Unpleasantness. Grandma's best friend late in life was an African American woman named Callie, who first came to the family in the 1930's as a house cleaner. Watching these women as I grew up, I think Callie really liked Grandma, who spoke of Callie like she was a family member. Grandma said she had a nervous breakdown once and Callie "saved" her. When Callie in the 1960's was too old to clean, Granddad still brought her to the farm just to visit and, when the grand children visited, do one thing, cook fried chicken, flavored with bacon grease. I remember Callie chewed tobacco. Grandma and Callie had an agreement that the one who died first would come back and tell the other what it's like on "the other side," after death. Callie died first. She never came back. Grandma noted this many times, with sadness. This is one way the Civil War seemed to live on in my family.

[@MatthewChenault]

Well, yeah. Even the soldiers of the union were human beings. They also lived, saw dawn, and felt sunset’s glow just as we do. That is why I don’t hate the men who fought for the union, but I will criticize the men who led them and the actions of the federal government for instigating the war.

[@tsdobbi]

@@MatthewChenault What actions "instigated the war" Northern hostility to slavery? After secession, immediately across the south, federal installations were confiscated, union soldiers were done violence to. It wasn't just the more famous of example of Fort Sumter (which was 100% Union owned land, South Carolina sold it to the Federal Government before the war). Acting like the South were just innocent victims of a tyrannical federal government is just pure lost causer revisionist history and completely ignores everything the South did to instigate the war including firing the first shot.

[@MatthewChenault]

@@tsdobbi, the north refusing to listen to anything the south wanted and ignoring the basic principle for what the republic was founded upon? Does Compromise ring a bell? As for the federal arsenals, those states seceded from the union. They have every right to seize back any land that was originally under their control as the terms of the contracts had changed due to the status of these states changing. “Acting like the south we’re just innocent victims of a tyrannical federal government is just pure lost causer revisionist history. And completely ignored everything the south did to instigate the war, including firing the first shot.” Actually, no. That would be taking up the position of the truth. The south _were_ the victims of a tyrannical federal government. The south _were_ innocent. The north were the ones to instigate this conflict by ignoring any and all requests by the south to end it peacefully for, quite literally, four months. The south did their part to avert the conflict. The north chose to go to war, which is reflected in Lincoln’s own demeanor throughout the war. Lincoln took the war personally because, deep down, he knew _he_ was at fault for the entire thing as he had the choice to avoid the war, but rejected it.

[@deirdre108]

@@MatthewChenault Mad that you can't own people anymore?

[@MatthewChenault]

@@deirdre108, no. Disappointed that people still defend the union as it screws them over. The south was right to secede.

[@edwardwong654]

That is one of the best marches ever.

[@BigSleepyOx]

We need some statues honoring Sherman throughout the south ... so as not to forget our history.

[@viciousvictortee1298]

They'll probably burn it down.

[@mkay0502]

That’s not going to work for us. Good luck.

[@ss-xb5ev]

He was a war criminal!

[@tomowens8086]

Perhaps there should be Sherman statues at the Washita River and Palo Duro Canyon as well, commemorating Sherman's scorched Earth campaigns against the Plains Indians. You know, so as not to forget our history.

[@anghusmorgenholz1060]

I have the idea of letting them keep their statues honoring the traitors of the Confederacy but build over each one a giant statue of Sherman that spews fire out of his mouth, standing with a boot on their heads with loudspeakers broadcasting 24/7 "remember me". Ala Bender.

[@npierce14]

Sherman is a GD hero love the fact his Name still strikes fear in the hearts of die hard southerners

[@HighSpeedNoDrag]

The older southerners perhaps but the younger people may have never heard of the Civil War.

[@Sparrows1121]

@@HighSpeedNoDrag I seriously hope Neo Confederates arent popular there. They dont have to be evil in same way Germans arent evil. Confederates fought a war just because they were too lazy to pick their own cotton, hardly heroic

[@shanesimpson3455]

It wasn't infamous it was brilliant!! the fact of little loss of life amongst the civilians was rare for the period and show him to be a progressive.

[@davidcollins2648]

You are sadly misinformed as to the actual death and destruction wrought by Union armies on the South.

[@shanesimpson3455]

@@davidcollins2648 Do you understand that the comment was in reference to one action and not a whole campaign? or do you have problems with nuance?

[@elijahboesche6663]

I was born in jonesboro and lived in savannah most of my life. Your pronunciations of some of those georgia towns is funny. Makes them sound way fancier then they are lol love the video

[@EDF1919]

I have a great aunt and uncle that have lived in Atlanta their entire lives, we went to visit them for Thanksgiving when I was young once, and along the way we stopped at the Vicksburg battle sight. I don't remember how the conversation came to be but at one point my dad just mentioned the name "Sherman" and my great uncle literally just spat on his living room floor without hesitation. This was mid 2010's, generations removed from the war and Georgians still hate that man with a passion.

[@kevinnsevinn799]

They also fear him and that’s good enough

[@Khasidon]

This is my new favourite channel with Simon. Maybe it's the best one.

[@sandybarnes887]

Brain Blaze asks, Am I nothing to you?

[@Khasidon]

@@sandybarnes887 no idea what you are talking about

[@sandybarnes887]

@@Khasidon it used to be called, Business Blaze

[@terryts2]

Simon I thank you for the continuous content for learning.

[@1rwjwith]

Sherman was brilliant , he wanted the war to end and his strategy worked.

[@MY-hh5fj]

Came here to say please make a video about the Czechoslovak Legion in WW1. Such a badass story of an army without a country riding the Trans-Siberian railway the wrong way around the world during the Russian Revolution to make it home. It took around 3 years, via the port of Vladivostok and America! Their activities near Yekaterinburg led to the last Tsar and his family being murdered. Eventually they returned to their new country, formed after the breakup of Austria-Hungary. Would make a great video! Have a great day, love your work! Cheers

[@kevinnsevinn799]

Lincoln: they f**ked around… Sherman: …they found out

[@EntertaningAmerica]

He shouldn’t have stopped.. and Reconstruction shouldn’t have ended early.

[@markiefufu]

Taking a break from WWII and learning more about the Civil War. While searching out info on Sherman's March to the Sea, I was totally excited to see Simon had a video on it.

[@SN-xk2rl]

Grant, Sherman, and a solid cadre of their subordinates had a real understanding of the role of operational maneuvers as crucial elements in campaigns of the day. The casualties of K mtn were a mistake - clearly, but even here the the 3 to 1 ratio is/was "normal" for assaulting forces, then and today. It is just easier to defend an entrenched position than to assault the same position. It is notable, that Sheridan in Shenadoah Valley, Sherman's "bummers" in NC, the burning of SC (birthplace of the CSA) etc. demonstrate that the campaign against the economic resources of the Confederacy was a conscious policy and strategic choice, not just some random act of mad violence. Some nasty and evil shit was carried out by Sherman's army. And yet, on net, it - even at it's worst, was clearly less evil than the everyday practices of chattel slavery. Remember, white men, slave owners, were raping Black women who were their chattel slave property. Then, once those rape babies were born, they were raised by their slave mothers for a few years. Then, being light complexion (dad was their Master) the kids were then sold (bringing in a premium price) as house servants in the belief that the 1/2 white kid would be smarter and thus a better house slave. This kind off malice aforethought, the cold and cruel instrumental approach is morally more corrupt than the angry outrage of men who lost 3 plus years of their lives fighting a war they didn't want or bring about, to defend the great experiment of government by the people and eventually, ending chattel slavery.

[@bobbarclay316]

Sherman claimed his troops marched so well they could catch a pig, clean, cook, and eat it without breaking stride.

[@chroniclesofnowhere1269]

Slocum drove Wheeler out of my South Carolina town, as well. Sherman visited just long enough to setup headquarters, laugh at an offer of sparing the cotton and then burned the place while wrapping railroad tracks around trees. The locals have multiple stories of how some clever ancestor managed to hide a single cured ham from the bummers. Sherman did the right thing both here and in Columbia.

[@lorin42]

This idea actually began in the Vicksburg campaign. It was Grant who ate his way through Mississippi on his way to the backdoor of Vicksburg. Sherman was at first against the idea but supported and praised Grant for it. The Vicksburg campaign would be a good one to do an episode about and the fact that The battle of Gettysburg was a consequence of the seige of Vicksburg.

[@MarsJenkar]

Grant only fully disengaged from his supply line for a few days, long enough to get ashore, then take Port Gibson and Grand Gulf, where the supply line was re-established. He may have had a reduced supply line for the next section of the campaign (to Jackson, then to Vicksburg) but the supply line definitely existed.

[@ghill628]

General Sherman & the Union did not start the war. Any imagined cruelty the secessionists had (have) about Sherman's actions are wholly of their own doing. "You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out." ~ William T. Sherman, explaining himself to the mayor and council members of the city of Atlanta. For an even fuller understanding the entire letter should be read.

[@kevinnsevinn799]

He sure helped end it that’s for sure

[@DieNextInLINE]

Johnston knew that the CSA didn't have the men to throw away like the Union did. Many of Johnston's actions make a lot of sense through this lens. He knew that the CSA would have to fight a defensive war, almost guerilla-like. The Union should be grateful that so many of the South's generals were constantly trying to be the one who delivered the crushing blow to the north. The CSA expended vital manpower in battles where the only real significant result was Union casualties, which didn't matter because the Union was always going to be able to replace it's losses.

[@PollodelKenverso]

the north was overpopulated

[@dennisdeloach5542]

As a native Georgian, Sherman's march to the sea is something that heard about ALL of my young life. My family has their roots in the agricultural economy of rural Georgia. I can remember NONE of my relatives (in the 1960s) EVER having a kind thing to say about Sherman. A lasting impression, YOU Bet! As I got older and started to delve deeper into the history of the Civil War, I began to understand the reasons for Sherman's actions. Having been born & raised in Savannah, I am forever grateful to the city fathers in 1864, Gen. Sherman, & the rapid retreat of the Savannah garrison for the TOTAL lack of destruction leveled on my beloved hometown. The state of historic preservation in Savannah is something all Americans can be proud of and the main reason so many tourists can't get enough of Savannah today. P.S. Simon could you consider getting someone on your staff to help you pronounce the names of places you mention across all of your different channels. Sometimes your mispronunciations are just unbearable to listen to. Especially when mispronouncing American place names as you did multiple times in the Sherman piece. Keep up the great work.

[@als3022]

Sherman I think did his job. Kilpatrick on the other hand. Never mentioned here, because he was a total asshole. PS: Not Native Georgian, but I have lived her the majority of my life.

[@poppopscarvinshop]

A Very Good Historical, Educational & Entertaining look at a painful lesson that had to be learned in the most Brutal Way Possible. I grew up in the shadow of Kennesaw Mountain. You should cover "The Great Locomotive Chase" that started in Kennesaw, Georgia. A Really Great Story!! Thanks Much for not putting the whips to our backs Again. One More Thing - Where is Sherman Now That Atlanta REALLY Needs Him?

[@skynoceros_]

Went to Hilton Head SC this passed October. Once we got on one of the main highways from the interstate going through Hilton Head, there was a 10-15 ft sign that read "Sherman's army were arsonists, rapists, and abolitionists" in big bold letters. You can't make this stuff up, took me back for a second. But a lot of people still have unhealed wounds in the south.

[@erraticonteuse]

Lumping in abolitionists with rapists and arsonists, eh? They really are just saying the quiet part loud.

[@JakeSezz]

I will always hold that Reconstruction didn’t help in the ways that the South *truly* needed. Even after Civil Rights 100 years later, and even today in your example, those deep-seeded hates and distrusts are too ingrained to be easily grown out of. And it’s a fucking shame, really.

[@gomahklawm4446]

@Jake Because they made the mistake of allowing the south to get out of reconstruction. Hence why ita still a problem.

[@als3022]

@@gomahklawm4446 Because a nation that has been in a horrible war wants to keep an occupying army, which is extremely expensive constantly going. Exhaustion was one of the major reasons to end reconstruction. I agree it should have gone on longer and worked in stages to help give it a proper send-off rather than the complete shut off it did. But, at a certain point occupation would lead to other flare ups. Men like Quantrill thrive, and if the US wanted to remain a Republic the harsher ways of handling men like him would destroy the north. Also, there would be nothing to prevent men like Quantrill from moving north and attacking US cities.

[@TheBLGL]

I’m just shocked anyone believes this story. Takes a 30 second google search to find out it’s not true. Is it your first day on the internet?

[@Samm815]

The statehouse in my hometown of Columbia still wears the five bronze stars on its side where Sherman's cannonballs smashed into. And still, the lower half of Washington's cane in front of the statehouse is missing due to Sherman's artillery.

[@joesmith1946]

When one first becomes interested in warfare, one tends to study battles and tactics. But when you really get into it and begin to understand it, you get a lot more interested in logistics and strategic maneuvers. The South had generals who seem to be masters of battlefield tactics. Probably because that's all they had to work with. The North, on the other hand, gradually discovered a set of generals who were masters of maneuver and logistics.

[@billwilson3609]

The South had plenty of soldiers yet had a constant problem with large numbers going AWOL or deserting to find something to eat due to their generals being incapable of keeping them properly provisioned.

[@Humorless_Wokescold]

@@billwilson3609 they also weren't getting paid. The Confederate States couldn't agree on a standard currency.

[@deirdre108]

In regard to your comment about logistics, the Union Army had the best--Gen Rufus Ingalls.

[@billwilson3609]

@@Humorless_Wokescold The Confederate currency that was printed were worthless promissory notes that nobody wanted. The Yankee currency was the preferred medium for transactions.

[@billwilson3609]

Both sides started off with inept generals and ranking officers that were politically appointed. They also lacked any maps of the roads in the states and regions so relied upon directions provided by local residents. Many residents didn't want to see any fighting in their area so sent both sides off in the wrong direction. Federal supply boats had orders to drop their loads off at certain towns or hamlets by the rivers yet didn't where those were located. They sent a skiff in to inquire when they came across one where the residents would lie to have the supplies dropped off there. Once the boats left, they would overwhelm the few guards then haul off the supplies they wanted or to take to the CSA forces in the region. Sometimes a lost Federal or CSA detachment would show up and decide to stay there with the provisions since theirs were running out.

[@LittleStaceyCakes]

I am related to Sherman on my mom’s side.. my grandpa and uncle and cousin still carry the Sherman name. My uncle has his actual diaries. Glad I came across this video!

[@indy_go_blue6048]

I like what historian Gary Gallagher said about Johnston (at Richmond, 1862): "He woke up, stepped out of his tent, and said, "what a beautiful morning; what a good day to retreat. I can retreat this way, or I can retreat that way. But the good news is, I can retreat."

[@leftfield123]

Johnson did not have the men or equipment to fight Sherman head on. All he could do was harass and delay because it was fairly obvious that the South could not win.

[@EmilyJelassi]

Am loving this new channel.. such interesting videos! Well done Simon and team! 😊❤

[@adamloverin231]

Sherman didn’t want the war to happen in the first place. He tried to warn anyone who would listen just how terrible it would be and was called crazy for his predictions. But once the politicians (whom he hated, bless his soul) got the ball rolling, he rolled that ball with cold efficiency combined with civility. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.

[@Arthurt2468]

Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston said ""I made up my mind that there had been no such army since the days of Julius Caesar" referring to Uncle Billy and his boys.

[@MatthewChenault]

Julius Caesar killed millions of Gauls, just so you know.

[@phillipbuechner9809]

That line about Brits and bummers was classic, Simon. Lol! Also a very good video but at this point I expect nothing less from you. Thanks!

[@Abdus_VGC]

The Amazing partnership of George Henry Thomas and Sherman kicked some serious butt, both were West Point roommates!

[@BumboRasKlat79]

Man, after watching this it seems you guys missed out on the fact the Citizens of Georgia chose to fight a rebellion to preserve slavery. The South started that War, they should've been treated like the traitors they were then, and still are today.

[@KristinaSummersportfolio]

Great video but having lived in Georgia for the last 41years, I couldn't help but laugh at Simon's pronunciation of Macon (rhymes with Bacon), Milledgeville and Augusta, Georgia... 😂

[@mencken8]

If there was ever a time to implement that best of all Internet rules, “Don’t read the comments,” this thread is it….

[@historyinbitesizedchunks5857]

My Great Great Grandfather was one of those 62,000 Federals that marched with Sherman. he also fought at Gettysburg and other engagements.