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`Flame and Blame` uncovers Sherman's strategy of war on civilians
WIS TV ^ | Dec 05, 2014 | Renee Standera

Posted on 12/05/2014 1:01:20 PM PST by aomagrat

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS-TV) -

At this time in December 150 years ago, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman and his army were advancing on Savannah, leaving a wake of destruction behind. But the true wrath of Sherman's army was being reserved for South Carolina.

"He wanted to cripple the Confederacy," said retired University of South Carolina journalism professor Patricia McNeely. Since the campus survived the burning of Columbia, the Horseshoe was an appropriate place for our interview.

"He wanted them to give up fighting. He wanted them to lose faith in their leadership in the Confederacy. But most people have overlooked this. Because, when, when Columbia was burned, he blamed it on General Wade Hampton and the Confederates leaving cotton burning in the streets."

McNeely's book, Sherman's Flame and Blame Campaign explains a strategy that she says previous historians overlooked.

"This is a flame and blame campaign that I have found," McNeely said. "Sherman was providing all this disinformation early and during the Civil War and did not admit until 1875 in his memoirs that he had blamed the Confederates, namely General Hampton. For these reasons, everybody believed what he had said, the disinformation that he had spread, the propaganda that he'd deliberately used so nobody actually went through and saw the pattern of the burning and blaming."

(Excerpt) Read more at wistv.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: civilwar; sherman; southcarolina; warcriminal
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To: TexasFreeper2009

“The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.’’ United States Constitution, Article 1 Section 9. Learn the Constitution before making yourself look like a fool.


101 posted on 12/06/2014 3:25:50 AM PST by jmacusa (Liberalism defined: When mom and dad go away for the weekend and the kids are in charge.)
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To: Rappini
The South was right.

Even if true they still lost.

102 posted on 12/06/2014 4:11:57 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: rdl6989
War is the remedy of the enemy, I say give him all he wants.

"War is the remedy our enemy's have chosen. They dared us to war, and you remember how tauntingly they defied us to the contest. We have accepted the issue and it must be fought out. You might as well reason with a thunderstorm. I say let us give them all they want; not a word of argument, not a sign of let up, no cave in till we are whipped or they are."

103 posted on 12/06/2014 4:20:05 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: Don Corleone

Mr. Lincoln’s War was unnecessary. The USA was never under any threat. The CSA and USA could have negotiated a peace in 1861 but the top hatted butcher would have none of that silly peace talk.


104 posted on 12/06/2014 4:26:22 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Sherman Logan
I thought you were trying to say Georgians today could effectively resist a similar march by the US Army.

What you say is true, but the US Army could only do ONE "march" at a time as it is miniscule compared to the US population. So while the Army was in say GA there would be 20 other states massing against them. Think about that.

105 posted on 12/06/2014 4:30:10 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: PeaRidge
Federal law did specify the use of states’ land for coastal defense only.

How could the federal government tell state governments how they should use their land for anything, much less defense? Which was a federal responsibility anyway.? The federal government could not and did not own state land.

No, they owned federal land. In the case of Fort Sumter it was land that was deeded to the federal government by act of the South Carolina legislature.

The blockades at Pensacola and Charleston predated 4:15 a.m. April 12, 1861.

If I remember correctly the Sumter relief force met a ship leaving Charleston (the Nashville?) and it was allowed to proceed. Some time prior to that the Confederate batteries fired on the Rhoda Shannon as she entered the port. No doubt there was other traffic in and out other than those two. So how could Charleston be blockaded if ships were coming and going?

106 posted on 12/06/2014 4:30:14 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: miss marmelstein
Manassas, Sharpsburg (Antietam)

The best preserved and haunted battlefield.

107 posted on 12/06/2014 4:33:16 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o
Direct, deliberate attacks on civilians and on that which is needed for their sheer survival (farms, homesteads and buildings, livestock, crops, and water supplies) with the purpose of terrorizing and/or exirpating the civilian population as such, is a war crime.

So members of the U.S. 8th Air Force, the RAF Bomber Command, and the U.S. XXI Bomber Command in the Pacific were all war criminals?

108 posted on 12/06/2014 4:35:25 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: central_va

Antietam apparently had a luminary last night - so a friend told me. Candles for everyone who died there. Would that be possible?!


109 posted on 12/06/2014 4:41:54 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Hell, Abe jailed the MD legislature in 1861....


110 posted on 12/06/2014 4:43:16 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: rockrr
What “congressmen” did Lincoln jail?

Hey, what's up? You still at it?

Chew on this link:

MD legislature jailed

111 posted on 12/06/2014 4:45:26 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: miss marmelstein
I've been to Anteitam three times, it is creepy place in a good way.

The Memorial Illumination


112 posted on 12/06/2014 4:49:18 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: miss marmelstein
Antietam apparently had a luminary last night - so a friend told me. Candles for everyone who died there. Would that be possible?!

That would mean almost 23,000 candles. That's a lot.

113 posted on 12/06/2014 4:59:28 AM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: jmacusa
It's not true that all war is a crime. Some war is the defense of our homes, our families and our freedom, and it is carried out in a way that makes our men honorable warriors who can crush the aggressor -- and not murderers.

A man who cannot distinguish, even in principle, between justly lethal acts and murder, ought to be kept on a chain.

My Maine son knows this very well.

114 posted on 12/06/2014 5:17:54 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta.)
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To: wardaddy

Thank you, sir! I salute you too!


115 posted on 12/06/2014 5:18:27 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o (Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta.)
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To: jmacusa

You may have missed that part where the SUPREME COURT gets to have the final say. You know that CO-EQUAL branch of government.

The Supreme Court said Lincoln couldn’t do it.

Lincoln ignored their ruling, that is a violation of the constitution.


116 posted on 12/06/2014 6:04:02 AM PST by TexasFreeper2009 (Obama lied .. the economy died.)
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To: central_va

Very beautiful photo. I find it sad-just infinitely sad. For so many men to die is such short a time makes me shudder. I just bought a book at Gettysburg about the “clean up” process after the battle. Pretty horrifying.


117 posted on 12/06/2014 7:14:43 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me)
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To: wardaddy

“And these numbnuts arguing are as oblivious to what 1861-77 was all about as they are to the disintegration going on around them now”

Yes and they will finally get to see a real Civil War as CWII really will be two factions fighting for control of the government.


118 posted on 12/06/2014 7:18:30 AM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: aomagrat

More Lost Cause mythology.


119 posted on 12/06/2014 7:21:33 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Mrs. Don-o

You gotta compliment from wardaddy! That’s about the highest compliment you can get on FR!


120 posted on 12/06/2014 7:23:50 AM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard III: Loyalty Binds Me)
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