NOVEMBER 14, 1864:
The Burning of Atlanta:
The city of Atlanta is destroyed in flame. General William
Tecumseh Sherman U.S.A. writes in his diary:
We will soon be moving
out of Atlanta and heading East towards the Atlantic Ocean. I have ordered my
troops to completely destroy all useful military facilities in the city in
which the Confederate would be able to use after we depart. It will not be long
until the Confederates recapture the city and it would be foolish to leave them
anything useful. Soldiers were sent to destroy ammunition they were not able to
carry, train equipment, and industrial machine shops. Even though I have
ordered thousands of men into the city, approximately only 30 percent of the city
lay in ruins. After the war we will need to rebuild these cities and
residential homes do not need to be destroyed for military purposes.
Regardless
of Sherman’s assertion that “only 30 percent” of Atlanta is afire, the
commercial heart of the town, along with many central city residences, are consumed
by fire this day. And although Sherman has promised not to burn the churches
and hospitals, the unchecked fire does do great damage to all buildings without
discrimination. A great reek and pall rises over the burning city as building
after building catches aflame. Homes farther from downtown are more likely to
be spared, though sparks and flaming debris borne on the wind burn many
outlying houses as well.
Atlanta
burns all day and night, its lurid red glow reflected on the cloud bottoms and
visible for miles. Just beyond the city, terrified refugees who cannot not find
space on a train, hire a carriage, or find a wagon, run from the fire in the
hell-lighted night.
With John Bell Hood’s army far away in Tennessee and no
regular Confederate forces closer at hand, the fleeing people become the
targets of highwaymen, many still wearing the tatters of their Confederate
uniforms. Bitterly do they rue their stubbornness in returning to the doomed
city, though they blame Sherman, “That red-headed devil”, “Judas Iscariot”, as
the author of their woes.
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