total war: an unnecessary evil?

Teresa Long HIST 4133Critique 2 4/15/2013

TOTAL WAR: AN UNNECESSARY EVIL?

General William Tecumseh Sherman drove a stake straight through the hearts of the

women of the South. Many were overwhelmed with fear, despair, and uncertainty after his army

burned, pillaged, and plundered Atlanta and set off on an unknown path of destruction. Sherman

believed his “Total War” was necessary; Southern women already knew all too well the horrors

and sacrifices war brings. Each day brought about grieving for the endless list of fallen soldiers.

Inflation skyrocketed and shortages of food, shoes, and clothing induced by the blockade gripped

the South.

Sherman‘s army marched incessantly; it was just a matter of time before the raiders

arrived to strip them of their precious few possessions, leaving them utterly destitute to face

starvation. What wasn’t needed by the army was destroyed. Cotton gins, mills, and public

buildings were burned. Homes were set ablaze and farm lands were salted, rendering them

infertile. Not knowing where Sherman’s army was going next was a very effective tactic which

struck terror in the hearts of these women.

Women and children fled along with their loyal slaves, constantly moving from place to

place like hunted animals, desperately attempting to guess which towns were to be targeted by

Sherman’s torches. Blackened columns of burned chimneys were all that remained along

Sherman’s path of destruction. Beautiful countryside teaming with life was transformed into

virtual wasteland. Not a living thing was to be found.

Was this suffering endured by a destructive attack on Confederate women, children,

Negroes, and old men a necessary evil? General Sherman believed so. He thought it the most

humane way to end the war. He believed cutting off supplies would break the Confederate spirit

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and lower morale enough to effect a surrender.1 In fact, Sherman inspired bitterness and

contempt in women of the south, but he never broke their spirit.

Southern women responsible for feeding their children and Negro families thought

Sherman’s campaign cruel and unnecessary. Mrs. Burgess, a young widow from Covington, GA

who had lost all provisions during one of the raids committed by Union soldiers and could not

feed her young child writes: “I see nothing ahead of me but starvation”. Destitution did not have

the effect Sherman intended, her spirit remained unbroken, and she writes “.…this ended the

passing of Sherman’s army by my place, leaving me poorer by thirty thousand dollars …..And a

much stronger rebel!”2

Mrs. Burgess failed to see Sherman’s view of his Total War as being humane. The widow

agonizes over her ability to provide for her family (both her young child and her Negroes) and

writes “Why must the innocent suffer with the guilty”. She describes in her journal the

disappointment of her young daughter and the colored children on Christmas morning when they

awoke to empty stockings. 3

Mrs. Mary Chesnut, the wife of a former U.S. Senator turned aide to Jeff Davis and then

Confederate General traveled in the elite circles of the Confederacy. Mrs. Chesnut remained

loyal, courageous and supportive of Confederate President Jeff Davis, her husband, and their

friends throughout the war, never giving up hope even when the realization of certain defeat

looming ahead sunk into her soul.

1 Burke Davis, Sherman's March (New York: Random House, 1988), pages 9-10.

2 Lunt, Dolly Sumner. A Woman's Wartime Journal. Edited by Street Julian. New York: The Century Co., 1918. Kindle edition.3 Lunt, Christmas, 1864.

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Although he issued orders against destruction of private property and looting, Sherman

felt he could not control the troops and turned a blind eye to the cruel acts committed by soldiers

of his army. In the case of South Carolina, Sherman felt they deserved even harsher treatment

than Georgia since they had been the first to secede and would subject them to the full effects of

his Total War. He predicted it would be “one of the most horrible things in the history of the

world” 4

Sherman justified the horrors done to civilians in the path of his march by deeming them

necessary to sustain his army. He believed women had not been treated unnecessarily harsh and

that incidents of violence were rare and that rape was unheard of. He later acknowledged at least

two known cases of rape.5

Mrs. Mary Chesnut describes her husband telling her the story of one extremely violent

rape in her diary. Mr. Chesnut had spoken with the girl’s mother earlier that day and had

recommended she send her daughter away in order to remove her from the path of both armies.

The girl refused to leave her mother. Later, seven Union soldiers bound her mother and forced

her to watch as they assaulted the girl so violently she died. 6

In Georgia, Negroes were robbed of their provisions, clothing, and prized possessions by

Union soldiers. Their cabins were rifled and some young men rounded up at bayonet point and

forced from their homes to join the army. 7 Mrs. Chesnut describes a Negro on her father in law’s

plantation who had dressed in his Sunday best to meet the Yankees and intended to leave with

them. Instead of welcoming him with open arms, the soldiers stole a gold watch given to a Negro 4 Davis, pages 141-142.5 Davis, page 43.6 Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut, A Diary from Dixie, ed. Isabella D Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1905), page375. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=5Wl3AAAAMAAJ(accessed April 01, 2013).7 Lunt, November 119, 1864.

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by his master. He returned to the plantation’s kitchen minus his prize possession. “He knew the

Yankees came to rob white people, but he thought they came to save niggers” Mrs. Chesnut

writes in her diary. 8 “Neither side now cares a fig for these beloved negroes, and would send

them all to heaven in a hand-basket, as Custis Lee says, to win in the fight.”9

Southern slave owners saw the freeing of slaves as a relief; they had been inherited the

expense of their support was a burden after the devastating effect the war had on southern

economy. Mrs. Chesnut states at the close of the war “Better teach the Negroes to stand alone

before you break up all they leaned on, 0 Yankees!” 10 Many Negroes remained loyal to their

former owners long after they had their freedom, but those that left faced a difficult future.

Yankees were guilty of prejudice against the black man also, and Mrs. Chesnut writes" The black

man must go as the red man has gone; this is a white man's country."11

In my opinion, even though Sherman’s Total War campaign was very effective in ending

the war, it was unnecessarily cruel and inhumane to Southern women. It did not break the spirits

of these women, only their backs. Both Mrs. Burgess and Mrs. Chesnut felt the dead were the

lucky ones; they had been spared the horrors of war. Life as they knew it ceased to exist for

wealthy southern planters. Many, including Mrs. Chesnut, were homeless and penniless and

would have starved to death if it weren’t for the generosity of friends and neighbors. Despite

their beloved Confederacy’s defeat, with head held high, armed with tenacity and sheer

determination, Mrs. Mary Chesnut and Mrs. Thomas burgess step into a new era.

8 Chesnut, pages 396-397.9 Chesnut, page 22410 Chesnut, page 398.11 Chesnut, page 396.

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total war: an unnecessary evil?

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