Random

William Tecumseh Sherman: He’s Back!

By FITSNEWS || There’s a great story up on the website of author J. Mark Powell (a.k.a. the spokesman for S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson) exploring the controversy raging over a new historical marker erected in Atlanta, Georgia. The controversial new marker pays homage to U.S. army general William Tecumseh Sherman…

By FITSNEWS || There’s a great story up on the website of author J. Mark Powell (a.k.a. the spokesman for S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson) exploring the controversy raging over a new historical marker erected in Atlanta, Georgia.

The controversial new marker pays homage to U.S. army general William Tecumseh Sherman and specifically his “March to the Sea” – six brutal weeks in late 1864 during which more than 60,000 U.S. troops laid waste to broad swaths of Georgia.  From November 15 to December 21, 1864, Sherman’s army cut a path of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah – three hundred miles of scorched earth that stretched sixty miles wide.

By this time the War Between the States was effectively over, with Sherman’s march intended to humble the rebellious Southern states as opposed to achieving any military objective against an enemy force.

And humble them he did – doing an estimated $1.5 billion worth of damage (in today’s dollars), most of it to civilian property.

“War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want,” Sherman famously said of his scorched earth tactics.

“We are not only fighting armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies,” Sherman added in a letter to fellow U.S. general Henry W. Halleck at the conclusion of his march. “I know that this recent movement of mine through Georgia has had a wonderful effect in this respect. Thousands who had been deceived by their lying papers into the belief that we were being whipped all the time, realized the truth, and have no appetite for a repetition of the same experience.”

Anyway, here’s the new marker’s opening line …

On November 15, 1864, during the Civil War, U.S. forces under William T. Sherman set out from Atlanta on the March to the Sea, a military campaign designed to destroy the Confederacy’s ability to wage war and break the will of its people to resist.

Okay … we’ve got no problem with that sentence.  As Powell says, “most historians agree on that.”

“But then the text veers into historical revisionism,” Powell says, referring to the inclusion of an “explosive line.”

Contrary to popular myth, Sherman’s army primarily destroyed only property used for waging war – railroads, train depots, factories, cotton gins, and warehouses.

Um, really?

At this point Powell introduces his readers to some primary source material which expressly contradicts this marker – and confirms the “popular myth.”

“I have in my personal collection a letter by Jonathan Messenger, a young Massachusetts soldier, written from Savannah on January 21, 1865,” Powell writes.  “Listen to what he told his family about his experience on the March just a few weeks earlier.”

Here’s a picture of Messenger’s letter …

(Click to enlarge)

letter

(Pic: JMarkPowell.com)

And here’s it’s text …

We left Atlanta on the 16th of Nov. had a very pleasant march, it being such nice weather … We distroid every thing, burnt the houses, Barns, Cotton and corn and killed all the hogs, chickens and turkeys to eat and drove off all the cattle mules and horses so there is not much left. Now we want to go through South Carolina and do a little worse there.

“Popular myth,” huh?

Powell says this line is “especially galling.”

“One dictionary describes myth as ‘an invented story, idea, or concept,'” he writes.  “Under this rationale, Southerners at least exaggerated the destruction of private property, and at worst completely fabricated it, just to make Sherman (and through him the North itself) look bad. Casually dismissing widespread wanton destruction of private property with the line ‘contrary to popular myth’ is like blaming the victim of a crime to divert attention from the criminal. And it borders on the same rationale used by people who deny the Holocaust happened.”

This website has stoked controversy in the past by suggesting that Sherman’s Army may not have been entirely responsible for the destruction of Columbia, S.C. in February of 1865, part of the “little worse” in Messenger’s note.

But whoever burned Columbia, there’s no denying the fact that Sherman – in his marches through Georgia and South Carolina – waged “total war” on the people of these states in an effort to destroy not only their will to fight, but also their ability to make a living.

It had nothing to do with winning a war, and everything to do with vengeance – and no amount of government-funded historical revisionism can change that.

Anyway, props to Powell for not only rebuking this attempt to rewrite history – but for sharing evidence in his possession that speaks to the inaccuracy of the would-be “revisionists.”

***

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165 comments

johnq November 20, 2014 at 10:26 am

Too bad they didn’t kill off the dumbfuck traitors in South Carolina. We wouldn’t be stuck with their ignorant racist spawn now.

Reply
Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 10:52 am

FUCK YOU!!!

We are not all racists. Some good non-racist spawn would not exist if they’d done that. You genocidal fucking freak!

Reply
johnq November 20, 2014 at 11:03 am

BOO!

Reply
euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:28 am

FUCK YOU!!!

We are not all racists.

———-
hey! speak for yourself!

Reply
hack November 20, 2014 at 11:00 am

Go fuck yourself and may your car break down on Spruill Ave. at night.

Reply
jaja November 20, 2014 at 11:16 am

What about the veterans of WWI, WWII, Koria, Vietnam, etc.. from South Carolina ? Who is the dumbfuck ignorant racist spawn now?

Reply
Dave Chappelle I'm Rick James November 20, 2014 at 12:09 pm

Where is this “Koria” you speak of? I’ve never heard of it.

Reply
Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:36 pm

your comment is anti human. Take it back ! ” I suggest “

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:28 am

where would be the fun in that?

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Might makes right in DC November 20, 2014 at 10:31 am

DC is just shitting on GA to mark it’s territory. Nothing new here.

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a face in the crowd November 20, 2014 at 11:13 am

And the U.S. Supreme Court just shat on Wilson . . .

Reply
Manray November 20, 2014 at 10:33 am

There is a high price on treason. The Romans would not have left one stone standing upon another, sown the fields with salt, and enslaved all the women and children.

Reply
CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 10:44 am

I believe the founding fathers intended that the people had the right to dissolve their ties with the Union if the Union were to be acting in ways that were counter to the general welfare of the people. Abe Lincoln wiped his ass on state’s rights.

And NO, before anyone says it, I am not defending the practice of slavery. I do defend the right of the people/states to dissolve their ties if they so choose.

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Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 10:56 am

I believe that right existed, but that, for better or worse, it is a right that is … gone with the wind.

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johnq November 20, 2014 at 11:07 am

If only we had let SC secede. Huge mistake not letting the confederate states out of the Union.

We would have them to mow our lawns and clean our houses now instead of Mexicans.

Reply
idcydm November 20, 2014 at 11:20 am

Interesting, you have Mexicans mowing your lawn and cleaning your house. You shouldn’t use the word “We” because I mow my own yard and clean my own house.

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johnq November 20, 2014 at 11:50 am

That’s because you are poor. A typical racist conservative republican in South Carolina, earn $20,000 a year and think you are republican material. Come on over and I’ll let you mow my lawn and clean my house for minimum wage. Sucker! LoL!

idcydm November 20, 2014 at 11:58 am

I’m poor you say and just how did you come to this conclusion johnq?

CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 12:16 pm

Damn, I always thought that was a nice “trailer park” you lived in, man. Those two-car garages aren’t found in the lesser parks.

:-D

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 12:59 pm

Your education shows.

idcydm November 20, 2014 at 1:05 pm

Thank you.

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:16 pm

” White Slave Boy “.

idcydm November 20, 2014 at 1:18 pm

I see you’re still in the wrong pew.

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:34 pm

yep. so what ?

CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 12:18 pm

Somehow, I don’t think he really needs the extra cash. Also, he has quite enough to do which keeps him busy at his own place.

idcydm November 20, 2014 at 12:23 pm

Notice how his “LoL”, upper case “L” lower case “o” upper case “L”, is a symbol of his head up his ass.

Victoria November 20, 2014 at 12:37 pm

Just keep the wife fed.

idcydm November 20, 2014 at 12:43 pm

???

Hipporcritter November 20, 2014 at 3:34 pm

Weren’t you the guy that moved down from Ohio and was bitching about you not being able to find a job, but you love the pot?

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:40 pm

That could be true. Your lawn is in SC ?

Reply
shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 11:53 am

We are the united “STATES” — I believe that a state has the right to become independent , although it would be inconvenient and chaotic, just like getting a divorce…

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:33 am

If you have 4 million, and your wife takes half, you still have 2 million….

but if you have.. oh.. say 15 dollars.. you’ll have to kill the bitch!

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easterndumbfuckistan November 20, 2014 at 12:04 pm

The right existed and still exists however it is a right denied by the “powerful” Lincoln committed treason against The States in his prosecution of the War of Northern Aggression. The right is spelled out in the Declaration of Independence which is the foundation document of the United State of America and which predates and supersedes The Constitution.

Declaration of Independence: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The Supreme Court declared in 1897, the Constitution is the body and letter of which the Declaration of Independence is the thought and the spirit, and it is always safe to read the letter of the Constitution in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence.

Samuel Adam: “Before the formation of this Constitution…this Declaration of Independence was received and ratified by all the States in the Union and has NEVER been disannuled.”

Reply
Torch November 20, 2014 at 3:06 pm

I’m glad you got the name right. It was the War of Northern Aggression. Nothing civil about it.

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Edmund Ruffin November 20, 2014 at 7:27 pm

The Southern Struggle to Sustain Slavery

Seen Your Kind Before November 20, 2014 at 6:41 pm

At the time of secession,60% of the “people” in South Carolina were Black slaves.(I mean you being opposed to slavery and all I presume the slaves counted as “people” right?)

No one askedthem how they felt about “secession”(nor the majority of White people for that matter)

“Secession” was done by a very small group of Bourbon White planters.

Your whole premise thus is faulty.There is NO evidence that the “people ” of South Carolina ever favored “secession.”

Try some other tact Neo Confederate.

Reply
Buz Martin November 21, 2014 at 9:38 am

There is truth to this. Here in Horry, where there were only a few plantations and not nearly as many slaves (not all slaves were on plantations, some were on small farms, etc.) as in neighboring Georgetown County, their was fierce opposition to secession. The county, after all, considered itself to be an “Independent Republic.” But when the war started, a great many men signed up to defend hearth and home. Then a great many of them deserted. lol Not making this up. Some of them would hide in the woods in the daytime, close to home, sneaking in to get a good meal and some tang from their wives at night, then back out into the woods before the break of dawn. A lot of them raided nearby farms for food to feed their families, since they could not take care of all their chores at home — for fear of getting caught. Traitors? Depends on how you look at it. They were still defending hearth and home, and to them that was far more important than anything else.

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Soft Sigh from Hell November 20, 2014 at 7:25 pm

Heck, they did that to Carthaginians who merely competed with them and were in no way traitors.

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lulz November 21, 2014 at 9:15 am

So is that the bar?

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Rocky November 20, 2014 at 10:33 am

Sherman was a great American general who is used as a model even today – look at ISIS. He was the Union Ebola. The Whup-ass Cough. Sherman did more to help teach the South a lesson they are still learning from. The complaint about his maching through the state. There was no state. It was a territory of a combantant nation. Crying about Sherman’s march from Savannah to Columbia is like crying about the American march through the Rhineland down to Munich.

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johnq November 20, 2014 at 11:11 am

Exactly! Traitors got just what they deserved!

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CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 10:42 am

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN: HE’S BACK!

… like a gigantic herpes lesion on the genitals of the Confederacy!

Reply
Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 10:54 am

He was one evil son of a bitch. His men literally raped, pillaged and burned, everywhere they went. In his own way, he was as much of a monster as Christopher Columbus.

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Soft Sigh from Hell November 20, 2014 at 7:19 pm

That certainly is not the record I have read for his time in the Pee Dee region, with even half-reluctant quotes from the time that the women were treated decently. It was in a well-known serious history of the region though I forget the title. They claimed only one civilian was shot, and that in reprisal for an ambush on a small group of troops by civilians, and after warnings of what such attacks would precipitate. I was quite surprised by the account.

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Buz Martin November 21, 2014 at 9:27 am

Try reading the journals of women in the path of Sherman’s march. I like to go to original sources, rather than just relying on “serious histories”, because they are only as good as their sources, and many are highly biased one way or the other.

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Joe Dokes November 20, 2014 at 11:04 am

Where’s WT when we need him? Time to clean out the shuffle-buts in SC statehouse one mo time!

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The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 11:19 am

Revisionist history – nothing new here, move along.

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Tazmaniac November 20, 2014 at 5:09 pm

” but “… it is mercy in the end.”-Major Henry Hitchcock

Isn’t it odd how treacherous, murderous, A-holes always want the recipients of their evil acts to know that it is for their own good?

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The Colonel November 21, 2014 at 9:40 am

Kind of like saying Ray Rice saying “…this will hurt me more than it hurts you…”

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Tazmaniac November 21, 2014 at 9:51 am

LOL, I used to tell my Dad that if it was going to hurt him worse, I cared to much about him to see him hurt. Used to get a laugh and sometimes off the hook. Are you familiar with the Doc film I was referencing? I may not have it perfect verbatim, but I’m in the neighborhood.

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Soft Sigh from Hell November 20, 2014 at 7:23 pm

Destroying a region or nation’s ability to wage war is inherently less cruel than having to kill every last one of her sons on the battlefield. If Sherman was evil so were our WWII (and later) strategic bombing campaigns.

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Captain Obvious November 20, 2014 at 7:46 pm

It’s all evil. There is no such thing as a “Just war”. It’s a unicorn.

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The Colonel November 21, 2014 at 9:45 am

No such thing as Unicorns – I dunno…. http://www.today.com/video/today/50054562#50054562

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Philip Branton November 20, 2014 at 11:25 am

LOL…….

“…Thousands who had been deceived by their lying papers into the belief that we were being whipped all the time, realized the truth, and have no appetite for a repetition of the same experience.”…..

Funny how all those Lying PAPERS ……..survived the WAR and are doing such a great job in the REAL ESTATE development business…!!!

We wonder just how many EDITORS were hanged..? We wonder just how many Editors were visited and asked to report the TRUTH…?

LOL…..we wonder just how many editors across the NATION during the Civil War had a clue about the British Empires “cotton plantation counter” offensive that was getting ready to KILL an economy on top of the Boll Weevil…?

Funny how Fits is ………..”lying” to his readers with this article..!!!

Ya know………if General Sherman were alive today, he would personally drive to Wil Folks house and set up shop in his garage and print out a huge BAT using a 3D printer and beat the ever living guts out of him…!!! General Sherman would then upload a video of the “Fake beating” onto youtube and DARE all Fitsnews readers to call SPAWAR Atlantic and ask how 3D Printing will be used to transform SC-DOT, SC-Dept of Ed, SC-Dept of “Energy”, and the entire southeast Building CODES….!!! General Sherman would then drop his pants and piss on a picture of Nikki Haley and Jenny Sanford and Liz Gunn and bold FACE dare any woman in our state to ask their husbands if they are gonna send their kids and grandkids to DIE for fossil OIL…!!! Before leaving the Wil Folks GARAGE……he will look deep into a video camera and look at every editor across our state and do a ‘Clubber Lang” rendition of PAIN…!!! General Sherman would then proceed to open his bible pulled out of his right breast pocket and read a scripture from EXODUS and curse SEACOAST Church. As a last act, General Sherman would then spit on his bible before pulling the “Art of War” out of his left breast pocket and reading a scripture with a huge smile. He would look into the camera and kneel down on a carpet looking to Mecca and ask a Taliban “investor” just how much profit from black market OIL they have invested in 3D printing industries..? He would smile and look very humble and declare……….

“…..I don’t need a stinking TANK…..I don’t KNEED a Drone……….I don’t KNEED an IED…………..your already surrounded by my FITSNEWS “awareness army” and you are in a city called JERICHO…!!! Wanna see me print a RAM’s HORN…!!!? My march through your world will be like my last MARCH through TARA…!!!! I Love your men that are willing to DIE…..just wait til I tell them what they can WIN fighting for ME…!! You weenies..!! ”

{ Boomerang 507, 908….NSA 3D Mario Kart……..Homeland Security Border Fence CAD filter………..State Department Hillary Noose…………CIA agent China Flush……….US AID contract “composer”………….Post and Courier ink barrel fire pit………….AFN troop apology………….GAZA Temple Mount 3D replica……..}

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TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 12:02 pm

William Tecumseh Sherman opposed the development of sustainable energy sources and supported wars for oil.

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Rocky November 20, 2014 at 12:24 pm

He also supported land re-distribution and gave away all the land from Ashley River to Savannah River from the coast inland 30 miles to undeserving slave families.

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Philip Branton November 20, 2014 at 12:31 pm

Hmm………yes, Sherman would also require BOEING to pay some trailer Park residents a certain percentage of “royalty” for paying rent for decades to a trailer park OWNER who made millions on knowledge of a certain manufacturer moving to Charleston before anyone else did..!! Just for positive PR that regular advertising cannot BUY…!!

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Philip Branton November 20, 2014 at 12:28 pm

TONTO……that is why when he rises AGAIN that he will see the errors of his ways that result in what you and I and Wil Folks witness happening in the Middle East today..!!

Bravo…. + 75 points and a Sherman Solar Panel dealer outlet..!!

Reply
USAPO November 20, 2014 at 12:51 pm

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04022 04022 65795 65795 63699 63699 75494 75494 27113 27113 80431 80431 64559 64559 88391 88391 55111 55111 04232 04232

94571 94571 16108 16108 54769 54769 22363 22363 57267 57267 00473 00473 04415 04415 84529 84529 48108 48108 78257 78257

35750 35750 00125 00125 00972 00972 93238 93238 64992 64992 26438 26438 21189 21189 07732 07732 86970 86970 41073 41073

66933 66933 66770 66770 50246 50246 46424 46424 38644 38644 65703 65703 78450 78450 83540 83540 11965 11965 05537 05537

52013 52013 47316 47316 70356 70356 08017 08017 05198 05198 52850 52850 32733 32733 48057 48057 92573 92573 28092 28092

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04285 04285 98545 98545 45667 45667 93307 93307 89293 89293 71254 71254 11866 11866 75828 75828 88178 88178 09520 09520

50685 50685 06968 06968 96858 96858 64049 64049 92490 92490 83954 83954 94863 94863 94473 94473 91415 91415 78605 78605

99132 99132 02286 02286 35966 35966 70494 70494 26640 26640 04531 04531 91108 91108 93350 93350 22759 22759 25047 25047

43325 43325 70480 70480 17455 17455 02114 02114 38097 38097 87095 87095 70293 70293 16126 16126 21448 21448 61963 61963

51151 51151 63751 63751 93326 93326 32975 32975 59964 59964 97770 97770 49281 49281 75247 75247 35139 35139 18632 18632

20320 20320 53244 53244 05033 05033 97922 97922 48038 48038 54522 54522 19480 19480 70414 70414 87957 87957 38298 38298

67236 67236 13390 13390 87356 87356 47911 47911 23899 23899 22741 22741 78572 78572 60094 60094 26927 26927 29191 29191

19948 19948 80098 80098 07838 07838 99141 99141 92233 92233 99877 99877 52352 52352 75256 75256 41706 41706 40313 40313

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44102 44102 99870 99870 20899 20899 05744 05744 32309 32309 05564 05564 59870 59870 09832 09832 95878 95878 64883 64883

58778 58778 43222 43222 40261 40261 90977 90977 74673 74673 52360 52360 50760 50760 54182 54182 35043 35043 69885 69885

10637 10637 24575 24575 35391 35391 65522 65522 03354 03354 55063 55063 05265 05265 78539 78539 17813 17813 46367 46367

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TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 1:14 pm

@USAPO

How DARE you publish John Nash’s secret bottom fishing coordinates. TBG’s strawberry grouper hole is in there, dammit!

Reply
Philip Branton November 20, 2014 at 1:39 pm

BRAVO……bravo…bravo…!!!! (Fist poundzzz…!!! )

Answer: “3”

+ 125 points and a Russell Crowe fanny pack…..

Dear Chief Opasu ( Chief of the First Nations Tribe in Oklahoma )…

When you rode out to spit with Josey Wales were you not stunned to realize just how many little indians profited from OIL after the “Trail of TEARS”……..dare to compare how certain information was shared before the CIVIL WaR..?

{Boomerang 101……..Facebook Sherman and Sitting Bull……Instagram a Langley Cube photo…….Snapchat a Djibouti Khat pilot…. }

Reply
shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 1:54 pm

Don’t know about anyone else, but to me that comment just doesn’t add up…..

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shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 2:05 pm

If I can remember tonight, I’ll prepare a math trick you can use to amaze your family and friends. It’ll make you look like a genius. Also good for winning beers!

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Beam me up! November 20, 2014 at 3:41 pm

It’s aliens telling Branton where to go to be picked up so he can report back in full on the human race.

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shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 7:42 pm

OK, but I think I missed that movie…

CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 3:18 pm

.–
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….
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..-.
..-
-.-.
-.-

..


….
..


….
..

..–..

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USAPO November 20, 2014 at 4:15 pm

…. .- …- . / -.– — ..- / . …- . .-. / …. . .- .-. -.. / — ..-. / .- / -. ..- — -… . .-. … / … – .- – .. — -. ..–..

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CorruptionInColumbia November 20, 2014 at 4:37 pm

Oh yeah! Used to listen to them from time to time but that has been some time ago. I kinda wondered if that wasn’t what you were doing.

mamatiger92 November 20, 2014 at 11:27 am

Good. Columbia could stand to be burned down again.

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Godslayer November 20, 2014 at 11:47 am

Too bad he didn’t finish the job the first time. Then Charleston could assume its rightful place as capital.

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 12:44 pm

Here Here. Thanks for the comment.

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tomstickler November 20, 2014 at 11:30 am

For the perspective of someone who has actually served in the US Army, and has taught military history:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Remembering-Shermans-March-To-The-Sea

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CNSYD November 20, 2014 at 2:23 pm

As was made clear at Wannsee, Hitler publicly stated that wiping out the Jews was not his plan and he would continue to say that as the furnaces of the death camps burned day and night. So Sherman issued his order so he could have deniability later for the actions of his soldiers.

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 5:12 pm

so he could have deniability later for the actions of his soldiers.
——–
… one of the reasons we went to war in Iraq….the main reason we went to war in Iraq..

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Buz Martin November 21, 2014 at 9:44 am

Good point. The public pronouncements of these historical figures and even actions that they undertake publicly were often all about making them look good and, as you say having plausible deniability.

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 5:10 pm

well, with Republicans in charge, you’ll have that… Abu Graib, rapes, shooting pregnant women in speeding cabs on their way to the hospital at checkpoints marked in English.

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Smirks November 20, 2014 at 11:46 am

Contrary to popular myth, Sherman’s army primarily destroyed only property used for waging war – railroads, train depots, factories, cotton gins, and warehouses.

Ah yes, the deadly cotton gin.

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TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 11:55 am

Ah yes, the deadly cotton gin.

Saddam hid all his in Syria. Now ISIS has them, leaving us no choice…..

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Smirks November 20, 2014 at 1:16 pm

Weapons of mass production, man.

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:19 pm

Hell yea, we gotta go kill’em bastards in Iraq, them ISIS fuckers. Shit, many WMD’s have been found !!! NUKE the middle east and get back to your stat sheet, please.

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The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 1:27 pm

Arsenal of Democracy – whether you want democracy or not…

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 2:09 pm

???

TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 4:47 pm

Ginning up a casus belli

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 5:01 pm

If you want to keep your current source of income, you can keep your current source of income.

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Pass the gin November 21, 2014 at 9:12 am

“If you want to keep your current source of income, you can keep your current source of income”

That’s the dirty little secret of the cotton gin. If it wasn’t invented, slave owners couldn’t have afforded to have slaves picking cotton as it wouldn’t have been profitable.

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The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 12:31 pm

The primary source of income for the South was cotton. According to JP-1 “Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States”:
“A strong economy with free access to global markets and resources is a fundamental engine of the general welfare, the enabler of a strong national defense.”

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Dave Chappelle I'm Rick James November 20, 2014 at 1:13 pm

Originally dated 2 May 2007.

Pretty sure he can’t defend by saying he was following the “regs.”

But I get your point.

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The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 1:29 pm

Current version is 25 March 2013. http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp1.pdf

I was perusing it for a little light reading last night, trying to cure terminal insomnia…

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Dave Chappelle I'm Rick James November 20, 2014 at 3:14 pm

Haha. I hear ya.

Two cures to insomnia: Reading (1) Army Pubs; (2) Your mortgage.

TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 4:51 pm

Two cures to insomnia: Reading (1) Army Pubs; (2) Your mortgage.

TBG’s amortization schedule caused insomnia.

The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 5:24 pm

“TBG’s amortization schedule caused insomnia.”

Mine too. That’s why I’ve never actually read my mortgage – I need my sleep. What I don’t know can’t hurt me – right?

RHood2 November 20, 2014 at 1:21 pm

It is more basic than the South’w primary income. Union blockades pretty much eliminated that during the war. You need ginned cotton to make army uniforms. You need pigs and cattle and grain to feed an army. Sorry, bulk of what is listed has military uses. Rape and pillage? Let us see the letters attesting to that.

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 1:56 pm

U joking right ? Mr. Frag. I do hope you enjoy your SC residence. Hope you have no problems with the facts of history in SC. Deo !

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The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 2:38 pm

Joking about what Deo?

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 2:48 pm

The person that you are ? I say you not refer to the military as who you are. I would leave you alone. When you use military acronyms as your person of who you are, we have a problem. Using the term ” Colonel ” is not right, and may be fine for your women folk, but in SC ? It is a dis-honor to all vets that FOUGHT in wars of the US,.

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 3:07 pm

Do you read ? Colonel ?

The Colonel November 20, 2014 at 5:34 pm

If you’re asking me if I read, the answer is yes, frequently.

My nickname was “The Colonel” back when I was a PFC. It came as a result of my propensity to take over even in the presence of more senior Soldiers. It’s been my “handle” for a lot longer than I’ve actually been one. If it bothers you get over it or die mad. I retire in just over 6 months but I’ll probably not change it. Other that to add a (R) after it or I might decide to call myself Da Mihi Asinum.

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 6:58 pm

Pull the pin and get over it ! You are no Colonel or commander in any way.

Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 4:45 pm

“Colonel” is not an acronym, for Jesus sake. It’s a title of rank.

It is also a popular given name in the South. Not as common now as it was a couple of centuries back, but it’s a name that is still passed down from generation to generation in some families. A “Colonel” can also be a professional auctioneer.

Hell, let “The Colonel” call himself anything he he wants too. Why do you even give a fuck?

TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 4:53 pm

True dat, Cap’n.

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 7:00 pm

Because he is a Dick ?

Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 7:02 pm

get over it Buzz

euwe max November 20, 2014 at 5:00 pm

Republicans raping? You must be joking!

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 4:56 pm

If only outhouses could be converted into cotton gins, they could have put a man on the moon without us.

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TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 11:58 am

William Tecumseh Sherman = War Criminal.

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easterndumbfuckistan November 20, 2014 at 12:05 pm

William Tecumseh Sherman committed High Treason by prosecuting Lincoln’s illegal war against the States.

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Rocky November 20, 2014 at 12:21 pm

They weren’t states. They were an enemy combatant territory. Just like Anbar.

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easterndumbfuckistan November 20, 2014 at 12:25 pm

No! They were states. In order to be enemy combatant territory the North would have had to recognize the secession, which they did not. They continued to refer to them as States in Rebellion thus they were STATES and entitled to all protections and rights of a state.

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TontoBubbaGoldstein November 20, 2014 at 1:02 pm

@ easterndumbfuckistan.

TBG politely suggests that now might be a good time to invoke “TBG’s Rule # 3”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mj6B4DtNyM

euwe max November 20, 2014 at 4:55 pm

It also applies to a drunk who walks into a bar looking for a fight, and 5 dudes twice his size stand up sober.

Rocky November 20, 2014 at 4:17 pm

Oh, they were “states” when it meant they couldn’t get their asses kicked, but they were “confederate states” of an independent country when they were all 100s of miles from an army. I see. Pussies.

euwe max November 20, 2014 at 4:52 pm

In order to be enemy combatant territory the North would have had to recognize the secession

——–
So the South really were a bunch of pussies, huh? They couldn’t decide for themselves that killing American soldiers was an act of treason – they needed permission to think that?

The meaning of the word “State” was actually, in their minds… a word that meant they were simply murderers, who defied the rule of law using deadly force instead of legal remedies… if the North recognized them that way? Or like ISIS, were they loosely associated murderers who declared themselves States as an attempt to confer upon themselves the legitimacy of the one true God, and it was their service to Him that gave them that land, and the right to defend it?

easterndumbfuckistan November 20, 2014 at 12:09 pm

William Tecumseh Sherman, brilliant tactician, evil genius, reluctant commander, war criminal, traitor and violator of natural and granted rights.

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Bravo! November 20, 2014 at 3:35 pm

Perfect!

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Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 4:46 pm

That about sums it up.

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:24 am

And the Nazis thought Rommel was a peach!

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Bible Thumper November 20, 2014 at 12:09 pm

After seeing this picture Williams mother sent him a comb…. and razor.

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Grand Tango's Gay Lover November 20, 2014 at 12:23 pm

Sherman’s treason is nothing compared to the lawless treason being forced on the American people tonight by the treasonous Kenyan Hussien Obama who is giving amnesty and precious citizenship to millions of lawbreaking invaders tonight with his Executive Order. Even Sherman would revolt against this lawless act.

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Diddledeeshit November 20, 2014 at 12:27 pm

The “Article” was published in last Sunday’s “The State” — can we get fresher news (this is Thursday)?

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 12:35 pm

Many voters in SC don’t have time to vote. We have to work as much as possible to pay taxes and bills. The outcome from voting is always the same.

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idcydm November 20, 2014 at 12:37 pm

You in the right pew?

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 12:43 pm

No. I’m a white slave, you ?

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shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 12:43 pm

The bridge at Riverbanks Zoo has memorial bricks. Does the brick that reads “W T SHERMAN” still remain there, put there by a grandson/great grandson who is/was a landscaper in Columbia? I found them one day just out of curiosity.

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Deo Vindice SC November 20, 2014 at 12:45 pm

Nikki has several bricks that lay near Sherman, did you know that ?

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Soft Sigh from Hell November 20, 2014 at 7:35 pm

I’ve seen that brick several times. I’ve also read that he had an old acquaintance in Columbia who he visited while he was here.

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iclaudious November 20, 2014 at 12:45 pm

Sherman was a homophobic,bigoted,white supremicist,racist, mass-murderer who deserves to be tried as a vicious war criminal posthumously. ..

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 2:07 pm

He hated politics and rebuffed all attempts to draft him as a candidate for the Republican Party. “If nominated I will not accept. If elected I will not serve,” he said. In 1891, he died of pneumonia at 71.

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Halfvast Conspirator November 20, 2014 at 2:09 pm

Other than that he seemed like a nice guy

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Buz Martin November 21, 2014 at 9:30 am

His mother spoke highly of him.

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:31 am

was high when she spoke of him

fixed it.

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Bushie November 20, 2014 at 2:18 pm

so you’re saying he was a good repulblican

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SCBlueWoman November 20, 2014 at 1:00 pm

War is Hell.

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 2:04 pm

“I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.”
—William Tecumseh Sherman

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Curious November 21, 2014 at 9:14 am

Just curious, was this quote before or after the war?

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 10:22 am

oh… I’m sorry… is the war over?

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Mark J November 20, 2014 at 1:30 pm

The very definition of evil.

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shifty henry November 20, 2014 at 1:47 pm

CAPTION: Hmmm — so that’s what chitlins’ taste like..!!

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 2:01 pm

CAPTION:

…there it is… I think I’m cool… how will I know… what did they say… 30 seconds? Or was it 30 minutes? … Oh GOD! don’t let it be 30 minutes! .. wait… what would be so bad about 30 minutes? I’m comfortable in my own head.. I guess what was making me anxious is waiting for something that is unknown in every respect… if I was waiting at the dentist’s office, I’d know what to expect… I’d know what I was waiting for… but if I was at the dentist’s office, there’d at least be something to read.. hey! I’ve got plenty to read right here! NONSENSE! Waiting at the dentist’s office is just like this.. life itself is like this… because this *is* life! Whether we are doing something or not, aren’t we always waiting for the unknown in every respect? No matter how… .oh.. hey.. is this normal? Do I think like this at the dent… consarn it! to HELL with the dentist’s office! … am I creating this, or observing it? ..

Thank god that’s over. You couldn’t pay me enough to sit for another picture!

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm

Studio portrait of Major General William Tecumseh Sherman in Washington, 1865, by Matthew Brady

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tomstickler November 20, 2014 at 2:45 pm

Glass plate negative, not daguerreotype, thus much shorter exposure.

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 2:59 pm

Thank God for this great American… The apex – the very epitome of Republican achievement – Republicans at their finest! Pity he sickened of his work before it was completed!

Mon, 1865-01-16

On this day in 1865, General William T. Sherman issued a special field order that provided each African American family 40 acres of land and an army mule to work the land.

In the midst of his “March to the Sea” during the Civil War, General Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton met with 20 black community leaders of Savannah, Georgia.

Based partly to their input, Gen. Sherman issued Special Field Order #15 on January 16, 1865, setting aside the Sea Islands and a 330-mile inland tract of land along the southern coast of Charleston for the exclusive settlement of Blacks. This land had been confiscated by the Union Army. Each family would receive 40 acres of land and an army mule to work the land, thus “forty acres and a mule,” a phrase incorporated into the English language for compensation to be awarded to freed African American slaves after the Civil War. The order applied to black families who lived near the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

On a national level, this and other land, confiscated and abandoned, became the jurisdiction of the Freedman’s Bureau, which was headed by Gen. Oliver Otis Howard (Howard University). In his words he wanted to “…give the freedmen protection, land and schools as far and as fast as he can.”

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shifty henry November 21, 2014 at 8:11 am

Where are they now?

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 11:05 am

In hell, one would think.

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shifty henry November 21, 2014 at 12:29 pm

( The order applied to black families who lived near the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.)
I was referring to those folks…..

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euwe max November 21, 2014 at 12:41 pm

oh.. the niggers? They were probably all hanged that night.

shifty henry November 21, 2014 at 12:50 pm

It would be interesting to know how many black families honored their liberator by naming children after him?

euwe max November 21, 2014 at 2:02 pm

I don’t live that far from Sherman here in Texas.. I like to ride down there in an old, rusty green steel pickup with confederate flags flying from the corners of the bed.

shifty henry November 21, 2014 at 10:00 pm

From curiosity I looked up Sherman, Tx on Wiki — that town has some kind of history!

euwe max November 22, 2014 at 5:24 pm

Many a B Western stole their plot from the riot of 1930.

shifty henry November 23, 2014 at 8:05 am

My great-grandfather was nicknamed “Dallas” after escaping from the jail – and never returning…..

euwe max November 23, 2014 at 9:30 am

More crimes go unsolved than solved

I’d like to produce a tv drama documenting the most daring crimes and how they got away with it.

shifty henry November 23, 2014 at 9:55 am

If you’re interested, I’ll share the tale of how he tracked and killed his father’s murderers (all four of them). As I think about it at this moment perhaps I inherited his avenge/revenge genes.

euwe max November 23, 2014 at 10:10 am

sure.. unless this is another bait-and-switch like your failed drug run ending in the drink.

shifty henry November 23, 2014 at 10:37 am

True history from family documents. I’ll have to refresh my memory by pulling out the records for the full story. Anderson, the leader of the group, was killed in Dallas, TX, and the other three were in the Atlanta, GA area (where Dallas’ father was murdered on his front porch). After the last one was killed Dallas moved his family to Sand Mountain outside Ft. Payne.

euwe max November 20, 2014 at 3:31 pm

The traditional American way of war was developed to defeat regular enemies. It reflects many of the strengths of American society and culture. Alas, one military style does not suit all kinds of warfare equally well. The fit between the traditional “American way,” and the requirements of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, for example, falls far short of perfect. The pertinent question, therefore, is “Can that traditional way of war adapt so as to be effective against irregular enemies?”

General Westmoreland, then Commander of MACV, once famously and characteristically told a press conference that the correct approach to counterinsurgency was “firepower.” It has long been the American way in warfare to send metal in harm’s way in place of vulnerable flesh.

This admirable expression of the country’s machine-mindedness undoubtedly is the single most characteristic feature of American war-making at the sharp end. Needless to say, perhaps, a devotion to firepower, while defensible, indeed necessary, cannot help encouraging the armed forces to rely on it even when other modes of military behavior would be more suitable. In irregular conflicts in particular, heavy and sometimes seemingly indiscriminate, certainly disproportionate, resort to firepower solutions, readily becomes self-defeating.

A focus on firepower as the key to a victory defined in classic military terms produces the attitude that what we do in war is service targets. Instead of being considered in his cultural context, the enemy is reduced to the dehumanized status of the object of U.S. firepower. At its nadir, this characteristic was demonstrated in action in Vietnam with the prevalence of the U.S. artillery’s very extensive practice of conducting unaimed harassment and interdiction fire. A notable fraction of that artillery fire was expended for no better reason than that the ammunition was available in embarrassing abundance.

“Give them all they want:”

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Tom November 20, 2014 at 4:09 pm Reply
RogueElephant November 20, 2014 at 4:16 pm

If we had won the War for Southern Independence I have no doubt Sherman would have been tried for war crimes.

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euwe max November 20, 2014 at 4:22 pm

And if they hadn’t found Bush before he choked to death on that pretzel, we would have had a funnier story to tell than Nixon’s.

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Tazmaniac November 20, 2014 at 4:50 pm

Why is there such a need for revisionism in regards to history? I watched a documentary about him that portrayed him as a loser that became a lapdog to Grant after he gave him another chance knowing he had no problem with destroying the South in an attempt to redeem his career. Sherman was repulsed by blacks and held them in lowest regard so he certainly wasn’t a savior. A massive group of Blacks followed his army and Sherman exploited them at every chance, especially in making them build a pathway through the swamps when he headed North. I don’t remember which river, but he had them build rafts for crossing with the implication they would follow last. When the Army was completely across except for an armed detail, they killed any blacks who tried to board on their departure. The accounts said that many blacks died trying to swim after them they were so desperate. Perhaps our resident historian the Colonel, knows of this film or events?

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Buz Martin November 20, 2014 at 4:56 pm

Ah, fuck that asshole Sherman.

MAXIM has hot pix of TOPANGA from “Boy Meets World”, all growed up!

I just “scene” it on on of the ads.

Will should have a whole spread on this.

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WT Sherman November 20, 2014 at 6:12 pm

Reading all these posts, I just have this to say…
Don’t want none? Don’t start some…

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Bible Thumper November 20, 2014 at 10:12 pm

Sherman while Superintendent at what would become LSU writes to a friend after after South Carolina succession accurately predicting the course of the war.

“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! You people speak so lightly of war; you don’t know what you’re talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it… Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.”

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fred farkel November 23, 2014 at 11:19 pm

Me thinks that all you idiots forget what you fine people of South Carolina did to the poor Africans. Slavery give me break. You deserved everything that Sherman threw at yawl?????

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Dylan Furr February 4, 2015 at 12:17 am

Sherman was a genocidal freak

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