Fort Wechs massacre
1in July, 862, Sherman was appointed commander-in-chief of Memphis Military Region, responsible for attacking Vicksburg, a powerful stronghold of the southern army. Due to insufficient troops, the attack was unsuccessful and the war situation was deadlocked. After that, Grant's big army began to attack. Due to long-term failure and serious casualties, the northern army became angry and began to attack the civilians in the city. Grant ordered the destruction of all targets in Wilksburg! Hundreds of heavy artillery shells bombed the military facilities and houses in the city for months, blowing all the buildings in Wilksburg to powder, and countless innocent civilians were blown to pieces. 1In July, 863, the Union Army occupied the strategic location of Wilksburg. Thousands of civilians died of hunger and slaughter caused by a year-long siege.
Atlanta has become a hell on earth.
The famous words of American Civil War hero General Sherman;
"I just want Georgia to cry! I just want to turn Georgia into hell! I just want all Georgians-men, women, children, poor and rich-to feel the unforgettable pain! My legion will soon destroy Georgia. " If people think I am cruel, I will tell them that war is war, and the purpose of war is not to win people's favor! War is hell! If you want to stop all this and want peace, you and your relatives should lay down their weapons and stop this battlefield! "
/kloc-in the autumn of 0/864, Major General Sherman was appointed as the highest commander of the Western Corps, led 65,438+10,000 federal troops and 254 cannons, defeated joe johnston and john hood of the Southern Army, and invaded Georgia. /kloc-in September, he occupied Atlanta, an important city in the south, without any resistance.
After the occupation, Sherman issued an announcement to local residents, demanding that all militiamen lay down their weapons and all citizens leave the city. Later, before they left in June of 5438+0 1 year, they ordered the northern army to set fire to the city. Thousands of old people and women resolutely refused to leave to prevent federal troops from burning Atlanta. They think that as long as they are in the city, the federal army will not set fire to their lives. But they are so naive! When the federal officers and men were ready to set fire, old people and women knelt on the ground, grabbed the thighs of the federal soldiers, cried and screamed loudly, and begged the soldiers to forgive their cities and homes, but the soldiers drove them away and set fire to the streets of the city.
The fire quickly spread to the whole city, and the Union soldiers left the city safely and timely, regardless of the elderly and women. Thousands of poor old people and women struggled desperately, screamed and trampled on each other in front of the overwhelming fire, and no one could escape from the fire. At the same time, the federal army severely warned Atlanta residents who had evacuated the city that anyone who tried to put out the fire would be killed! The fire lasted for half a month. At night, the raging fire is as high as 100 meter, burning the whole empty sky like during the day. You can see the red sky 20 miles away from Atlanta. During the day, smoke from the whole city covered the sky, making the 200-square-mile area around Atlanta look like night. Outside the city, countless frightened and desperate Atlanta residents watched their cities, homes and relatives being ruthlessly swallowed up by the fire, breaking their hearts and crying. Pastors in Atlanta stood silently in front of the burning city, facing the burning sky in despair.
General Sherman kept his promise-"I just want the whole state of Georgia to cry! I just want Georgia to be a hell on earth! I just want all Georgians-men, women, children, poor and rich-to feel the unforgettable pain! My legion will soon destroy Georgia! "
Atlanta, once the most prosperous and beautiful city in the south, disappeared after the disaster, and everything was in ruins, leaving only one street to survive. This street has now become a historical symbol of Atlanta. It is called the underground street. The whole street is underground and can only be reached by elevator. In other words, now the whole Atlanta is built on the original ruins! The ancient city was completely destroyed and buried underground.
"Burnout" policy
General Sherman famously said, "We must remove and destroy all obstacles. As long as we think it is necessary, we will kill everyone, take away every inch of land and confiscate every property. " In a word,-ruthlessly destroyed everything we saw. '
In Sherman's view, the attack on ordinary people in the south must be as thorough as the attack on the armed forces. Since Atlanta, although the situation of the northern army led by General Sherman has been quite stable, in order to completely scare off the south, he ordered the army to burn down the houses they met and kill all the animals and people who resisted. 1864165438+10, Sherman's army left Atlanta and began a year-long large-scale anti-human movement in the south.
Sherman's troops went straight to Savannah, 60 miles ahead of the sea. Almost leveled the passing place like a roller, and everything on the ground was completely destroyed.
While advancing all the way, his army completely destroyed all materials and facilities, robbed civilians of food and property, killed rebellious civilians, burned farmland, bombed villages, blocked wells with lime, destroyed railways, robbed and expelled one town after another, and burned one town after another. Sherman's troops haven't arrived yet, and you can see the fire more than ten miles away. When Sherman's troops left, only charred soil and a few isolated telephone poles were smoking.
1864 On February 23rd, Sherman occupied the famous southern port city of Savannah and sent a telegram to President Lincoln, saying it was a Christmas gift for him. After that, the whole city was set on fire, leaving no tiles.
At the beginning of 1865, Sherman's army invaded Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, and set fire to all the residential buildings and public facilities in the city, leaving only the buildings of the University of South Carolina and administrative institutions. It is impossible to calculate how many civilians were killed in the fire.
After that, General Sherman's army began a journey south, burning all the way to Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston resisted stubbornly. Sherman slaughtered Charleston with hundreds of heavy machine guns, and tens of thousands of civilians were killed by gunfire. General Sherman occupied Charleston, which was in ruins. In this way, a city that has become a ruin, Sherman's army did not let go, and as always, it ignited a fire. In the suburbs of Charleston, there are still piles of black ruins burned by the union army.
The most serious loss was Confederate President Davis. Before the civil war, the state ranked fifth in the national wealth list. During the civil war, 60% of white youths were killed, 90% of towns and plantations were reduced to ashes, and the private property of civilians was completely lost. After the war, Mississippi not only ranked first in the poorest state in the United States, but also lasted for a century.
According to today's value, Sherman's mopping-up caused $2 trillion in property losses in the southern United States. Thousands of civilians died directly from the famine caused by Sherman's looting, and millions of people became refugees. I'm afraid I've never seen such atrocities against western civilians since the Thirty Years' War. At that time, Confederate President Davis called it "Attila of America". Sherman's behavior completely broke the boundaries of the old war, and he extended the war to everyone. /kloc-for more than 0/00 years, the descendants of southerners in the United States have been bitter about Sherman's sweeping, which has been passed down from generation to generation. Most of the officers and men killed in the American Civil War were buried, but the burial specifications were quite different. It is said that the bones of the Union Army were buried by the federal government, and a monument was built to commemorate and engrave the names and dates of the dead. Confederate troops were regarded as rebels, their bodies were buried underground, and no one erected a monument.
The end of general Sherman
Sherman was promoted to lieutenant general on 1866 and to general three years later. As Grant's own team, he always accompanied him. He took over as Commander-in-Chief of the American Western Military Region, and later as Commander-in-Chief of Grant's Army, and retired in 1884. He died in 189 1 at the age of 7 1.
Sherman has never expressed regret, apology or even regret for his behavior in the South. Before he died, he said, "I have nothing to repent and apologize for." What I have done is worthy of my conscience. "Many Americans support Sherman's sweeping." Sherman's method is completely correct. The only way to end this war is to make it terrible and unbearable for the enemy. "As for why General Sherman and his officers and men have such a hard heart that they can slaughter the people in the south, General Sherman revealed the secret in one sentence:" I just want southerners and their descendants to learn unforgettable lessons and never be independent again! Never dare to resort to war! "-he did it.