A Barbarous March: The Burning of Columbia, 1865

A Barbarous March: The Burning of Columbia, 1865

In the winter of 1865, General Sherman’s army was burning and plundering its way across South Carolina. On February 17, 1865, his soldiers burned Columbia, the state’s capital city, and many of them admitted that they had. Whitelaw Reid, a Northern journalist, described the occupation, sack, and burning of Columbia as “the most monstrous barbarity of the barbarous march.” This book presents the stories of South Carolina women and men who were eyewitnesses of what took place during that terrible event. Some of these accounts have never been published, and others have not been seen in print since the 19th century. They begin with a woman’s letter of 1865—only recently discovered—full of horrifying details.