We are in the midst of the 148th anniversary of Sherman's march to the sea.

[MRT144]

Well he would be charged with war crimes today. It's the same reason few people are celebratory of the Doolittle Raiders or Second Lieutenant William L. Calley.

But he freed slaves along the way, so I think it evens out.

[Alexander's Horse]

Is Atlanta holding any commemorations?

[regexcellent]

Sherman's march was pretty much a war crime. You shouldn't be celebrating it any more than you should celebrate the Bataan Death March.

edit: huh, multiple people beat me to this. Guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[giblets]

Wouldn't the proper analogy be the destruction of German and Japanese cities during WWII? Except that this didn't involve killing civilians.

[SlowwHand]

Sherman comes through, destroying everything in his path, and burns Atlanta. I'm waiting to hear how that buys good feelings in the South.
"We want to be one, after we kill your civilians, take your livestock, burn your crops and burn down Atlanta." Explain it to me.

[kentonio]

Who gave a **** about 'buying good feelings'? The slave owning scum had just caused a war that ripped America apart, they were due some payback.

[SlowwHand]

And that same attitude exists today, so much time later. Yet you wonder at the audacity of talk of secession again. Nothing has changed. The South is still scum to you.
Real smart.

[regexcellent]

Chill out. Ken's not American. We already seceded from Britain successfully.

[kentonio]

And that same attitude exists today, so much time later. Yet you wonder at the audacity of talk of secession again. Nothing has changed. The South is still scum to you.
Real smart.

Good point, Sherman clearly didn't go far enough. The south retained enough power to ruin reconstruction and condemn blacks to another hundred years of brutal oppression. Next time we need to remember to not stop at Atlanta.

[kentonio]

Chill out. Ken's not American. We already seceded from Britain successfully.

Yeah, couldn't risk us forcing you to stop keeping slaves.

[Al B. Sure!]

Sherman

Gave a taste of justice to the South for their crimes against humanity.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Rather agnostic on the matter as a whole. On the one hand it certainly brought the war to a close in shorter order thus preventing even further blood shed and misery for all involved. (Akin the rationale for Dresden, horishima, Nagasaki). On the other hand those espousing a comeuppance against the south need to realize than when major losses occurr to a region those most likely to be severely affected (ie. unable to survive) are the lower class. (read the very same slaves being liberated).


So a cheer for the end of the war, and a pity for the misery inflicted on the innocents.

[kentonio]

Wish I had a Thanks left for that post.

[DinoDoc]

Who gave a **** about 'buying good feelings'? The slave owning scum had just caused a war that ripped America apart, they were due some payback.

If waging a military operation entirely against the civilian population of an area (as the March was almost completely unopposed by the CSA military) with the stated goal being to make said civilians suffer as much as possible is OK and morally just, Al and yourself owe the Israelis an apology for your arguments against their actions given they are quite mild in comparison.

[kentonio]

If waging a military operation entirely against the civilian population of an area (as the March was almost completely unopposed by the CSA military) with the stated goal being to make said civilians suffer as much as possible is OK and morally just, Al and yourself owe the Israelis an apology for your arguments against their actions given they are quite mild in comparison.

The operation had to happen, that doesn't make the suffering any less sad. It's on a par with the destruction waged across Germany post WW2. Just to avoid any confusion, the sad part is the poor folks who like Ogie said probably took the bulk of the suffering despite not having any real say in events. The actual slaveholders/CS leadership/folks who chose to support the goals of the Confederacy deserved exactly what they got, and probably got let off far too lightly.

Not really sure where you're coming from about Israel though, given that I'm a longtime supporter of the Israelis.