Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on Thursday, January 19, 1865 ordered his army on a new march from the Savannah, Georgia area northward into South Carolina. With a goal of reaching Goldsborough, North Carolina by March 15, Sherman expected little, substantive resistance; few effective Confederate forces opposed him. There were simply not enough Confederate troops available to Hardee, Beauregard, or others to stop Sherman’s drive. Adding insult to injury, the demeanor of Sherman’s army also changed as it moved into South Carolina. The state had been the birthplace of the rebellion now nearly four years in the making. Sherman’s troops, the very troops that had destroyed a great swath first across Mississippi and then across Georgia, would now release their wrath on the citizens of the Carolinas.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.