C-SPAN Cities Tour - Columbia: The Burning of Columbia

After General William T. Sherman's famous "March to the Sea", he turned his army north. On February 17, 1865, he captured Columbia and destroyed a large portion of the capitol city.
Visit: www.c-span.org/LocalContent/Co...

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Pouring lighter fluid and a match into a rattlesnake nest

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Sherman said “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it.” He burned Columbia SC in revenge for that state starting the war. He outran his supply lines so that his troops would have to forage off the locals. He wanted to see their plantations destroyed, that they would feel the effects of war. He thought that a Union soldier with a musket in one hand and a match in the other on a cold windy night was a good idea.