Alan J. Pitts
Re: Sherman's Army near New Market, Al
Tue May 22 13:04:44 2001


During the first week in November 1863 Sherman's army passed through this area on their way from Eastport, MS to Chattanooga. For logistical reasons they followed the railroad, which led through Huntsville, no New Market is a little further north than that. Many local instances of what our ancestors properly termed 'outrages can be found in "The Sword of 'Bushwhacker' Johnston". Here's a library citation for that:

Johnston, Milus E. The Sword of "Bushwhacker" Johnston. [Ed. by Charles S. Rice]. Huntsville, AL: Flint River Pr, 1992. 227 p. E581.6M43J65.1992.

Just in the Official Reports there's plenty to be found. Sherman's attitude toward Southerners is particularly telling. Here are a couple of quotes that appear on several websites:

"There is a class of people (in the South), men, women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order."

--- General William T. Sherman

"Next year their lands will be taken, for in war we can take them, and rightfully too, and another year they may beg in vain for their lives. A people who will persevere in war beyond a certain limit ought to know the consequences. Many many people, with less pertinacity than the South, have been wiped out of national existence. To those who submit to the rightful law and authority, all gentleness and forbearance; but to the petulant and persistent secessionist, why, death is mercy, and the quicker he or she is disposed of the better."

--- General William T. Sherman

My grandmother said she had family in New Market, so I'm sympathetic to their situation during and after the war.