Scott W. Owens
Re: Sherman's Purposes
Fri Jun 1 16:49:03 2001


I re-read an article in CWTI about Sherman's passage through Mississippi in February 1864, culminating in the destruction of the depot town of Meridian. In this maneuver Sherman's troops essentially lived off the land, forageing for their supplies from the countryside. However, I found no mention of courthouse or property record destruction as occured later in the year in GA or next year in SC. Neither do I find where other raids (Wilson, etc) made a point of destroying courthouses or property records. Does anybody know of any particular directive Sherman received from Grant or Lincoln to pursue this policy?