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Re: Southern Towns Destroyed
In Response To: Re: Southern Towns Destroyed ()

Check this out: "Was Nathan Bedford Forrest the Reason Palmyra (TN) was Burned"? by Iby Dimwit, Certified GenealogistSM.
Okay, it is not her real name. And she came to this conclusion even though she had a pretty even hand at describing the circumstances that lead to the torching. It does not look like this website has been updated since 2008, but I sent a reply via the webmaster and explained that Palmyra was built on bluffs over looking the Cumberland River and so it was an ideal tactical place for Confederates to fire down on Yankee gunboats--who could not fire back. Sort of like Yankee gunboats firing on civilians homes when they could not fire back. I told them their logic was as absurd as blaming civilians in Mosul, Syria for the raping and pillaging by ISIS because Kurdish soldiers had dared to shoot at them. We have been through this type of discussion many times on CWNV in years past. The usual response by Yankees, even the ones I call friends, is this is just what we should expect in war. And burning crops, killing livestock (for sport) and razing churches, courthouses and homes was necessary to save lives and end the war. BTW, Palmyra, TN was burned on 5 April 1863. For a complete unbiased description, see Fort Donelson's Legacy (p. 227) by Benjamin Franklin Cooling.

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Southern Towns Destroyed
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