| Stats: |
Union
Casualties: 4,800
Confederate Casualties:
7,188
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Statistical Source: HPS
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(Enlarge Map) |
Sherman turns north: Having seized Savannah, and undeterred
by relentless rain, rugged terrain, or sporadic resistance,
Sherman ordered
his Union armies to move into South Carolina on January
17. They laid waste to much of the state where the rebellion
began and reached its capital, Columbia, in less than
a month. Southerners blamed Sherman for setting Columbia
ablaze, although the fire seems to have begun among cotton
bales lit by retreating rebel cavalry before his army
ever reached the city. In any case, Sherman said, "Though
I never ordered it, and never wished it, I have never
shed any tears over the event, because I believe that
it hastened what we all fought for, the end of the war."
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