Major General William T. Sherman's march from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, was marked by a battle with an unrelenting enemy: the swamps of the Palmetto State. For more than two weeks, Sherman's veterans faced an unforgiving quagmire, coupled by daily skirmishes with gallant bands of outnumbered Confederates. Along the way, a ruined countryside and wrecked towns marked the path of an army unlike any "since the days of Julius Caesar." It would take an army as adept with the axe as they were with the rifle to tame the rivers, tributaries and swamps of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Join historian Chris Crabb as he traces the steps of Sherman's sixty-thousand-man army in its "amphibious march" from Beaufort to Columbia.

Major General William T. Sherman's march from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, was marked by a battle with an unrelenting enemy: the swamps of the Palmetto State. For more than two weeks, Sherman's veterans faced an unforgiving quagmire, coupled by daily skirmishes with gallant bands of outnumbered Confederates. Along the way, a ruined countryside and wrecked towns marked the path of an army unlike any "since the days of Julius Caesar." It would take an army as adept with the axe as they were with the rifle to tame the rivers, tributaries and swamps of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Join historian Chris Crabb as he traces the steps of Sherman's sixty-thousand-man army in its "amphibious march" from Beaufort to Columbia.

Documents General William Tecumseh Sherman's three month march through North and South Carolina during the Civil War and the effect upon the local populations.

An investigation into who burned South Carolina's capital in 1865 Who burned South Carolina's capital city on February 17, 1865? Even before the embers had finished smoldering, Confederates and Federals accused each other of starting the blaze, igniting a controversy that has raged for more than a century. Marion B. Lucas sifts through official reports, newspapers, and eyewitness accounts, and the evidence he amasses debunks many of the myths surrounding the tragedy. Rather than writing a melodrama with clear heroes and villains, Lucas tells a more complex and more human story that details the fear, confusion, and disorder that accompanied the end of a brutal war. Lucas traces the damage not to a single blaze but to a series of fires—preceded by an equally unfortunate series of military and civilian blunders—that included the burning of cotton bales by fleeing Confederate soldiers. This edition includes a new foreword by Anne Sarah Rubin, professor of history at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the author of Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman's March and America.

“Smith and Sokolsky have firmly established themselves within the highest echelon of 1865 Carolinas Campaign historians.” —Civil War Books and Authors Gen. William T. Sherman’s 1865 Carolinas Campaign receives scant attention from most Civil War historians. Career military officers Mark A. Smith and Wade Sokolosky rectify this oversight with “No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar,” a careful and impartial examination of Sherman’s army and its many accomplishments. The authors focus on the overlooked run-up to the seminal Battle of Bentonville. They begin on March 11, 1865, with the capture of Fayetteville and the demolition of the arsenal there, before chronicling the two-day Battle of Averasboro in more detail than any other study. At Averasboro, Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee’s Confederates conducted a well planned and brilliantly executed defense-in-depth that held Sherman’s juggernaut in check for two days. With his objective accomplished, Hardee disengaged and marched to concentrate his corps with Gen. Joseph E. Johnston for what would become Bentonville. This completely revised and updated edition of “No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar” is based upon extensive archival and firsthand research. It includes new original maps, orders of battle, abundant illustrations, and a detailed driving and walking tour for dedicated battlefield enthusiasts. Readers with an interest in the Carolinas, Generals Sherman and Johnston, or the Civil War in general will enjoy this book. “Smith and Sokolosky are military historians with a particular interest in what happened in the Carolina States. What they bring to the table regarding Sherman and Johnston is remarkable, a revelation.” —Books Monthly