Confederates Burn Columbia: Desperation in the South
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops entered Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865, and by morning much of the city was in ashes. Who set the fires remains disputed: Sherman blamed retreating Confederate cavalry under Wade Hampton for igniting cotton bales; Confederates blamed drunken Union soldiers. The truth likely involves both. High winds spread the flames through a city already littered with cotton and combustible materials. Roughly a third of the city was destroyed, including the new state house, churches, and private homes. Columbia was the cradle of secession, the city where South Carolina had voted to leave the Union in 1860, and its destruction carried symbolic weight for both sides. Sherman had already burned a path through Georgia during his March to the Sea; Columbia's destruction confirmed that his strategy of total war targeted civilian infrastructure as deliberately as military objectives.
February 17, 1865
161 years ago
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Columbia, South Carolina
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