Not Pretty, and Hardly Glorious

"The war of plunder and arson in South Carolina was not pretty, and hardly glorious, but Sherman considered it effective. The terror his bummers inspired 'was a power, and I intended to utilize it....My aim then was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses and make them fear and dread us.' It seemed to work: 'All is gloom, despondency, and inactivity,' wrote a South Carolinian on February 28. 'Our army is demoralized and the people panic stricken....the power to do has left us...to fight longer seems to be madness.'"