Can't Remember the Weekend - "Fire, Ashes and Desolation"

February 17, 2014 • 48 Comments

"Where our footsteps pass - fire, ashes and desolation follow in the path. When I hear their cries for help, their wails of pain, and gaze upon their faces pale with fear, I feel as I have never felt before how supremely selfish, how shameless and cowardly has been the action of this state from the first moment of rebellion up to this time," recalled US Army Brevet Major General Ward Nichols in his "Story of the Great March." On February 17, 1865 the Soda City was a bad place to be. Trains were pulling out of town with people literally hanging out car windows, for they feared the Union dogs of war. Yankee soldiers had assigned blame to the capital of the state that sparked the secession and led to four years of war.

"There was a severe determination among the men in the ranks to visit a severe judgement on South Carolina. We practically burned a swath 60 miles wide across the state. The commanders were powerless. This destruction of property was a matter of revenge." -Private John C. Arbuckle

By the time the Union Troops moved on, more than 36 square blocks of the city had been laid to waste by looting soldiers with personal vendettas. "The truth is the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreck vengeance on South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate. I feel that she deserves all that seems in store for her," wrote General Sherman in a letter a few months before he captured the city.

On Saturday afternoon, about the time South Carolina threw the first pitch of the 2014 season, reenactors blasted cannons and other period weaponry from the banks of the Congaree to commemorate what many consider the city's most important historical event. The Gamecocks scored 41 runs in their three game sweep of the Bucknell Bison.

Two blocks from where Sherman fired his cannons at the statehouse, my roommate runs a place called The Red Door Tavern where they hosted a roast of local comedian Wayne Cousins on Saturday night. I've watched this local comedy scene develop over the last few years and we've got some funny people in town.

The Vaccuum Salesman.

The Serial Killer

My roommate John the Red.

Wayne Cousins

Sunday night was the final installment of the Henderson Bros. Burlesque Show at Trustus Theatre but ya'll deserve a post devoted just to that. It's coming on Wednesday.

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Can't Remember the Weekend - "Fire, Ashes and Desolation"

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