"Sherman's March to the Sea"
By Alex Wimberly
Based in New York, Harper’s Weekly was a newspaper that ran from the 1850s until the early 20th century. This cartoon excerpted from the January 7, 1865 issue of the publication depicts a slave in Georgia watching the passing of the Union army during Sherman’s March to the Sea. Sherman’s March to the Sea began in November 1864 in Atlanta and lasted for about a month until the group reached the port of Savannah. Union General William T. Sherman thought that the civilians of the confederacy deserved to be shown the weaknesses of their defenses by marching through the Georgian home front unopposed by Confederate forces. “He practiced psychological warfare,”[1] bringing down southern morale as well as their infrastructure simultaneously, destroying buildings such as factories and depriving civilians of food and forage. The devastation of the home front caused several other adverse side effects for the Confederacy as well, hindering key infrastructure such as manufacturing and railroad transportation, and causing a rise in desertion rates among soldiers leaving to tend to their families. Both whites and blacks were shocked to see the march of Union soldiers so blatantly across their home front with essentially no Confederate resistance. The plan succeeded, and southern civilians were crushed.
While it easy to see the hard hitting realities a white, slave holding southern civilian may foresee as they endured Sherman’s March, this cartoon gives an interesting perspective from the view of the slave. Standing from an elevated position on a porch stoop, this slave, wearing merely rags, watches as the Union army passes by, their lines extending to the horizon. Interestingly, the Union army was largely the group which freed the slave population and became known as the liberating force for those bonded by the institution. From this perspective, the slave looks upon the union army as their liberator, marching through the Georgia countryside with several American flags held high, symbolically announcing their freedom. By raising the slave on the porch, the illustrator metaphorically elevates the slave from their low state, while the slave simultaneously looks upon their liberating force which will soon elevate them to freedom. One asks, “is all dem yankees dat’s passing,” surprised by the sheer number of them. While another exclaims, “Law! Miss Hattie, jess look dar in de road: dem Yankees like so many blackbirds!” While the slaves may have not expressed their feelings about the Union army occupation openly, most likely due to the sake of their master’s company, it is reasonable to believe that one must have felt that the prospect of freedom was beginning to come within reach, as illustrated by this cartoon. Writings within the same issue of Harper’s Weekly also point to the significance of Sherman’s March to the Sea. “It is hardly possible to overestimate the importance of this success; and yet it dwindles into insignificance when compared with the promised victories to which it is preliminary.”[2] This cartoon, not only provides a somewhat realistic interpretation of what Sherman’s March could have looked like, but also gives valuable insight into how a slave may have viewed the march along with whites.
Endnotes
[1] Bailey, Anne J. "Sherman's March to the Sea." New Georgia Encyclopedia (2014): N. pag. Web.
[2] "Sherman's March to the Sea." Harper's Weekly 1865.1/07 (1865): 05ad-06ab. Web.