Quote:
Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop
Flames: Named after a 1864 civilian massacre and razing by Union troops in the Confederate state of Georgia.
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The burning of Atlanta in 1864 was not a civilian massacre. Sherman had ordered the city evacuated in September and according to the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution "Only around 50 families and an unknown number of freed slaves either were allowed to remain or did so without permission."
Though
the destruction primarily targeted structures and infrastructure of military value, "He had officers draw up a plan to destroy military targets, which included a detailed map marking the structures. No private residences were among them. ... there was little doubt about the plan’s consequences. ... The real cause of the subsequent mass destruction was Sherman’s acquiescence to widespread disobedience among his soldiers."
Primary sources from the time speak of the targeting of property, not lives: "A Wisconsin private wrote, 'I believe this destruction of private property in Atlanta was entirely unnecessary and therefore … disgraceful.'"
While it is certain that there were civilian casualties during the siege and capture of Atlanta in the summer of 1864, I can find no sources at all indicating even a single civilian casualty of the destruction and burning in November, even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution refers only to the destruction of property and not of any 'massacre' of civilians "A precise number will never be known, but the best estimate is that 40 percent of all homes and buildings were destroyed."