Atlanta Burns

On this day in 1864 Sherman’s army burned Atlanta as he began the march to the sea, a campaign that would set the stage for the end of the war.

And end the national damnation of slavery.

If not the echoes that continue to our day.

I searched youtube and most of the few songs that touched on this event celebrated Confederate resilience and nobility. No doubt there were many, many good people who took up arms in defense of their homes. But, here’s the hard fact. They fought, ultimately, for one thing, a particular state’s right, the right to hold slaves.

They stood with a great evil. And it is a small blessing on this world that they lost that war.

Sometimes that arc of the moral universe needs bending by hands and blood and, death.

Sometimes in the smoke and the horror, and the sadness of the human heart, there are hints that things do change, sometimes, sometimes, for the better…

I understand Sherman hated the song Marching Through Georgia.

But so many of those who fought for the Union disagreed…