Sherman’s March to the Sea (II)

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Fergus M Bordewich, The Path to Power; Sherman’s March was less dire than is usually alleged but remains a potent symbol for all manner of destruction. Wall Street Journal, Nov 15, 2014
online.wsj.com/articles/book-review-through-the-heart-of-dixie-by-anne-sarah-rubin-1416000666
(book review on Anne Sarah Rubin, Through the Heart of Dixie; Sherman's March and American memory. University of North Carolina Press, 2014)

Quote:

(a) "As it happens, Sherman’s March was less devastating than is usually alleged. And, for an operation of its size, it resulted in comparatively little loss of life.

(b) "many plantation houses burned, horses and mules confiscated or killed, and large quantities of food seized to feed Sherman’s men. (The homes of the poor and of avowed Unionists were generally left alone.) Most of South Carolina’s capital of Columbia was burned to the ground, though whether Sherman’s men or retreating Confederates started the blaze remains disputed. Ms. Rubin observes that, although widespread rape has often been associated with Sherman’s March, there is scant evidence for it.

"Between Sherman’s departure from Atlanta in November 1864 and his final battle at Bentonville, N.C., in March 1865, about 2,500 Confederate soldiers may have been killed—a small figure compared with the Civil War’s normally staggering carnage—and no more than a handful of civilians.

Note: "Anne Sarah Rubin, a professor history at the University of Maryland * * * provides a multitude of voices. Among them: 87-year-old Henry Jenkins telling a WPA interviewer in the 1930s"
(a) Works Progress Administration
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration
(1935-1943)
(b)  "I ’member well when the war was on.” In The Making of African American Identity, volume 1: [years] 1500-1865. National Humanities Center, undated
nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/emancipation/text5/warslaveswpa.pdf
("Over 2300 former slaves were interviewed during the Great Depression of the 1930s by members of the Federal Writers' Project, a New Deal agency in the Works Progress Administration (WPA)")