The Burning of Columbia, Library of Congress
This morning Confederate defenders flee Columbia, South Carolina, leaving many bales of cotton ablaze. As Sherman marches into the capital city about 10 a.m., he has to detour around the flames.
Passing by the flaming cotton, the Union general is intent on destroying the city, and in particular the First Baptist Church meeting house, where the secession movement began on December 17, 1860.
Unfortunately for Sherman, Union troops burn the wrong building, setting torch to a meeting house on Sumter Street. The building thus torched is the original First Baptist Church meeting house. The current First Baptist Church sanctuary, built in 1859 and the site where the secession convention first convened, is unintentionally spared due to bad intelligence.
Meanwhile, drunken Union soldiers loot at will (retreating Rebels having done so earlier). And during the night, much of the city is torched by unruly Federals, the blazes perhaps aided by fires earlier set by Rebels.The setting afire of homes and plantations of prominent citizens, however, is intentional revenge for Columbia’s starring role in starting the nation down the path to war.
About a third of Columbia burns to the ground by the next morning (although some estimates peg the figure as high as four-fifths). Sherman later says of the torching of the city this day, “Though I never ordered it and never wished it, I have never shed any tears over the event, because I believe that it hastened what we all fought for, the end of the War.”
Despite the destruction, no civilians are killed this day, indicating Sherman’s determination to prevent such casualties. Some 50 Union soldiers, however, die when a gunpowder-filled warehouse explodes, while thousands of civilians and northern troops alike are arrested for rioting.
Even as Columbia is sacked, Confederate forces guarding Charleston quietly retreat from that key coastal city and nearby Fort Johnson, leaving it to nearby Union forces, who will enter on the morrow. The city is already largely destroyed from years of shelling by Union forces.
Two major Confederate cities thus fall on the same day. While many white Southerners mourn, former slaves liberated this day rejoice and dance in the streets.
The work of defeating the Rebellion is almost done.
Sources: First Baptist Church Historical Marker (link); James W. Loewen, Lies Across America: What American Historic Sites Get Wrong, New York: Touchstone, 1999, pp. 259-260 (link); History, First Baptist Church, Columbia (link); William Cox Allen, A History of the First Baptist Church, Columbia, South Carolina: In commemoration of a record of one hundred and fifty years, 1809-1959 and a building of one hundred years, 1859-1959 (link); “Union Troops Sack Columbia, South Carolina,” History.com (link); “The Burning of Columbia,” The State (link); image, The Burning of Columbia, Library of Congress (link); Robert Behre, “A City of Ashes: When the Confederacy Abandoned Charleston, The Post and Courier, February 14, 2015 (link); “The History of Fort Johnson,” Marine Resources Center, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (link)
