A City Laid Waste
The Capture, Sack and
Destruction of the
City of Columbia,
by William Gilmore Simms

By

Dr. David Aiken

- Now Available at the Quartermaster's Table -



ABOUT THE BOOK

In the first reissue of these documents since 1865, A City Laid Waste captures in riveting detail the destruction of South Carolina's capital city as Gen. William T. Sherman brought his scorched-earth campaign to a hotbed of secessionism. William Gilmore Simms, a native South Carolinian and one of the nation's foremost men of letters, was in Columbia and witnessed firsthand the city's capture and destruction. A renowned novelist and poet who was also an experienced journalist and historian, Simms deftly recorded the events of February 1865 in a series of eyewitness accounts published in the first ten issues of the Columbia Phoenix. Later that year, he edited the Phoenix text, curbing some of his immediate outrage, and published the material as a pamphlet, Sack and Destruction of the City of Columbia, S.C. Reprinted here in its entirety and illustrated with a collection of drawings and photographs, the newspaper version of Simms's account offers an unparalleled view into the horrors of invasion on American soil.

Simms walked the fire-ravaged streets, interviewing Columbia residents and Union troops. His record of burned buildings constitutes the most authoritative information available on the extent of the damage. In addition he cataloged widespread looting, atrocities committed against women, the brutal treatment of former slaves by Union soldiers, and the destruction of historically significant documents, works of art, artifacts, and relics.

Describing the account as a Southern masterpiece, Simms historian David Aiken provides both a historical and literary context for Simms's reportage. In his introduction Aiken clarifies the significance of Simms's articles and draws attention to important factors for understanding the occupation's impact on the cultural prosperity enjoyed in Columbia prior to Sherman's arrival, the enormity of the invasion itself, the sufferings of the city's residents, and the efforts to cover up crimes and discredit witnesses such as Simms who dared to report atrocities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR/EDITOR



 William Gilmore Simms (1806-1870) was an accomplished poet, novelist, historian, dramatist, and critic. A monument stands today at the Battery as witness to Charleston's appreciation for the achievements of this native son.


Dr.David Aiken teaches English at the College of Charleston and the Citadel. He is a founding member of the William Gilmore Simms Society and has written or edited more than fifty articles and books on Simms and other Southern writers, including Fire in the Cradle: Charleston's Literary Heritage.


REVIEWS

"A shrewd viewer of the war scene in Columbia, famed Southern writer William Gilmore Simms published stinging, courageous expositions of the doings of the Northern forces, even when threatened with arrest. The restoration of his candid firsthand accounts of the destruction wrought by Sherman's forces against the South Carolina capitol and its inhabitants is a great service to all who study and appreciate Southern history and literature. David Aiken's detailed introduction to A City Laid Waste offers us the context for better understanding the historical and current significance of these reports of invasion, terror, and mass destruction by U.S. troops during wartime. Rev.James Everett Kibler, author of Our Fathers' Fields and founding editor of the Simms Review

"William Gilmore Simms, literary lion of the old South and resident of Columbia, South Carolina, when William T. Sherman's troops arrived, wrote about the destruction of an elegant city before its ashes or his passions had cooled. For Simms, the city suffered a 'demonic saturnalia' of wicked and drunken troops, monsters under a banner of 'streaks and spangles.' His newspaper accounts, restored to print here for the first time since their original publication, also inaugurated an as yet unresolved debate about responsibility for the burning of Columbia."--John Y. Simon, executive director of the Ulysses S. Grant Association and professor of history at Southern Illinois University Carbondale

- Now Available at the Quartermaster's Table -