Consumption and Real Estate
The Women Will Howl: The Union Army Capture of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia, and the Forced Relocation of Mill Workers
In July 1864, Union General William T. Sherman ordered the arrest and deportation of over 400 women and children from the villages of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia. Branded traitors for their work in the cotton mills which supplied much needed material to the Confederacy, these civilians were shipped to cities in the North (already crowded with refugees) and left to fend for themselves. This work details the little known story of the hardships these women and children endured before and–most especially–after they were forcibly taken from their homes. Beginning with the founding of Roswell, it examines the prevalent atmosphere in the area and the pre-war circumstances that created this class of women. The main focus, however, is what befell the women at the hands of Sherman’s army and what they faced once they reached Northern states such as Illinois and Indiana. An appendix details the roll of political prisoners from Sweetwater (New Manchester).
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(out of 2 reviews)
List Price: $ 35.00
Price: $ 35.00
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#2 written by Fruit Loop 1 year ago
Review by Fruit Loop for The Women Will Howl: The Union Army Capture of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia, and the Forced Relocation of Mill Workers
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“The Women Will Howl” rips away the facade of the Union Army as benevolent liberators. General Sherman, determined to fulfill his promise of “making Georgia howl” shipped the innocent non-combatants – elderly men, mothers with children, young girls, and children – away on trains to the north as prisoners. Their crime? Working at a cotton mill that made material for Confederate uniforms.Their stories have been ignored by historians, and limited to a few accounts by families of lost loved ones. What happened to these women? What was their eventual fate? Why would Lincoln’s army “dedicated to making men free” commit an act that was decried by both north and south… until battle news pushed it off the headlines.
This author’s tireless research gives us a clear picture of the atrocity of Roswell, and finally reveals the fate of some of these helpless civilians. A much-needed work if one wants a balanced portrayal of civilian warfare in the war of 1861-1865. Five stars.
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Review by Gary Yee for The Women Will Howl: The Union Army Capture of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia, and the Forced Relocation of Mill Workers
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Corn whiskey is why the Confederates were starving at war’s end.
OK, maybe not.
Biofuels drive up corn prices today, right? Well, something similar happened during the Civil War. Roswell Guards Capt. Tom Edward King was wounded in the ankle while teaching his Yankee counterparts the Bull Run Quick Step at Bull Run. He was hospitalized at Richmond and then returned to Roswell, Georgia, to recuperate. Never one to be idle, he began writing Jeff Davis. Apparently some Confederates were more interested in their own economic welfare than that of the Confederacy and it infuriated Capt. Roswell. You see, some folks were disposed towards distilling the corn rather than consuming it as food. Picking up his pen, he wrote that the “gates of hell” were driving up the price of corn and causing a severe shortage. “Unless a stop is put to this criminal waste of the staff of life, it will soon be out of the power of the families of our volunteers to get any and there will be suffering.” Capt. Roswell was not alone in this indignation and Georgia Gov. Joseph Brown was also concerned. Before Davis acted, Brown issued a proclamation on Feb. 28, 1862 prohibiting the distillation of spirits and to conserve corn for consumption.
I got the above information from The Women Will Howl by Debbie Petite. Told the story in her childhood by her father, it has always captivated her. As an adult, Petite journeys to Roswell, Georgia to study the story of Sherman’s forcible deportation of women and children mill workers from Roswell, Georgia to Indiana. After familiarizing herself with Roswell, Petite spends years near Washington where she has access to the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Additional information is culled from various the Filson Club in Louisville, Kentucky, the Military History Institute in Carlisle Barracks and many other sources.
The mill workers were providing cloth that would be made into uniforms for the Confederate Army and Sherman would not have it. Petite discusses the rules of war and Sherman’s gradual progression from restraint in 1862 to hurt ‘em all he can by 1864. The mill workers were unfortunates whose activity had to be curtailed. Sherman did it by first declaring them treasonous and then deporting them to northern states where they were left to fend for themselves. Not all survived. For a battle and bullet type of guy who avoids reading social history, this has been one fascinating book.