Abstract
General William Tecumseh Sherman's 1864 “March to the Sea,” a devastating Civil War campaign, inspired “salvation stories” that have become part of collective memory in Georgia. These stories recall not what Union soldiers destroyed, but what was saved by the quick thinking and crafty hospitality of townspeople or by Northerners' appreciation of the beauty of homes and the charm of Southern women. Both print and oral culture provide insight into how demoralized Southerners dealt with defeat. This study examines the diffusion of such stories in newspaper and magazine articles and the development of the “Lost Cause” myth.
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