Burning of Columbia | Palmetto Heritage

This reenactment is based on excerpts from Emma LeConte’s diary. Emma, then seventeen years old, kept a diary for several months in 1865 chronicling the approach, occupation and burning of the city of Columbia by General Sherman's troops. On February 16, Sherman issued an order giving instructions for the occupation of Columbia. The Confederate forces in South Carolina were no match for Sherman's troops and upon his approach Columbia's Mayor Goodwyn surrendered the city. Panic and confusion, however, reigned. By the morning hours of February 17 much of the city was in flames, accompanied by a riot that had built steadily so that most control was lost over the city. By February 18,1865 over one third of the city lay in black, burnt ruins. 

Standards

• 3-4 The student will demonstrate an understanding of life in the antebellum period, the causes and effects of the Civil War, and the impact of Reconstruction in South Carolina.
  • South Carolina played a key role in events that occurred before, during, and after the Civil War; and those events, in turn, greatly affected the state. To understand South Carolina’s experiences during this tumultuous time, the student will uti...
    • 3-4.5 Explain how the destruction caused by the Civil War affected the economy and daily lives of South Carolinians, including the scarcity of food, clothing, and living essentials and the continuing racial tensions.
• 4.4.CC Identify and evaluate the economic, political, and social changes experienced throughout the Civil War.
• This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the continuities and changes experienced by Americans of various genders, positions, races, and social status during the Civil War.
  • This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the relationship between the Civil War and the experiences of women, African Americans, and the planter class in South Carolina.
• 8-4 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the multiple events that led to the Civil War.
  • The outbreak of the Civil War was the culminating event in a decades-long series of regional issues that threatened American unity and South Carolina’s identity as one of the United States. To understand how South Carolina came to be at the cent...
    • 8-4.5 Compare the military strategies of the North and the South during the Civil War and the fulfillment of these strategies in South Carolina and in the South as a whole, including the attack on Fort Sumter, the Union blockade of Charleston and other...
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the Civil War focusing on the impacts of military strategies and major turning points on South Carolina and the U.S.
• 8.3.E Utilize a variety of primary and secondary sources to analyze multiple perspectives on the effects of the Civil War within South Carolina and the United States.