To the editor: No one wants to see the General Sherman sequoia killed in one of the wildfires now raging in California. But is the threat to the great tree nature’s way of making a point?
The world’s largest tree is named after Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who pioneered “scorched earth” warfare during the Civil War. In 1864, Sherman’s army torched Atlanta and then marched about 250 miles to Savannah, Ga., burning homes, farms, hospitals and schools along the way in a campaign to bring both Confederate forces and Georgia’s civilian population to their knees.
It wasn’t a “march to the sea,” as historians spin it; it was a months-long campaign of savagery.
As monuments to Confederate leaders are removed across the country, a monument to Sherman may come down too. It feels like Mother Nature is reminding us that cruelty was employed by Union forces in order to do away with the outrageous cruelty of slavery.
I hope Sherman’s tree will be spared, then renamed.
Karen Schwarz, Los Angeles
