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(#13) Q1 - Module C: Sherman's March (The Impact) ACTIVITY

Last updated almost 4 years ago
3 questions
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
Letters to the Editor: The ridiculous call to take Gen. Sherman’s name off a giant sequoia

SEPT. 27, 2021

To the editor: The Times recently published a letter arguing for re-naming the General Sherman sequoia tree because of the “savagery” of Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s campaign in Georgia that destroyed “homes, farms, hospitals and schools.”
The writer failed to mention that Sherman also destroyed munitions works, slave markets and whipping posts. The only known civilian deaths on the march occurred when some of the thousands of Black men and women who had recently been freed from 250 years of exploitation, rape and murder drowned crossing a river as they followed Sherman’s forces.
The writer did not argue for renaming the General Grant tree, although Grant’s battles killed many thousands of soldiers. But the South hates Sherman to this day because he hit them where they really hurt — in their wallets.
Diana Waggoner, Los Angeles
Required
1

Explain how the two letters to the editor are different from each other.

Required
1

Explain two reasons why Karen Schwarz (the first letter) believes the giant sequoia tree should be re-named.

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Explain two reasons why Diana Waggoner (the second letter) believes that we should continue to call this giant sequoia tree the "General Sherman."