Historic Columbia and UofSC class team up to live tweet Sherman’s March to Columbia
January 12, 2015
COLUMBIA, SC – Historic Columbia and students at the University of South Carolina have teamed up to “live tweet” Sherman’s march to Columbia as part of the citywide commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Burning of Columbia.
The tweets from Historic Columbia’s Twitter account, @HistColumbia, will begin on Jan.15, the point at which General William T. Sherman’s army was beginning to enter South Carolina, and continue through Feb. 20, when Sherman’s army left Columbia. HC will send three to four tweets daily during the first month, increasing as the anniversary of the burning of Columbia nears on the night of Feb. 17. All tweets are identified with the hashtag #ShermansMarch.
University of South Carolina history professor Thomas Brown developed the tweets for Historic Columbia with the assistance of the undergraduate students in his Fall 2014 course on the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Together they examined dozens of firsthand accounts of Sherman’s March to identify the most insightful and compelling 140-character nuggets to bring the epic March to life for people to follow and share.
The tweets present revealing quotations, observations and images that tell many stories about the March, including the path to Union victory, the moral boundaries of war, how women were negotiating Confederate citizenship and the meanings of freedom for African Americans.
Brown is the author of “Civil War Canon: Sites of Confederate Memory in South Carolina,” which will be released by University of North Carolina Press in February. He worked closely with HC on the reinterpretation of the Woodrow Wilson Family Home to highlight the rebuilding of Columbia after the Civil War and the attempt to establish interracial democracy in Reconstruction.
Historic Columbia and the University of South Carolina are two of nearly 30 organizations comprising Columbia Commemorates, a multi-disciplinary coalition formed to plan and implement the citywide commemoration of the Burning of Columbia. For a full list of events and exhibits planned for the commemoration, visit BurningofColumbia.com.
About Historic Columbia: In November 1961, a small group of individuals intent on saving the Ainsley Hall House from demolition officially incorporated as the Historic Columbia Foundation. Over the next five decades the organization, which was founded on the premise of preservation and education, would take on the stewardship of seven historic properties in Richland County. Today, the organization serves as a model for local preservation efforts and interpretation of local history. Visit historiccolumbia.org or find us on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram or YouTube for more details.
About Columbia Commemorates: Columbia Commemorates is a multi-disciplinary coalition comprised of Midlands and statewide organizations formed to plan and implement a citywide commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Burning of Columbia. Through lectures; tours; film; visual, literary and performing arts; exhibits; public discussion; and large public gatherings, Columbia Commemorates will explore the events of February 17, 1865, as well as the immediate and long-term ramifications of the burning of South Carolina’s capital city. This commemoration is made possible by The Humanities CouncilSC, South Carolina Arts Commission and Chernoff Newman. For more information about the commemoration and a calendar of events, please visit BurningofColumbia.com and follow on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.
