Sherman's March | movie | 1985 | Official Trailer - video Dailymotion

Ross McElwee sets out to make a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction throug | dG1fejNYNWR5YjNxMlk

Transcript

00:00 In 1864, during the American Civil War, Union General William T. Sherman began his famous

00:12 march to the sea. With an army of 60,000 men, he swept into the south, destroying Atlanta,

00:19 Georgia, Columbia, South Carolina, and dozens of smaller towns. His troops plundered homes,

00:25 destroyed livestock, burned buildings, and left a path of destruction 60 miles wide and

00:31 700 miles long, before finally forcing a Confederate surrender in North Carolina.

00:41 Sherman's campaign marked the first time in modern history that total warfare had been

00:46 waged on a primarily civilian population, and traces of the scars he left on the South

00:51 can still be found.

01:02 Two years ago, I was about to begin shooting a documentary film on the lingering effects

01:07 of Sherman's march on the South. I'm from the South, and all through my childhood, I

01:12 heard stories about how Sherman had devastated the South. My aunt even keeps a sofa in her

01:18 attic, which is punctured by sword holes put there by Sherman's soldiers as they searched

01:23 for hidden valuables. She says she'll never allow the holes to be sewn up.

01:29 Anyway, I'd just gotten a grant to make my film, and I stopped off in New York from Boston,

01:35 where I live, to stay for a few days with the woman I'd been seeing. But when I arrived,

01:40 she told me she'd just decided to go back to her former boyfriend. We argued, and then

01:46 I left, and went to stay alone in a friend's studio loft, which happened to be vacant at

01:51 the time.

01:52 Finally, I headed south to see my family and to try to begin my journey.

02:22 The end of my film.

02:22 [sounds of a river]

02:42 [silence]