The March to the Sea: A Poem.

BYERS, S. H. M.

$2,000.00

Item Number: 146574

Boston: Arena Publishing Company, 1896.

Early edition of this historically significant poem and song; from the library of Philemon Tecumseh Sherman. Octavo, original green cloth, botanical endpapers. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front flyleaf, “To P.T. Sherman; the son of the general who made the great march: with many good wishes from – the author – S. H. M. Byers.” Additionally signed by Sherman on the front pastedown above his bookplate. The recipient, Philemon Tecumseh Sherman, the son of Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, transferred his library and books inherited from his father to his niece, Eleanor Sherman Fitch, before he died. Until now, this book was held at the family estate in Washington County, Pennsylvania. In near fine condition with light rubbing to the spine and light toning to the endpapers. Accompanied by a pamphlet containing one of Byers’s other poems ‘News at the White House.’ Octavo, original pink wrappers. In very good condition.

While fighting in the 5th Iowa Infantry during the Civil War, Samuel Hawkins Marshall Byers was captured at the Battle of Missionary Ridge along with about 80 others from his regiment. During his imprisonment at Camp Sorghum, Byers read a newspaper that had been smuggled into camp by a slave and learned of Sherman's March to the Sea, and the taking of Atlanta, Georgia. Byers wrote a poem about the March, which was set to music by fellow prisoner W. O. Rockwell and smuggled out of the prison in the wooden leg of Lt. Daniel W. Tower. The song and became an immediate hit in the north and coined the common name for Sherman's March to the Sea. Byers became one of the first people to greet the Union Army when it captured Columbia on February 17. When Sherman entered the city around noon, Byers handed him a small slip of paper containing his poem, which moved Sherman. He immediately promoted Byers to a member of his staff, and the two formed a lifelong friendship. After service on Sherman's staff, Byers was tasked with returning to Washington, where he gave the first first-hand account about Sherman's victories in the Carolinas, going on to become a writer and diplomat after the war's end.