From Conciliation to Conquest: The Sack of Athens and the Court-Martial of Colonel John B. Turchin
From Conciliation to Conquest: The Sack of Athens and the Court-Martial of Colonel John B. Turchin
Publisher: University Alabama Press | pages: 312 | 2006 | ISBN: 0817315268 | PDF | 12,3 mb
Publisher: University Alabama Press | pages: 312 | 2006 | ISBN: 0817315268 | PDF | 12,3 mb
In the summer of 1862, the U.S. Army court martialed Colonel John B. Turchin, a Russian-born Union officer, for "outrages" committed by his troops in Athens, Alabama. By modern standards, the outrages were minor: stores looted, safes cracked, and homes vandalized. There was one documented act of personal violence, the rape of a young black woman. The pillage of Athens violated a government policy of conciliation; it was hoped that if Southern civilians were treated gently as citizens of the United States, they would soon return their allegiance to the federal government.