A Bad Night In Dixie

The trouble with the word "Night" is that there are just way too many of them. My first thought was the Van Gogh picture and Don McClean song "Starry Starry Night", but I've done that already, so enjoy the link and pictures. How about a fun trip to my youth with the Four Seasons and Oh What A Night? No. Nice song but no bells going off.

Then there is what is probably one of the world's best bedtime books for children that has now been around more than 60 years, Goodnight Moon. When it comes to stories, then Scherezade had 1001 nights of tales to tell that you can read with just one click. Or how about, "They're Coming To Get You!". You can actually go on line to watch the full, classic "Night of the Living Dead". Both way too recent for me. Let's go back in time. I need an historical event, a movie, and a song. If you are going to do something with the prompt of a single word - Over do it!

One of the most shocking acts during the Civil War was the destruction of the railroad tracks that supplied the Confederate Army. The brutal raid towards the end of the fighting was led by Major General George Stoneman using Sherman's concept of "total war". Stoneman laid waste to hundreds of miles of Southern territory, destroying virtually everything in his path. By clicking on the link to his name you will reach eight solid pages of Civil War History about a single event on one of the best sites on the web for those who can't get enough: Historynet dot com. To give you an idea of the quality of the writing on Historynet dot com, here is the closing paragraph:

Stoneman and his cavalry division thus passed out of the war and into local legend. The raid had been a powerful one. A force of only 6,000 men had destroyed uncountable tons of supplies and miles of railroad tracks, shocked the local citizens with the reality of war, traveled more than 600 miles through enemy territory, and assisted in the capture of Jefferson Davis. Stoneman, one historian appraised, had utilized the methods of Sherman in a 'splendidly conceived, ably executed attack upon the war potential and the civilian population of the South.’ Sherman himself, the author of the concept of total war, admiringly referred to Stoneman’s raid as ‘fatal to the hostile armies of Lee and Johnston.’ Stoneman and his men, beyond any doubt, had amply fulfilled their orders ‘to destroy.’

That's the history and here for those who just want the short hand version is The Band from "The Last Waltz" with The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. (Click on song title for the story of how it came to be written).