Random Passage

As Shelby Foote tells it, General Sherman's men were not warmly welcomed by the women of Georgia.

This applied only to the white women, of course. Black ones were far more sympathetic to the invaders, especially on visits to their roadside bivouacs at night. “And they didn't charge us a cent,” one grateful infantryman recorded.

I love that. Someone writing today would have included a chapter on the sexual mores and practices of the soldiers, with more information that anyone would require. By comparison, Mr. Foote was positively genteel.