Letters to the Editor: The ridiculous call to take Gen. Sherman’s name off a giant sequoia

To the editor: The Times recently published a letter arguing for re-naming the General Sherman sequoia tree because of the “savagery” of Union Army Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s campaign in Georgia that destroyed “homes, farms, hospitals and schools.”

The writer failed to mention that Sherman also destroyed munitions works, slave markets and whipping posts. The only known civilian deaths on the march occurred when some of the thousands of Black men and women who had recently been freed from 250 years of exploitation, rape and murder drowned crossing a river as they followed Sherman’s forces.

The writer did not argue for renaming the General Grant tree, although Grant’s battles killed many thousands of soldiers. But the South hates Sherman to this day because he hit them where they really hurt — in their wallets.

Diana Waggoner, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Times published a letter that sought to cancel Gen. Sherman by removing his name from a famed giant sequoia. This is the general who coined the phrase “War is hell.”

The writer compared using the Sherman name to displaying a monument to a Confederate general. Apparently, the writer doesn’t know the difference between a traitor and a military officer.

Bruce N. Miller, Playa del Rey