"The Women Will Howl"

Book excerpt: In July 1864, Union General William T. Sherman ordered the arrest and deportation of more than 400 women and children from the villages of Roswell and New Manchester, Georgia. Branded as traitors for their work in the cotton mills that supplied much needed material to the Confederacy, these civilians were shipped to cities in the North (already crowded with refugees) and left to fend for themselves. This work details the little known story of the hardships these women and children endured before and--most especially--after they were forcibly taken from their homes. Beginning with the founding of Roswell, it examines the pre-Civil War circumstances that created this class of women. The main focus is on what befell the women at the hands of Sherman's army and what they faced once they reached such states as Illinois and Indiana. An appendix details the roll of political prisoners from Sweetwater (New Manchester).