Page 6 - All Scale Rails Magazine Issue 27_ 2021

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Captain Andrew Hickenlooper, Sher-
man’s Chief Engineer was more specific
when he said, “destroying the
railroad…was effected by taking up the
rails and piling the ties together 5 or 6
feet high and 4 feet wide, balancing the
rails on their sides with weights on each
end, and setting fire to the piles. The
rails would invariably bend 30-40 de-
grees.”
The instructions were clear: the rails
were to be pried form the ties, which
were then stacked and lit on fire. Once
the rails that had been stretched over the
fire turned red hot and had softened, the
soldiers were to take the ends and twist Union Soldiers tearing up confederate Rail-
them so that they couldn’t be straight- road tracks
ened and reused. This technique was Photo from LOC
used during the Atlanta Campaign, but
became much more widespread during
the famous March to the Sea later in
1864.
The trademark used by soldiers was
to twist the ties around trees or telegraph
poles, giving them the appearance of
neckties, subsequently giving them the
nickname “Sherman’s Neckties.” In
some areas they were also called “Sher-
man’s Bow Ties” and there are handful Sherman march to the sea Drawn by
of references to “Sherman’s Hair Pins” F.O.C. Darley
or “Jeff Davis’ Hair Pins.” When a sim- Photo from LOC
ilar tactic was used against Sherman’s
own supply chain by the Confederate
Army, they were called “Old Mrs. Lin-
coln’s Hair Pins.”
There are a handful of these “neck-

ties” still in existence throughout the
South. *

Sherman Necktie at Fort McAllister
State Park, Georgia
Photo by: Jud McCraine

6 All Scale Rails