"Etowah Heights" - residence of Charles T., Jr. and Cecelia Stovall Shelman high on the banks of the Etowah river in Bartow County, GA

Sherman's Girlfriend(s)
Perhaps the largest tragedy in Georgia history was the infamous March to the Sea during the War Between the States. Union General William Tecumseh Sherman became quite famous for this march, which left a good portion of the state in shambles. The march began after the Atlanta Campaign ended with the Battle of Jonesboro. Sherman marched his army through Georgia and led them to the sea, taking the city of Savannah without firing a shot in the process. Savannah can be enjoyed today partially because the city was saved from the wrath of the man many called "The Butcher." Other Georgia cities were spared including Madison and Milledgeville. There are a number of rumors that abound about why some of the places along the march were not devastated. One of the most common rumors is that Sherman had a mistress in those places. I have always found that hard to believe. There is, however, a story of a young woman who did make Sherman's acquaintance some years before the War Between the States. This story may very well be the basis of some of those "mistress" legends.

The story centers around Cecelia Stovall, a beautiful young girl whose father was a wealthy cotton merchant in Augusta. Cecelia visited West Point Military Academy in 1836 to see her brother, Marcellus A. Stovall, Sherman's roommate. At a dance held on that visit, Sherman made her acquaintance. It is said that she told the young Sherman upon his advances that "Your eyes are so cold and cruel. I pity the man who ever becomes your foe. Ah, how you would crush an enemy." To this, Sherman replied, "Even though you were my enemy, my dear, I would ever love and protect you." Years later, Cecelia married Charles T. Shelman of what was once Cass County, now Bartow County. Charles built Cecelia a beautiful white house on a hill above the Etowah River. That is where the two lived when the War Between the States began in 1861.

As fate would have it, General Sherman came to the mansion on his way through the area in 1864. His attention was brought to the fine stately home high above the Etowah River. When he arrived there, he found that the family had left, and they had placed the home and its grounds in the care of an African American servant. The man exclaimed that he was glad Miss Cecelia was not there to see the sight of her lovely home being swarmed by Yankee soldiers. Upon further examination, General Sherman learned that the Cecelia of which the older man spoke was indeed his former interest, Cecelia Stovall, now Cecelia Shelman. After hearing this, Sherman ordered everything that had been taken from the home put back and that guards were to be placed at the house until his entire army had passed to avoid looting. He also left a message, which, at least until the early 1950s, was still in the family records of the Stovalls. The message read: "You once said that I would crush an enemy and you pitied my foe. Do you recall my reply? Although many years have passed, my answer is the same. 'I would ever shield and protect you.' That I have done. Forgive all else. I am only a soldier." As he handed the note to the elderly African American servant, he told him "Say to your mistress for me that she might have remained in her home in safety; that she and her property would have been protected. Hand her this when you see her."

As it turns out, Cecelia's husband, Charles, was a captain in the Confederate Army and that Cecelia had left the mansion to escape the invading army. Charles Shelman returned to the mansion after the war, as did Cecelia. He lived there until his death in 1886 and she until hers in 1904. They both were aware that they had once been absent when perhaps their most famous visitor paid a call.

This is a true story, although there may be some parts of it that were changed in the telling. However, the note that General Sherman left for Cecelia is still in the family records of the Stovall and Shelman families. Also, this story is recounted in the History of Bartow County, as well as Medora Field Perkerson's White Columns in Georgia. The note is authentic from what I have been told by local and Georgia historians. What I do wonder is if this story, while true, may have spawned the many unsubstantiated claims that Sherman did not burn other towns on the March to the Sea because he had a mistress there. It must be noted that Mrs. Cecelia Shelman was NOT his mistress, only a former love interest that never materialized. But can the many rumors and claims of Sherman's girlfriends in places like Madison, Milledgeville, Macon, and Savannah be spawned by this true story??? Perhaps.


http://georgiamysteries.blogspot.com/2009/05/shermans-girlfriends.html

William Tecumseh Sherman and Cecelia Shelman

The Softer Side of General Sherman

A story of enduring fondness for Bartow County's Cecelia Stovall Shelman

West Point Cadet William T. Sherman's friend from Augusta, Georgia had a beautiful sister that visited the Military Academy in 1836. Sherman was smitten, fell in love and proposed marriage to the dark-eyed Southern belle.

That belle, Miss Cecelia Stovall, wasn't smitten in return. She replied to young Sherman: "Your eyes are so cold and cruel. I pity the man who ever becomes your foe. Ah, how you would crush an enemy".

Sherman prophetically replied, "Even though you were my enemy, my dear, I would ever love and protect you".

Cecelia later married Charles Shelman of Cass, now Bartow County, Georgia, and they built a beautiful Greek revival home on their plantation along the Etowah River.

In 1864, General Sherman crossed the Etowah River and saw a beautiful Greek revival white house on a hill, about to fall victim to his troops. At the gate stood an old Black man who had stayed behind when the Shelman family refugeed. As Sherman rode by, he overhead the distraught old man mumbling about how glad he was Miss Cecelia wasn't there to see what was happening.

Sherman stopped and asked, "Miss Cecelia? Not Miss Cecelia Stovall of Augusta?" Assured by the trembling old man that it was the same "Miss Cecelia," Sherman then learned the route her life had taken since their youth. He ordered that everything taken from the house be replaced and ordered Union guards to protect the house.

The General told the old man: "Say to your mistress for me that she might have remained in her home in safety; that she and her property would have been protected. Hand her this when you see her".

He handed the old man this note for "Miss Cecelia:"
You once said that I would crush an enemy and you pitied my foe. Do you recall my reply? Although many years have passed, my answer is the same. 'I would ever shield and protect you'. That I have done. Forgive all else. I am only a soldier."
William T. Sherman




Miss Cecelia's home on the Etowah, Shelman Manor, burned to the ground on New Year's Day 1901. The note survived.


http://www.visitcartersvillega.org/na/William_Tecumseh_Sherman_and_Cecelia_Shelman


General Sherman's Georgia Romance

Cecelia's brother, Marcellus, was attending West Point Military Academy in 1836, when she went up to attend the dances. And who should fall hardest for the dark-eyed beauty but her brother's roommate, William Tecumseh Sherman.

The daughter of a wealthy Augusta cotton merchant, Cecelia met Sherman's advances plainly: "Your eyes are so cold and cruel," she is said to have told him. "I pity the man who ever becomes your foe. Ah, how you would crush an enemy."

Sherman is said to have responded, "Even though you were my enemy, my dear, I would ever love and protect you."

But, the romance was not to continue. Marcellus resigned from West Point because of ill health the following year, and decided to make the Grand Tour of Europe. Cecelia accompanied him and managed to be in London to witness the coronation of Queen Victoria.
Afterwards, she returned to Augusta where she became interested in another West Point graduate. Unfortunately, Richard Garnett, stationed at the U.S. Arsenal there, did not have a large enough salary to suit Cecelia's father so he packed her off to South Carolina to visit relatives and to let distance kill the blossoming romance. Oddly enough, while Cecelia was cooling her heels in South Carolina, who should be stationed in Augusta but Sherman. Chances are the young lieutenant wouldn't have suited Cecelia's father either as he was looking for someone wealthy to marry his daughter. One must wonder, though, if Sherman's heart didn't beat a little faster when he was told where he was to be stationed.

While in South Carolina, Cecelia met and fell in love with Charles T. Shelman, who was a native of Cass (now Bartow) County. Her father approved of this match and the two were married in 1848. Later, the two would return to Bartow County where Shelman would build his wife a beautiful white home with six Doric columns atop a bluff overlooking the Etowah River. The couple was living here when the War Between the States began in 1861.

In 1864, Sherman arrived to pay a call at Shelman Heights. This time he was a major general at the head of an invading army. When the home was brought to his attention, Sherman decided to see what it had to offer despite the fact it was slightly off his course.

Riding up to the gate, Sherman and a fellow officer were met by an elderly black slave who was lamenting their arrival.

"I sho'ly is glad Miss Cecelia ain't here to see it with her own eyes," he is said to have uttered repeatedly.

"Miss Cecelia?" Sherman is said to echoed, "Not Miss Cecelia Stovall?"

Well, yes, but she was now Mrs. Shelman. Sherman was just asking to be received by his former belle when he was informed that Captain Shelman was in the Confederate Army, and that Miss Cecelia had refugeed. This aged servant was the only one left to take care of the place. Sherman then left a written message that still remains in the family today.

Before riding off, Sherman made sure that everything that had been taken was replaced, and he made sure guards were left to stand watch until the entire Army passed through.

To Joe, Cecelia's faithful servant, he said, "Say to your mistress for me that she might have remained in her home in safety; that she and her property would have been protected. Hand her this when you see her."

And when Cecelia returned to her unharmed home, she read:

"You once said that I would crush an enemy and you pitied my foe. Do you recall my reply? Although many years have passed, my answer is the same. I would ever shield and protect you. That I have done. Forgive all else. I am only a soldier.
Wm. T. Sherman"

Shelman Heights later burned to the ground (on New Year's day in 1911). Captain Shelman died in 1886 but Cecelia lived on until 1904 in her home that stood tall and beautiful on Shelman's Bluff.


http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/General_Sherman's_Georgia_Romance

The Cartersville News. (Cartersville, Ga.) December 08, 1904