Statesboros skirmish with Union soldiers remembered

150th anniversary of Shermans March to the Sea to be commemorated Thursday

In this 1864 photo provided by the Library of Congress, Union Gen. William T. Sherman's men destroy a railroad in Atlanta. On Nov. 16, 1864, Sherman watched his army pull out of Atlanta and marched with 62,000 veteran troops to the Atlantic coast at Savannah, conquering territory and making a point to the enemy in what would be known as Sherman's March to the Sea. - photo by Associated Press

Civil War 150th Sherm Werm — In this 1864 photo provided by the Library of Congress, Union Gen. William T. Sherman's men destroy a railroad in Atlanta. On Nov. 16, 1864, Sherman watched his army pull out of Atlanta and marched with 62,000 veteran troops to the Atlantic coast at Savannah, conquering territory and making a point to the enemy in what would be known as Sherman's March to the Sea. - photo by Associated Press

Cannon fire will be heard around 3 p.m. Thursday as members of the Bulloch County Historical Society and other history enthusiasts conduct a ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of Gen. William T. Sherman's "March to the Sea" through Statesboro. The ceremony will take place on U.S. Highway 80 West near Food World, where the site of the "Skirmish of Statesboro": took place, said Dr. Brent Tharp, the director of the Georgia Southern University Museum and Bulloch County Historical Society member. The skirmish took place when some local Confederate soldiers encountered Union soldiers in that area, and fought briefly before the Union solders went on into town, where they burned Statesboro's courthouse, he said.

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