Samuel Hawkins Marshall Byers (July 23, 1838 – May 24, 1933) was an American soldier and poet who wrote the poem "Sherman's March to the Sea", which was the origin of the eponymous term. Byers served in the 5th Iowa Infantry Regiment. He found success in a post-war writing career, including many poems about his native

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

, including "

The Song of Iowa "The Song of Iowa" is the regional anthem of the U.S. state of Iowa, written by S. H. M. Byers in 1867 and adopted as the official state song by the Iowa State Legislature on March 20, 1911. The song is set to the tune " O Tannenbaum" and Byers ...

", which was declared as Iowa's state song in 1911.

Early life and education

Byers was born in Pulaski, Pennsylvania, on July 23, 1838; his mother died shortly after. He moved with his father to

, in 1851, ending up in Oskaloosa by 1853. He studied to be a lawyer under an Oskaloosa attorney, earning admittance to the Iowa bar in 1861.

Career

Byers' budding law career was cut short by the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in early 1861. Byers signed up for service with the 5th Iowa Infantry, and saw battle at the

Battle of Iuka The Battle of Iuka was fought on September 19, 1862, in Iuka, Mississippi, during the American Civil War. In the opening battle of the Iuka-Corinth Campaign, Union Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans stopped the advance of the Confederate Army of ...

, the

Siege of Vicksburg The siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed th ...

, and in the

Chattanooga campaign The Chattanooga campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Major general (United States), Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army, Union Army of the C ...

. He was captured at the

Battle of Missionary Ridge The Battle of Missionary Ridge, also known as the Battle of Chattanooga, was fought on November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union Army, Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on ...

in November 1863, along with about 80 others from his regiment. He was first imprisoned at

Libby Prison Libby Prison was a Confederate States of America, Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. In 1862 it was designated to hold officer prisoners from the Union Army, taking in numbers from the nearby Seven Days battl ...

, spending seven months there. He then was sent to a camp in Macon, Georgia, before escaping. He was recaptured and sent first to Charleston, South Carolina, before ending up at

Camp Sorghum Camp Sorghum was a Confederate States Army prisoner of war camp located in Columbia, South Carolina, during the American Civil War. Established in late 1864 as a makeshift prison for approximately 1,400 Union officers, Camp Sorghum consisted of ...

outside the city of

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is List of municipalities in South Carolina, the second-mo ...

. He escaped Camp Sorghum, but was again recaptured and sent back to Camp Sorghum. The prisoners of Camp Sorghum were eventually transferred to the property of the state mental asylum in Columbia. During his imprisonment at Camp Sorghum, Byers read a newspaper that had been smuggled into camp by a slave in a piece of bread. From that he learned of Sherman's March to the Sea, and the taking of Atlanta, Georgia. Byers wrote a poem about the March, which was set to music by fellow prisoner W. O. Rockwell. The song was smuggled out of the prison in the wooden leg of Lt. Daniel W. Tower, and became an immediate hit in the north. Byers' poem coined the common name for Sherman's March to the Sea. Most of the prisoners of war in Columbia were removed from the city on February 12, 1865, as the Union Army under

William T. Sherman William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

approached. But Byers hid in the attic of the building the prisoners were being held in. Byers thus became one of the first people to greet the Union Army when it captured Columbia on February 17. When Sherman entered the city around noon, Byers went up to Sherman and handed him a small slip of paper, telling Sherman to read it at his leisure. Sherman read the paper later that afternoon as he set up headquarters. On it he found Byers' poem, which moved Sherman. He immediately promoted Byers to a member of his staff, and the two formed a lifelong friendship. After service on Sherman's staff, Byers was tasked with returning to Washington, where he gave the first first-hand account about Sherman's victories in the Carolinas. The war ended soon thereafter.

Post-war life

After his wartime service, Byers became a writer, and then a diplomat. He was American consul to Switzerland from 1869 to 1884 (a separate position from that of Ambassador). He wrote for

Harper's ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

and '' The Magazine of American History''. He was a prolific author, he wrote ''Switzerland and the Swiss'' and ''Twenty Years in Europe'', drawing on his diplomatic service. His works on the Civil War included ''What I Saw in Dixie: Or Sixteen Months in Rebel Prisons'', ''Iowa in Wartime'', ''With Fire and Sword'', and contributions to the '' Annals of Iowa''. He also wrote several volumes of poetry, with many poems about his native Iowa. His poem ''

'' was adopted as the state song of Iowa in 1911. His idea of turning the poem into a song came about after he heard Confederate soldiers playing "

Maryland, My Maryland "Maryland, My Maryland" was the state song of the U.S. state of Maryland from 1939 until 2021. The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall in 1861 and sung to an old German folk melody, "Lauriger Horatius" — the same ...

" to the tune of "

O Tannenbaum "" (; "O fir tree"), known in English as "O Christmas Tree", is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song that was unrelated to the holiday, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree. History The modern lyrics were ...

" outside his military prison cell. Byers moved to Los Angeles in his later years and wrote poetry for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. He died there on May 24, 1933 and is buried in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, S. H. M. Union army officers People of Iowa in the American Civil War Writers from Iowa Military personnel from Iowa 19th-century American lawyers 1838 births 1933 deaths Writers from Pennsylvania Iowa lawyers