2024-01 Raynors Americana Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/20/2024
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. Byers was captured and sent to five different Confederate Prisons. While confined in Columbia, 1864, he heard of Sherman's March across Georgia to the Coast. That inspired him to the Poem "Sherman's March to the Sea". He found success in a post-war writing career, including many poems about his native Iowa-most notably "The Song of Iowa", which was declared as Iowa's state song in 1911. Autograph Poem Signed, "S.H. M. Byers", in full, "First lines of Sherman's March to the Sea; written in prison in Columbia S.C.; Our camp fires shone bright on the mountains, That frowned on the river below, While we stood by our guns in the morning, And eagerly watched for the foe; April 25, 1918."
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.