Samuel Hawkins Marshall Byers

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, including "The Song of Iowa", 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 Iowa, 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.

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. 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. 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 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.

Byers moved to Los Angeles in his later years and wrote poetry for the Los Angeles Times. He died there on May 24, 1933 and is buried in Oskaloosa, Iowa.