Talk:Marching Through Georgia

GA Review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Marching Through Georgia/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: DannyRogers800 (talk · contribs) 22:21, 13 October 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: Chiswick Chap (talk · contribs) 19:48, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Good to see a well-researched and well-structured article on this old song. Since it's been languishing in the queue for months, time somebody reviewed it: seems like it has to be me. Chiswick Chap (talk) 19:48, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Comments

• Background: rather long, both on Work and on Sherman, but definitely helpful.

I understand; it was a pain to compress the background information. There are no easy means by which I can compress further, but if required, I shall do my best.

• Caption and many other prolific patriotic songs. - "prolific" would apply to the author, not the songs: best just cut it, "many" says it all already.

Fixed.

• Composition: the subsequent stanza - best we say "third stanza" for clarity.

Fixed.

• Legacy: Acronym GAR is not introduced, and it's overlinked.

Fixed.

Images

• File:Henry Clay Work, 1884 (alternate version).png is wrongly licensed on Commons as 'own work', unlikely given the 1884 date, Mr Methuselah. It must be {{PD-1923}} and {{PD-Art|PD-old-70}} at least.

Yeah, this was utterly asinine. I added the above licensing.

• That map was a fine piece of work by an editor some years back.

Agreed, it was incredibly helpful.

• Other images seem to be licensed correctly.

Sources

• (minor) I note that Finson 1994 is unused in Books; Salt Lake Herald is unused in News; and Myers is unused in Websites. I expect all three could readily be linked somewhere.

Salt Lake Herald and Myers have been removed. However, Finson is used in citation #42.

• Discogs is fairly well deprecated; I guess it's ok for Songs but the 'via' and redmarked link don't add anything useful really.

Agreed, I removed the 'via' component of both song references.

• Spot-checks: Bailey ok; Dolan ok; Sellers ok (grim reading); BBC ok on the facts, but perhaps most notable adaptation is editorial, as the source can't make that judgement: an additional source is needed for that.

I substituted "Its most notable" for "A more notable," but perhaps this is still wrong.

Summary

• This is a highly-polished article which must be on its way to FAC? I won't delay it long here, as it's in very good shape. There are just one or two items that need a little attention above. Chiswick Chap (talk) 20:27, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

Unless I have neglected any issues, this should be fixed. Thank you for reviewing this article; it was a pleasure to work on and I hope you found it interesting! DannyRogers800 (talk · contribs) 21:17, 5 January 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Peer review

Marching Through Georgia

A few months ago, I nominated this article for featured article status, but, as I soon found out, there were quite a few issues. @Gog the Mild and @David Fuchs rightly and respectfully indicated prose issues and, more crucially, source to text integrity issues. Since then, I have revised the article, checked all citations, and altered the information accordingly… I hope. Gog suggested I guide it through peer review before putting it up for FAC again, and so here we are. DannyRogers800 (talk) 16:41, 1 November 2025 (UTC)

Comments from PhoenixCaelestis

Hello @DannyRogers800, I'm willing to leave a few comments since I just read through the article. I made some brief copyedits on my own, but wanted to raise a few questions and other thoughts.

• Maybe use an Infobox for this page? I think Infobox song would work. You could move the audio to the Infobox and include some other details.
• Paragraph two of March to the Sea says: Hardee [the Confederate commander, had] not forced me to use anything but a skirmish line. Is there any better way to word the text in brackets?
• The March to the Sea section as a whole seems to be somewhat narrative-y, like someone's telling a story rather than presenting factual information. Things like "Sherman then eyed the coastal city of Savannah. In late September, the plan was finalized and Major General Ulysses S. Grant eventually gave his assent." and "Five months later, Major General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, and the Confederacy was all but defeated." feel like they're telling a story rather than simply presenting information. You may want to copyedit that section.
• ""Marching Through Georgia" is chanted" (Lyrical Analysis, paragraph 1) – do you mean "sung"? I haven't heard the song chanted before, though there is a first time for everything.
• I don't think "As such, progress nigh undisturbed" (March to the Sea, Paragraph 2) is a complete sentence. The wording is also a bit weird, maybe make it more plain.
• "Christian McWhirter evaluates the song's lyrical and thematic framework:" (Lyrical Analysis, paragraph 3): Who is this Christian McWhirter? Why do I trust what he says to say? Maybe say "Christian McWhirter, an author and public historian, evaluates the song's lyrical and thematic framework:"
• Maybe try to reword "and became Sherman's theme song of sorts." (Postbellum, paragraph 1)
• Avoid using a slash in "Military/Nationalistic uses" per MOS:SLASH ("Military and nationalistic uses" would be fine).
• I don't think you need lyrics for examples of the melody being used for other songs.
• In external links, you may want to label what site the links go to. I.e.: Commentary on "Marching Through Georgia" by Kelley L. Ross, on archive.org.

It's a very nice article overall! This song absolutely slaps^{[citation needed]} and I'm glad to see you have hopes for its article. PhoenixCaelestis (Talk · Contributions) 18:36, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Hey @PhoenixCaelestis, thank you for these suggestions... very helpful, overall. Nearly all should be effected, except for 1) the sample lyrics: I think they give an idea of how the tune was adapted and of the types of songs that borrowed from "Marching Through Georgia", but I'll remove them if anyone else raises this concern; and 2) the infobox: this is more controversial, and I generally refrain from using infoboxes as there's usually little info to include in it that isn't mentioned in the first lead paragraph anyway. It's best for readers to follow the main article rather than simply glance at a graphic, but that's just my view. The rest should be settled. Thanks! DannyRogers800 (talk) 20:55, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Both of those are fair points. Best of luck with this! PhoenixCaelestis (Talk · Contributions) 21:11, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Thank you :) DannyRogers800 (talk) 21:22, 3 November 2025 (UTC)

Query from Z1720

@DannyRogers800: It has been over a month since the last comment on this PR. Is this ready to be closed and nominated to FAC? Z1720 (talk) 21:22, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

Yes. DannyRogers800 (talk) 21:42, 22 December 2025 (UTC)

• @DannyRogers800: Instructions on how to close a PR are at WP:PRG. I recommend using the closure script. Z1720 (talk) 04:24, 23 December 2025 (UTC)

  The closure script worked fine. Thank you. DannyRogers800 (talk) 22:37, 23 December 2025 (UTC)