Chrysti the Wordsmith > Radio Scripts

War tends to be linguistically productive. Those who have engineered or fought in armed conflict over the centuries have coined countless words and phrases to identify the events and inventions of warfare, many of which are now useful members of our daily lexicon: jeep, blockbuster, deadline, flash in the pan and I came, I saw, I conquered have all been inspired by the culture of armed conflict.

The expression hold the fort derives from an order given by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 near the end of the Civil War.

Confederate General J. B. Hood, expelled from Atlanta after its devastating fall, was moving his troops northward out the ruined city, when he encountered a Union stronghold at Allatoona, Georgia, commanded by General John M. Corse. Hood demanded the surrender of Corse's Union troops, but Corse refused, insisting he had a received a communiqu from General Sherman, which said "hold the fort at all costs, for I am coming." Corse did just that, standing his ground until reinforcements arrived.

The circumstances surrounding the coinage of this expression inspired the American imagination. Now, more than a century after its conception, hold the fort has been extracted from its combat context, and is used colloquially to mean "take care of things until I return."

Radio Script > Hold the Fort