Near Atlanta on July 20, 1864, W. T. Sherman directed that railroad rails be heated red hot and then twisted, noting that burning sufficed for bridges and culverts but not for ordinary track. In this method of destruction, rails were separated rail by rail, bonfires of ties and fence rails heated them, and the hot rails were carried to trees or telegraph poles, wrapped around them, and left to cool. These twisted and bent railroad rails became known as Sherman's Neckties.