What was Union General Sherman's March to the Sea in the Atlanta Campaign?

Answer 1

Major General Sherman's March to the Sea was conducted to show the South how futile their continued fighting was, by demonstrating that the Union could march an army through the heartland of the Confederacy, destroying everything in sight by conducting total war.

Answer 2

In the second week of November 1864 Lt. General William T Sherman began to destroy military stores, railroad workshops, and textile mills in the city of Atlanta Georgia and set off with some 60,000 men in an advance through Georgia with the ultimate destination of Savannah Georgia in order to establish a supply line with the United States Navy. In the course of the March to the Sea, his army, consisting of two wings, the Right Wing (The Army of Tennessee) and the Left Wing (The Army of Georgia) bore a path 60 miles wide destroying everything that could be of value to the Confederate Army and nation. This included, but was not limited to, the destruction of railroad track and equipment, the confiscation of arms and food, the forced requisition of wagons and livestock, and the destruction of Government buildings and archives (especially in the capital of Milledgeville). During the March, which lasted a little over a month, there were abuses and personal property was destroyed and or confiscated. The Union Cavalry, under General Kilpatrick, was notable in the liberties it took with personal confiscation and sometimes outright brigandage.

The March covered 300 miles and Sherman's combined forces totaled 62,000 troops.

Answer 3

Union General William T. Sherman had overall command of three armies in his campaign to Atlanta, Georgia. He never personally fielded an army in the campaign under his own personal direction. He did however have competent generals leading the following armies:

Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thompson;

Army of the Ohio under General John M. Scofield; and

Army of the Tennessee under James B. McPherson.

Answer 4

Following Major General Sherman's capture and burning of Atlanta, he and General in Chief US Grant planned the so-called March to the Sea. Sherman was given leeway on the best way to march through Georgia and hook up with US naval forces and capture the port city of Savannah. At that time in the US Civil War, the Union's top military command realized, as it had realized much earlier, that attacking major Confederate armies and even winning the battles, were never decisive in terms of destroying the Rebel forces. This had been the case that each side experienced, when after a field victory, the defeated armies could retreat and return to fight another day.An examination of most major US Civil War battles, from the First Bull Run to Gettysburg and Chickamagua, the enemy army was never defeated in detail. Even General Robert E. Lee's greatest victory at Chancellorsville, did not destroy the Army of the Potomac.

With that said, the Union military leaders in Washington DC saw that the other alternative was to destroy any potential supplies that would enable Confederate armies to continue their resistance.

Sherman' march through Georgia ad finally to Savannah, was designed to destroy farmlands and livestock that could be used to supply Rebel forces. Sherman's armies covered 300 miles to reach Savannah. His armies destroyed crops and livestock.

It is imperative to point out that this in no way was the mistaken notion that Sherman was conducting "total war". Historians have attached the term of "war of attrition" to Sherman's tactics.

Total war became the new normal in WW 2, when all parties to the war targeted civilian populations as a means to end enemy resistance. The firestorm bombing of Dresden Germany for example killed 100,000 Germans. Likewise, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima killed at least the same number, or more, than did the bombing of Dresden. These are simply two of the many acts of total war conducted in WW 2.

General Sherman was not ordering his troops to kill innocent and unarmed civilians. Or, even civilians who were armed.

Clearly any Southern civilians who sought to fight the Federals had to become targets.