Purpose of General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea?

Answer 1

Major General Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864 was designed to destroy and sources of supply that could be used by the Confederate army. Therefore he authorized the destruction of crops and livestock that might be used by the Rebel army. His March to the sea campaign also fought any Rebel forces that impeded his progress to Savannah, Georgia.

Answer 2

To attack the infrastructure that supported the Confederate armies in the field - burning farms and killing livestock, to starve the troops.

To become less dependent on his vulnerable supply-line, as he would be able to live off the land.

To make a political gesture through punitive raids that brought home to the South the folly of seceding from the USA.

To liberate the blockade-runners' port of Savannah.

To drive out what few Confederate troops might still be left in Georgia.

Answer 3

Sherman's march to the sea was what he referred to as "total war." This is the idea that with many foes winning on the battlefield isn't enough. In spite of the South losing many battles, they would not end the war. To cause them to want to end the war Sherman and his men terrorized the women and children left behind while the men fought. They also took all the provisions they could find, leaving the women and children to starve. Plus, anything they could not take with them, they destroyed either by fire or by violence. It wasn't long before word started reaching the men on the front line and they began to clamour for an end of the war so they could go home and salvage what was left.

Another more recent example of this was Japan in WW II. Despite heavy casualties, they refused to surrender. So, the US launched its own total war, we know it as the atomic bomb and it brought Japan to it's knees and they surrendered within days.

Answer 4

Sherman had been Grant's deputy when Grant abandoned supply depots and maneuvered by living off the land in the Vicksburg Campaign.

General Sherman was ordered to take an army from the Mississippi River and move through the heart of the south, destroying the profitability of slavery and forcing the Confederates to decide whether to oppose the Union in their heartland, or concentrate on defending Richmond. Sherman moved a massive army through Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia, capturing the strategic city of Atlanta with its railroad network.

Sherman returned to the strategy of living off of captured supplies in marching from Atlanta to the Atlantic, eating out southern farms and burning them as he went. He was right. In just a few weeks, his army marched hundreds of miles well fed and unscathed by defenders, and captured major towns of coastal Georgia.

After reaching the sea, Sherman's men did not rest. They went from Savannah, Georgia, up to Columbia, South Carolina and forced the capitulation of Charleston. They prepared to advance to North Carolina to take on the main body of the Confederate Army under General Johnston, but General Lee's surrender at Appomattox caused Johnston to also seek surrender. Sherman's March ended near the North Carolina / South Carolina border in April, 1865.

Answer 5

After the fall of Atlanta Georgia, Union General William T. Sherman occupied that city for a month and made it his southern headquarters. The purpose of the famous March to the Sea was to do what ever was necessary to break the Confederacy's strategic, economic and psychological capacity to continue to wage war. With that said, Sherman marched through Georgia destroying any and all supplies, railways and Confederate troops. The march to the sea began on November 15, 1864.

Answer 6

was to stop moving confederates northward

Answer 7

divide the confederacy