To punish the civilians for having taken part in the rebellion, and started the war.
To bring the war to the home front, and attack the 'soft underbelly' of the Southern war effort.
To despoil the farms, burn the crops, slaughter the livestock, free the slaves... to bring the Confederate armies closer to starvation.
To attack the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate armies in the field by burning down farms in Georgia and South Carolina.
It is ironical that this earned Sherman a name for brutality, when it was actually a very humane form of combat - basically economic warfare that cost minimal casualties on either side.
Generals Grant and Sherman both agreed that the time had come to attack the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate war-effort. This meant burning down farms and wrecking railroads, which looked cruel, but in fact shortened the war by months at minimal casualties.
Generals Grant and Sherman did not conduct strategies or tactics of 'total war".
It is now commonly described by military historians as the strategy and tactics of exhaustion. If done successfully, exhausting the Southern armies of food and other supplies such as livestock, the ability of Confederate armies to continue to wage war would be hampered to the point of exhaustion. With little food and livestock, continuing to fight would be severely diminished.
Sherman
On Sept. 2, 1864, Sherman sent a telegram to Grant, reporting (more or less): "Atlanta is ours and well earned".
Georgia
shermanSherman
"General Grant is a great general. I know him well. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always."- William Tecumseh Sherman, asking not to be promoted to Lt Gen to rival Grant in 1864
Sherman practiced a strategy called total war. They both surrounded their opponents.
Sherman
In may of 1864 general grant ordered general sherman to march his army out of chattanooga into Georgia.
General Sherman wrote about his reasons of concern for his friend US Grant at the Siege of Vicksburg. Sherman believed that Grant was working and hampered by Northern public opinion. So much so that Sherman feared Grant would abandon the effort to capture Vicksburg.
Do you mean who replaced Grant as General-in-Chief when he became President? That was Sherman.
Grant to Sherman: "Make Georgia howl!"
Washington, DC, is named for General George Washington. Thirteen states have cities named for General Custer. There are three cities named for General Grant--Grant City MO, Grant MI and Grant City NY. Sherman, Texas, is named for General Sidney Sherman.
General Sherman remained in the army after the US Civil War. In March of 1869, President US Grant promoted Sherman to the US general in chief.
Ulysses s. grant
On Sept. 2, 1864, Sherman sent a telegram to Grant, reporting (more or less): "Atlanta is ours and well earned".
Georgia
Because Sherman had proved himself a competent General who had given good service to Grant. They were also good friends. In his memoirs, Sherman said "He stood by me when I was mad. And I stood by him when he was drunk."