Who was the south's general in sherman's march to the sea?

Answer 1

Sherman's opposite number was General John Bell Hood of the Army of Tennessee, which had escaped from Atlanta and was heading for Nashville.

When Sherman decided to turn Southeast across Georgia, there was only a small Confederate army under General Hardee to oppose him, and they occupied Savannah, from where they would escape across the river into South Carolina when Sherman arrived.

The March to the Sea could not really be described as a military campaign in the normal sense. It was a punitive raid on the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate armies in the field. There was effectively no enemy and almost nil casualties. For this reason, Sherman did not approve of the ever-popular marching song 'While we were marching through Georgia'. He felt that the operation did not merit triumphal celebration. (He also got heartily tired of that tune, which every band would strike up whenever he appeared in public for the rest of his life.)