Sherman's March to the Sea began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman was a Major general in the Union Army.
340miles
Sherman's march to the sea or the Savannah Campaign as it was more commonly known during the American Civil War started at the captured city of Atlanta in Georgia. From there Major General William Tecumseh Sherman marched the union army south and eventually captured the port of Savannah. The importance of this campaign was that the Union Army destroyed civilian property, industry and infrastructure as well as military targets which seriously disrupted both the transportation network and the economy in the south. The Savannah campaign was also unique in that the Union Army survived deep behind enemy lines without the need for any supply lines.
. . . . . . . . . .Sherman's March was the first modern example of total war. Total war is psychological warfare that not only attacks the Confederate troops, but damages the property and citizens are included as well. He damaged many roads, railroads, and took from farmers' crops while marching onward to Savannah, Georgia from Atlanta, Georgia. He laid a long stretch of waste behind him, but it was considered a victory.- S0L. . . . . . . . . .
Having failed to destroy the Army of Tennessee in Atlanta, he was now being ordered by Grant to pursue them into the mountains. Sherman thought he could end the war quicker by destroying the civilian infrastructure that supported the Confederate armies in the field, and decided on a major punitive raid through Georgia, burning farms and tearing up railroads. When he reached the sea, he would be able to relieve Savannah, one of the blockade-runners' favourite ports.
The March to the Sea was a punitive raid on the rich farmland of Georgia, that would enable Sherman's army to live off the land and forget about defending their long and vulnerable supply-line. They also wrecked the railroads, to ruin the Southern economy and destroy civilian morale. The route was from Atlanta to Savannah, and it took about five weeks.
After a long march, Sherman's troops reached the outskirts of Savannah Georgia on December 10, 1864. Since Confederate General William Hardee had correctly identified Savannah as Sherman's target, he had time to entrench 10,000 troops in good positions. Hardee had also flooded the nearby rice fields so that the only way to approach Savannah was by narrow causeways.
Grant had not been especially interested in capturing Atlanta. He had told Sherman simply to destroy the Army of Tennessee, and Sherman had failed to do this. Meanwhile the Confederates were attacking his long supply-line, and there was an election coming up, which Lincoln believed he would lose. For want of anything better to do, Sherman decided to capture Atlanta - an important rail junction - and this helped to restore Northern morale. The Army of Tennessee escaped into the mountains, hoping Sherman would abandon Atlanta in order to follow them. This was when Sherman decided to abandon his supply-line instead, and live off the land while crossing Georgia, destroying farms and railroads, and eventually liberating the port of Savannah.
1,232miles
Sherman's March to the Sea began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman was a Major general in the Union Army.
I-75 South to Macon; I-16 East to Savannah
The distance between Atlanta and Savannah is 248.5 miles. Traveling at 65mps, it would take about 3 hrs 40 mins to travel between these two cities.
Sherman's march-proper was from Atlanta to Savannah, all of it in Georgia, where he found he could live off the land and thankfully ignore his long supply-line. Before that, he'd been pursuing the Army of Tennessee from their positions near the Tennessee-Georgia border. Afterwards, he crossed the river and moved through the Carolinas before finally taking Joe Johnston's surrender.
None. Grant had become General-in-Chief, and he was not interested in capturing cities, only in destroying armies. His orders to Sherman were to destroy the Army of Tennessee, wherever it was, and chase it into the mountains if necessary. Sherman had not succeeded in doing this, but when that army took refuge in Atlanta, Sherman decided to occupy the city, even though the enemy managed to escape. One reason was that the capture of Atlanta would make big news in the North, and it was the kind of morale-raising victory that would help Lincoln win the upcoming election. The other was that Sherman was figuring out a way to get free of his over-long supply-line, that was always being attacked by Confederate cavalry. Noting that the rich Georgia farmland had enjoyed a good harvest, he realised that he could live off the land, forget his supply-line, and meanwhile conduct punitive raids on the farms that helped to victual the Confederates in the field. That is when he planned his March to the Sea.
340miles
Whoa, whoa there...! Sherman was not given an army until March 1864. Chattanooga was all over in November 1863. (It had a lot to do with supply-lines, but not Sherman's.) Atlanta was where the Army of Tennessee holed up in August 1864. When Sherman occupied Atlanta, that army escaped into the mountains, and Grant ordered Sherman to pursue. Now it was Sherman's long and vulnerable supply-line that made him feel he could not achieve this, and asked Grant's permission to undertake his March to the Sea instead (living off the land). Nashville was the beginning of the supply-line - a single-track railroad with 24 viaducts that were always being blown up by Confederate cavalry under Bedford Forrest. By the time of the Battle of Nashville (December 1864), Sherman was closing on Savannah and planning to cross into South Carolina, with very few Confederates still in the field. His supply-line was no longer a worry to him.
It was not strictly an advance, as it was opposite of Grant's order to pursue the Army of Tennessee into the mountains. Sherman believed his supply-line was too long and vulnerable to support a campaign in difficult mountain country, so he settled on a programme of destruction in the rich Georgia farmland, wrecking railroads, destroying civilian morale, and helping to starve the Confederate armies in the field. This was the March to the Sea, and it shortened the war by months, at almost nil casualties.