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Why did Lincoln give permission to destroy the civilian infrastructure?
He didn't. If you refer to Sherman he believed in total war and to burn his way to Atlanta to force Confederate forces to surrender.
Who led to the March of the Sea?
This seems like a US Civil War question as the phrase "March of or to the Sea" is commonly used for Union forces led by US General William Tecumseh Sherman under the overall commander of the Army of the Potomac, General Uylsses S. Grant. This march (a scorched earth type ) led to the Battle of Atlanta. What is frequently overlooked was that the main Union force used in taking Atlanta was the Army of Tennessee under Maj. General James B. McPherson. On August 31, 1865, Sherman's army captured the Macon, Georgia railway track which was a supply line to Atlanta. On September 2, 1865 the city of Atlanta formally surrendered to Sherman. Most of the "March" was a battle that began and followed the railway between Chattanooga Tennessee against Confederate General Johnston and ended in Marietta, Georgia. This was a point southeast of the captured City of Atlanta. Sherman stayed in Atlanta for 2 months, burned it to the ground, and carried on to the east. The end of the March to the Sea thus ended to the Southeast in the port city of Savannah.
Why was the battle of Atlanta important?
It caused Sherman to change the whole course of his campaign. Grant's orders to Sherman were to pursue the Army of Tennessee into the mountains. But Sherman's supply-line was so vulnerable that he did not think he could achieve this. That was why he re-considered his whole plan, and decided to ignore the Army of Tennessee - wisely leaving it to George Thomas - while he himself embarked on punitive raids on the farms and railroads of Georgia on the way to relieving the blockade-runners' port of Savannah. This shortened the war by months at almost nil casualties.
Why did Shermans March happened?
After the conquest of Atlanta the Union forces were deployed along a kind of isosceles triangle, having its base at Chattanooga and the top at Atlanta, with a high of about 140 Kilometers.Sherman's situation was now critical than that of Grant had been near Vicksburg, because the backbone that supported the salient was given only by the thin strip of the rails exposed to be everywhere attacked and destroyed and not by the course of Mississippi, which was completely dominated by the Union gunboats.So the Commander of Confederate Army of Tennessee Major Gen. Hood, endorsed by Jefferson Davis decided to operate against Sherman's exposed line of communication, in order to force Sherman to withdraw from Atlanta, leaving Georgia practically undefended.Sherman solved the situation deciding to cut his communication line and with two-third of his army to start an offensive through Georgia, whose final goal was that of reaching the sea at Savannah, taking from the back the Confederate Eastern Front. As well known, Sherman's Armysupported the offensive byplundering the country and scorching the earth behind them.
Why did Johnston feel differently about the campaign against Sherman which looked like the equivalent of a Confederate disaster?
I can only assume that the asker is referring to the Atlanta Campaign. Johnston considered his campaign in Mississippi a failure and felt he was doing nothing in the Carolina's except annoying Sherman so the Atlanta Campaign is the more likely. Joe Johnston felt that he had been quite successful against Sherman in the Atlanta Campaign for these main reasons: 1 - Sherman commanded a combined force of between 100,000 and 120,000 men in the form of his three Armies (the Army of the Ohio - John M. Schofield, the Army of the Tennessee - James B. MacPherson and the Army of the Cumberland - George Henry Thomas) while Johnston's highest number of soldiers, effectives of otherwise, was somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 yet his Army remained a viable force between Sherman and Atlanta and still numbered around 60,000 when he was removed. 2 - Johnston had managed to do more damage to his enemy that he sustained. Though the casualties of 10,000 Confederates and about 15,000 to 20,000 Federals was small in terms of the losses suffered in Virginia they were hard fought losses and only the differing nature of Johnston and Sherman from Grant and Lee kept the casualties low. 3 - The Federals had, comparitively, penetrated shorter into Georgia's Territory than it had Virginia's and the cost of protecting Georgia for the Confederate had been less than that which Lee's Army suffered and the enemy had advanced at a slower rate in Georgia than it had in Virginia.
