Sherman's March to the Sea

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Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign embarked upon by the United States Army in late 1864 during the American Civil War, led by Major General William T. Sherman. During the march, General Sherman's men finished off John Bell Hood's initial burning of possible assets in Atlanta, Georgia and burned it to the ground, and destroyed property along a wide swath south from that city in order to punish the Confederates for starting the war.

For most of the march, Sherman opposed Confederate general Joe Johnston, though Hood opposed Sherman for a time.

After the Battle of Atlanta, General Sherman was hesitant of his next move. He could defend the city of Atlanta, or perform some other move, such as attack the Confederate Army. Instead, he realized that he had a great military advantage, and with the permission of his superior, Major General Ulysses S. Grant (who was commanding in Virginia), he embarked on a long campaign across the state of Georgia.

On November 11, 1864, Sherman's men started to burn Atlanta and on November 15 he led his army of about 60,000 battle-hardened soldiers out of Atlanta toward the Atlantic coast. The main forces opposing him were the 14,000 militia and reserves, which did little to no damage whatsoever to Sherman's troops.

Under orders to destroy anything that could be used by the Confederate troops, Sherman's armies burned towns, plantations, shops, barns and crops. A 60-mile-wide swath of ruin lay behind the army's nearly 300-mile march to the sea. Between Macon and Augusta, Georgia's heartland held food and crops Sherman's army desperately needed to continue their march. Soldiers were forbidden by orders from pillaging food, but the orders were widely ignored. Upon arriving in Savannah, Sherman offered Pres. Abraham Lincoln the city, its armaments and 10,000 bales of its cotton. He estimated his damage to Southern infrastructure, mostly as waste and ruin, to be worth about $100 million.

The aggressive Confederate general commanding the armies in the Deep South, John Bell Hood, had left Georgia unguarded on his offensive campaign toward Nashville (he invaded Tennessee on November 22). Sherman refused to be distracted by this invasion and saw Hood's campaign as a strategic blunder, remarking that he would be willing to give Hood supplies to reach Ohio if need be.

Although Hood's campaign seemed effective at first, he was soundly beaten by Major General George Thomas at the Battle of Franklin, and his horribly beaten army was forced to retreat very far, and performed little useful service for the rest of the war. The only large force between Sherman and the Atlantic Ocean had been effectively removed by its own commander from any service against Sherman.

His army marched in two columns. The right column was commanded by the Battle of Gettysburg veteran, Major General Oliver O. Howard, and the left column, the Army of Georgia, was commanded by his fellow veteran, Major General Henry W. Slocum. The cavalry was commanded by Major General H. Judson Kilpatrick. On December 10, Sherman's army reached the city of Savannah on the Atlantic coast. There, he sent the famous letter to President Abraham Lincoln, presenting the city of Savannah as a "Christmas gift".

After the March to the Sea, Sherman was quick to advance northward, capturing the city of Columbia, South Carolina on February 17, 1865.

Table of contents

1 MG William T. Sherman, Union Army

1.1 MG Oliver O. Howard, Right Wing
1.2 MG Henry W. Slocum, Left Wing (Army of Georgia)
1.3 MG H. Judson Kilpatrick, 3rd Cavalry Division (Unattached)