Atlanta Civil War Research Paper

They had anticipated the town would offer heavy resistance, but it only took a handful of shots fired to take the town. Before leaving Milledgeville, Sherman ordered the town courthouse and armory, along with several other military structures, to be burned to the ground. They continued to burn many structures of Confederate importance along the way, ending at Fort McAllister, which was the gateway to Savannah.

Sherman lead Union forces into battle to take control of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This was part of a plan known as the Atlanta campaign that was constructed by Sherman under Commander in Chief Ulysses S. Grant. According to Facts on File, Inc. “Plans for the capture of Atlanta, the Confederacy’s largest railroad hub… were first formulated in February and March 1864” (2009). This was about four to five months before Sherman had led the union into Atlanta. Sherman’s plan which was revealed in April, was described to destroy railroads in order to cease the transportation of supplies that confederate troops needed, as well as make Joseph E. Johnston’s army of Confederate soldiers retreat back to Atlanta forcing them to surrender. A month after on May 5, 1864 Union soldiers attacked Confederates at Dalton, Georgia and attacked Resaca four days later. On May 12 Johnston led his soldiers to meet the Union army at Resaca where his army would battle Union soldiers from May 13 to May 15. Although Confederates had driven Union soldiers back on the second day of battle, after Johnston received reports telling him of the Unions success in gaining position he decided not to attack on the following morning and instead retreated his soldiers to Calhoun and Adairsville. Following this evacuation, Confederates were supposed to ambush Union soldiers on Cassville road, they were all positioned by May 19 in the morning, but the army retreated and waited for Union soldiers to attack

By the outset of 1864, after three years of war, the Union had mobilized its resources for the ongoing struggle on a massive scale. The government had overseen the construction of new railroad lines and for the first time used standardized rail tracks that allowed the North to move men and materials with greater ease. The North’s economy had shifted to a wartime model. The Confederacy also mobilized, perhaps to a greater degree than the Union, its efforts to secure independence and maintain slavery. Yet the Confederacy experienced ever-greater hardships after years of war. Without the population of the North, it faced a shortage of manpower. The lack of industry, compared to the North, undercut the ability to sustain and wage war. Rampant inflation as well as food shortages in the South lowered morale.

The most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65). Began in Atlanta on November 15,1864. Union General William T. Sherman abandoned his supply line and marched across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean to prove the Confederate population that its government not protect the people from invaders. He believed that by marching an army across the state he would demonstrate to the world that the Union had a power the Confederacy could not resist. After Sherman’s forces captured Atlanta on September 2,1864, Sherman spent several weeks making preparations for a change of base to the cost. Sherman’s March to the

Throughout the 1850's a division in the country between North and South widened. However, in spite of the rising rhetoric, the state of Georgia was far from becoming a "war machine." In Marietta, the Georgia Military Institute went to the state for funds only three times between 1852 and 1863. Throughout the state, railroads were being built up for economic reasons, not reasons of war. Atlanta was concerned about fighting equipment for its newly formed fire department, not for some secret military unit. Life went on "as usual" until the 1860 Presidential campaign.

I chose the Civil War because I enjoy the history of the United States. I thought the Civil War be an interesting topic since it was a big part of slavery. The Civil War changed our history so I think that is why people find it such a popular part of history, and most likely the reason I enjoy learning history. A bonus was that I already knew three things about the Civil War era. Abraham Lincoln was also the first president who declared he was going to get rid of slavery. If the Union didn't win the war, I believe we would still have slavery. Also, that the Union and Confederate each had their own president.

The Civil War split the nation in half. It tore apart families, and Union soldiers against Confederate soldiers for four miserable years. From the first shots fired at Fort Sumter 1861, and ending with a unanimous Confederate victory in 1865. All in all 630,000 people died and many thousands wounded. The deaths in the Civil War totally surpassed the death totals from any other war (1). For those managed to survive the up hill battle just began, they faced many unknowns in a world moving in an uncertain direction. With the north beating the succeeded south in the war, politicians faced a hard task of reuniting the divided country. With reconstruction now in affect, both northern workers, and southern farmers now face many new obstacles and

It was in this position that he carried on the campaign on which his fame rests. On May 6, 1864, he left Chattanooga, Tenn., for Atlanta, Ga.

180 years ago, the city of Atlanta originated as the zero milepost for the Western and Atlantic Railroad. People soon settled around the zero milepost and donned it the settlement “Terminus.” In later years in was named Therville and then Marthasville before being officially named Atlanta on December 29th, 1847. The city continued to grow and thrive until it was destroyed in 1865 in the civil war by General Sherman during his famous “March to the Sea” (Wikipedia, 2016). After its destruction, the city was slowly rebuilt over the following years to eventually become the massive hub that it is today. Atlanta hosts the headquarters of a plethora of Fortune 500 companies including The Home Depot Inc., United Parcel Service Inc.,

However this effected the South because they failed to grow their industrial platform. The North had 66% of railroad mileage when the South had only 34%. This shows by far that the North was more industrialized than the South. Since the Union had more mileage of railroad they were able to have their men, food, and materials transported for a long distance in a short period of time. Unlike the North the South was unfortunate to not have such an advanced railroad. The South was able to transport some distance but not nearly the amount of mileage the North could cover. This shows very clearly the South simply lost the war due to their lack of interest in improving their resource industry and industrial

After the Civil War, the United States had a lot of rebuilding to do. The war had halted the development of the country in its tracks, and many efforts had to be made to fix the economy, the physical state of the land and satisfy the needs and wants of the people. Integration of newly emancipated slaves, known as freedmen, and their safety was a question mark in the minds of many Americans, and ideas of how to fairly pull the South back into the Union were extremely varied amongst lawmakers. Compromise played a big role in keeping every side happy to prevent slipping back into war. It was prioritized that the North and South were blended back into one, united country, and many actions were taken in expediting this process.

The Civil War took many tolls on the U.S., but the part that was mostly affected was the South. Not only did the South lose its pride, it lost its economy. At the end of the war, the Southern General Robert E. Lee said, “There is nothing left for me to do but to go and see General Grant and I would rather die a thousand deaths.” This shows that Lee lost his pride, his hope, his love in the Confederates. The textbook also says that the South lost many buildings and structures in the Civil War. General Sherman created a bold plan; a "march to the sea." This meant that the Union forces would plow through anything in their way. This meant burned houses, destroyed fields, and destruction all around. This soon came to be known as "total war." This

After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to the head of the Union Army, he appointed William Sherman to his former post; general of the Union Army of the West. He was given the task of taking the city of Atlanta, Georgia, to destroy the factories that supplied the

Before his March to the sea he had accomplished a lot, an example of this is the Atlanta campaign that took place between May and September 1864. Together with General Grant, they believed that they had to destroy the Confederacy’s capacity for waging war. They would do this by attacking the economic, strategic, and physiological aspects of the South to bring it to its knees. The strategies that Sherman adopted could be compared with the scorched earth tactic that entailed destroying everything. Although he instructed his men to only destroy infrastructure in place where guerrilla warfare overwhelmed his army . He quickly

General Sherman had many titles including American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general for the Union army in the Civil War. He was known for “total war” because he believed in it. He received both great praise and recognition as well as criticism for this strategy against the confederate states. Sherman lead the Union Army in the West. He had a partnership with General Ulysses S. Grant and together they advanced toward Atlanta. Sherran ordered to burn the warehouses that manufactured cotton and ended up setting fire to buildings. He burned most of the entire city of Atlanta. They seized crops and livestock and pulled up railroad tracks, leaving a path of destruction over 60 miles wide. He also participated in