An Analysis Of Sherman's Unorthodox Tactics Of The Civil War

Some would argue that Sherman’s reluctance to face the Confederate army head on would make the march fairly peaceful. After all, he avoided bloodshed; however instead of facing of with an army, he faced off with the people, practicing psychological warfare, instead of waging a physical battle against the Confederacy. Yet this type of warfare didn’t fail to devastate the south. He successfully made the southern people fear his army so much, that Confederate wives begged their husbands to come home so the war would end and “told one South Carolina woman that he was ransacking her plantation so that her soldier husband would come home and Grant would not have to kill him in the trenches at Petersburg” (Groce). Sherman’s genius approach to show his army’s power through destruction of property instead of the through slaughtering men on the battlefield is quite ironic, considering the Civil War was one of the bloodiest battles in history; however, it created a big blow to the south, convincing the people to give up. From the words of Sherman himself, “If the people raise a howl against barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, and not popularity-seeking. If they want peace, they and their relatives must stop the war” (Mitchell). He admits to his brutality, declaring that to stop the burning of plantations and destruction, the civilians must give up. Sherman recognized that the fuel to any war was the people. (expand) The brutality he brought to the southern

Beginning as a battle of army versus army, the war became a conflict of society against society. In this kind of war, the ability to mobilize economic resources, the effectiveness of political leadership, and a society’s willingness to keep up the fight despite setbacks, are as crucial to the outcome as success or failure on the battlefields. Unfortunately for the Southern planters, by the spring of 1865, the South was exhausted, and on April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the war.

The March through Georgia and South Carolina, lead by General William Techumseh Sherman, was the turning point in the American Civil War. There had been heavy fighting in Tennessee and Kentucky. General Sherman requested permission to take a very large army to the Atlantic Ocean through North and South Carolina, Georgia, then turning North back through the Carolinas and then Virginia. He would divide the Confederate states by blazing a path through the middle of them, foraging and destroying anything of military importance to the Confederates. General Sherman's March achieved his goal, from a military standpoint, but the way his army accomplished it, many southerners say was despicable. The most famous portion of

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

“War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.” That is what William T. Sherman believed in, if the people wanted war, then they could have war. William T. Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served in many battles/wars one of which was the Civil War. He was said to have played an important part in the Civil War.

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

After taking charge Ulysses S. Grant became really mad he went crazy he was going take over and destroy the south. ‘’Grant then opened up the cracker line, to bring supplies to the beleaguered army of the Cumberland.’’ Grant went crazy he was ready to launch an attack.’’ On November 24, Grant launched an attack on lookout mountainn and then captured it after six hours of fighting!’’ The battles went on and on. Grant wanted this battle over fast so the nexted day he ordered Sherman to attack tunnel hill. But the last time Sherman was ordered to lead the troops in an initial attack was a failure.’’ A second attack managed to completely break the center of the confederate line. After that victory it was grants third in three days. Then, all of a sudden it opened the Deep South to a union invasion. At the end with the success of Grants victories it also led the union to a great victory (Civilwar.org).

men, Sherman started on his famous march of 400 miles (645 kilometers) "from Atlanta to the sea." For 32 days no news of him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of supplies, and his men lived on what they could get from the country through which they passed. They covered a path 60 miles (95 kilometers) wide in their march, and in that path everything that they could not use but that might prove of use to the enemy was ruthlessly

Union officer William Tecumseh Sherman observed to a Southern friend that, "In all history, no nation of mere agriculturists ever made successful war against a nation of mechanics. . . .You are bound to fail." While Sherman's statement proved to be correct, its flaw is in its assumption of a decided victory for the North and failure to account for the long years of difficult fighting it took the Union to secure victory. Unquestionably, the war was won and lost on the battlefield, but there were many factors that swayed the war effort in favor of the North and impeded the South's ability to stage a successful campaign.

Grant and Sherman decided that a different tactic for war would be better served in their favor if they focused on something called “total war.” This meant to target the areas that benefited the south and that furthered their war agenda. These two men went after crops and railroads and anything else the civilians had that helped the other side along in the battle. Army’s usually were only supposed to fight against each other and their army targets. However, Grant and Sherman decided to attack and target villages and other economic targets, even if there were any war rules in place that stated these areas should not be a target. When both these men had decided to act upon their new way of thinking and strategizing and thinking they waged a total war. It was Sherman’s “march to the sea” that was the campaign that is most connected with the “total war” agenda and idea. This is stated that when Sherman had commanded his men to march across George he had instructed and commanded his army to destroy everything in their path that could help the confederates efforts. Grant is also linked with the same campaign that he ordered Sherman to engage in the same attacks on the confederate economy. They may have not wanted to try to kill civilians but only destroy their efforts that aided the south. However, these men did wage war on the economy and on the civilians so they would not be

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

In Olson and Jasinski's academic article about General Jackson’s brilliance and tactics that altered the Civil War completely, the journalists highlight that Jackson used a military tactic that no one at the time did. Jackson was the first to try fighting at night in the dark, hence the name full moon in the title. Along with Jackson’s military tactics, the writers accentuate that The Battle of Chancellorsville and Stonewall Jackson’s actions in the battle altered the results of the Civil War in that even though Jackson was able to win the battle for the Confederacy, his death from lethal bullet wounds in the battle weakened the military leadership and strategy in the war. I would use this article to demonstrate that The Battle of Chancellorsville

Tactics in the Civil War were influenced by a few factors. Most notably is the contribution made by the spy network. They helped the northern generals formulate tactics to counter the south, prevented the south from making counterattacks, and also changed the progression of the war.

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

How did Sherman’s march to the sea during the American Civil War influence the tactic of Blitzkrieg used by the Germans during World War II? To conduct this research, I am going to look into the march by Sherman and the tactic of Blitzkrieg. By consulting books that outline the tactics used in both events, I will be able to draw connections between the two and, also, be able to contrast the two. In studying the tactics, I will look at the troop size, the speed of the attack, and how the attacks took place. In addition, similarities and differences will be pointed out in the Analysis section. In stating the similarities and differences, I will be able to uncover connections and will be able to draw a conclusion on whether Blitzkrieg was influenced by Sherman’s March to the Sea.