General Sherman's Fight To Win 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

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

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.

delayed a major attack during this battle in order to give General Sherman to win this battle.

Lieutenant General James Longstreet contributed to the Civil War despite the lack of appreciation from his fellow men. Longstreet opposed offensive warfare in Gettysburg and argued that the “enemy outnumbered you and outgunned you and would come looking for you anyway if you waited somewhere on your own ground” (10). He did not openly express his arguments all the time but was often ignored by General Robert E. Lee and many of the Confederate troops when he did spoke his mind about how an offensive tactic at Gettysburg would cost the Confederacy numerous casualties. Even though soldiers like Brigadier General Lewis Armistead agreed with many of Longstreet theories of defensives, but the South would never listen to Longstreet. The

“There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.” Stated by Abraham Lincoln, this quote embodies the essence of war, its tragic character and unfortunate occasional necessity. Accordingly, the outcome of war and its battles is often determined by the attitudes of the leaders of the opposing sides, including their causes for the willingness to fight and to be fought. Such was the case with the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. Michael Shaara’s The Killer Angels presents the leaders of the Army of the Potomac and the leaders of the Army of Northern Virginia with antithetical attitudes in relation to the Civil War. Although the causes of the leaders of the Union Army and the Confederate Army were both associated with the notion of freedom, the perspectives on freedom were contrasting with the Union Army advocating freedom of the individual, and the Confederate Army advocating freedom the states. Also, the leaders of the Army of the Potomac and the leaders of the Army of Northern Virginia had different outlooks on successful war strategies, with the Union favoring defensive tactics and the Confederacy favoring honorable offensive approaches. Additionally, the Union Army’s leaders had a gargantuan amount of confidence and perseverance which aided in winning the Battle of Gettysburg, while the Confederate Army was not as persistent and capitulated in battle.

Scorched farms, slaughtered livestock, uprooted railway lines and cities set on fire was not typical battle strategy previously seen on American soil. However, the Civil War was dragging on and General William Tecumseh Sherman was determined to finally end the fighting. The circumstances that initiated the war created a figurative and literal divide unlike America had ever seen. The American Civil War took heavy tolls on the Union and Confederate States of America. Desperate to end the bloodshed, President Abraham Lincoln trusted Ulysses S. Grant control of the Army and Grant authorized Sherman the freedom to do whatever necessary to bring conclusion to the conflict (Davis 22). In the military mind of Sherman, the end justified the means and this belief is well documented throughout his 1864 and 1865 campaign through Georgia, concluding in Goldsboro, North Carolina (Phillips 11). Sherman despised war and the fact that America had entered into a civil war in the first place. However, Sherman knew the conflict was unavoidable (Meiers 26). He made the decision to follow his allegiance to the Union and eventually became the general to lead the Armies of the Cumberland, the Ohio, and the Tennessee into the heart of Georgia (Moody 22). During this event the wrath of general Sherman would be implanted in the South’s memories. By the use of unorthodox

Union general William T. Sherman led nearly 60,000 men on a 285 mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia from November 15 to December 21, 1864. Sherman’s motive behind this march was to intimidate Georgia’s civilians into renouncing their loyalty to the Confederate cause. While Sherman’s men did not eradicate any of the towns they passed, they stole livestock, food, and burned the houses and barns of the individuals who tried to fight back. The Union was “not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people,” Sherman explicated; as a result, they needed to “make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.”. (history.com)

Lee was a Confederate general whose major blunders helped the Union win the Civil War. General Lee had been an excellent war leader and led the South to many victories, but he became overconfident. This led to many mistakes that may have cost him the war. Beginning on July 1, 1863 and ending on July 3, 1863, General Lee launched his second attack on Union ground at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. There, he made the mistake of allowing the Union army to retreat and fight from Cemetery Ridge heights as well as ordering multiple frontal assaults. As a result, Lee’s troops had to fight uphill the entire time and charge uncovered through cannon and rifle fire. General Longstreet advised to choose more favorable ground and lead the battle there, but Lee refused. Thus, Lee lost over 6,000 men on July 3 alone and a total of about 19,000 men from all three days at Gettysburg. The Confederacy was not able to replace these men, which could have given the Union more leverage in the war. Therefore, Robert E. Lee’s stubbornness and overconfidence helped influence the outcome of Civil

During November 15 to December 21, 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman launched a military campaign known as the Savannah Campaign; during the campaign, the City of Atlanta was captured by Union troops and the campaign ended with the capture of the port of Savannah. During the campaign, the Union forces destroyed civilian infrastructure as well as military infrastructure, and key industrial targets to sustain Confederate’s economy. Some people might view the tactics employed by General Sherman through the Savannah Campaign as excessive and immoral; however, during an armed conflict, such tactics might be necessary to terminate a prolonged conflict. Moreover, the tactics used by Gen. Sherman have been used since ancient times, known

The generals of the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses Grant, William Sherman and James Longstreet, reign in infamy as the pivotal generals that shaped the outcome of the war and military history. Although the generals contributed to the war in various ways, but Ulysses Grant stands above his peers in generalship, because of the Grant’s resilience, unpredictability and strategic mastery. Grant is followed in generalship by Lee, Sherman, and Longstreet in respective order.

Union troops invaded Georgia last month, not knowing who would come out on top. Though the winner has been officially announced.

Here are three reasons why sherman's march needed to happen. First, someone needed a tactic to end the war. It was its third year in the civil war and people didn't want it to go on any longer so with Sherman's ¨Total War¨ tactic it did just that and ended the war in 1865. Without it who knows how much longer the Civil war would of lasted.

Ulysses S Grant was born on April 27, 1822 in Point Pleasant Ohio. He graduated from a military academy at West Point. He fought in both the Mexican War and the Civil War. During the Civil War Grant was the main and best general for the Union army. He first led troops in combat during the Civil War on November 7, 1861. He gained control of all Union armies in 1864. In April 1865, Grant led the Union army to a victory by defeating the

Union General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Carolina campaign during the American Civil War led to the capital of South Carolina in the city of Columbia in early 1865. Sherman was employing a new military strategy of total war, in which he considered the civilian population and their property as military targets. Upon hearing of Sherman’s march toward Columbia, the Confederate cavalry General Wade Hampton faced the reality that Columbia would be lost to Sherman.