Sherman's March To The Sea Analysis

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

Roger Sherman is someone that you may say is the forgotten founding father, so let’s change that. Roger Sherman was a very influential politician and lawyer, being admired by some of greatest and brightest men of this time.

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

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

1861 to 1865 he led the United States during the Civil War. He ended slavery and helped keep the union from falling apart during the war. In 1860 he received 40% of the presidential vote, but by 1865 he became popular (Holzer, Harold.). Even though his feeling towards slavery did not change Lincoln's decision to fight. He believed it was his job as president to maintain the Union.(Abraham Lincoln). Abraham Lincoln’s strategy was to advance at the Confederates at the same time. His goal for the Union armies was to destroy opposing forces. Changing generals many times he found a general that would fight aggressively, Ulysses S. Grant. (Holzer, Harold.) McDowell, Fremont, McClellan, Pope, Buell, Burnside, and Rosecrans looked harmful to Abraham Lincoln when they failed to bring success to the Union (Abraham Lincoln). He often visited his fighting grounds to see if his strategy was being used. He was dissatisfied until he found Ulysses S. Grant. During the war, Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, for the freedom of all slaves. In 1863 the Gettysburg Address was delivered to the United States, letting the federal army fight to keep the Union (ebscohost). The Emancipation Proclamation seized property of those fighting against the Union (Abraham Lincoln). Their victory was achieved April 9, 1869, but less than a week later Abraham Lincoln was assassinated (ebscohost). Abraham Lincoln was a great president, and ended the

Lincoln's words did not bind the crumbling Union, and by April 1861, the Civil War had begun. In order to keep the South down, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, an act that helped Northerners arrest the Southern sympathizers among them. By 1864, the Union was tired of fighting, and the South was clinging to their last vestige of hope. George McClellan, challenged Lincoln for the presidency but failed in the general election. In March, Lincoln delivered a stirring Second Inaugural Address declaring, 'Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds. . .' In one month's time, on April 9, 1864, the military leader of the South, General Robert E. Lee, surrendered to the Union's General Ulysses S. Grant, and the war was over.

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

SC acting as the highest authority during the capture of the city. The events after the

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

The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when the Southern United States seceded from the union. The first battle, taking only thirty-four hours, caused Lincoln to officially rally troops against the South. Most Northern Americans would eventually learn to love Lincoln’s courage; however, many Southern Americans would despise Lincoln. Throughout the civil war many lives were lost, and many families were torn apart. Lincoln would remain a strong figure throughout the war. He would give his people hope, he would give his people courage, and he would give his people strength. Around the time the Civil War was drawing to a close, Lincoln was being reelected. The general of the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee, surrendered after a battle in Virginia. His troops surrendered in April, a little over a

American forces in the south, between 5,000 and 7,000 men, were based at Charleston under the command of General Benjamin Lincoln. Lincoln recognized that he would need assistance from the French navy and army to retake Savannah. On September 3, he learned that the French forces under the command of Admiral Comte d’Estaing were en route to Savannah, bringing with them ships-of-the-line and 4,000 soldiers. On September 11, Lincoln marched out of Charleston with 2,000 Continentals to link up with d’Estaing. Arriving first, d’Estaing began offensive operations to take the city. He initially offered Prevost an opportunity to surrender, but Prevost demurred, hoping that reinforcements would arrive. He was given twenty-four hours. This reprieve would prove in the end to be pivotal, as 1,000 men arrived to support Prevost's force just as Lincoln arrived to support d'Estaing. The Allied forces, when fully assembled, numbered near 7,000. Defending Savannah was a force totaling 2,500 men. Faced with overwhelming odds, Prevost organized a solid defensive plan.

“The result of the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further resistance… [I] regard it as my duty to shift from myself the responsibility for further [loss] of blood, by asking you surrender [of] the Army of Northern Virginia.” is what General Ulysses S. Grant as the highest ranking officer of the Union Army, wrote to the opposing the highest ranking officer of the opposing Confederate army, General Robert E. Lee on April 7, 1865. (Alter, 2002) In 1861, the Southern states of the United States of America had seceded from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America, and President Lincoln deciding it was worth it to bring them back, declared war, sparking the American Civil War. (Gaines, 2009) Grant joined the army

In late June 1863, Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia passed through western Maryland and invaded Pennsylvania. General Lee believed that by invading the North, he could draw the Union Army of the Potomac away from their defenses and force them to come after him. He also assumed the people of the North would be so demoralized if the Union were to lose another major battle, especially if it was fought on Northern soil, that President Abraham Lincoln would be forced to negotiate a settlement of the Civil War. On 01 July 1863, then Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, and his 20th Maine received word to begin movement to

Sherman began the move north in January of 1865. The only hope of Confederate resistance would be supplied by General P.G.T. Beauregard. He was putting together an army with whatever supplys he had left, but at best would only be able to get about 30,000 men. This would be no challenge to the combined forces of Schofield and Sherman. Sherman's plan was to march through South Carolina. His men would march in two ranks: One would travel northwest to give the impression of a press against Augusta and the other would march northeast toward Charleston. However the one true objective would be Columbia.

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