The Battle Of The Se Sherman's Total War Strategy

It can be said that the South began the Civil War from a winning position. They had declared their independence, formed their own country and government, and they needed only to keep what they already had. But this was a monumental task as the government was required to protect every inch of land within the Confederacy. As a new country, the Confederacy needed to demonstrate the ability to defend its own territory from external threat. Without this ability, the Confederacy could never receive the international recognition and support it needed to survive. Aside from this reason, the South also needed to protect the institution of slavery from outside interference. If the Northern armies took control of a particular Southern area, the Confederates felt that they would free all the slaves, thus destroying the entire structure of society and its economic value. Because of this, Jefferson Davis was forced to devise a flawed war strategy which attempted to preserve the entire Confederacy at the cost of concentrating his forces.

The entire truly tragic sense of the Lost Cause was that the South’s men knew their cause was lost, they knew there was really no way they could possibly win, and yet they fought on with tremendous bravery and dedication. The Civil War was such a poignant and even heart-wrenching time (Bowman, 2006, p.756). Despite the long-held notion that the South had all of the better generals, it really had only one good Army commander and that was General Lee. The rest were second-raters, at best (Donald, 1996, pp. 9-21). The North, on the other hand, had the good fortune of bringing along and nurturing people like Ulysses Grant, William Sherman, Philip Sheridan, George Thomas, and others.

Firstly, we must look towards Sherman’s initial actions, beginning in 1862 when Sherman was having trouble dealing with Confederate snipers who were pestering Union gunboats on the Mississippi River near Memphis, Tennessee. He then determined that he would follow his theory of “collective responsibility” which would allow him to “justify” the attacking and execution of innocents as retribution for any Union attacks. One such instance of this would be when he had the entire rural town of Randolph, Tennessee burned as until nothing was left. He also determined that the civilians would either be taken as hostages or worse executed. As he progressed onwards through former Confederate territory he also burnt Jackson and Meridian, Mississippi to the ground, even though these cities offered no organized defense and there was no Confederate garrison stationed there. His soldiers would progress onwards looting what they could and destroying

Based upon the current week’s lectures, how did grant and Sherman exemplify a new war strategy?

Before the fall of Atlanta, various battles resulting in Union defeat had left crushed hopes for the Union, General Sherman even having to stand down from his attacks on Kennesaw Mountain and Pigeon Hill when he foresaw their defeat. Despite this, he remained resilient and due to Atlanta’s role as a significant rail and supply hub for the Confederacy, the Union targeted the city and General Sherman consequently cut through Georgia from Atlanta to Savannah in a blaze of flames after evacuating its citizens, crushing the Confederate army’s supplies and morale. His success not only ensured Abraham Lincoln’s reelection but also wreaked havoc across vital Confederate railroads, damaging the Confederacy’s war efforts beyond repair. The reelection of Abraham Lincoln boosted the spirits of the Union and secured Union victory in the nearby

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

Sherman and his men stormed toward the Atlantic ocean, burning everything such as industries, homes, crops, and killed livestock. The soldiers also took food and tore apart railroads and fields. This march showed that the Union had overwhelming power over the Confederate. The Confederacy could not tell whether Sherman and his men were moving towards Macon, Augusta, or Savannah. Sherman brought his men towards Richmond to meet up with Union General Ulysses S. Grant.

The purpose of this march was to destroy Confederate supply lines and split the South in two halves. General Sherman used the tactic which earned the name “scorched earth” due to the harsh methods used. Anywhere the 60,000 man army traveled, they destroyed and burned any obstacle that they encountered, whether it be travelers, families, or even entire towns. Lincoln knew this would strike terror into the Confederate side and decrease their population by thousands. The total fatality count is undetermined because of the mass slaughtering and burning.

Sherman’s march to the sea cut a swath of destruction sixty miles wide and two-hundred eighty-five miles long from Georgia’s industrial hub, Atlanta, to the coastal city of Savannah. During his march Sherman estimated his forces caused at least one-hundred million dollars worth of damage adding up to a little more than one and a half billion by today's standards. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman began his military career at the United States Military Academy where he graduated in 1840 as a Second Lieutenant. Once the Civil War broke out he was sent to the Mississippi area where he quickly distinguished himself and rose through the ranks. He was eventually placed in command of the forces charged with taking the Mississippi River and gained the respect of Lincoln. This gained him command of the Army of Tennessee and Georgia with which he was to split the deep south from the upper south, keeping the Confederate armies busy while Grant swept down from the North. Sherman’s daring move

Another way that civilians were assaulted was when Lincoln closed the Southern ports. When the waterways were blocked, the fundamental supplies (such as medicine) were not able to get to those who needed them Because of this, many people died. The final two parts of this chapter were devoted to Sherman and his relationship with Lincoln and Sheridan’s part in the burning of Shenandoah

William T. Sherman was a U.S. Civil War leader in which he is known as Sherman's March. In September 1864 William took in Campaign of Atlanta and burn it all the way to the ground. With about 60,000 men he order to move out to Savannah. To the soldiers in this mission they all called it a ‘’total war’’ destroy everything that supported the Confederate Military. They wanted to prove to the Confederate they could not protect its people from the Union Army. Doing this action they would shine to the world that the Union had power no one could take a chance. Their preparation to after they forcly capture the city of Atlanta Sherman took several weeks to think of a plan on how they would win a battle against the Confederate. After weeks of planning

A despondent Lincoln told his Cabinet he didn't expect to win the election. "I'm going to be beaten... badly," he told an army official, "unless some great change takes place." Grant and Sherman began finishing off the South. While Grant continued to pin down Lee at Richmond and Petersburg, Sherman cut loose from Atlanta and marched to the sea, destroying everything in his path in an effort to terrorize the South and break its will and ability to fight. As Sherman said before his march: "This war is different from European wars of the past. We're fighting not only a hostile army, but a hostile people. And we must make them, old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of

William Tecumseh Sherman was a soldier in the American Civil war who was praised for his strategy and criticized for his use of total war strategy. Total war is where there is no restrictions on weapons, objects or strategy used are all able to do. William Sherman followed this path with U.S Grant, the head of the Union army who did things like this. William Sherman helped general Grant with the battles of Fort Henry and Donelson, Shiloh then he got hold of the Western Theater of war. He then proceeded to attack Vicksburg which was on the MIssissippi River and also aided on the Chattanooga campaign, which let him take Atlanta and eventually led the Lincoln's re-election. Sherman’s parade of destruction then went into Georgia and the Carolinas,

Around the final stages of the Civil War, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman used a tactic called “total war.” Total War is a type of war where nothing is off limits. This strategy allowed General Sherman to harm civilians and destroy everything in his path. Total War was used against the Confederacy by demolishing anything that would have been useful to the South. The Confederacy was already in a bad spot at this time of the war, but using this tactic made the South more vulnerable. I am not for this strategy, however I think it was reasonable for the Union to adopt this policy. It was reasonable for the Union to do this because they had to do what they could to make the Confederacy surrender as fast as they

The Civil War began when the Southern Slave States seceded from the Northern Free States due to uncompromising polarity and formed the Confederate States of America. This four year war over the power of the national government to forbid slavery in the regions that hadn’t yet become states claimed more lives than any other war in American History. In his book, What They Fought For, 1861-1865, James McPherson examines the feelings and motives of both Union and Confederate soldiers to enlist and fight in the Civil War; most of these soldiers were volunteer soldiers. He proves his thesis that contrary to the popular belief that Civil War soldiers didn’t understand what they were fighting for, McPherson presents evidence that in fact, “a large number of those men in blue and gray were intensely aware of the issues at stake and passionately concerned about them” (4). After the war ended, Ulysses S. Grant also goes on to state, “our armies were composed of men who were able to read, men who knew what they were fighting for” (6). McPherson confirms this through the many personal letters and diaries written by the most literate soldiers in history to that time.