One of the most colorful characters of the civil war was a General named William T Sherman. During the period of the war (1861-1865),General Sherman went full circle from being forced to retire on trumped up charges that he was insane, to becoming a key player in bringing this bloody war to a close. On Sherman's ¨March to the Sea¨he and his men stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. The Yankees were ¨not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people,¨ Sherman explained. 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. …show more content…
Shemans acts help change the way the war was fought by using his tactic which as I said before helped end the civil war. Third, the purpose of the ¨March to the Sea¨ was to frighten Georgia´s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause which it did. Sherman believed that the confederacy derived its strength not from its fighting forces but from material and moral support of sympathetic southern whites. If he destroyed their farms,railroads,and houses he knew the confederate war effort would collapse. It did and the North won the war because of
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 march to the sea,the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during Civil War.It all begain in Atlanta on Novemeber 15,1864,and concluded in Savannah on December 21,1864.As a person who is searching and learning history day by day I am learning about Union general William T. Sherman and his march.Sherman divided his troops into two roughly equal wings,there was 60,000 troops to divide up.The two wings advanced by two routes, generally staying twenty miles to forty miles apart.The right wing is headed toward Macon while the left wing is headed toward Augusta before the two commands turned and bypassed both cities.They was headed for the state capitol at Milledgeville.Here are some consequences of the march.Sherman’s march
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
William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8th, 1820. He served in battles like the battle of Bull Run, and the battle of Shiloh. He was also in the Vicksburg Campaign, the Jackson Expedition, the Chattanooga expedition, the Meridian Campaign, the Atlanta campaign, and the Savannah Campaign. He was also known as a great businessman, lawyer, college superintendent,
William Tecumseh Sherman was one of eleven children born to a distinguished Ohio family. Sherman was orphaned at a young age and was enrolled in the United States Military Academy by his legal guardian, Senator Thomas Ewing. He graduated sixth in his class, but never saw extensive action on the battlefield. He tried other professions for a few years, but the outbreak of the Civil War called him back into service. During the early years of the war he served in the battles of Bull Run, Ft. Donelson, Shiloh and Vicksburg, and slowly moved up the chain of command. Following his successful capture of Jackson, Mississippi, Sherman was promoted to Commander of the Western Theatre, by his boss and friend, General Ulysses S. Grant. It was after this promotion that Sherman set out for the Southern industrial hub of Atlanta and soon after began the famous March to the Sea ("William T. Sherman."). This march, from Atlanta to Savannah, was about two hundred and eighty five miles long and lasted for about three weeks. Sherman’s men stole food and livestock, burned houses and barns, and attempted to scare the state of Georgia into surrender and collapse the Confederate war effort. During this time, Sherman and his men encountered little resistance. The only battle was a small skirmish outside the town of Griswoldsville that the Union won handily. After this failure, the Confederates began to retreat and initiated a scorched earth policy.
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
delayed a major attack during this battle in order to give General Sherman to win this battle.
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
Slavery did play an important role in the Civil War, but it was not what the war was originally based on. James M. McPherson explains in his book, “What They Fought For” the reasons why the Union and Confederacy started the Civil War. This book review will analyze the author’s purpose, his main argument, the evidence used, whether the book succeeded in its goals, and whether I would recommend this book or not.
Explain the significance of Sherman’s March to the Sea as a catalyst for the Confederate surrender.
One of the key factor contributing to the Civil War was States Rights. This refers to the struggle between federal government and individual states over political power. One side argued for greater state’s rights and those arguing felt that the Federal Government needed to have more control over states. The states felt they should have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. Meaning that states had the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied states this right. When nullification would not work and states felts that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession from the Union. The southern people were viewed as democratic and depended slaves for the plantations, they were devoted to agriculture and shipped cotton up north and favored low tariffs.
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
The Civil war was a make or break war for America and it was essential that the Union stayed whole. William T. Sherman understood the possibility that if the South won that the United States would no longer exist. He took action and went to the extremes necessary to ensure the union stayed whole. The south portrays William T. Sherman as a villain of the Civil War because of his harsh tactics, but without his willingness to go to such extremes the war would not have ended the same way. William T. Sherman saved the Union because he recognizes that the Civil War would be impossible to win without strident tactics, exceptional battle strategies, and unrelenting determination which would bring the war to a conclusion.
A picture was photographed in 1864, and it showed Northern soldiers tearing up railroads, telegraph poles, and supply lines. They destroyed the railways, to stop the Confederates from ordering and receiving supplies. This action was lead by William Tecumseh Sherman, and was famously titled “Sherman’s march to the sea,” which occurred in the city of Atlanta Georgia. According to the primary document title “General Sherman on the March to the Sea,” in 1865. This act was meant to force the Confederates into either surrendering or become weaker due to fewer resources.
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.