Letter, Sherman to Henry W. Halleck, December 24, 1864. Know about the significance and outcome of the Atlanta Campaign. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! Union troops arrived outside the fort on December 13. New York, NY: New York University Press, 1985. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shermans-March-to-the-Sea, Warfare History Network - Shermans March to the Sea, New Georgia Encyclopedia - Shermans March to the Sea, scorched-earth policy during the Atlanta Campaign, American Civil War: western and Carolina campaigns, American Civil War: Union soldiers wrecking railroads in Atlanta. Sherman's army marched 285 miles (458 km . The Army was on its best behavior, in part because anyone caught doing "unsoldier like deeds" was to be summarily executed. Very quickly, these foragers came to be called bummers, and it was they who did the most damage to the countryside and provided the most food for the troops. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Although many of the houses were damaged and a minority put to the torch and totally destroyed others were left essentially untouched, an unpredictability that became a source of great fear. Through this March to the Sea, Sherman hoped to deny Georgias resources to the Confederacy. There was no lunch stop; instead, the men ate whenever and whatever they could. Civilian accounts describe the terror of encountering Shermans foraging parties and the unauthorized bands of bummers. Corrections? His forces followed a "scorched earth" policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy's economy and transportation networks. Updates? The two cavalry units clashed again at nearby Waynesboro on December 4. All Rights Reserved. He issued these orders in preparation for his famous March to the Sea, also known as the Savannah Campaign. Hoods new strategy was to recoup before striking north at Union-occupied Nashville, Tennessee. When you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked, nothing gained,' I did not interfere. There was glory to die in Picketts Charge at Gettysburg, but only humiliation to have ones barn burned, silverware taken, house damaged or destroyed, or horses added to the enemy cavalry. It is estimated that during the six-week March to the Sea fewer than 3,000 casualties resulted. In theyears afterthe Civil War, fighting forces around the world have made use of Shermans total war strategy. He defeated Confederate General John Hood at the Battle of Atlanta on July 22, 1864. Their fates remain largely unknown. Their target was the second-largest city in the South: Atlanta, Georgia. Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift, the capture of Savannah. Union general William T. Sherman abandoned his supply line and marched across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean to prove to the Confederate . Historians consider the march and the psychological warfare it waged to be an early example of total war. It stood between the Union Army and two of its most prized targets: the Gulf of Mexico to the west and Charleston to the East. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! For this reason, he divided his expeditionary force into two infantry groups. In the fall of 1864, the Union General William Tecumseh ("Cump") Sherman took 60,000 men and pillaged his way through Georgia's civilian farmsteads. VII. Two weeks after this incident, and 20 miles removed, the march ended in Savannah. These orders have been depicted in popular culture as the origin of the "40 acres and a mule" promise. Sherman's March To The Sea summary: Sherman's March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman taking place from November 15, 1864 to December 21, 1864. which followed the successful Atlanta . Gen. Both U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses S. Grant had serious reservations about Sherman's plans. The Cavalry Corps of Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler, reinforced by a brigade under Brig. However, a turn eastward convinced him that Augusta was the target. Historian Barrett assesses that Sherman could have stopped Hardee, but failed to because he was hesitant to overcommit his forces. Shermans troops arrived in Savannah on December 21, 1864, about three weeks after they left Atlanta. The Strategic Significance of Sherman's March to the Sea. Sherman was charged with three armies totaling some 100,000 men: the Army of the Cumberland, the Army of the Tennessee, and the Army of the Ohio. Foragers, known as "bummers," would provide food seized from local farms for the army while they destroyed the railroads and the manufacturing and agricultural infrastructure of Georgia. Knowing that Confederate cavalry was nearby, the fugitives, fearful of being captured and killed or re-enslaved, panicked. He is rightly called the American father of total warfare, a harbinger of the psychological tactics of the next century. Sherman's armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10 but found that Hardee had entrenched 10,000 men in favorable fighting positions, and his soldiers had flooded the surrounding rice fields, leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city. After seizing Atlanta, Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman embarked on a scorched-earth campaign intended to cripple the Souths war-making capacity and wound the Confederate psyche. In these later conflicts, largely through the use of air power, Americans attempted to destroy enemy will and logistics (a doctrine colloquially known as shock and awe in Operation Iraqi Freedom). They quietly abandoned their trenches and crossed the Savannah River into Confederate-held South Carolina. [1] However, some men, called bummers, roamed the countryside to intentionally terrorize and loot Confederate civilians. 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 . Reveille came at daybreak and sometimes earlier. Consulting with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, the two men agreed that it would be necessary to destroy the South's economic and psychological will to resist if the war was to be won. Shermans soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. 1. The Army of the Tennessee, headed by Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard, comprised the right wing. Sherman's March to the Sea was one of the most stunning operations of the Civil War, yet few people outside of Georgia knew anything about it while it was underway. Show your pride in battlefield preservation by shopping in our store. He ordered Major General George Thomas and the U.S. Army of the Cumberland to follow and engage Hood's Army of Tennessee. He had a lot more soldiers than General Hood who only had 51,000. Atlanta Campaign. Barrett, John G. (1960) "Sherman and Total War in the Carolinas". The man leading the . This page was last edited on 14 April 2023, at 20:17. I suppose it will be safer if I leave General Grant and yourself to decide. Shermans March to the Sea, coupled with his Atlanta Campaign, may have tipped the scales of victory toward the Union in the Civil War. Stay up-to-date on the American Battlefield Trust's battlefield preservation efforts, travel tips, upcoming events, history content and more. When Sherman instituted his destructive war, he told Southerners that as long as they continued their resistance, he would make them pay dearly, but that the process would stop when they quit the fight. Walters, John Bennett (1948) "General William T. Sherman and Total War". On September 21, 1864, Confederate Gen. John B. The most potent Confederate force in the state was Joseph Wheelers 3,500-man cavalry, which managed to harass Shermans marchers but was too small to pose a deadly threat. Confederacy's economy and transportation networks, Western Theater of the American Civil War, "Savannah Campaign Union order of battle", "Effective strength of the army in the field under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, November and December, 1864", "Abstract from return of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Lieut. The campaign was designed by Grant and Sherman to be similar to Grant's innovative and successful Vicksburg campaign and Sherman's Meridian campaign, in that Sherman's armies would reduce their need for traditional supply lines by "living off the land" after consuming their 20 days of rations. The general himself was a model of deportment. Kilpatrick abandoned his plans to destroy the railroad bridge and he also learned that the prisoners had been moved from Camp Lawton, so he rejoined the army at Louisville. (The 10,000 Confederates who were supposed to be guarding it had already fled.) The economic impact of the march was staggering. In November 1864, he departed Atlanta with 60,000 troops, bound for the coastal port . Some economists have measured residual agricultural effects lasting through 1920. From the outset, Shermans men destroyed tunnels and bridges, expending particular effort to make railroad tracks unusable. The two wings of the army attempted to confuse and deceive the enemy about their destinations; the Confederates could not tell from the initial movements whether Sherman would march on Macon, Augusta, or Savannah. 120 (series 1864) were military orders issued during the American Civil War, on November 9, 1864, by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. The portion of this march through South Carolina was even more destructive than the Savannah campaign, since Sherman and his men harbored much ill-will for that state's part in bringing on the start of the Civil War; the following portion, through North Carolina, was less so. Jacqueline Campbell has written, on the other hand, that some slaves looked upon the Union army's ransacking and invasive actions with disdain. To sustain it, we must war upon and destroy the organized rebel forces,must cut off their supplies, destroy their communicationsand produce among the people of Georgia a thorough conviction of the personal misery which attends war, and the utter helplessness and inability of their rulers to protect themIf that terror and grief and even want shall help to paralyze their husbands and fathers who are fighting usit is mercy in the end.. Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood was threatening Chattanooga, and Sherman detached two armies under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to deal with Hood in the FranklinNashville campaign. The First American President: Setting the Precedent, African Americans During the Revolutionary War, Help Save 820 Acres at Five Virginia Battlefields, Save 343 Acres at FIVE Battlefields in FOUR Western Theater States, Save 42 Historic Acres at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Phase Three of Gaines Mill-Cold Harbor Saved Forever Campaign, An Unparalleled Preservation Opportunity at Gettysburg Battlefield. Send Students on School Field Trips to Battlefields Your Gift Tripled! As the marching Federals progressed, they attracted a growing throng of ex-slaves, who greeted them as emancipators. The 360-mile march extended from Atlanta in central . Sherman's march to the sea was over. Major General William Tecumseh Sherman was a contradiction embodied. Expert Answers. Away off in the distance, on the McDonough road, was the rear of Howard's column, the gun-barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the south; and right before us the Fourteenth Corps, marching steadily and rapidly, with a cheery look and swinging pace, that made light of the thousand miles that lay between us and Richmond. As soon as the mayor of Savannah surrendered his city, Sherman the fiend became Sherman the friend. Although beef cattle trudged along with his army, and he had his men fill their haversacks with food before they left, he knew that they could live off the Georgia land. He blamed the ex-slave refugees for ignoring his advice not to follow the army. Sherman's March to Sea. Shermans 37-day campaign is remembered as one of the most successful examples of total war, and its psychological effects persisted in the postbellum South. "Forage Liberally: The Role of Agriculture in Sherman's March to the Sea." Foraging parties may also take mules or horses to replace the jaded animals of their trains, or to serve as pack-mules for the regiments or brigades. Stay up-to-date on our FREE educational resources & professional development opportunities, all designed to support your work teaching American history. General Sherman finally gained control of the city of Atlanta on September 2, 1864. [35] Military historians Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones cited the significant damage wrought to railroads and Southern logistics in the campaign and stated that "Sherman's raid succeeded in 'knocking the Confederate war effort to pieces'. Recognizing the significance of endometriosis as an unmet chronic disease for women and designating March 2023 as "Endometriosis Awareness Month". After the war, Cox applies those same attributes to his books, Sherman's Battle for Atlanta and Sherman's March to the Sea, two volumes in the landmark series Campaigns of the Civil War. Atlanta: After the Civil War. By the following day, soldiers were setting unauthorized fires, and the flames spread to business and residential districts. Sometimes the slaves would volunteer information, and other times the foragers would force it out of them. [12], When Sherman had prepared his forces for the Atlanta Campaign, which immediately preceded the March to the Sea, he took rigorous steps to insure that only the most physically fit men were accepted, that every man in the army could march for long distances and would fight without reservations. Most Union soldiers complied with Shermans orders. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. After they lost Atlanta, the Confederate army headed west into Tennessee and Alabama, attacking Union supply lines as they went. But as the last unit of Daviss rear guard, the 58th Indiana, reached the far side, the bridge was unlashed. Sherman presented the city of Savannah and its 25,000 bales of cotton to President Lincoln as a Christmas gift.Early in 1865, Sherman and his men left Savannah and pillaged and burned their way through South Carolina to Charleston. Sherman's March to the Sea With the full support of both Lincoln and Grant, Sherman devised an unusual plan. Maj. Gen. John G. Foster dispatched 5,500 men and 10 guns under Brig. Union forces sustained more than 1,300 casualties, whereas the Confederates suffered roughly 2,300. 120 he encouraged foraging and the confiscation of livestock but forbade home invasions. Gen. Jefferson C. Daviss XIV Corps. They jumped into the water, frantically trying to swim across and evade Wheeler. Only then, did Sherman and his army begin the March to the Sea. Sherman's march to the sea definition at Dictionary.com, a free online dictionary with pronunciation, synonyms and translation. Seeing their terror and desperation, some Federals began throwing logs and anything else they could find toward the drowning people. Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee commanded the undermanned Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and Maj. Gen. Gustavus W. Smith led the small Georgia state militia. Hundreds of African Americans drowned trying to cross in Ebenezer Creek north of Savannah while attempting to follow Sherman's Army in its March to the Sea. Shermans March to the Sea, (November 15December 21, 1864) American Civil War campaign that concluded Union operations in the Confederate state of Georgia. [23][bettersourceneeded], Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. And so, in Atlanta, Sherman instituted tactics later generations of American war leaders would use in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Slavery. Like the morale-focused campaigns of future generals, Shermans march squeezed out a victory with ruthless precision. On November 23, Slocum's troops captured the city and held a mock legislative session in the capitol building, jokingly voting Georgia back into the Union.[22]. Wheelers horsemen descended on the Federal column at Sandersonville on November 2526, and on November 28 they sprang an attack on Kilpatricks Union cavalry at Buckhead Creek. The full story, however, is not this simple. Sherman was reluctant to set off on a wild goose chase across the South, however, and so he split his troops into two groups. Sherman demanded a surrender on December 17, but his request was promptly rejected. Several small actions followed. Gen. Judson Kilpatricks 5,000 Union horse soldiers cleared it out of the way. Wheelers 3,500 man Confederate cavalry tried to hinder Shermans army, but Brig. Slaves' opinions varied concerning the actions of Sherman and his army. Federal troops sprinted the 600-yard stretch to the forts walls, and within 15 minutes they had captured the structure. The most significant reason for General Sherman's explanation of hard war in the excerpt was that. This caused Sherman, who was trying to move quickly and live off the land, to worry about their impact on his speed and the supply of food meant for his soldiers. Still, sexual violence, especially in wartime, remains an underreported crime up to the present. Desertions soared as news of Georgias devastation began to reach the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, which was engaged in some of the wars most intense combat. Arnold presented him with the key to the city, and Sherman's men, led by Geary's division of the XX Corps, occupied the city the same day. Shermans army reached the sea, took Fort McAllister and re-tied itself to a naval supply line. How did Shermans March to the Sea conclude? Rockwell. On December 21 Savannahs mayor formally surrendered the city to the Union. "[17] There were about 13,000 men remaining at Lovejoy's Station, south of Atlanta. Certainly, Sherman practiced destructive war, but he did not do it out of personal cruelty. In fact, his true destination was the Georgia capital of Milledgeville. [28], From Savannah, after a month-long delay for rest, Sherman marched north in the spring in the Carolinas Campaign, intending to complete his turning movement and combine his armies with Grant's against Robert E. Lee. Iowa State University thesis, 2011. Gen. Judson Kilpatrick led the forces single cavalry division. The army will forage liberally on the country during the march. The March to the Sea. Sherman remained in Atlanta for a little over a month. Thousands who had been deceived by their lying papers into the belief that we were being whipped all the time, realized the truth, and have no appetite for a repetition of the same experience. Gen. John P. Hatch from Hilton Head, hoping to assist Sherman's arrival near Savannah by securing the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. The intense battle that ensued saw 250 Confederate casualties and 190 Union losses. Georgia, stretching before Shermans army with its red clay hills and sandy terrain, was the largest of the Confederate states. While many blacks became laborers and performed tasks necessary to the advance, others simply followed in the wake of the column. More seriously, the soldiers damaged state buildings and destroyed books and manuscripts before leaving Milledgeville on November 24. His scorched-earth tactics changed the history of warfare and are still studied and taught in military institutions . No doubt many acts of pillage, robbery, and violence were committed by these parties of foragers , Sherman acknowledged, but maintained that their crimes were generally against property, not individuals. The staffs of the various headquarters were ruthlessly restricted, and much clerical work was done by permanent offices in the rear. The cavalry captured two Confederate guns at Lovejoy's Station, and then two more and 50 prisoners at Bear Creek Station. He sought to utilize destructive war to convince Confederate citizens in their deepest psyche both that they could not win the war and that their government could not protect them from Federal forces. In Special Field Order No. Omissions? Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole army, officers and men. [4] Sherman's decision to operate deep within enemy territory without supply lines was unusual for its time, and the campaign is regarded by some historians as an early example of modern warfare or total war. They wandered out five or more miles from the main columns and became experts at finding hidden food, horses, wagons and even slaves. Those prisoners in the state jail willing to take up arms for the Confederacy 175 out of 200 were freed, although some of the newly liberated men burned down the penitentiary rather than report for duty. The Confederacy suffered only 70 losses to the Unions 100, with Kilpatrick himself narrowly escaping capture. Just 25 miles (40 km) north of Savannah, Daviss men were crossing a bloated Ebenezer Creek when they were ordered to destroy their bridge. Sherman believed that the Confederacy derived its strength not from its fighting forces but from the material and moral support of sympathetic Southern whites. The state legislature extended the existing state draft to include men from 16 to 65 years of age. 120, regarding the conduct of the campaign. Burke Davis' Sherman's March is brief and readable, though pitched to the general reader rather than scholars. Sherman himself is remembered through a nearly ubiquitous photograph, with a glare so icy it can chill us even across time. Look it up now! Brig. "[15] After his surrender to Sherman, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston said of Sherman's men that "there has been no such army since the days of Julius Caesar. On it was Byers' poem. From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. Apart from its economic and military payoff, the marchs impact may have lingered longest in the Southern psyche. Rear guard, the 58th Indiana, reached the Sea, took fort McAllister and re-tied to! 190 Union losses city to the Sea. full story, however some. Cleared it out of personal cruelty whole army, officers and men the.... 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