Winter 1864

Sherman’s March to the Sea

Grant’s Plan for 1864

Grant determined to “press” the Confederates on all sides in May 1864:Meade overland in the

East.Sigel up the

Shenandoah Valley.Butler up the James

River.Sherman overland to

Atlanta, GA.Banks toward Mobile,

AL.

The Fall of AtlantaConfederate General John

Bell Hood realized what Sherman was trying to do, but he was too late to do anything about it

After a desperate attempt at Jonesboro to dislodge Sherman, Hood abandoned Atlanta and the Federals take possession of the city on Sept 2

Hood headed north into northern Alabama and Tennessee trying unsuccessfully to get Sherman to follow him or at least disrupt Sherman’s communications

Ruins of Atlanta

Sherman’s March to Sea (15 Nov – 24 Dec 1964)

Sherman detached Thomas w/35K to defend TN against Hood

Sherman finally gains Grant’s approval to abandon AtlantaBegins his historic

march to Savannah with 60K

Sherman’s army would destroy everything in its 60 mile wide path

Sherman would replicate this march through Carolinas- Jan-April 1865 5

Strategic Impact of Sherman’s March:Destroyed South’s infrastructure

& most of it crops:All food, rail transport, & any potential

war making resources

Dispelled any Confederate hope of winning:Ruined South’s morale & encouraged

desertionsDemonstrated to world (especially potential

Confederate allies) that the North was unstoppable North able to march through South without

opposition And therefore likely to win (only a matter of

time) 6

Sherman’s March- Strategic Impact

Sherman’s March - Political ImpactThe fall of Atlanta sealed the fate of the

Confederacy because it ensured Lincoln would be reelected and would prosecute the war to victory

March to the SeaRather than getting

distracted by Hood’s offensive, on Nov 12 Sherman took his 62,000 men and headed east to the coastCut his communications

and lived off the land“Where a million people live

my army won’t starve.” (Sherman)

Destroyed everything in his pathPlanned “to leave a trail that

[would] be recognized fifty years hence.”

Chief among Sherman’s targets were railroads where

his men twisted ties into “Sherman’s bow-ties”

March to the SeaKey to Sherman’s success was keeping the

Confederates on “the horns of a dilemma”Would his objective be Macon or Augusta and

then Augusta or Savannah?Sherman wrote Halleck, “I must have

alternatives, else, being confined to one route, the enemy might so oppose that delay and want to trouble me, but having alternatives, I can take so eccentric a course that no general can guess my objective. Therefore, have lookouts at Morris Island, South Carolina, Ossahaw Sound, Georgia, Pensacola and Mobile bays. I will turn up somewhere.”

Sherman kept his enemy confused and advanced with virtually no opposition

March to the SeaSherman’s target was not Confederate armies

but Confederate will“This movement is not purely military or

strategic, but will illustrate the vulnerability of the South. They don’t know what war means, but when the rich planters of the Oconee and Savannah see their fences and corn and hogs and sheep vanish before their eyes they will have something more than a mean opinion of the ‘Yanks.’”

March to the SeaSherman planned to have a psychological

effectHe intended “to demonstrate the vulnerability

of the South and make its inhabitants feel that war and individual ruin are synonymous terms.”

“… if the North can march an army right through the South, it is proof positive that the North can prevail in this contest.”

March to the SeaWhile Sherman was

cutting through Georgia, Hood was defeated at Franklin and Nashville

Sherman arrived at Savannah in December, offers it as a “Christmas present” to Lincoln, got resupplied by the sea, and headed north to combine with Grant

March NorthSherman

continued his destruction being particularly hard on South Carolina because of its role in starting the secessionist movementBurned the capital

of Columbia