Summary of Sherman's March through the South

William Tecumseh Sherman was one of the most important Union Generals in the Civil War.  Sherman's March through the South damaged the Confederate economy, destroyed the railroad supply lines for Confederate armies, defeated Joseph E. Johnston's army, and demoralized the Southern public and troops.  Sherman's sucess eventually led to the fall of the Confederacy and Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

Sherman gained supreme command over the Western Theatre shortly after Ulysses S. Grant's promotion to Commander in Cief of Federal Armies.  Sherman was to play a part in Grant's two-part plan. While General Mead encircled and defeated Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia, Sherman was to defeat Joseph E. Johnston's army as well as capture Atlanta, a center of the Southern economy.  Sherman planned to capture Atlanta using three armies: the Cumberland Army of 60,000 men under General George Thomas, the Tennessee Army of 25,000 under General James McPherson, and the Ohio Army of 13,000 troops under General John Schofield.  In order to execute Grant's plan, Sherman had to attack Johnston's army of 50,000, soon to be reinforced by 65,000 men.  Johnston was a formidible adversary for Sherman because he prefered defense to attack while Sherman's primary goal was to advance on Atlanta. 

Sherman began his March from Chattanooga, Tennessee and quickly reached the halfway point on his Atlanta Campaign.  Johnston was ordered to attack because Jefferson Davis was concerned with Sherman's progress.  The first skirmish occurred near the city of Resaca, where Sherman outmaneuvered Johnston and forced the Confederate Army to retreat.  The Union victory did not concern the Confederacy because they still trusted Johnston's ability to defeat Sherman, and Johnston's men were still confident in thermselves, but they wanted an opportunity to avenge their failure at Resaca.  They attacked a flank divistion of Sherman's army nearthe city of Casscille,  but the attack failed when Johnston's men panicked afer misidentifying a caalry dicision.  The failure caused many Confederats to lose confidence in their fighting ability and to form pro-attack or pro-Johnston factions.  Both results of the loss compromised the fighting ability of Johnston's men.  In addition to the growing division within Johnston's troops, Southern citizens and government members were growing concerned with Sherman's unchecked progress.  Johnston hoped to defeat Sserman in one fell stroke with a trap at Allatoona Pass, but Sherman instead opted to stop and rest his troops before the final sefment of his Atlanta Campaign.

After his troops had rested and gathered supplies for the coming march, Sherman moved towards Dallas, Georgia.  Johnston entrenched a position in Dallas before Sherman arrived, but Johnston was driven from it.  Next, Johnston created an immense defense system at Kennesaw Mountain.  When Sherman attempted a frontal assault, he was repelled.  His failed attampt frustrated the North and bolstered the flagging Southern morale.  Sherman dislodged Johnston within several weeks and forced him to retreat to the Chattahoochee River.  Sherman attacked before Johnston had entrenched a defense, and the Confedereate army retreated to Peachtree Creek.

  
The Confederate government was concerned with Johnston's inability to halt Sherman's advance on Atlanta.  The fact that Peachtree Creek lay only four miles from Atlanta made this an imminent problem for the Confederacy.  John B. Hood was chosen to replace Johnston because of his aggressive and usually sucessful tactics.  Hood attackes, but Sherman forced him to retreat into Atlanta.  Sherman destroyed the railroad supply lines for the city, and Hood abandoned the city after burning many of the city's military assets.  The capture of Atlanta devastated Southern morale in and of itself, but Sherman and Hood's combined destruction of "war resources" in Atlanta cripled the Confederate economy.

Sherman felt that he needed to destroy Georgia more thouroghly in order to truly crush the spirit of the Rebellion.  Sherman's troops marched from Atlanta to Savanah and destroyed all of the "war resources," which was a loosely intrerpreted term.  Sherman also irreperably damaged all of the railroads in the 12,000 square mile area of his March to the Sea.  More than $100 million worth of property in Confederate currency was destroyed during the March. 
Sherman's March to the Sea dramatically impacted all of the South; it devastated the Confederate morale as well as the Confederate economy. 

The soldiers stripped the Georgian citizens of their pride while stripping them of their possessions.  Georgian's houses were torn apart in the soldier's search for war resources.  Soldiers butchered familie's livestock, burned their cotton, and poured their grain onto the ground.  The ease with which Sherman could destroy Georgia made many Confederates other than direct victims of the March look hopelessly upon the possibility of victory.  The destruction of so much property led to a severe economic depression in the South.  Sherman's March to the Sea was the most devastating blow to the South during the Civil War.

In order to truly end the Rebellion, the army of Robert E. Lee had to be defeated.  Sherman set off on a Northward March with the intention of eling the supplies with which Lee was holding out.  He planed to accomplish this in the same manner as he had in Georgia.  After perorming this primary objective, Sherman hoped to join with Maj. Gen. Joseph Mead and defeat Lee's army.  Joseph E. Johnston was assigned to form and command a militia division to hinder Sherman, but Johnston was forced to surrender.  In South Carolina, Sherman's men destroyed property with a vengence.  They blamed the state for instigating the Rebellion, and they chose to destroy everything in their path as revenge.  According to one eyewitness, a bird could have seen a line of smoking chaos running through the state.  Sherman also marched through part of North Carolina, but the destruction was not as profound.  Sherman's March through the Carolinas finalized the universal Confederate feeling of despair.  Lee's troops knew that victory was not possible, as Sherman had severed the remaining supply railroads.  Johnston's surrender also contributed to their loss of morale in Lee's troops.  Sherman decided to rest his men in North Carolina before marching to Richmond, where Lee's troops were holding out.  Before Sherman continued his march, Lee surrendered at Appomatox Courthouse, thereinby ending the Civil War.
     Sherman's influence on the War had a dramatic effect on the end result.  Without the loss of morale that his totat war strategy caused, Lee might have broken free of Richmond and won the war.  Sherman's invasion of Southern territory also meant that Lee had no where to run and regroup even if he did manage to break free of Mead's army.  In additon, Sherman's destruction of war resources damaged the Confederate economy to a point that it could not support the war effort any longer.  William T. Sherman's March through the South helped to resolve the Civil War in a Union Victory