Devastation was the result
of the five year American Civil War. The Union North and the Confederate South
fought each other for slavery and other political motivations. The Industrial
might of the North turned towards war and contributed to its eventual victory.
The agricultural power of the South brought disadvantages but allowed for them
to give a good fight. In 1864, a Union General would launch a campaign a terror
campaign that would help to bring the Civil War to the end. The famous March to
the Sea by General William T. Sherman would bring fear to the enemy.
General Sherman’s March to
the Sea was a campaign launched by the Major General William Tecumseh Sherman
in Georgia during the late period of the Civil War. It was a march that began
in Atlanta and ended in Savannah lasting from November 15, 1864 up to December
21, 1864. It followed the doctrine of total war evident from Sherman’s words,
“War is cruelty.” Under the idea of total war, the way to defeat the enemy was
through the destruction of many enemy properties and inflict a psychological
blow to the minds and hearts of the opponent. And from this, Sherman aimed to
break the will of the Confederates to fight on and to finally end the
destructive Civil War.
The March of Sea began with
the capture of the city of Atlanta. On March 9, 1864, General Ulysses Grant
became the overall commander of the Union Forces. He wanted to push further
south and to the center of the Confederates. He wanted to capture Georgia and
he approved the request of General William T. Sherman to do. Sherman, a man of
powerful courage from the start of the war, took Atlanta, Georgia on September
2, 1864. Upon the capture of Atlanta, Sherman said, “salt water, salt water.”
After the capture of
Atlanta, Sherman devised a plan that would break the will of the Southerners to
fight. He wanted to launch a psychological strike against the Confederates. But
in the high command, generals discussed the capturing of ports of Alabama.
However, Sherman voiced his opposition on the grounds that those ports were
already blockaded by the Union navy, hence, no longer helped the Confederates.
Sherman on the other, proposed to capture instead the port city of Savannah. It
was much closer and also, it allows them to cut off South Carolina from the rest
of the Confederacy. Furthermore, it was a good opportunity to do so because
most of the Confederate forces under John Bell Hood already retreated to
Tennessee in hope of diverting the attention of Sherman. Sherman’s superior,
General Grant, supported the move and send it to President Abraham Lincoln for
approval. Lincoln, however, hesitated to approve it. He did not wanted to
gamble, especially when Presidential election was coming. If the plan was a
failure, Lincoln could lose the election. Thus, the Sherman’s plan was only
approved in November after Lincoln had won the Presidential elections.
Sherman wasted no time in preparing for his arduous and dangerous march. His plan did not relay in supply lines. Troops would march along with wagons of weapons, ammunition, and provisions, along with medical support in ambulances. In addition, men would live off the land. They would gain additional supplies from the lands they march on. Weak men had no place for such an energy-intensive campaign. Before the march, doctors screened soldiers for any physical weakness and sickness. And all those failed would not participate in the march.
Sherman wasted no time in preparing for his arduous and dangerous march. His plan did not relay in supply lines. Troops would march along with wagons of weapons, ammunition, and provisions, along with medical support in ambulances. In addition, men would live off the land. They would gain additional supplies from the lands they march on. Weak men had no place for such an energy-intensive campaign. Before the march, doctors screened soldiers for any physical weakness and sickness. And all those failed would not participate in the march.
In early November, Sherman
started the March to the Sea. It began with the burning of parts of Atlanta.
The city’s civilians and Union forces evacuated the city. Sherman ordered the
burning of all war factories in the city in order to prevent the enemy from
using it again in case of capture. Also, as the smoke from the fires rose, it
became a premonition of the destruction that Sherman and his army would do. In
November 15, 1864, General Sherman began a 60 mile march with 60,000 troops.
Along with them were 2,500 supply wagons and 600 ambulances.
Sherman divided his army
into two wings. The right wing was made up of the 15th Corps under Peter
Osterhaus and the 17th Corp under Francis Blair with Oliver Howard as their
overall commander. The left wing was composed of the 14th Corp under Jefferson
C. Davis and the 20th Corp under Alpheus Williams and with Henry Slocum as
their overall commander. In addition, cavalry units would support each wings
with Judson Kilpatrick as the head.
The two wings had different
targets. The right wing was tasked to march towards Macon. On the other, the
left wing was ordered to march to Augusta. However, the left wing’s destination
was all of sudden change. They no longer would proceed to August but would
instead go to the capital of Georgia, Milledgeville. Milledgeville fell to
Union forces on November 23. And from Milledgeville and Macon, the two forces
would march towards Savannah.
During the March to the Sea,
Union forces left destruction and desolation on their wake as part of the total
war idea. Under the orders of General Sherman, any public facilities would be
destroyed. Cotton warehouses and buildings garrisoned by Confederate troops
were burned down. Cotton gins were broken. Railroads were dismantled, heated,
and rolled into tree trunks. This tracks in the trunks of trees were dubbed as
Sherman’s necktie. However, most soldiers disobeyed the orders of Sherman. Many
officers and soldiers set ablaze to any building they saw, from barns, to empty
houses. Also looting became rampant. From this misguided soldiers, the March of
the Sea earned criticisms from being too much brutal.
Much of the supplies of the
Union forces came from foraging and gathering. Groups of foragers, dubbed as “bummers”,
collected grains and other available food stuffs for the forces. They would
also collect food from farms that were abandoned by civilians.
There were resistance from
Confederate troops, but they did not posed any huge threat against Sherman’s
march. Much of the Confederate troops under John Bell Hood had moved out of
Georgia and positioned themselves in Tennessee in hope that Sherman would
pursue them. Nevertheless, there were still some Confederate forces remaining. About
8,000 Confederate cavalry forces under General Joseph Wheeler were present. Also,
state level militia under Gustavus Smith were also a hazard for the Union forces.
Moreover, Confederate President Jefferson Davis also ordered a scorched-earth
policy. It involved civilians destroying their crops and any food stuffs and
killing their livestock. The scorched-earth policy would leave nothing for
Union forces who relied heavily on collecting supplies from the lands. However,
luckily for the Union Forces, when the March to Sea began, almost none followed
the orders of President Davis.
There were some encounters
between the Union and Confederate forces. On November 22, 1864, in
Griswoldville, just near Macon, a unit of Union troops clashed against cavalry
units of the Confederates. The result was a victory for the Union. The
Confederates suffered casualties numbering to 650 men while the Union only lose
62. On December 13, in Ogeechee River, just 12 miles from Savannah, Union
forces under Gen. William Hazen assaulted Fort McAllister, a vital fort for the
assault of Savannah. The assault was successful and helped in bringing the
March to the Sea campaign to a close.
On December 21, 1864,
Sherman’s March to the Sea came to a close. General William Hardee, the
commander of the Confederate troops stationed in Savannah, decided to pull out
from the city and proceed to South Carolina. He thought that it would be such a
shame and a hardship for the civilians if the city would underwent constant
bombardment and devastation from a siege. And so, on December 21, 1864,
Savannah Mayor Richard Arnold surrendered the city to General Sherman and Union
Forces occupied the port. On the following day, Sherman cabled his superiors of
the victory. In addition, as a Christmas gift to President Lincoln, Sherman
sent him 25,000 bales of cotton confiscated from Savannah.
The March to the Sea
campaign was devastating and effective. It caused a huge blow to the moral and
to the infrastructure of the Confederates. It demoralized the civilians of the South
and destroyed the credibility of the Confederate’s ability to defend their
people. It also brought a huge fear to many southerners because the events
during the march might happened to them. It broke the will of many from
fighting the Union further. Also, with the March to the Sea, plantations,
warehouses, cotton gins, and huge amount of cotton, the primary source of
revenue of the south, were lost. The March of the Sea contributed to the weakening
of the South and eventually the end of the Civil War.
Bibliography:
Inscoe, J. (ed.). The Civil
War Georgia. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2011.
Mikaberidze, Alexander.
Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: An Encyclopedia. California: ABC-CLIO,
LLC, 2013.
Norton, Mary et. al. A People and A Nation 9th Edition. Massachusettes: Wadsworth Cengage Learning,
2012.
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