Location of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

During the winter of 1863-64 operations in the west had not ceased. In late February Sherman marched on Meridian, Alabama to attack Leonidas Polk. Thomas feinted against the Rebel fortifications in Dalton from his base at Ringgold to prevent Johnston from reinforcing Polk. He was easily repulsed. All during the winter, preparations continued for the campaign coming in the spring. "Uncle Billy" ordered his soldiers trained not only in military tactics but rail work as well, since he realized the Western and Atlantic would be his lifeline, and any Rebel damage would have to be quickly repaired.

General Ulysses S. Grant told Sherman that his mission was "...inflicting all the damage you can against their War resources." The destruction of the Southern war machine played a key role in Lincoln's "divide and conquer" strategy. Atlanta lay as Sherman's prize with the Appalachian Mountains and the Confederate Army as its protector.

General George Thomas moved to attack Johnston's entrenchments around the city of Dalton. The frontal assault from Ringgold would be supported by Major General John Schofield moving south through Varnell and the Crow Valley from the Tennessee-Georgia border. James B. McPherson began to move from his position at Lee and Gordon Mill towards Ship's Gap and cross the valley through Villanow to Snake Creek Gap. From here he would move on Resaca, strategically important because of two bridges the railroad used. Both Thomas and Schofield had been ordered to advance slowly to give McPherson time to get to Snake Gap. After a brief encounter with Confederates stationed at Tunnel Hill on May 7, Thomas began the Battle of Rocky Face with attacks at Dug and Mill Creek Gaps on May 8.

Sherman, realizing the challenge that faced his men in taking Rocky Face, ordered his men to move south from Dalton on May 10 in support of the Army of the Tennessee. McPherson had his men to dig in after finding stronger than expected Rebel resistance in Resaca. Faced with a larger force in his rear, Johnston hastily moved south, forming a line east of Snake Creek Gap. During the Battle of Resaca (May 14-15), Johnston held his position in spite of a numerically superior enemy. However, after the battle Johnston again withdraws because of enemy troops in his rear.

After deciding not to fight near Adairsville because the Oothcaloga Valley was too wide, Johnston decides to set a trap for Sherman on May 18-19. With the Union Army spread out across twenty miles of difficult terrain west of Cassville, Johnston ordered his men to attack the eastern column. Prior to the attack, Hood received word of Federals to his rear and withdrew.

By the end of the day Hood and Polk were concerned about their positions. Despite strong objections from Hardee, Johnston withdraws. Sherman paused. His occupation of the city of Kingston gave him a base from which he could move one of two ways. He could continue along the Western and Atlantic Railroad, his all-weather lifeline, or move south towards Dallas, a small town west of Marietta.

East of Kingston, Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman saw the Allatoona Mountains. As a young officer he had marveled at a pass through these mountains, while traveling to visit the Etowah Indian Mounds in Cartersville. Easily defended, the high ridge on either side of the railroad tracks would be expensive to take. Instead, the Union general decided to move south, into the rugged hills of present-day Paulding County.

Dallas, Georgia was a small farming community at a crossroads. Although no railroad serviced the community, the crossroads offered many strategic possibilities. While the move from Chattanooga to Kingston had taken 10 days, as Sherman crossed "The Rubicon of Georgia" (his somewhat egotistical name for Georgia's Etowah River), his advance slowed to a crawl.

Johnston, who had disappeared into the Allatoona Mountains with his entire army quickly discovered Sherman's action and moved troops west along an arc of ridges that stretch from Kennasaw Mountain to Dallas. Sherman's XX Corps, under the command of "Fighting Joe" Hooker, ran headlong into Hood's Rebels at New Hope Church during a driving rainstorm. Hood and his men stubbornly held their ground. Sherman decided to flank the Rebel Army to the east with an attack near a small farm settlement (now a state park) known as Pickett's Mill.

Unknown to Sherman, his men came up against Patrick Cleburne, the tough Arkansasan who had held off Sherman himself during the fighting at Missionary Ridge. Cleburne repulsed the Federal attack. Sherman was in desperate need of a railroad to feed his men. In the middle of "a hell hole," supply lines extended and vulnerable and facing stiff rebel resistance, Sherman ordered his men to withdraw. Realizing the movement, Johnston ordered Hardee to advance in force on a reconnaissance at the western end of Sherman's line. Heavy Confederate losses resulted in the battle of Dallas. As Sherman moved northeast from Dallas to the Western and Atlantic Railroad, General George Stoneman captured Allatoona Pass on June 1.

From his base in Acworth, Sherman slowly pushed the Rebel Army back towards Marietta. On June 14, General Leonidas Polk was killed by an artillery shell fired under the personal direction of Sherman. Although Polk was not a great military leader he was beloved by his men and respected by both Johnston and Hood, whom he had baptized during the campaign.

On June 18 the Confederate line ran north to south from Kennesaw Mountain to Peter Kolb's farm. The Union line was less than a mile west.

A frontal assault on Johnston's entrenched position would be expensive in terms of lives. Sherman decided to try the flanking movement that had worked so well further north. Sensing the movement, Hood attacked Hooker's XX Corps in the vicinity of Kolb's (or Culp's) Farm without orders on June 22 (Battle of Kolb's Farm). The move prevented Sherman from turning the Rebel flank, but the 1,000 Confederate dead was an exceeding high cost.

For 5 days the Union Army organized under the watchful eyes of the Confederates. Supply wagons and men stretched as far the eye could see. On Monday, June 27, 1864, Sherman launched The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, a full frontal attack on the entrenched Rebel line. It would be the worst defeat of the Federal forces during the Atlanta campaign.

Further Union Army movement after the battle finally exposed Johnston's flank. During the night of July 1-2 the Confederate commander withdrew to fortified positions between Marietta and Atlanta. The battles for Kennesaw were over. Now Sherman turned his attention to Atlanta.

With Kennesaw Mountain secure, Sherman began his move on Atlanta. Vining's Station fell on July 4, 1864. On July 7, in response to multiple requests from Joe Johnston for more men, President Jefferson Davis informed Johnston of his decision not to send any additional troops. Skirmishing continued across a wide front, mostly to the north and west of Atlanta over the next few days. Braxton Bragg arrived to "investigate" Johnston's "failure to stop" General Sherman. Davis had already asked Robert E. Lee who should be Johnston's replacement. On July 17, Davis relieved Johnston of command, giving it to John Bell Hood.

Hood's first action was an attack against the Army of the Cumberland at Peachtree Creek (July 20). Although successful at first, the battle turned into a bloodbath of Confederate soldiers with losses totaling 5,000 men. Union losses were well under 2,000. During the battle the first artillery shells fell directly on the city of Atlanta.

Two days later, on July 22, Hood once again attacked. The Battle of Atlanta was a devastating blow to the Confederate Army, with estimated casualties as high as to one-quarter of the 40,000 men engaged, although official numbers are lower (8,499). While Federal losses were significantly less (3,641), one of them was General James McPherson.

Ezra Church (July 28) would be the same story, with the aggressive Hood losing more men than his opponents. For the next month Sherman and Hood would use cavalry to fight skirmishes around the city. One exception was heavy fighting in the vicinity of Utoy Creek on Aug. 5-7.

Sherman had been successful in cutting Rebel lines of supply for short periods of time, but Hood's men quickly repaired any damage done to the railroad tracks. Late in August, 1864, Sherman decided to completely sever the lines by massing his forces south of Atlanta.

Moving six of his seven divisions west of the city, Sherman was massed to the west and below Hood's extended line. On August 31, Hood dispatched William Hardee to hold the supply lines south of the city, unaware that most of the Union Army was now advancing on his rear. The last communication with Hardee took place just after 2 p.m. that day.

Unable to reestablish communication with Hardee and with a significant Union force at his rear, Hood had no options but to abandon the city. Since Sherman had cut off his line of transportation Hood had to blow up the munitions that could not be carried. Sherman felt the explosion in Jonesboro, 15 miles south of Atlanta. General Henry Slocum's XX Corps received the surrender from Atlanta mayor James Calhoun on September 2, 1864.

With the defeat of the Rebels in Atlanta, Sherman had effectively broken the back of the Confederate war machine. The loss of Atlanta had far more devastating effects on the South than anyone had expected. Democrats that aligned with the peace movement withdrew their support after the fall of Atlanta when George B. McClellan called for union as "the one condition of peace." Within 6 months the Confederacy would surrender and begin the painful process of "reconstruction" forced upon them by their brethren in blue.

The March to the Sea, the most destructive campaign against a civilian population during the Civil War (1861-65), began in Atlanta on November 15, 1864, and concluded in Savannah on December 21, 1864. Union general William T. Sherman abandoned his supply line and marched across Georgia to the Atlantic Ocean to prove to the Confederate population that its government could not protect the people from invaders. He practiced psychological warfare; 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. "This may not be war," he said, "but rather statesmanship."

After Sherman's forces captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864, Sherman spent several weeks making preparations for a change of base to the coast. He rejected the Union plan to move through Alabama to Mobile, pointing out that after Rear Admiral David G. Farragut closed Mobile Bay in August 1864, the Alabama port no longer held any military significance. Rather, he decided to proceed southeast toward Savannah or Charleston. He carefully studied census records to determine which route could provide food for his men and forage for his animals. Although U.S. president Abraham Lincoln was skeptical and did not want Sherman to move into enemy territory before the presidential election in November, Sherman persuaded his friend Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant that the campaign was possible in winter. Through Grant's intervention Sherman finally gained permission, although he had to delay until after election day.

After General John Bell Hood abandoned Atlanta, he moved the Confederate Army of Tennessee outside the city to recuperate from the previous campaign. In early October he began a raid toward Chattanooga, Tennessee, in an effort to draw Sherman back over ground the two sides had fought for since May. But instead of tempting Sherman to battle, Hood turned his army west and marched into Alabama, abandoning Georgia to Union forces. Apparently, Hood hoped that if he invaded Tennessee, Sherman would be forced to follow. Sherman, however, had anticipated this strategy and had sent Major General George H. Thomas to Nashville to deal with Hood. With Georgia cleared of the Confederate army, Sherman, facing only scattered cavalry, was free to move south.

Sherman divided his approximately 60,000 troops into two roughly equal wings. The right wing was under Oliver O. Howard. Peter J. Osterhaus commanded the Fifteenth Corps, and Francis P. Blair Jr. commanded the Seventeenth Corps. The left wing was commanded by Henry W. Slocum, with the Fourteenth Corps under Jefferson C. Davis and the Twentieth Corps under Alpheus S. Williams. Judson Kilpatrick led the cavalry. Sherman had about 2,500 supply wagons and 600 ambulances. Before the army left Atlanta, the general issued an order outlining the rules of the march, but soldiers often ignored the restrictions on foraging.

The two wings advanced by separate routes, generally staying twenty miles to forty miles apart. The right wing headed for Macon, the left wing in the direction of Augusta, before the two commands turned and bypassed both cities. They now headed for the state capital at Milledgeville. Opposing Sherman's advance was Confederate cavalry, about 8,000 strong, under Major General Joseph Wheeler and various units of Georgia militia under Gustavus W. Smith. Although William J. Hardee had overall command in Georgia, with his headquarters at Savannah, neither he nor Governor Joseph E. Brown could do anything to stop Sherman's advance. Sherman's foragers quickly became known as "bummers" as they raided farms and plantations. On November 23 the state capital peacefully surrendered, and Sherman occupied the vacant governor's mansion and capitol building.

There were a number of skirmishes between Wheeler's cavalry and Union troopers, but only two battles of any significance. The first came east of Macon at the factory town of Griswoldville on November 22, when Georgia militia faced Union infantry with disastrous results. The Confederates suffered 650 men killed or wounded in a one-sided battle that left about 62 casualties on the Union side. The second battle occurred on the Ogeechee River twelve miles below Savannah. Union infantry under William B. Hazen assaulted and captured Fort McAllister on December 13, thus opening the back door to the port city. The most controversial event involved contrabands (escaped slaves) who followed the liberating armies. At Ebenezer Creek on December 9, Jefferson C. Davis removed the pontoon bridge before the slaves crossed. Frightened men, women, and children plunged into the deep water, and many drowned in an attempt to reach safety. After the march Davis was soundly criticized by the Northern press, but Sherman backed his commander by pointing out that Davis had done what was militarily necessary.

Confederate lieutenant general Hardee, realizing his small army could not hold out long and not wanting the city leveled by artillery as had happened at Atlanta, ordered his men to abandon the trenches and retreat to South Carolina. Sherman, who was not with the Union army when Mayor Richard Arnold surrendered Savannah (he had gone to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to make preparations for a siege and was on his way back to Georgia), telegraphed President Lincoln on December 22 that the city had fallen. He offered Savannah and its 25,000 bales of cotton to the president as a Christmas present.

Sherman's march frightened and appalled Southerners. It hurt morale, for civilians had believed the Confederacy could protect the home front.

Sherman had terrorized the countryside; his men had destroyed all sources of food and forage and had left behind a hungry and demoralized people. Although he did not level any towns, he did destroy buildings in places where there was resistance. His men had shown little sympathy for Millen, the site of Camp Lawton, where Union prisoners of war were held. Physical attacks on white civilians were few, although it is not known how slave women fared at the hands of the invaders. Often male slaves posted guards outside the cabins of their women.

Confederate president Jefferson Davis had urged Georgians to undertake a scorched-earth policy of poisoning wells and burning fields, but civilians in the army's path had not done so. Sherman, however, burned or captured all the food stores that Georgians had saved for the winter months. As a result of the hardships on women and children, desertions increased in Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia. Sherman believed his campaign against civilians would shorten the war by breaking the Confederate will to fight, and he eventually received permission to carry this psychological warfare into South Carolina in early 1865. By marching through Georgia and South Carolina he became an arch villain in the South and a hero in the North.

Interesting Facts about Sherman's March to the Sea •The tactic of destroying much in an army's path is called "scorched earth".

• The Union soldiers would heat up rail road ties and then bend them around tree trunks. They

were nicknamed "Sherman's neckties".

• Sherman's decisive victories are thought to have assured Abraham Lincoln's reelection as

president.

• The soldiers who went out to forage for food for the army were called "bummers".

• Sherman estimated that his army did $100m in damage and that's in 1864 dollars. In 2013

dollars that would be 1.9 billion dollars!

• 
  Sherman’s path of destruction was 300 mile long and 100 mile wide marching from Atlanta to Savannah and destroying everything in the path.