Sherman's March to the Sea

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"Sherman's March to the Sea" is the name commonly given to a military campaign conducted in late 1864 by Major General William T. Sherman of the United States Army, during the course of the American Civil War. The campaign began with General Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia on 15 November 1864 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on Christmas Day of that same year.

Sherman's March to Sea followed his successful Atlanta Campaign of May through September of 1864. Believing that the Civil War would end only if the Confederacy's strategic, economic, and psychological capacity for warfare were decisively broken, Sherman applied the principles of total war, ordering his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, consume supplies, and destroy civilian infrastructure along their path. The twisted and broken railroad lines that the troops left behind became known as "Sherman's neckties."

During the march, Sherman's soldiers fought against the retreating Confederate troops of Generals John B. Hood and Joseph E. Johnston. From Savannah, Sherman would later march north through the Carolinas to meet U.S. Army commander Ulysses S. Grant's troops, who were conducting their final confrotation with Confederate commander Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.

Sherman's scorched earth policies have always been highly controversial, and Sherman's memory has long been reviled by many natives of the state of Georgia. On the other hand, the March to the Sea is considered by many historians to have demonstrated General Sherman's superb command of military strategy, and his committment to destroying the Confederacy's ability to wage further war may well have hastened the end of the conflict.