A research paper on a person, place, or event

Sherman's March To The Sea

Services and trainings at military

Marriage and Career

Services in Civil Wars

Brilliant strategic

Sherman's March

Year 1864 (Atlanta Event): Preparation of War 4

March to the Sea Event

Move to South Carolina Event

Move to North Carolina Event

Consequences of the Sherman's March

Research Paper Sherman's March to the Sea

William Tecumseh Sherman who was also known as General Sherman (born on 8 February, 1820 in Lancaster-Ohio) that is nearby Hocking River shore. By profession, his father was a lawyer and worked at Ohio Supreme Court. At the age of nine, his father died. A family friend raised him.

When he was 16 years old, Ewing appointed him as a cadet in U.S. military academy at the West Point. After his graduation, he entered into the army as second lieutenant in 1840. Sherman was promoted to Captain due to his services. He was not only an American soldier, but also a businessman, an author and an educator. He served as Military General in American Civil War, from the year 1861-1865. He was known for his military strategies. His strategy was advancing and for this quality he was declared as the "First modern Military General."

Services and trainings at military

Sherman served as Military General in many wars namely Ulysses S. Grant, Vicksburg, State of Tennessee, Atlanta, and March through Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida. Sherman became General of the Army from 1869 to 1883. For this position, he was responsible for the Indian wars for 15 years. Sherman published his autobiography in 1875, which was known for the best first-hand accounts of the civil war.

Marriage and Career

When Sherman was promoted to the rank of Captain, he got married to Eleanor Boyle, daughter of Thomas Ewing. Politicians like President Zachary Taylor attended the wedding ceremony. That time, Thomas Ewing was in the position of secretary interior. Ellen Ewing was Roman Catholic.

Sherman resigned from the post of captain in 1853 and became manager of St. Louis Bank of San Francisco. At that time, San Francisco was in trouble due to which Sherman was also in stress. Again, in 1856, Sherman served himself as a major general in the military of California.

In May 1857, St. Louis branch in San Francisco was closed and it was relocated to New York and due to financial crises, New York branch also got close and he went to Kansas where he practiced law, but he failed to succeed (Clarke & Dwight, 1969).

Sherman accepted job of Superintended in Louisiana State Military Academy in Pennsville. He proved himself as an effective and famous leader of that institute. His personality and work in the military was perfect.

After his departure from Louisiana, he traveled to Washington to get a position in the army. There he met Abraham Lincoln. He expressed his concern about the poor position of North, but Abraham did not give his response.

Sherman was the head of St. Louis railroad, but he holds that position for only few months. He refused the offer from the Lincoln administration for taking any position in the war. After few months he served in the regular army.

Services in Civil Wars

On 14, May 1861, Sherman became Colonel. He was one of the Union officers at Bull Run, and in that battle he was grazed by bullets on his knee and shoulder. President Abraham was impressed and promoted him to Brigadier General. He worked under Robert Anderson in the department of Cumberland.

Sherman was sent to military of Kentucky where he complained about improper facilities of forces. After sometimes, he was removed from his post and transferred to Missouri. He was considered unfit for duty. According to some scholars, Sherman had a nervous breakdown and he wanted to suicide.

Brilliant strategic

General Sherman is mostly known because of his command in logistics and he was a brilliant strategy maker. British military, historians and theorist all consider him as one of the most important strategists of the wars. Sherman's greatest contribution in war was to make strategies. The only role he played in the wars was to give orders at his best (Eicher & Eicher, 2001).

Sherman's March

Year 1864 (Atlanta Event): Preparation of War

In 1864, the areas of Georgia were completely destroyed. The misery was everywhere and people were either killed or helpless. The victory of Confederate at Chickamauga in the year of 1863 seen much of the old Union invasion and this forced the fighting to North into Tennessee.

In the beginning of 1864, the new divisional commander of Mississippi, William Tecumseh Sherman was in kind of an unpleasant situation where he has to obey General Grant, who was actually the General in Chief and a good fellow of Sherman. There was much of the dislike between them regarding the orders and idea of wars. Grant ordered to destroy the army of Lee, whereas Sherman ordered to go against to the army of Johnston's and he also ordered to make as much distraction to the internal system and infrastructure of Georgia. Sherman tried to show that he is very interested in planning more war in Atlanta that is already destroyed, but he was not actually in favour of making any further war and terror their as it was already in the so much assault. This means that the target is the Johnston's army that is needed to be defeated. It also means that according to Sherman the target was not Atlanta. It was a key to the railroad junction, which was connected to the Richmond. It also developed its major centre to the Confederate military capability of production. This Confederacy is the centre of industry. It had much of foundries, factories and many warehouses. It stood in between of the two major armies one is of Charleston to the East and the Gulf of Mexico. Joseph Johnston, the commander of Confederate, held the command of Virginia before he got to suffer from the wounds in 1862. Meanwhile, for the war, Sherman prepared 100,000 men whereas, Johnston prepared 75,000 men. For the defensive strategy, Northern Georgia was a perfect place. Sherman was required to cross few mountains and rivers between Chattanooga and Atlanta (Rhodes, 1901).

Johnston started to protect himself from the closest point of the Tennessee border. His prime idea was protection of the Dalton, where the two railroads meet each other. In order to protect the railroad, the men of Johnston went along to the Rocky Face Ridge whereas; Sherman was focused on the protection of 150 miles of railroad that is located across Tennessee back to the Union area (Rhodes, 1901).

For achieving the goal, Sherman made it easier by sending a two-third of his army to feint Johnston, and the third part of the army was sent to South through the mountains in order to cut the line at Rasaca. The plan was succeeding. They were successfully sent to their positions, but failed to have an attack on Confederate at Rasaca (9 May).

Sherman tried to assault Johnston, but he was so close to the railroad; whereas Johnston was holding a strong position at Rocky Face Ridge to Rasaca. This obliged him to move to Cassville. There Johnston planned to attack the Sherman's army who was looking for the way to the mountain and they were not in contact with the rest of the army. As the army of Johnston's has come much close to Atlanta, the army was much in the pressure.

Sardonically, Sherman gave an opportunity to Johnston to fight with him whereas; Johnston had prepared another defensive position at Allatoona that is located 30 miles from the Atlanta. Meanwhile, Johnston received news where he has to send his army to block the way of Sherman at New Hope Church (25-27 May), but the weather supported Johnston and Sherman failed to move due to the heavy rain and he was at the defensive place of Johnston that was Kennesaw Mountain (Rhodes, 1901).

Facing all those hardships in the war, Sherman attacked on Johnston army where he faced many problems. Around 1,999 of the men were wounded and killed, whereas 270 of the men of Johnston suffered. The rain was still going. As soon as the rain stopped, Sherman attacked on the defensive position of Johnston that was Kennesaw Mountain. This made the Johnston's position weaker. Two of the defensive positions were under-attack. This made Johnston go back and take help of military of Atlanta to invade Sherman's power. President Davis, who was in Atlanta had lost his patience with Johnston and replaced his position with new General John Hood (18 July).

General Hood was an aggressive commander and he was interested in invading Sherman, whereas; Sherman was looking for a chance to be attacked by General Hood so that he could reach to Confederate army. Two days after joining the general position, the attack that was done on Sherman. However, the plan was the same even when the general Hood was appointed (Rhodes, 1901).

The army of Sherman was ready to attack on Atlanta from both the sides, one was coming around the Confederate and the other was Cumberland crossing the Peach Tree Creek, whereas, Hood was preparing himself to attack on the isolated army who was crossing the creek. If the plan of Hood succeeded, then he could attack Sherman's army. This event was the Battle of Peach Tree Creek on 20 July, 1864. The Hood's army then attacked the isolated army of Sherman and this event was known as the Battle of Atlanta on 22 July, 1864 (Rhodes, 1901).

Sherman was still focused to attack the railroad of the Confederacy and for the next month the fight around the borders of Atlanta was a siege. Sherman was trying hard to attack the railroads, but the people in the North and South started assuming that Sherman is failing to do so. But Sherman acted in a way that he could win the battle. His men were 4 miles away from the railroad of Macon on 30th August. Sherman attacked the Confederate which was the Battle of Jonesboro on 31st August and got control over the railroad. On 1 September, Hood released the railroad and on 2nd September, the troops of Sherman occupied the places around the Atlanta. The attack on Atlanta by Sherman made Hood free because now he has extended planning for attacking the supply lines of Sherman. Sherman spends his two months in Atlanta. In order to pull back Sherman from Atlanta, Hood took the decision to attack Tennessee. Sherman made a response of sending General Thomas to Tennessee in order to deal with Hood. This made easier for Sherman to evacuate Atlanta. Many of the civilians migrated and the others were moved to North across the Confederate lines (Rhodes, 1901).

Figure 1.1: Union and Confederate Army

March to the Sea Event

For the constraint of all of the resources, Sherman was required to make this plan. He made a plan to abandon his supply lines and need enough sources and he moved to east to Georgia to the sea. They left the land and moved forward. He moved at the coast of the Carolina in the north. This march was moved with the planning of physical devastation. Civilians were helpless and damaged badly. The image of the Union army was damaged and their credibility was finished. Sherman discussed and convinced Grant regarding his idea and the plan was proved to be right. On the 15 November, Sherman moved to the famous event that was "March to the sea." The army of Sherman that comprises of 60,000 soldiers were expert with much of the battle examples. This army faced with opposition from military. Hood marched towards the north of Tennessee. Sherman made a vast devastation in Atlanta and this devastation was based on materials. People were helpless in terms of food, shelter and other basic needs. Army of Sherman took food from the region that is 30 miles on the sides of Atlanta to Savannah and did around $100,000,000 damage. General Hardee at Savannah sends a troop of 18,000 men to fight with Sherman, but he took them back. In December Sherman reached to the sea (John Whiteclay Chambers II, 2000).

Move to South Carolina Event

When Sherman and Grant reached to the coast they were deciding that what they actually need to do next. Grant was thinking of sending a troop to deal with Lee, but Sherman didn't agree upon this as he told Grant that Lee could do on his own. Much of the efforts were not required by Sherman and Grant for attacking on South Carolina and they focused on fighting at the site of Fort Sumter. Sherman and his army felt that they should punish South Carolina even much harder than Georgia. But in reality, there was no or little resistance to the South of Carolina. General Beauregard was commanding Sherman and fielded 22,500 men in the army. Whereas, Sherman still had 60,000 men in his army. The battle begins on 1st February 1865. Beauregard hoped that the weather could bring a threat to Sherman. But with all the hardships, the men of Sherman moved very quickly to the North through the river and swamp. This natural disaster made Confederates for demoralizing their opponents. The Confederates thought that Sherman would either move to the North-East towards the Charleston or to North-West at Augusta. Therefore, Confederates splits their army in these two places and Sherman took the advantage of it. He neither wants to go to East or West, but he was going straight to the North and on 17 February Sherman captured Columbia. This isolated the situation of Charleston and Augusta and both were left abandoned.

See Figure 1.2: Troops and their Losses

Union Army

Confederate Army

Commanders

George E. Meade

Robert E. Lee

Troop Strength

75,000

50,000

Losses

Killed

3,155

3,903

Wounded

14,529

18,735

Captured, Missing

5,365

5,425

Total Losses

23,049

28,063

Figure 1.3: Inflation Rate in South

Bacon, 10 lbs

1.25

10.00

Sugar, 5 lbs

0.40

5.75

Flour, 30 lbs

1.50

3.75

Coffee, 4 lbs

0.50

20.00

Lard, 4 lbs

0.50

4.00

Tea (green), 1/2 lbs

0.50

8.00

Meal, 1 pkg

0.25

1.00

Butter, 3 lbs

0.75

5.25

Soap, 5 lbs

0.50

5.50

Candles, 2 lbs

0.30

2.50

Total

6.45

65.75

Move to North Carolina Event

Sherman reached finally to the North Carolina and faced Johnston again to the high command of Lee's perseverance. Johnston brought 20,000 men in Fayetteville; Whereas Braxton Bragg had 5,500 men at North-East at Goldsboro. Sherman threatened Goldsboro whereas Johnston was planning once again to attack on the Sherman's army who was isolated from his troop. This resulted in two of the battles for the Sherman's march. On 16 March, Averasboro, the left-wing of the Union encountered with Confederate forces, and was pushed at the fight. Johnston made a move towards Sherman on 19 March by attacking at Bentonville. This move brought initial success and then Sherman marched his army to blow Johnston. But he rested back in the slip of the Confederate. This move is still the matter of debate for many people. The most suitable explanation for this is that Sherman doesn't want to take a risk at such time where the war is close to its final ending. This march of Sherman was through the heart of the Confederacy which aided the replacement of Johnston by Hood before Atlanta fall. Sherman was then able to reach to the sea over two weeks.