These orders have been depicted in popular culture as the origin of the "40 acres and a mule" promise. Seeing their terror and desperation, some Federals began throwing logs and anything else they could find toward the drowning people. On November 2526 at Sandersville, Wheeler struck at Slocum's advance guard. Gen. 15, which confiscated as Union property a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John's River in Florida, including Georgia's Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast. On it was Byers' poem. The 62,000-man army usually spent the night in tents, the campsites stretching in all directions. [1] Thomas would go on to defeat Hood, leaving Sherman's main army effectively unopposed. Although clearly headed eastward, Sherman was determined to conceal his movements from Confederate eyes. Slavery. Sherman successfully fought a psychological war of destruction. On November 24 several Union prisoners of war caught up with the left wing, having escaped a Confederate camp at Andersonville. The following is an excerpt from those orders: IV. This Union and its Government must be sustained, at any and every cost, explained one of Shermans subordinates. He had for a long time hated the idea of having to kill and maim Confederates, many of whom had been pre-war friends. The destruction of Georgia displayed the unfettered might of the Union war machine. On November 15, 62,000 men split into two infantry wings (actually four parallel corps columns) with screening cavalry to protect the main bodies as they spread across the landscape departed Atlanta. Gen. John P. Hatch from Hilton Head, hoping to assist Sherman's arrival near Savannah by securing the Charleston and Savannah Railroad. Confederate leadership was unable to discern the final destination of the two-pronged Union force. Those prisoners in the state jail willing to take up arms for the Confederacy 175 out of 200 were freed, although some of the newly liberated men burned down the penitentiary rather than report for duty. After they lost Atlanta, the Confederate army headed west into Tennessee and Alabama, attacking Union supply lines as they went. In the hearts of Georgians, Sherman left behind a smoldering resentment of the North that persisted well into the 20th century. In reality it was a final iteration of his campaign to show mercy immediately upon surrender. Shermans total war in Georgia was brutal and destructive, but it did just what it was supposed to do: it hurt Southern morale, made it impossible for the Confederates to fight at full capacity and likely hastened the end of the war. No doubt many acts of pillage, robbery, and violence were committed by these parties of foragers , Sherman acknowledged, but maintained that their crimes were generally against property, not individuals. Not only was Shermans army vastly larger and superior to the Confederate military, but he also outmaneuvered the few Confederate forces and kept them uncertain about his destination. Confederate Maj. Gen. Wheeler's cavalry struck Brig. On January 16, 1865, during the Civil War (1861-65), Union general William T. Sherman issued his Special Field Order No. What were the effects of Shermans March to the Sea? Smith's 1,500 Georgia militiamen, 3 miles (4.8km) south of Grahamville Station, South Carolina. That very day an additional 500 were transferred to Savannah lowering the prison's population even further. His focus on crushing civilian morale presaged the bloody World Wars of the 20th century. Locals experienced a sense of growing dread as they anticipated the main columns advancing through their property and seizing everything of value. Still, sexual violence, especially in wartime, remains an underreported crime up to the present. On December 21 Savannahs mayor formally surrendered the city to the Union. Confederacy's economy and transportation networks, Western Theater of the American Civil War, "Savannah Campaign Union order of battle", "Effective strength of the army in the field under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, November and December, 1864", "Abstract from return of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, Lieut. The violence abated only after Sherman threatened to shoot an equal number of his own captives. Did you know? Only then, did Sherman and his army begin the March to the Sea. Wheelers 3,500 man Confederate cavalry tried to hinder Shermans army, but Brig. As soon as the mayor of Savannah surrendered his city, Sherman the fiend became Sherman the friend. Hundreds of African Americans drowned trying to cross in Ebenezer Creek north of Savannah while attempting to follow Sherman's Army in its March to the Sea. And so, in Atlanta, Sherman instituted tactics later generations of American war leaders would use in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. Sherman's armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10 but found that Hardee had entrenched 10,000 men in favorable fighting positions, and his soldiers had flooded the surrounding rice fields, leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city. To this end, each brigade commander will organize a good and sufficient foraging party, under the command of one or more discreet officers, who will gather, near the route traveled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind, vegetables, corn-meal, or whatever is needed by the command, aiming at all times to keep in the wagons at least ten days' provisions for the command and three days' forage. Many troops who heard of their arrival retaliated by burning civilian barns and slaughtering their livestock. Sherman had completely uprooted his army and marched it unassisted through enemy territory. Hardee succeeded in getting his men out, and Sherman captured the city on December 21st, 1864. As for horses, mules, wagons, &c., belonging to the inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without limit, discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly. The field order also permitted able-bodied Black labourers to join the march, but commanding officers were instructed to remain cognizant of supplies intended for their army group. I suppose it will be safer if I leave General Grant and yourself to decide. Should you entertain the proposition, I am prepared to grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison; but should I be forced to resort to assault, or the slower and surer process of starvation, I shall then feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my armyburning to avenge the national wrong which they attach to Savannah and other large cities which have been so prominent in dragging our country into civil war. Two weeks after this incident, and 20 miles removed, the march ended in Savannah. Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us in Richmond? was a common sentiment along the march. The mayor of Savannah formally surrendered the city on December 21, 1864. Sherman wasted no time. When Joe Wheelers horsemen also began destroying property and looting, the psychological shock of Confederates abusing their own people was hard for the Georgia civilians to take. On September 21, 1864, Confederate Gen. John B. Grant's armies in Virginia continued in a stalemate against Robert E. Lee's army, besieged in Petersburg, Virginia. The March to the Sea. The most potent Confederate force in the state was Joseph Wheelers 3,500-man cavalry, which managed to harass Shermans marchers but was too small to pose a deadly threat. 120 had permitted Black labourers to accompany the column, despite being a potential drain on resources and slowing the armys pace. He seemed to be everywhere at once, and as he grew ever-larger in the Southern imagination, rumors about where he was and what he did to white women and slaves came to be accepted as fact. More seriously, the soldiers damaged state buildings and destroyed books and manuscripts before leaving Milledgeville on November 24. Those Confederate troops blocking Shermans way were few and weak. Maj. Gen. John G. Foster dispatched 5,500 men and 10 guns under Brig. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. The long line of fugitive slaves, some 650 of them, was ordered to await a signal before crossing. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is yours; for I believe none of us went further than to acquiesce. Accordingly, on November 19, he dispatched Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheelers cavalry corps and some local militiamen to slow the Unions right flank. Not realizing that these Federals had repeating rifles and were dug in, temporary commander Phillips ordered his motley force to attack, and they were ripped to pieces by the Federals. His vision of hard war brought the Confederacy to its knees, but forestalled thousands of battlefield and civilian deaths. Sherman would later defend Daviss actions at Ebenezer Creek as a necessary reality of war. Background. Walters, John Bennett (1948) "General William T. Sherman and Total War". When it came time to march through the Carolinas, states still in rebellion against the United States, however, destructive war returned. In the fall of 1864 during the American Civil War, Union forces pushed deeply into the Confederacy. [13], Sherman had ruthlessly cut to the bone the supplies carried, intending as he did for the army to live off the land as much as possible. Confederate political and military leaders Gov. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Hardee had long since retreated to the coastal city and toiled away at its fortifications, which were effective at supplementing Savannahs natural marsh and river defenses. Factories, farms and railroads provided Confederate troops with the things they needed, he reasoned; and if he could destroy those things, the Confederate war effort would collapse. March to the Sea. The purpose of Shermans March to the Sea was to frighten Georgias civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. He and the Union Army's commander, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, believed that the Civil War would come to an end only if the Confederacy's strategic capacity for warfare could be decisively broken. In escaping Savannah, several Confederate generals left their wives and children to Shermans personal protection, and he took this responsibility seriously, despite laughing that Confederates were willing to leave their families in the care of someone they considered a brute. Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood was threatening Chattanooga, and Sherman detached two armies under Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas to deal with Hood in the FranklinNashville campaign. All Rights Reserved. Since spreading terror farther afield only intensified the impact of his March to the Sea, all of this suited Shermans purposes perfectly. Barns, gardens and farms were overrun. 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