Smashing Peaches: Sherman's March to the Sea

William Tecumseh Sherman, born 8 February 1820, has been called the United States' first "modern general". He served under General Ulysses S. Grant in the west, most notably during the fall of Vicksburg, but when Grant was promoted by President Abraham Lincoln, Sherman took over his boss' old position in the west. In this position, Sherman engaged in total war, driving all the way to the Atlantic, burning as he went. He received some criticism for this brutal form of warfare, but he deemed it necessary to break the will of the South.

Sherman's march to the sea began with his belief in the "total war" concept – a concept frowned upon by most military leaders, both at the time and today. His reasoning behind this was that the Union army was not merely "fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war." (Ohio History Central, 2005) He intended to break the will of the rebel population, and thus, the will of the Confederate army, by any means necessary. Sherman proposed this plan after his and Grant's victory at Atlanta – an important railroad hub for the Confederacy, along with being one of their main industrial centers – and after the Union's supply lines were attacked in guerrilla warfare-style tactics by the rebels. "I can make this march, and make Georgia howl!" he vowed in a telegram to his superiors. Instead of sending his army on a wild goose chase after a phantasmal army, General Sherman received approval to split his army, sending 60,000 under the command of Major General George Thomas chasing the Confederate guerrillas to Tennessee, and taking the remaining 62,000 men through Georgia, going along, as he wrote, "smashing things to the sea." (Sherman's March, 1996)

This 'smashing' march was almost a blitzkrieg in its effectiveness, with many Confederate towns being attacked with little or no warning. (Weatherby, 2011) He sacked towns, burned plantations, and captured livestock and supplies, virtually unopposed by the army of General John Bell Hood, who had been on the run since Atlanta. Because of the incredibly fast pace of the march General Sherman left his supply trains days and even weeks behind, and thus he gave his troops leave to do virtually whatever they pleased for the duration of the march. Food and supplies were requisitioned from the civilian populace, and what couldn't be eaten or carried off was simply burned. Factories – such as they were – farms and railroads were all fair game to Sherman, as he considered them vital to the war effort, and rightly so. In fact, he went so far as to tear up almost 300 miles of railroad, had them heated in bonfires made from the railroad ties, and curled the rails around trees, making them essentially worthless. The locals called these "Sherman's Neckties," and still inspire sectional animosity to this day. (Wars and Battles, 2012) Telegraph wires, railroads, anything that could be used against his troops he had destroyed, demolished or mutilated beyond function. (Weatherby, 2011) It is also interesting to note that Hood's troops would burn stores of food as they went as well, to avoid Sherman from using them, but the Union army was moving at such a pace, that they couldn't burn them all without being overtaken.

Overall, it was a grueling venture, but the lack of restrictions made it worth it to many a Union footman, and the slaves freed under President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation swelled Sherman's ranks. But in December, after a total lightning war of sprinting across Georgia, Sherman finally made it to Savannah, the last stop before the Atlantic Ocean. Behind him, he and his army had cut a blazing swathe right through the heart of Georgia, leaving homesteads burnt, crops eaten or destroyed, and the people broken. As one Union soldier wrote, "it isn’t so sweet to secede, as [they] thought it would be." (Sherman's March, 1996) Sherman sent a communiqué to his counterpart, General Hood, demanding that the Confederate army in the city surrender; in return, Sherman promised to spare the soldiers, city and its inhabitants, and if not, he would utterly destroy them all. (Wars and Battles, 2012) Hood decided to abandon the city to Sherman, and on 21 December, Sherman marched in to Savannah and took it without firing a shot, declaring it a Christmas present to President Lincoln. They stayed in Savannah for the winter, and began their burning march again in the spring of 1865, and in spite of General Robert E. Lee replacing Hood with Johnston, Sherman's campaign into South Carolina was just as successful, leading to the surrender of Johnston's Confederate army, a few weeks after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse.

William Tecumseh Sherman's 'March to the Sea' was brutal, ruthless, destructive and devastating, but it was extremely effective. It broke the will to fight in many Southerners, and cast doubts about the Confederacy's ability to survive in even the stoutest rebel's mind. “This Union and its Government must be sustained, at any and every cost,” explained one of Sherman’s subordinates. “To sustain it, we must war upon and destroy the organized rebel forces,--must cut off their supplies, destroy their communications…and produce among the people of Georgia a thorough conviction of the personal misery which attends war, and the utter helplessness and inability of their ‘rulers’ to protect them… If that terror and grief and even want shall help to paralyze their husbands and fathers who are fighting us… it is mercy in the end.” (Sherman's March, 1996) Sherman himself summed it up by saying "War is cruelty. You cannot refine it." No matter if you view him as a heartless, cruel war criminal as the South did, or a valorous hero willing to take the necessary steps to preserve the Union as he was viewed in the North, it is impossible to deny that the bold and extreme plan of this Ohioan helped speed along the end of the war, and prevent any more blood spilled in this one indivisible nation.

References

Ohio History Central. (2005). Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved from http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=551

Sherman's March. (1996) History.com. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/shermans-march

Wars and Battles: March to the Sea. (2012, September 30). United states history. Retrieved from http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h111.html

Weatherby, Edwin. (2011, December 19). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://pipenslippers.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/shermans-march-to-the-sea/