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On this day in 1864, nearly a week into the famous March to the Sea, the army of Union General William T. Sherman moves toward central Georgia, destroying property and routing small militia units it its path. Advanced units of the army skirmished with scattered Rebel forces at Clinton, Walnut Creek, East Macon, and Griswoldville, all in the vicinity of Macon.
The march began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman led 62,000 troops for some 285 miles across Georgia and cut a path of destruction more than 50 miles wide. He divided his force into two columns and widened the swath of destruction. The Yankees cut away from their supply lines at Atlanta and generally lived off the land. What they did not consume, they destroyed. More than 13,000 cattle fell into Union hands, as well as 90,000 bales of cotton and numerous sawmills, foundries, cotton gins, and warehouses.
Sherman’s superiors, President Abraham Lincoln and General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant, endorsed his controversial tactic. Sherman planned, in his words, to “make Georgia howl,” and argued that, although it would be brutal, destroying the resources of the South could bring the war to aquicker end. Though he did not permit violence against civilians or the wanton destruction of property, there seemed to be little enforcement of that policy. The Union troops moved nearly unopposed across the region until they reached Savannah on December 21. The March to the Sea devastated Southern morale and earned Sherman the lasting hatred of many Southerners.
The march began on November 15 and ended on December 21, 1864. Sherman led 62,000 troops for some 285 miles across Georgia and cut a path of destruction more than 50 miles wide. He divided his force into two columns and widened the swath of destruction. The Yankees cut away from their supply lines at Atlanta and generally lived off the land. What they did not consume, they destroyed. More than 13,000 cattle fell into Union hands, as well as 90,000 bales of cotton and numerous sawmills, foundries, cotton gins, and warehouses.
Sherman’s superiors, President Abraham Lincoln and General in Chief Ulysses S. Grant, endorsed his controversial tactic. Sherman planned, in his words, to “make Georgia howl,” and argued that, although it would be brutal, destroying the resources of the South could bring the war to aquicker end. Though he did not permit violence against civilians or the wanton destruction of property, there seemed to be little enforcement of that policy. The Union troops moved nearly unopposed across the region until they reached Savannah on December 21. The March to the Sea devastated Southern morale and earned Sherman the lasting hatred of many Southerners.
Sherman on the move - Nov 20, 1864 - HISTORY.com
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Posted 7 y ago
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Sherman's March to the Sea has been an unhappy event for me, considering how so many Southern families were made destitute. The South was in rebellion but it was mostly conquered. The people of the fields had little or no say in the governmental policy that caused schism in the nation. Working and eking out a living was hard enough without a bunch of soldiers busting up your property and carrying off consumables. The issue of private property especially as it applied to a mostly defeated foe which happened to be part of the Union until the war should have prevented such an action but the Union Army had its highest generals in favor of bringing the war on top of the rebellious Southerners. The generals acted against the larger governmental agencies that hoisted war upon the nation yet the means of living and producing a living from the earth persists. General Sherman might have wanted to hit the ones responsible for secession but he wiped out many hard scrabble families intent on survival.
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