Sherman's March to the Sea (15 November to 21 December 1864) was a significant military campaign in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Hoping to cripple the Confederacy's ability to make war, as well as to crush its will to keep fighting, Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led 62,000 men on a march from Atlanta, Georgia, to the coastal city of Savannah. In between, he conducted a 'scorched earth' campaign, destroying farms, factories, railroads, and other resources of military value. By the time Sherman's army captured Savannah on 21 December, it had caused over $100 million in destruction (over $1.5 billion today) and so thoroughly disrupted Georgia's agriculture that it would take generations for the state to recover. The 'March to the Sea' succeeded in both its goals and played a major role in bringing the war to an end only a few months later.
Making Georgia Howl
On 2 September 1864, a long line of blue-coated Union soldiers streamed into Atlanta, Georgia. Bands played, cannons fired off salutes, and, above city hall, the Stars and Stripes waved for the first time since the state had seceded nearly four years before. The capture of Atlanta had been extremely beneficial to the Union – its fall had demoralized the South, exposed the underbelly of the eastern Confederate States, and destroyed any chance of the Union accepting a peace that did not include total victory. The architect of Atlanta's fall was the stern, red-bearded Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, who now looked to capitalize on his success and force the rest of Georgia to submit to the might of Federal power. But before he could do this, he would have to deal with the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Lieutenant General John Bell Hood.
Though Hood's army had been pretty well beaten during the previous Atlanta Campaign, it had not been destroyed. At the end of September, Hood tried to lure Sherman out of Atlanta by marching westward and threatening the Union supply lines to Tennessee. Initially, Sherman took the bait and pursued Hood through western Georgia and into Alabama. However, Sherman's heart was not in the chase. Indeed, he thought it a waste of time to be hunting Hood's depleted army when he could instead be marching eastward into the undefended heart of Georgia, destroying everything of military value in his path. "I could cut a swath to the sea," he wired to Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of all Union armies. Such a march, he argued, would "divide the Confederacy in two" and would make a huge psychological impact on the already war-weary Southern population. "If I move through Georgia, smashing things to the sea," he said, it would be "a demonstration to the world, foreign and domestic, that we have a power which [the Confederates] cannot resist…I can make the march, and make Georgia howl!" (quoted in McPherson, 808).
At first, both Grant and US President Abraham Lincoln were skeptical of Sherman's plan. If Sherman were to go east, that would give Hood free rein to wreak havoc in the Union rear. 'Uncle Billy' – as Sherman's soldiers called him – thought to mollify his superiors by sending 60,000 soldiers under Major General George H. Thomas into Middle Tennessee to keep an eye on Hood's army, leaving Sherman with around 62,000 men to take on his march to Savannah. By early November, Grant and Lincoln reluctantly gave their assent to the plan, and Sherman immediately turned around and returned to Atlanta to prepare for the march. He evacuated the civilian population and prepared to march through Georgia to the coast, destroying factories, railroads, farms, and – hopefully – the Confederate will to keep fighting. "We cannot change the hearts of those people of the South," Sherman wrote, "but we can make this war so terrible…[and make] them so sick of war that generations would pass away before they would appeal to it again" (quoted in McPherson, 809). As Sherman prepared for his march, Hood's army invaded Tennessee, where it would be dashed to pieces by General Thomas in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign.
Atlanta Burns & the March Begins
Flames consumed Atlanta on the night of 15 November 1864, their orange tendrils lapping at the underbelly of an ink black sky. The civilian population had already been evacuated, and the Union soldiers had moved out of the city earlier that day, though some men had stayed behind to set fire to anything that may be of value to the enemy. Some of these arsonists had exceeded their orders to destroy only military targets, however, and lit unauthorized fires that soon spread to the business and residential districts of the city. Before long, all Atlanta was ablaze. One wide-eyed Union officer recorded the scene in his diary: "All the pictures and verbal descriptions of hell I have ever seen never gave me half so vivid an idea of it as did this flame-wrapped city tonight" (quoted in Foote, 641). By morning, a full third of the city had turned to ash. "Behind us lay Atlanta, smoldering and in ruins," Sherman would recall in his memoirs. "The black smoke rising high in the air and hanging like a pall over the ruined city."
Sherman, sitting on his horse atop Bald Hill, turned away from the ruined city and toward his men, brilliantly arrayed in their marching columns. There were 62,000 of them in all, split into two columns for the march: the right wing, led by Major General Oliver O. Howard, was referred to as the Army of the Tennessee, while the left wing, under Major General Henry W. Slocum, was dubbed the Army of Georgia. The blue-clad troops made a splendid sight, and Sherman would long remember the "gun barrels glistening in the sun, the white-topped wagons stretching away to the south, and right before us the XIV Corps [of Slocum's column] marching steadily and rapidly, with a cherry look and swinging pace" (quoted in Foote, 640). Presently, the men began to sing the Union song 'John Brown's Body', and Sherman felt his chest swell with pride. "Never before or since have I heard the chorus of 'Glory, glory, hallelujah!' done with more spirit or in better harmony of time and place" (ibid).
Prior to setting out, Sherman had given his soldiers explicit instructions to guide their behavior during the march. In his Special Field Order No. 120, he allowed his men to forage for food and confiscate livestock. He forbade them from entering private dwellings, hoping to keep non-military damage to a minimum. Nevertheless, if the Union soldiers faced resistance or obstruction from guerrillas or other civilians, Sherman authorized his army commanders to "enforce a devastation more or less relentless, according to the measure of such hostility" (quoted in Foote, 641). He made certain that this part of the order was carried far and wide throughout the countryside, so that any potential rebel saboteur would think twice before obstructing his path. "If the enemy burn forage and corn on our route," Sherman proclaimed, "houses, barns, and cotton gins must also be burned to keep them company" (ibid).
Scorched Earth
To conceal his intentions from the enemy, Sherman had each of his two columns march in a different direction. Howard's column, screened by Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry, pushed south along the railroad to Lovejoy's Station in the direction of Macon. Slocum's column marched east, in the direction of Augusta. Sherman himself traveled with Slocum's column; he was personally escorted by the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, a unit made up entirely of Alabamans who had stayed loyal to the Union. Each soldier carried 40 rounds of small arms ammunition and a 20-day supply of hardtack and coffee. All other provisions were to be plucked from the surrounding countryside. The men took advantage of their orders to "forage liberally on the country" and, like a swarm of blue locusts, stripped the Georgia farms nearly bare of their livestock and crops. "This is probably the most gigantic pleasure excursion ever planned," one officer gleefully wrote, two days out from Atlanta. "It already beats everything I ever saw soldiering, and promises to prove much richer yet" (quoted in McPherson, 810).
Not every soldier engaged in the nice, orderly foraging that Sherman had mandated. Some of the men, known as 'bummers', strayed from the main army columns and traversed the countryside to intentionally terrorize and rob Confederate citizens. These 'bummers' paid unwelcome visits to farmhouses and plantations, taking anything they wanted and burning the rest, sometimes even pillaging slave cabins. While these men were acting in defiance of their orders, Sherman himself was not averse to destroying private property if it served his purpose. Coming across the plantation of Howell Cobb, a leading Georgia secessionist, Sherman confiscated the crops and had the property burned. "That night, huge bonfires consumed the fence rails, kept our soldiers warm," Sherman would remember. "The teamsters and men, as well as the slaves, carried off an immense quantity of corn and provisions of all sorts" (quoted in Foote, 644). Sherman's men also ripped up railroad tracks, destroyed cotton gins, and liberated slaves. Indeed, with nowhere else to go, throngs of newly freed African-Americans took to following Sherman's troops, offering their services as laborers.
Blood & Fire
The Confederates, meanwhile, were at a loss to defend their homes. Lieutenant General William J. Hardee, commander of the Confederate forces in Georgia, was unsure if Sherman's ultimate destination was Macon or Augusta. He did not have the men to spare to defend both locations – most of his soldiers were off with Hood on his ill-fated invasion of Tennessee – so, on 19 November, he dispatched Major General Joseph Wheeler's cavalry corps, as well as some local militiamen, to shadow the right wing of the Union army and look for opportunities to disrupt its advance. Wheeler followed Howard's column as it turned east, past Macon, and made its way to the industrial town of Griswoldville. Considering it a valid military target, the Union soldiers burned Griswoldville to the ground, enraging Wheeler's militiamen when they caught up on 22 November. Finding only a single rearguard Union infantry brigade still in the town, the militia attacked – the Union troops, in a strong defensive position and armed with repeating rifles, bloodily repulsed the charge.
For the next few hours, the militiamen made several more charges, but to no avail. At last, the rebels gave up and retreated back toward Macon; they had lost around 1,000 casualties (600 of which were prisoners) compared to only 100 Union losses. As dusk settled, the Union troops cheered at their victory and moved onto the battlefield to plunder the dead. It was then, peering onto the faces of the dead, that they discovered that they had been fighting mostly old men and young boys, all that the Confederates had been able to scrape together. "I was never so affected at the sight of dead and wounded before," wrote one Illinois soldier (quoted in Foote, 646). The next day, on 23 November, Slocum's column captured the state capital of Milledgeville, which had only recently been vacated by the governor and state legislature. Sherman spent the night in the deserted governor's mansion, while several young officers gathered in the State House and held a mock legislative session, in which they jokingly repealed the state's ordinance of secession. The soldiers then set about pillaging the State House, tossing all the books and papers they could find out of the windows.
Approaching the Sea
On 24 November, several Union prisoners-of-war caught up with Slocum's column, having recently escaped from the infamous prison camp at Andersonville. Gaunt and hollow-cheeked, they begged for food and wept uncontrollably at the sight of the American flag flying over the Union camp. The Union soldiers were horrified, "sickened and infuriated" at the way their fellows had been treated (quoted in McPherson, 810). They retaliated by burning more private property like barns and crops, while 'bummers' escalated their violent attacks against civilians. Some of Wheeler's cavalrymen responded by executing several Federal prisoners; the situation only de-escalated when Sherman threatened to shoot an equal number of Confederate prisoners. On 25 November, Wheeler began to harry Slocum's column, skirmishing with Union infantrymen at Sandersville and duking it out with Kilpatrick's blue cavalry troopers at Buckhead Creek three days later. The bloodiest of these engagements occurred on 4 December at Waynesboro, where Wheeler's and Kilpatrick's men clashed in a dramatic cavalry fight. The rebel cavalry was routed after losing 250 casualties, compared to 190 Union losses.
In early December, the two wings of Sherman's army converged, in preparation for the final push to Savannah. By now, an estimated 25,000 African Americans were trailing the Union army, including men, women, and children. Sherman had no desire to feed thousands of extra mouths and consistently ordered them to turn back; while many complied, others did not, continuing to follow the Federal army. On 9 December, as his army crossed Ebenezer Creek, Sherman saw an opportunity to rid himself of these "useless mouths". He ordered Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis (no relation to the Confederate president) to destroy the bridge once his men had finished crossing, thereby stranding the Black followers on the opposite bank. Once this was done, Davis's soldiers could hear anguished screams emanating from the people they had left behind; the African-Americans knew that they had been abandoned to the mercy of Wheeler's Confederate horsemen, who were in close pursuit. In their panicked desperation, several of the African-Americans leapt into the icy Ebenezer Creek, hoping to swim the distance. Dozens drowned, and many of the survivors were rounded up by Wheeler when his cavalrymen arrived, and were likely forced back into slavery.
On 12 December, Sherman's army approached Savannah's outer defenses. Hardee, who had finally realized that this was Sherman's destination, had spent the previous few weeks bolstering the coastal city's defenses. By now, he had 10,000 men dug in around Savannah and had flooded the surrounding rice fields so that the only means of entry into the city were along narrow causeways. Rather than assault the city outright, Sherman instead sent 4,000 men under Brigadier General William B. Hazen to attack Fort McAllister, a critical part of the rebel defenses. In only 15 minutes, Hazen's division stormed the fort and captured it, at the cost of 134 casualties. The fall of Fort McAllister allowed Sherman to make contact with US Navy supply vessels, which brought him rations, siege guns, and the other equipment he would need to lay siege to Savannah.
Savannah Falls
By 17 December, Sherman had almost surrounded Savannah by land. He knew that the rebel defenders were tired and hungry, and that the city's fall was inevitable. Nevertheless, he thought it only fair to offer the Confederates a chance to surrender without bloodshed. He sent a message to Hardee, offering to "grant liberal terms to the inhabitants and garrison" but warning that, if he should be forced to assault, then "I shall feel justified in resorting to the harshest measures, and shall make little effort to restrain my army" (quoted in Foote, 711). Hardee respectfully declined to surrender; he had appealed to the Confederate capital of Richmond for reinforcements and was still hopeful that help was forthcoming. Once he realized that no reinforcements were on their way, Hardee decided his best course of action was to abandon Savannah before Sherman had completed his encirclement. On 20 December, Hardee led his 10,000 men across the Savannah River. The next day, the mayor rode out to offer the city's surrender.
On 21 December 1864, Sherman wired President Lincoln: "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; also about 25,000 bales of cotton" (quoted in Foote, 712). Lincoln responded on 26 December, offering "many, many, thanks" for the Christmas gift and congratulating Sherman on his "great success." The 'March to the Sea' was over. In a little over a month of campaigning, the Union had lost around 1,300 casualties and inflicted over 2,300. They had caused over $100 million in economic damages (worth over $1.5 billion in 2025), freed as many as 25,000 slaves, and wrecked 300 miles of railroad. The damage done to Georgia's agricultural and manufacturing ability was significant, and indeed, by some estimates, it was not until the 1920s that Georgia's agriculture fully recovered. Sherman's 'March to the Sea' succeeded in its goals of psychologically breaking the Confederacy and crippling its ability to wage war. A few weeks later, Sherman took his army into the Carolinas, subjecting these states to the scorched-earth pain he had inflicted on Georgia.
