March to the Sea

December 21 is a rather famous day in history.  Which other date can claim to be the day with the shortest day light hours, but more importantly the birthday of not only my twin brother, but my brother-in-law and a niece.  It would be difficult for any historical event to compete with these events, so this short post is not about any of the above, but rather the one event that would drive a nail through the heart of the confederacy.  A few months after having wreaked havoc on Atlanta (popularized by Gone with the Wind) William Tecumseh Sherman would take the war across Georgia to Savannah.  This would be one of the most significant movements in any war, perhaps rivaling the sea battle of Lepanto, and Epaminondas' travel into Peloponnese.

W. T. Sherman

The Civil War was now well into its fourth year, and was finally seeing significant progress in a war that was becoming old and worn to those fighting and to those watching.  Sherman would be given Grant's old command when Grant was appointed to the top Army post.  Both Grant and Sherman realized that to win the battle, the war had to be taken to the people of the south.  Sherman would develop a policy to do just that.  "War is hell," Sherman had once said and he wished the people of the south to understand what they had wrought on the nation.  Lincoln and Grant both wondered about the wise nature of the move Sherman would make, Lincoln more so than Grant, as Grant trusted Sherman's judgement.

Burning of Atlanta

Sherman's policy was quite simple, he would disconnect from his supply lines, and he and his army of 70,000 men would, quite simply, live off a land with little to give.  He had conquered Atlanta in early September  (guaranteeing Lincoln's reelection), and in October he began planning for this campaign.  This mass of men under his command was composed of four army corps, each with certain synchronized movements, but an ability to exercise independent judgement.  While Grant was kept busy with the less than successful siege of Petersburg, and General Thomas, a Virginian fighting for the Union, was moving in the area of Tennessee, Sherman would move east from Atlanta to the sea.

March to the Sea

On November 11, Sherman cut the telegraph wires connecting Atlanta to Washington, and prepared to move. He would have no communication, no support trains, no additional munitions. Forty days after having cut his telegraph wire, he would enter Savannah, Georgia. This would be the first leg of this remarkable movement of men and machine. He would free slaves, burn plantations, and warehouses, and create "Sherman bow-ties" with rail ties. Devastation and destruction was his idea of total war. Making war so horrible that few would wish to repeat it. With the battle of Atlanta, and his famous march to the sea, Sherman would add an exclamation point to Robert E. Lee's comment: " It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it." On December 22, the day following the fall Savannah, Georgia, he would send a telegraph to President Lincoln reading: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton."  Less than two months later, Sherman's troops would take relish in the destruction of Columbia, SC, the birthplace of the Civil War. 

Union Troops enter Savannah

I suppose I had my share of little wars with my twin brother over the past 57 years, but none of them rose to the level of destruction as Sherman's move east to the Atlantic ocean.  In any event Christopher Hovel should remember that he graduated from the University of Wisconsin on the 150th anniversary of a movement that helped defeat the confederacy.

Images from Google images.