Click2History - Unforgettable Sights - America's Civil War - Chapter 7

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>AMERICA'S CIVIL WAR</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 7 - SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA</font></b></p> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Destroying the South’s ability to continue fighting was Sherman’s primary objective as he issued his <a href="http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/order1.htm" target="_blank"><b>orders</b></a> to "March to the Sea." In his wake were burned towns and <a href="http://docsouth.unc.edu/burge/lunt.html" target="_blank"><b>horrified people</b></a>. Yet, some of the South’s residents cheered his efforts since captured Confederate territories resulted in freed slaves.</p> <p><a href="http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1864p64.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Before</b></a> his march to the sea could take place, however, <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/6/13/06-1292a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Sherman</b></a> and his troops had to <a href="http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1864p62.jpg" target="_blank"><b>besiege</b></a>, attack and conquer <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a00000/6a00000/6a00027r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Atlanta</b></a>. Made legendary in the <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/068483068X.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b>book</b></a> and <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004RF96.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b>movie</b></a> <i>Gone With the Wind</i>, the battle for <a href="http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1864a7.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Atlanta</b></a> was <a href="http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/batatlan.htm" target="_blank"><b>relentless</b></a> and vicious.</p> <p>Despite Confederate <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/61/45/P0024500.html" target="_blank"><b>palisades</b></a> (on the <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39700/4a39774r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>north side</b></a> of town, for example, and in <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0285a.gif" target="_blank"><b>front</b></a> of homes like the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0284a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Potter House</b></a>) together with <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0286a.gif" target="_blank"><b>fortifications</b></a> at or <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/5/7/05-0606a.gif" target="_blank"><b>near</b></a> the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0283a.gif" target="_blank"><b>battlefield</b></a>, the federal army conquered Atlanta.</p> <p>Establishing Union strongholds in <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39900/4a39955r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>conquered</b></a> forts (like Federal Fort <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39900/4a39954r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>No. 7</b></a>), the general <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39900/4a39958r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>surveyed</b></a> his conquests deep in Southern territory. His men, like those of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, set up <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39700/4a39769r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>camp</b></a> in front of important buildings such as Atlanta’s City Hall. Making good on Sherman’s plan to obliterate the South’s ability to make war, Union troops also controlled Atlanta’s railroad <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39700/4a39771r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>depot</b></a> until they left town. Then they <a href="http://rs6.loc.gov:8081/pnp/cwp/4a39000/4a39700/4a39772r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>destroyed it</b></a> together with the Confederate <a href="http://www.nara.gov/nara/nn/nns/civil082.jpg" target="_blank"><b>engine house</b></a>. The city was decimated.</p> <p>Moving on from Atlanta (in November of 1864), about 62,000 Union troops cut a <a href="http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1864g4.jpg" target="_blank"><b>path</b></a> through Georgia 60 miles wide and 300 miles long. They left little for Georgians to begin anew. Burning mills, destroying <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/images/ACivilWar/cw2.jpg"><b>railroads</b></a>, confiscating livestock and displacing people, Sherman and his troops set the state back economically at least 100 years. By his own estimates, he calculated the loss at $100 million.</p> <p>But when he arrived in <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0295a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Savannah</b></a> shortly before Christmas, even Sherman pulled back from his famous quote: "War is hell." He did not obliterate the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0297a.gif" target="_blank"><b>beautiful</b></a> Southern <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0294a.gif" target="_blank"><b>town</b></a> located <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/georgia_90.jpg" target="_blank"><b>on</b></a> the Savannah River, near <a href="http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/cr30511.jpg" target="_blank"><b>the sea</b></a>. The same could not be said for <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0298a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Columbia</b></a>, South <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/south_carolina_90.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Carolina</b></a> where the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0299a.gif" target="_blank"><b>city</b></a> was <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/3/04-0300a.gif" target="_blank"><b>left</b></a> in <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/4/4/04-0301a.gif" target="_blank"><b>ruins</b></a>. </p> <p>During April, 1865, Confederate forces surrendered. General Lee, and six of his Northern Virginia Army officers, were "paroled" prisoners of war who <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2821a.gif" target="_blank"><b>agreed</b></a> to no longer fight against the North. (Later in the year, Lee <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/28/19-2791a.gif" target="_blank"><b>signed</b></a> an Amnesty Oath in which he acknowledged loyalty to the United States.)</p> <p>Little could Americans imagine that 5 days following <a href="http://www.ibiscom.com/appomatx.htm" target="_blank"><b>Lee's surrender</b></a>, of the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2853a.gif" target="_blank"><b>army</b></a> of <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2851a.gif" target="_blank"><b>northern</b></a> Virginia (with <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/19/29/19-2852a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Longstreet</b></a> at his side), the country would be shocked by one of the worst tragedies in its young history.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="civil_war_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="civil_war_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="civil_war_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>