On December 10, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman completes his March to the Sea when he arrives in front of Savannah, Georgia.
Since mid-November of that year, Sherman’s army had been sweeping from Atlanta across the state to the south and east towards Savannah, one of the last Confederate seaports still unoccupied by Union forces. Along the way, Sherman destroyed farms and railroads, burned storehouses, and fed his army off the land. In his own words, Sherman intended to “make Georgia howl,” a plan that was approved by President Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant, general-in-chief of the Union armies.
The city of Savannah was fortified and defended by some 10,000 Confederates under the command of General William Hardee. The Rebels flooded the rice fields around Savannah, so only a few narrow causeways provided access to the city. Sherman’s army was running low on supplies and he had not made contact with supply ships off the coast. His army had been completely cut off from the North, and only the reports of destruction provided any evidence of its whereabouts.
Sherman directed General Oliver O. Howard to the coast to locate friendly ships. Howard dispatched Captain William Duncan and two comrades to contact the Union fleet, but nothing was heard of the trio for several days. Duncan located a Union gunboat that carried him to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Supply ships were sent to Savannah, and Duncan continued on to Washington, D.C.,to deliver news of the successful March to the Sea to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
For ten days, Hardee held out as Sherman prepared for an attack. Realizing the futility of the situation, Hardee fled the city on December 20 and slipped northward to fight another day.
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The best General America ever had and I say that as a Southerner. Give the devil his due. After the war, then DC swamp turned on Sherman, because he cut ferry lines at a crossing near Savannah that prevented waves of slaves from following his army, which was causing him all sorts of problems. He was accused of being raciss and thus drunken fool Grant became the Yankee hero and the most corrupt president in US history.
Memoirs of General William T. Sherman
by Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
https://archive.org/details/memoirsgeneralw11shergoog
He like Ghengis Khan understood and applied the principle of Total War as it was meant to be used. Khan was the only one ever to truly control the Afghans.
I appreciate your input. Sherman was quite the learned General and knew the “party” was making a huge error with Grant.
Imagine trying to temper the onslaught of Yanks marching towards the seed of sedition.
A great Criminal Warrior and acolyte of Grant. Wiser and more cognizant Southerners would have sought his execution via guerilla action while he was recovering from his nervous breakdown. But his education and background in teaching lead him to the conclusion of total war as the quickest end to conflict. But he failed to comprehend such terrible actions againest your own countrymen inevitably lays the seeds for a greater and more bloody conflict later, such as what we are entering into now in the US. Look no further than the example of the conclusion and peace treaties of WW 1 in laying the foundations for WW 2.
Truly the best war criminal America had, at the time.
American War Criminal….he had two of my great,great grandparents friends killed because they dared to leave the area without permission . Kinda’ reminds me of our future under the Demonrat rule .
Just another in a VERY LONG LINE of American war criminals.
Something that shouldn’t be lost to history, is that former General McClellan (D) was running for President against President Lincoln (R) on a platform that would make peace with the South. He was ahead in the polls but Sherman’s taking of Atlanta gave Lincoln a much needed boost to win reelection. War is never pretty, but we may have had another hundred years of slavery if the Confederacy survived under a peace deal. Now, slavery is just done through welfare.