Sherman's March to the Sea-- Part 1: Five Things About It

From the November 15, 2014, Yahoo! News "Sherman's March at 150: 5 questions and answers" by Christopher Sullivan, AP.

WHY MARCH TO THE SEA?  Sherman had captured Atlanta in September 1864.  This greatly helped Lincoln's reelection that November.

Part of the reason for the march was to relieve pressure on Grant at Petersburg, but it also was to split the Confederacy and provide a "Shock and Awe" kind of a campaign.

WHO WAS WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN"  He was from a very poor family and later a West Point graduate.  Superintendent at a military school in Louisiana when South Carolina seceded and joined the Union Army even though he always considered himself friendly to the South.

He also knew that the Southern will to fight had to be broken and that was a huge reason for his March to the Sea.  The march took barely a month (there wasn't a lot of opposition.

On December 22nd, he telegraphed Lincoln, "I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah."

Quite a Thrust.  --Old Secesh