Sherman's March to the Sea

What General led the "March to the Sea"

• General William Sherman

• General Ulysses S. Grant

• General Robert E. Lee

• General Joe Johnston

Sherman believed that the Civil War would end only if the Confederacy's strategic, economic, and psychological capacity for warfare were decisively broken. Sherman therefore applied the principles of scorched earth: he ordered his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, consume supplies, and destroy civilian infrastructure along their path.

What offers the BEST reasoning behind William Tecumseh Sherman's strategy of using "total war" to defeat the South?

• The strategy of "total war" was needed to stop the Confederates from trading with France and England.

• Sherman's men wanted revenge for the horrifying treatment of Union soldiers in Andersonville prison camp.

• The destruction in Georgia would be so complete that it would break the Confederacy's will to continue fighting.

• The invasion of Georgia would lead to armed revolt by the slaves, which in turn would help the Union win the war.

The strategy of burning down railroads, factories, farmland, and anything else useful for an opponent in warfare is known as?

• Savage Warfare

• Complete Warfare

• Destructive Warfare

• Total Warfare

The main purpose of General Sherman's "March to the Sea" in 1864 was to

• convince France and Britain to get out of the war.

• capture the important railroad depot at Charleston.

• permanently destroy Georgia's ability to produce cotton.

• destroy the South's strategic and economic capacity to fight.

War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curse and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country…You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against the terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable, and the only way the people of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop the war, which can only be done by admitting that it began in error and is perpetuated in pride.

General William Sherman, Letter to the Mayor and Councilmen of Atlanta, 1864

How does this passage justify actions like Sherman’s “March to the Sea”?

• The South had no recourse but to continue fighting.

• The South put up a valiant fight and should be respected.

• The South should be forgiven and welcomed back into the Union.

• The South deserved the destruction of their lands for making war first.