The Savannah Campaign

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During the American Civil War known also as War Between the States were conducted many military campaigns and one of them was the Savannah Campaign, which occurred from 16 November to 21 December 1864. This campaign started when the Union Army led by Lieutenant General Sherman that after capturing the city of Atlanta started the movement towards the port of Savannah, which they occupied, and ending the campaign with a victory for the Union Army. From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of this “March to the Sea” was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause1 On the other hand the Confederate …show more content…
He was born in Augusta, Georgia on 10 September 1836 and was the youngest child of his family. Joseph Wheeler elder and Julia Hull Wheeler, New Englanders by birth, came in Augusta in 1819. General Hull, the grandfather of Joseph Wheeler, was a veteran of American Revolution3. General Wheeler's father worked as a merchant, banker and built a small fortune which he later on lost it. His mother passed away and young Joseph was sent to Connecticut to live with his aunt and started his education at Cheshire Academy. In his childhood he was a tranquil and reserved child, who liked reading about the history and no one predicted that he would become a fighter. His next destination after graduation was New York City where one of his sister lived. He could have chose to work with his brother in law but he applied to join West Point Military Academy and was accepted at the age of seventeen. His performance at West Point was not brilliant in schoolwork or activities but he did graduate from the academy in 1859 in the bottom of his class. Although, his grades were not good he gain the reputation of being determined and serious. He got commissioned as a second lieutenant and was sent to Carlisle Barracks which was the cavalry school and after was assigned to the Regiment of Mounted Rifles at Fort Craig, New Mexico. He got his nickname on the way to Fort Craig when he got into a fight with the Indians showing heroism so the soldiers began to call him “Fightin’ Joe" , and so it remained the rest of his life.4 Wheeler did not stay long in the US Army, he turned back in Georgia state army in 1861 receiving a commission as a first lieutenant. After the commencement of the Civil War he was given command of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in the Army of Mississippi and after, he became the Colonel of 19th Alabama Regiment. The Battle of Shiloh is marked as his first
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