His march to Savannah, Georgia started in Atlanta, Georgia. Sherman wanted to show the Georgians the horrors of war. He also used it to frighten the Georgians into abandoning the Confederates. Sherman used a war tactic called total war which targets the people not the soldiers.
While on this march to the sea he and his 100,000 soldiers walked 300 miles in 50 days on this march to Savannah, Georgia. On his march they left a 60 mile wide path of dead livestock, burned down crops and houses of the people who rebelled. But the loss of life during this march was actually very small. Sherman knew using total war on Georgia would break the South’s will to fight in the war. He …show more content…
His parents died when he was only nine years old so he was sent off to live with his close relatives. Later in his life he graduated from West Point in 1840, 6th best in his class. He served in the Army in South Carolina and Georgia but he didn’t see much action there. He left the army before the civil war. Sherman was the first superintendent of Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy in 1859. Sherman was also a pioneer of the California gold rush. He worked in two banks: one in San Francisco in 1853 and the other in New York in 1857. But both didn’t make it and had to be closed. Then he became a lawyer in 1860. He rejoined the Army in 1861 under the command of Ulysses Grant. He and Ulysses Grant had a good friendship. This was one of his quotes, “Grant stood by me when I was crazy, I stood by him when he was drunk, and now we stand by each other”. He first saw combat in the Battle of Manassas. Even though the Union lost, Lincoln was still impressed by Sherman’s work and was promoted to Brigadier …show more content…
She also was his foster sister. They got married in 1850 and had 8 children, 4 sons and 4 daughters. During the war Sherman was given the command of three armies in the west as well as Tennessee. Sherman was named after the Shawnee chief Tecumseh who tried to unite Ohio River native americans. Some of his troops would call him Uncle Billy. The highest rank he achieved was Major General. Despite his war achievements, Sherman didn’t always like war. So in conclusion the big impact of this story is that Sherman may have been a mean guy and the South may have despised him, but he is a war hero for us in the north. What he did do was help re-elect Lincoln, our wonderful president, showed the Confederates the North’s power and that we are still in control. Sherman did bring terror but he showed that we have power over the Confederates. Sherman also accepted the surrender of all confederate armies. This just proves that he is an American war hero for the union. William Sherman may have brought the war closer to an end and that saved many lives for both the Union and the Confederates. So everybody that is our big story this week. Hope you all buy next week’s paper because it sure will be a good one. So this is us signing off and we will see you next