Sherman ' s March to the Sea Sherman ' s March to the Sea is the name commonly given to the Savannah Campaign conducted through Georgia from November 15 to December 21 , 1864 by Maj . Gen . William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army in the American Civil War . The campaign began with Sherman ' s troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta , Georgia , on November 16 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21 . His forces destroyed military targets as well as industry , infrastructure , and civilian property and disrupted the South ' s economy and its transportation networks . Sherman ' s bold move of operating deep within enemy territory and without supply lines is considered to be revolutionary in the annals of war . Background and Objectives . Sherman ' s " March to the Sea " followed his successful Atlanta Campaign of May to September 1864 . He and the U . S . Army commander , Lt . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant , 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 and consume supplies . Finally he destroyed civilian infrastructure along his path of advance . This strategy is one of the components of total war . The second objective of the campaign was more traditional . Grant ' s armies in Virginia continued in a stalemate against Robert E . Lee ' s army , besieged in Petersburg , Virginia . By moving in Lee ' s rear and performing a massive turning movement against him , Sherman could possibly increase pressure on Lee , allowing Grant the opportunity to break through , or at least keep Southern reinforcements away from Virginia . The campaign was designed by Grant and Sherman to be similar to Grant ' s innovative and successful Vicksburg Campaign , in that Sherman ' s armies would reduce their need for traditional supply lines by " living off the land " after consuming their 20 days of rations . Foragers , known as " bummers , " would provide food seized from local farms for the Army while they destroyed the railroads and the manufacturing and agricultural infrastructure of Georgia . In planning for the march , Sherman used livestock and crop production data from the 1860 census to lead his troops through areas where he believed they would be able to forage most effectively . Cotton gins and storage bins were to be destroyed because Southerners used the cotton to trade for guns and other supplies . The twisted and broken railroad rails that the troops heated over fires and wrapped around tree trunks and left behind became known as " Sherman ' s neckties " . As the army would be out of touch with the North throughout the campaign , Sherman gave explicit orders , Sherman ' s Special Field Orders , No . 120 , regarding the conduct of the campaign . The following is an excerpt from the orders : Opposing forces . Sherman , commanding the Military Division of the Mississippi , did not employ his entire army group in the campaign . Confederate Lt . Gen . John Bell Hood was threatening Sherman ' s supply line from Chattanooga , and Sherman detached two armies under Maj . Gen . George H . Thomas to deal with Hood in the Franklin - Nashville Campaign . For the Savannah Campaign , Sherman ' s remaining force of 62 , 000 men ( 55 , 000 infantry , 5 , 000 cavalry , and 2 , 000 artillerymen manning 64 guns ) was divided into two columns for the march : The Confederate opposition from Lt . Gen . William J . Hardee ' s Department of South Carolina , Georgia , and Florida was meager . Hood had taken the bulk of forces in Georgia on his campaign to Tennessee . There were about 13 , 000 men remaining at Lovejoy ' s Station , south of Atlanta . Maj . Gen . Gustavus W . Smith ' s Georgia militia had about 3 , 050 soldiers , most of whom were boys and elderly men because a lot of troops left thinking Sherman ' s army would follow . The Cavalry Corps of Maj . Gen . Joseph Wheeler , reinforced by a brigade under Brig . Gen . William H . Jackson , had approximately 10 , 000 troopers . During the campaign , the Confederate War Department brought in additional men from Florida and the Carolinas , but they never were able to increase their effective force beyond 13 , 000 . March . Both President Lincoln and General Ulysses S . Grant had serious reservations about Sherman ' s plans . Still , Grant trusted Sherman ' s assessment and on November 2 , 1864 , he sent Sherman a telegram stating simply , " Go as you propose . " The march began on November 15 . Sherman recounted in his memoirs the scene when he left at 7 a . m . the following day : Sherman ' s personal escort on the march was the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment , a unit made up entirely of Southerners who remained loyal to the Union . The two wings of the army attempted to confuse and deceive the enemy about their destinations ; the Confederates could not tell from the initial movements whether Sherman would march on Macon , Augusta , or Savannah . Howard ' s wing , led by Kilpatrick ' s cavalry , marched south along the railroad to Lovejoy ' s Station , which caused the defenders there to conduct a fighting retreat to Macon . The cavalry captured two Confederate guns at Lovejoy ' s Station , and then two more and 50 prisoners at Bear Creek Station . Howard ' s infantry marched through Jonesboro to Gordon , southwest of the state capital , Milledgeville . Slocum ' s wing , accompanied by Sherman , moved to the east , in the direction of Augusta . They destroyed the bridge across the Oconee River and then turned south . The state legislature called for Georgians to " Die freemen rather than live [ as ] slaves " and fled the capital . Hardee arrived from his headquarters at Savannah and realized that city , not Macon , was Sherman ' s target . He ordered the Confederate cavalry under Wheeler to harass the Federal rear and flanks while the militiamen under Smith hurried eastward to protect the seaport city . On November 23 , Sherman ' s staff held a mock legislative session in the state capitol , jokingly voting Georgia back into the Union and playing cards . The first real resistance was felt by Howard ' s right wing at the Battle of Griswoldville on November 22 . Wheeler ' s cavalry struck Kilpatrick ' s , killing three and capturing 18 . The infantry brigade of Brig . Gen . Charles C . Walcutt arrived to stabilize the defense , and the division of Georgia militia launched several hours of badly coordinated attacks , eventually retreating with about 1 , 100 casualties ( of which about 600 were prisoners ) , versus the Union ' s 100 . Several small actions followed . Wheeler and some infantry struck in a rearguard action at Ball ' s Ferry on November 24 and November 25 . While Howard ' s wing was delayed near Ball ' s Bluff , the 1st Alabama Cavalry ( a Federal regiment ) engaged Confederate pickets . Overnight , Union engineers constructed a bridge away from the bluff across the Oconee River , and 200 soldiers crossed to flank the Confederate position . On November 25 – 26 at Sandersville , Wheeler struck at Slocum ' s advance guard . Kilpatrick was ordered to make a feint toward Augusta before destroying the railroad bridge at Brier Creek and moving to liberate the Camp Lawton prisoner of war camp at Millen . Kilpatrick slipped by the defensive line that Wheeler had placed near Brier Creek , but on the night of November 26 Wheeler attacked and drove the 8th Indiana and 2nd Kentucky Cavalry away from their camps at Sylvan Grove . Kilpatrick abandoned his plans to destroy the railroad bridge and he also learned that the prisoners had been moved from Camp Lawton , so he rejoined the army at Louisville . At the Battle of Buck Head Creek on November 28 , Kilpatrick was surprised and nearly captured , but the 5th Ohio Cavalry halted Wheeler ' s advance , and Wheeler was later stopped decisively by Union barricades at Reynolds ' s Plantation . On December 4 , Kilpatrick ' s cavalry routed Wheeler ' s at the Battle of Waynesboro . More Union troops entered the campaign from an unlikely direction . Maj . Gen . John G . Foster dispatched 5 , 500 men and 10 guns under Brig . Gen . John P . Hatch from Hilton Head , hoping to assist Sherman ' s arrival near Savannah by securing the Charleston and Savannah Railroad . At the Battle of Honey Hill on November 30 , Hatch fought a vigorous battle against G . W . Smith ' s 1 , 500 Georgia militiamen , south of Grahamville Station , South Carolina . Smith ' s militia fought off the Union attacks , and Hatch withdrew after suffering about 650 casualties , versus Smith ' s 50 . Sherman ' s armies reached the outskirts of Savannah on December 10 but found that Hardee had entrenched 10 , 000 men in good positions , and his soldiers had flooded the surrounding rice fields , leaving only narrow causeways available to approach the city . Sherman was blocked from linking up with the U . S . Navy as he had planned , so he dispatched cavalry to Fort McAllister , guarding the Ogeechee River , in hopes of unblocking his route and obtaining supplies awaiting him on the Navy ships . On December 13 , William B . Hazen ' s division of Howard ' s army stormed the fort in the Battle of Fort McAllister and captured it within 15 minutes . Some of the 134 Union casualties were caused by torpedoes , a name for crude land mine s that were used only rarely in the war . Now that Sherman had connected to the Navy fleet under Rear Admiral John A . Dahlgren , he was able to obtain the supplies and siege artillery he required to invest Savannah . On December 17 , he sent a message to Hardee in the city : Hardee decided not to surrender but to escape . On December 20 , he led his men across the Savannah River on a pontoon bridge hastily constructed of rice flats . The next morning , Savannah Mayor R . D . Arnold rode out to formally surrender , in exchange for General Geary ' s promise to protect the city ' s citizens and their property . Sherman ' s men , led by Geary ' s division of the XX Corps , occupied the city the same day . Aftermath . Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln , " I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah , with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition , also about twenty - five thousand bales of cotton . " On December 26 , the president replied in a letter : Sherman ' s troops encountered Black soldiers in South Carolina and some were outraged by the racial integration that had developed in the Sea Islands as a result of the Port Royal Experiment . The March attracted a huge number of refugees , to whom Sherman assigned land with his Special Field Orders No . 15 . These orders have sometimes been identified in popular culture as the origin of the " 40 acres and a mule " promise . From Savannah , after a short delay for rest , Sherman marched north in the spring through the Carolinas , intending to complete his turning movement and combine his armies with Grant ' s against Robert E . Lee . After a successful two - month campaign , Sherman accepted the surrender of General Joseph E . Johnston and his forces in North Carolina on April 26 , 1865 . Sherman ' s scorched earth policies have always been highly controversial , and Sherman ' s memory has long been reviled by many Southerners . Slaves ' opinions varied concerning the actions of Sherman and his army . Some who welcomed him as a liberator chose to follow his armies . Jacqueline Campbell has written , on the other hand , that some slaves looked upon the Federal army ' s ransacking and invasive actions with disdain . They often felt betrayed , as they " suffered along with their owners , complicating their decision of whether to flee with or from Union troops . " A Confederate officer estimated that 10 , 000 liberated slaves followed Sherman ' s army , and hundreds died of " hunger , disease , or exposure " along the way . The March to the Sea was devastating to Georgia and the Confederacy . Sherman himself estimated that the campaign had inflicted $ 100 million ( about $ 1 . 4 billion in 2010 dollars ) in destruction , about one fifth of which " inured to our advantage " while the " remainder is simple waste and destruction . " The Army wrecked of railroad and numerous bridges and miles of telegraph lines . It seized 5 , 000 horses , 4 , 000 mules , and 13 , 000 head of cattle . It confiscated 9 . 5 million pounds of corn and 10 . 5 million pounds of fodder , and destroyed uncounted cotton gins and mills . Military historians Herman Hattaway and Archer Jones cited the significant damage wrought to railroads and Southern logistics in the campaign and stated that " Sherman ' s raid succeeded in ' knocking the Confederate war effort to pieces ' . " David J . Eicher wrote that " Sherman had accomplished an amazing task . He had defied military principles by operating deep within enemy territory and without lines of supply or communication . He destroyed much of the South ' s potential and psychology to wage war . " Song . The soldiers sang many songs during the March , but it is one written afterward that has come to symbolize the campaign : " Marching Through Georgia " , written by Henry Clay Work in 1865 . Sherman despised the song , in part because he was never one to rejoice over a fallen foe , and in part because it was played at almost every public appearance that he attended , but it was widely popular with soldiers of wars in the 20th century . The song understates the strength of Sherman ' s army by 20 % in the line " Sing it as we used to sing it , 50 , 000 strong . " Reputedly , an English town played it to welcome American soldiers who were largely from the South in World War II .