Sherman’s March to the Sea Essay Example

“Sherman’s March to the Sea” was when General William Tecumseh Sherman in the United States Civil War led the Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia to Savannah, Georgia. He came up with the method called Scorched Earth Policy. As stated by Wikipedia (2021),” his forces followed a Scorched Earth Policy, destroying military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property, disrupting the Confederacy’s economy and transportation networks.” He proposed this method to General Grant and President Lincoln. They were hesitant to agree on the policy, but they both had trust in General Sherman and shortly after agreed to his proposition. During the march to the sea, General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops used the Scorched Earth Policy to devastate much of Georgia, which some would say was an undignified military action; nevertheless, I agree that General Sherman had to use the Scorched Earth Policy because the method brought the war to all the people in the South, took only resources and communications from the Confederates, and was the fastest and humane way to end the civil war.

Ending the civil war quickly is what people would encourage; however, there are steps needed to perform to end the campaign with haste. One of those steps is to bring the war to the people you are trying to defeat. General Sherman understood that defeating the Confederacy was not just about the troops. You had to defeat the will of the people in the South. According to History.com Editors (2018), “Sherman explained; as a result, they needed to make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.” The ideology behind his leadership was making the hearts and minds of the civilian’s shatter by giving them a glance into what war is like. General Sherman knew psychological warfare could stop anyone in their tracks, and he needed to punish everyone for what the Confederacy stood for. His keen mind and competency led troops to follow him without question. His method spanned over generations, and some of it carried over into modern-day. Today, the United States Army knows we must dominate and shatter the will of our enemies. If we do not, the enemy would never give up. General Sherman knew to rebuild our country back up again, we needed to repress the ill guided Confederates, to include the civilians. 

When including civilians in the mix you must understand that those civilians were giving the Confederates their resources to fight the war. General Sherman understood to stop the supply chain he needed to take what resources the civilians had. He had very detailed instructions on how this would be done, and he never wanted to kill or harm those civilians unless it was necessary. General Sherman had great foresight by understanding himself and his troops needed to travel light to be able to carry all the resources obtained from the Confederate’s civilians. He took away livestock, agriculture, and transportation. His leadership skills showed throughout the campaign. A leadership quality we went over in ALC was mutual trust and shared understanding. Without mutual trust and shared understanding, his troops would have never been able to carry out this operation with precision. It gives great restraint to think how many troops he had to keep on the right path with this policy. Many troops could have been overzealous and killed everyone on the way without a care. According to Hudson (2021), “Sherman gave explicit instructions to his troops regarding their conduct while on the march. This instruction was called Special Field Order No. 120.” It tells much of how the operation was to run, and it tells the troops to not to invade homes unless provoked. General Sherman freed over 17,000 slaves, as stated by Hudson (2021). As the slave began following his regiment, he put them to work on cooking, cleaning, and being guides for his troops. This was a massive blow to the Confederacy. It showed how the Union was on the right path. The right path may have had great destruction along the way though. It was a necessity to stop the Confederates from doing more harm to the Union and Union troops. General Sherman undertook a harsh stance. He knew that when the supply chain was destroyed, or in the hands of his troops, the Confederates were growing ever weaker. The Confederates already had an uphill battle because they were outnumbered. General Sherman’s policy greatly diminished all that the Confederates would be able to offer. The power for which he shown caused the Confederate army to sunder. The cowardly Confederates ran and hid, and they destroyed their own supplies caches as they ran. This showed just how amazing General Sherman’s influence impacted over the Confederacy. The Confederate troops not having all the resources and communications at their disposal the end of the war would be upon them. 

The march to the sea benchmarks a very key turn of the tide to end the war. The war went on for nearly 4 years. The fastest and humane way to end this war came about from losing all Georgia had to give. Without Georgia, the Confederates could not move efficiently. They lost over 100 million dollars (about $1.6 billion compared to today) from all the devastation, as citied in Wikipedia (2021). That would stop any nation from continuing to fight. Through sear strategy and courage, General Sherman brought Georgia to a crippling state. He in bodies what a great leader is in our day, and his virtues speak volumes on how war is not a game. We must understand that keeping the United States great takes true grit. From all that he did, he was able to make this 4-year long war end in 6 months after his triumph with the march to the sea and his Scorch Earth Policy.

His triumph became one of the greatest for the Union, but it took a hardship and many ways to get it done. He had to break the will of the Confederates and their people. To do so, he had to take their resources and communications. This made everyone from every level of the Confederacy feel the pain of war. Last, it gave the Union a clear and fast victory to end the Civil War. The war would have continued if not for General Sherman’s Scorched Earth Policy. I agree with his reasoning, leadership, and sound judgement. He had to make hard decisive decisions that brought the end to the civil war. As a leader, decisions can make or break us. We have to make hard choices to get the greatest outcome to better the world around us. General William Tecumseh Sherman showed that will his actions throughout this operation.