Question

What is the significance of the Atlanta Campaign for both the Union and Rebel armies? What role

did Sherman play in the success of the campaign.....why did the rebels fail?

Answer 1

William Tecumseh Sherman was a native of Ohio who attended West Point, and served in the United States. Armed forces before becoming a businessman and then president of a Louisiana military academy. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Sherman joined the Union Army and ultimately commanded a large number of troops in the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg and Chattanooga under General Ulysses S. Grant. Sherman became supreme general of the armies in the West in the spring of 1864 and was directed by Grant to capture the city of Atlanta, which was then a major military supply center and transportation hub for the Confederates.

Sherman's Atlanta campaign began in early May 1864 and his troops participated in many fierce battles with Confederate soldiers in the suburbs of the city in the first several months, including the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain on 27 June, which the Union forces lost. Confederate forces under John Hood (1831-79) pulled out of Atlanta on September 1, however, and the city, a symbol of Confederate pride and strength, was surrendered the following day. Over mid-November Sherman 's men continued to support him. Until he set out on his famed November 15 March to the Sea, Sherman ordered the destruction of the military resources of Atlanta, including munitions plants, textile mills and railway yards.

On 21 December 1864, Sherman's troops arrived in Savannah. When they got there the town was undefended. (The 10,000 Confederates who were meant to protect her had already fled.) Sherman presented the town of Savannah as a Christmas gift to President Abraham Lincoln. Sherman and his men left Savannah early in 1865, and pillaged and burned their way across the Carolinas. The Civil War began on April 9, 1865, when the commander-in - chief of the Confederate, Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House

War casualties numbered approximately 34,500 for the North and approximately 35,000 for the South for the four month campaign. The capture of Atlanta by Sherman was a significant blow to Confederacy, all but assuring the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln two months later, and setting the stage for Sherman 's March to the Sea.