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General William T. Sherman's march began on November 15, when his command left Atlanta, Georgia, in flames and went toward Savannah. His 60,000 troops brought a new kind of terror to the heart of the South as the marched almost unopposed across Georgia. They destoyed civilian property and laid waste to everything that might help the South continue to fight.
Sherman's army was as long as 60 miles. Advance troops searched an area. The troops who followed stripped houses, barns, and fields, and destroyed everything they could not use. Stragglers caused the most damage. The tore up railroad tracks and made fires with the ties. The the stragglers heated the rails until they were reddish in color and wound them around trees.
Sherman occupied Savannah December 21. From Savannah, the army went into South Carolina, burning and plundering and then into North Carolina. A Confederate army under Joseph E. Johnston tried vainly to halt Sherman in his drive northward to Virginia where he wanted to combine forces with General Grant.
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