General William T. Sherman Essay Example

General William T. Sherman set out to end the Civil War for good. With moral high and a thorough plan in hand, the Union army was ready to change the world. His plan was to destroy everything in their path, and cut off supplies to the south. His march began on November 15, 1846 and ended on December 21, 1846. This march cost Atlanta 100 million dollars in damages. Because of all of the damages, was Sherman’s march to the sea justified? Sherman’s march to the sea was not justified. He harmed the southern civilization population, and they killed many slaves along the way

Sherman’s original intent was to only harm the Confederate army. In reality, he ended up also harming the southern people. The Diary of Dolly Sumner Lunt says,” Utterly powerless I ran out and appealed to the guard. … dinnerless and supperless as we were, it was nothing in comparison with the fear of being driven out homeless to the dreary woods.” Dolly Sumner Lunt was a woman who lived on a plantation in Maine. She had no control over the Union army marching through her and her husband's land. Fearful and powerless, all she could do was sit and watch her and her husband's hard work be destroyed. She also said in her diary that the “thousand pound of meat” in her smokehouse was gone, and her “flour, meat, lard, butter, eggs, pickles of various kinds, wine, jars, and jugs” were also gone. This was an innocent woman who had no say in what was happening to her or her belongings. The Union Army stated in the beginning that they were only going to harm the Confederate Army to make them weaker for the Civil War. In actuality, he ended up harming many innocent Southern livelihoods. If he had followed his original plan, and only affected the Confederate Army during his march then his march would have been considered Justified. Due to the countless homes that were burned and the many towns that ended in ruins, Sherman's March to the Sea was in fact not justified. 

The effects on the slave population were substantial. The Union’s testimony was about freeing the slaves, because keeping them was morally wrong. Going into the march, that was part of their goal, but in reality, they ended up killing their fair share of slaves. Even though they freed roughly 10,000 slaves, it is hard to forget that they also killed some too.The document “From Atlanta to Raleigh” by Charles D. Kerr states,”... with cries of anguish and despair, men, women, and children rushed into the... stream, and many were drowned before our eyes." The reason the slaves were drowned was because the Union Army was ill-prepared on their march. They captured many slaves intending to release them. Instead, they forced them into a river without hope and watched them drown because of their lack of preparedness. An alternative to killing the slaves would be to drop them off at another plantation or knowing that they didn't have enough supplies they didn't need to be capturing these slaves. Either way the end result contradicted the initial intent of the march. The same document also States, quotation marks dot-dot-dot the guard was detailed to enforce the order; but, patient and docile as the Negroes always were, the guard was really unnecessary, " Innocent slaves who  followed every direction given to them were brutally killed because of something out of their control. They have no choice in leaving their plantations to begin with. Now, they have been mistreated and wrong because of the Union's mistakes. Going into joining the Union in the March, the slaves believed they were going to be free. The inequality between blacks and whites in America during the Civil War was astounding. This action of freeing slaves was going to bring the country as a whole closer to equality for everyone. Because of the Union's mistakes and the many innocent lives lost during this portion in Sherman's march, Sherman's March to the Sea was not justified. 

While it is true that Sherman had good intentions, the execution of his original plan didn’t follow through with his original intent. Sherman claimed that he would not harm the southern population, nor would he harm the slaves, but he said he would free them instead. A document from the First Colored Baptist Church in North America states, “... Victorious Army of Liberty; every moment told us that they had come for our deliverance,” This document contradicts the previous document which shows how many  slaves' lives were lost during Sherman's march. Although there were lives lost, it is hard to forget about the many slaves that were freed. Even though there were many freed slaves, lots of them ended up homeless and discriminated against. Due to this, the country itself was almost back to square one after the Civil War when it came to equality. A letter from William to T. Sherman to General Henry Halleck states, "... wonderful effect in this respect. Thousands who had been deceived by their line newspapers to believe that we were being whipped all the time now realize the truth.” Sherman, in this letter to General Henry Hallack, was confessing that every move had been made because they believed it was the right decision. Sherman believed that the Union was doing the right thing, and he saw nothing wrong with it. The Union believed that by doing this, they were setting the Confederates back, and they were just doing their job. An image titled “Sherman's men destroying the railroad, Atlanta Georgia "shows the Union Army breaking railroads to cut off supplies to the Confederates. Sherman wanted everything to be destroyed so that nothing would be usable to the Confederate Army. He wanted to deprive the Confederates of their supplies. If he were to do that, the South would be weaker, and less likely to win the war. The intent of breaking the railroads was just to harm the Confederate Army. In reality it cut off supplies to all Southerners and affected many Southern  lives.  Even though Sherman's intent throughout the entire March to the Sea was positive, the outcome was negative. It was negative to innocent people and negative to those who may have deserved it. A document compiled from various sources titled “Sherman's March by the  Numbers" states that there were "497 Union casualties (killed and wounded)" and there were "2300 (estimate) Confederate casualties (killed and wounded).” Sherman's March to the Sea lasted 37 days. Within 37 days he caused 100 million dollars in damages to Georgia's economy alone. He burned one entire town, and he destroyed 300 miles of railroads. Not only did Sherman cut off supplies to the Confederate Army, but he also cut off supplies to everyone living in the South. The Southern economy was compiled of cotton production. The South made money off of slaves and the work that they did. Slavery had many negative effects but the farming industry was very important. Without slaves, labor could still be done, just not as it was before. Sherman and his army destroyed all of the South’s supplies and even destroyed their soil making it  close to impossible to recover from all of the damage caused. 

Sherman's March to the Sea was not justified. Even though there were some positives such as the freeing of many slaves, it is out-shone the many slaves' lives that were lost and the many Southern lives that were affected. Going into his March, Sherman said that he wasn't going to affect anybody but the Confederate Army. His intentions were adequate, but the execution of his plan proved to be the opposite of what Sherman had originally stated he was going to do. If Sherman had only affected the Confederate Army, his March to the Sea would have been justified. But because he affected so many others in negative ways, Sherman's March to the Sea is not justified. Good intentions do not always make good outcomes.