(A) Atlanta was the capital of the Confederacy.
(B) Atlanta was the location of a Confederate military prison.
(C) Atlanta was a small step toward capturing Savannah, Georgia.
(D) ** Atlanta’s factories and railroads helped supply the Confederate army.
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -Atlanta was a major strategic city for the Confederacy that served as a railroad terminus, supply depot, and manufacturing hub. Given Atlanta’s position south of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, capturing the city would severely threaten the stability of the Confederacy.
Concept note-2: -Because of its location and commercial importance, Atlanta was used as a center for military operations and as a supply route by the Confederate army during the Civil War. Therefore, it also became a target for the Union army. General William Tecumseh Sherman and his troops captured the city in 1864.
Concept note-3: -Both ended in defeat and led to the fall of Atlanta in September. The capture of such a valuable Confederate stronghold boosted Northern morale, helped ensure the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln in November, and precipitated the downfall of the Confederacy.
Concept note-4: -Destroying the Confederacy’s railroads took away another advantage the South had over the North – land mass. By shrinking the vast space the Confederate Army could operate within, the Union was able to contain the Confederate army to a much smaller, and much more vulnerable, piece of land.
Concept note-5: -The impact of the fall of Atlanta was instrumental in the eventual victory for the Federal forces. It boosted morale in the North and insured the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln which meant that the war would continue to the South’s capitulation.