(A) They occupied the city and made it the center of Union command in the South.
(B) They kept it intact because it contained $28 Million dollars worth of cotton.
(C) They used the city as a prison for Southern prisoners of war.
(D) ** They burned the city down.
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -More than 3, 000 buildings (including businesses, hospitals, homes, and schools) were destroyed. The Atlanta Campaign aimed to cut off Atlanta’s vital supply lines that provided Confederate troops with reinforcements, ammunition, and goods such as clothes, first-aid medicines, and equipment.
Concept note-2: -Through October, Sherman built up a massive cache of supplies in Atlanta. He then ordered a systematic destruction of the city to prevent the Confederates from recovering anything once the Yankees had abandoned it.
Concept note-3: -After the city surrendered in September, General William T. Sherman ordered that all facilities capable of offering military support to the Confederacy be destroyed before he left on his infamous March to the Sea. On Nov.
Concept note-4: -General Sherman’s troops captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. This was an important triumph, because Atlanta was a railroad hub and the industrial center of the Confederacy: It had munitions factories, foundries and warehouses that kept the Confederate army supplied with food, weapons and other goods.
Concept note-5: -The depot was destroyed before the Federals left the city. All of this was burned. Sherman’s intent to see Atlanta “utterly destroyed” called for the burning of the downtown business area.