USA HISTORY

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR(1861 1865)

SHERMANS MARCH TO THE SEA

[SOURCES]
Why did Sherman split his troops into 2 groups after the capture of Atlanta, on the March to the Sea?

(A) He didn’t know the way to Savannah.

(B) ** He wanted to destroy more Southern property.

(C) He was worried about being captured.

(D) He wanted to find two ways to get to Savannah.

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -After they lost Atlanta, the Confederate army headed west into Tennessee and Alabama, attacking Union supply lines as they went. Sherman was reluctant to set off on a wild goose chase across the South, however, and so he split his troops into two groups.

Concept note-2: -Sherman’s goal was to destroy the Army of the Tennessee, capture Atlanta and cut off vital Confederate supply lines. While Sherman failed to destroy his enemy, he was able to force the surrender of Atlanta in September 1864, boosting Northern morale and greatly improving President Abraham Lincoln’s re-election bid.

Concept note-3: -Atlanta’s Roundhouse On November 15, 1864, U.S. forces led by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman burned nearly all of the captured city of Atlanta, Georgia. This event occurred near the end of the U.S. Civil War during which 11 states in the American South seceded from the rest of the nation.

Concept note-4: -There were two strategic objectives for this campaign. The first was to cut off supply lines for the Confederate army battling the forces of Union General Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia. The second purpose was to inflict psychological damage on the civilian population of Georgia and break the will of the Confederacy.