March To The Sea Dbq

Was Sherman’s March to the Sea Justified?

Sherman’s March to the Sea was justified, because it had freed thousands of slaves from the South, and it had brought the Union closer to ending the war. On September 2, 1864, the Union Army had successfully taken the city of Atlanta from the Confederates. General William Tecumseh Sherman was then ordered to attack enemy troops raiding the railroad supplying his men, but he had other plans. What Sherman wanted to do was a tactic called “Hard War”, a strategy that took destroying and taking everything and anything that could be useful to the Confederacy. He wanted to hurt the South, economically and mentally. This began Sherman’s March to the Sea, a full charge through Georgia ending in Savannah that greatly harmed Southern supply and morale and

However, the justness of this action is often questioned, through the pillaging of homes and burning of towns. Now it will be explained why it is justified. Sherman’s March to the Sea was justified because it resulted in the freeing of many slaves from Georgia towns. Document D says that “most African Americans welcomed Sherman’s army with open arms and demonstrated their joy and thanks enthusiastically.” They had also made cries singing, “Glory be to God, we are free!” As someone living in the 21st century, this does not seem to have much effect on us, but to the African Americans enslaved in Savannah and the other towns Sherman’s army went through, this was their everlasting freedom. It was clear Furthermore, in Document F there is a statistic reading that approximately 10,000 enslaved people were freed during the march. Although it was a smaller percentage of the total slaves in Georgia, those being freed resulted in the ending of slavery after the war. Without Sherman’s March, the futures of many African Americans would be different. Sherman’s March to the Sea is justified because it had