depart from Atlanta. Under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman, these

soldiers would engage in the most brutal, ruthless, devastating and

effective military campaign of the Civil War, and possibly of history.

Their mission was to cut a path across Georgia of complete destruction and

beat the southern forces and spirit into submission of the war. Sherman's

march to the sea would be the turning point of the Civil War that would cause the

South to surrender and leave fertile ground for reconstruction.

Sherman had a simple plan; he set out to destroy anything the

Confederates could use to aid them in their rebellion. This included farms,

windmills, railroads and bridges. A favorite way of destroying railways among the troops was to use a "Sherman Necktie." The men would take apart a section of railroad track, the ties would be piled up and burned while the rails were heated in the fire until they glowed red hot and then would be wrapped around tree trunks (Kennedy). Sherman gave his troops orders to "forage liberally on the country side," (Miers, 214). The soldiers would feed themselves off grain and crop that the looted from fields,

Georgia was now a pile of smoldering ruins. Over two hundred miles of railroads had been destroyer and a path sixty miles wide and over three hundred miles long had been cut through its belly. Bridges, farms, mills, cotton gins and the southern way of life had been completely eradicated from the face of the earth. Yet, like a massive forest fire, the destruction left fertile ground to plant the seed of reconstruction for Georgia and the rest of the south after the war was over. It would now be easy to turn Georgia into whatever the Union wanted because so little remained of it. The slate was wiped clean and waited to be filled. Like a lump of clay in the Union's hands, Georgia would be shaped and modeled into a dependent state and never able to leave the Union again.

In under a month Sherman's army had covered over two hundred and fifty miles and had nearly reached their goal of Savannah. They had crushed all opposition and destroyed everything in their path. Only one obstacle remained before they would reach Savannah, Fort McAllister. The fort was defended only two hundred and thirty Confederate soldiers armed with cannons. On December 10, Sherman attacked. The Union sharpshooters made short work of the Confederate artillery and the fort was overrun and captured in less than fifteen minutes. Sherman now setup communication with the Union navy and re-supplied his men for the oncoming ba

Some common words found in the essay are:
Savannah Kennedy, Kennedy Sherman, Civil War, Fort McAllister, Confederacy Georgia, March Sherman, Palmetto Station, Sherman Necktie, Joseph Wheeler's, Waynesborough Kilpatrick, confederate troops, left georgia, hundred miles, fertile ground, march sherman, civil war,
Approximate Word count = 949
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)