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In the autumn of 1864, as the American Civil War entered its fourth devastating year, General William Tecumseh Sherman stood at a crossroads that would define both his legacy and the future conduct of warfare. The Union had achieved significant military victories, including Sherman's own capture of Atlanta in September, but the Confederacy remained defiant and capable of prolonged resistance. Traditional military campaigns had proven insufficient to break Southern will, leading Sherman to contemplate a revolutionary approach to warfare that would target not just Confederate armies but the entire economic and psychological foundation of the rebellion.
Sherman's evolution from conventional military commander to architect of total war reflected his growing understanding that the Civil War was not merely a conflict between armies but a struggle between entire societies. His experiences in Georgia had convinced him that the Confederate war effort depended as much on civilian morale and economic resources as on military strength. The plantations that fed Confederate armies, the railroads that transported supplies, and the civilian population that supported the war effort were all legitimate targets in Sherman's expanded conception of military necessity.
The strategic situation facing the Union in late 1864 presented both opportunities and challenges that would shape Sherman's decision to march through Georgia to the sea. General Ulysses Grant's Virginia campaign had locked Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in a bloody stalemate around Petersburg, while other Union forces were engaged in similar grinding campaigns throughout the South. Sherman recognized that breaking this strategic deadlock required a fundamentally different approach that would strike at the
