The March to the Sea

Describe Sherman's route from Atlanta to Savannah and what it did.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 68

In November 1864, Sherman left Atlanta with about 60,000 soldiers and headed for the sea. He cut himself off from his supplies, and his army lived off the land.
His aim was to destroy the South's ability and will to fight. In a path about 60 miles wide, soldiers tore up railroads and took or burned food, barns, and supplies.
Many Georgia families, Black and white, lost their food and homes. It was a hard, frightening time, and the memory of it lasted for generations.
For enslaved people, the army meant something else: a chance at freedom. Thousands left the plantations and followed it, and many of them walked the whole way to the coast.
In December, Sherman reached Savannah, and he sent Lincoln a message offering the city as a Christmas gift. He didn't burn it. The Confederacy had been cut in two, again. People still remember the march very differently. Try it with a grown-up: visit the Atlanta History Center.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS4H5.c — Identify major battles, campaigns, and events: Fort Sumter, Gettysburg, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and Appomattox Court House.
SS4H5.d — Describe the roles of Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, and William T. Sherman.