Sherman's March to the Sea (15 November to 21 December 1864) was a significant military campaign in the American Civil War (1861-1865). Hoping to cripple the Confederacy's ability to make war, as well as to crush its will to keep fighting, Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led 62,000 men on a march from Atlanta, Georgia, to the coastal city of Savannah. In between, he conducted a 'scorched earth' campaign, destroying farms, factories, railroads, and other resources of military value. By the time Sherman's army captured Savannah on 21 December, it had caused over $100 million in destruction (over $1.5 billion today) and so thoroughly disrupted Georgia's agriculture that it would take generations for the state to recover. The 'March to the Sea' succeeded in both its goals and played a major role in bringing the war to an end only a few months later.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/Sherman's_March_to_the_Sea/.