Name: ____________________________________ Date: ______________________
The Ending of the Civil War
Total War Was….
 S herman’s March to the Sea was a
______________
_________________ begun by the
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s o ldi e r s du r i n g t h e A m e r i c a n
C i v i l Wa r i n la t e 1 8 6 4 , a n d w a s le d b y M a j o r
Ge n e r a l _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .
“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is
cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought
war into our country deserve all the curses people can pour
out.”
—William Tecumseh Sherman Letter to the city of Atlanta,
1864
On November 15, 1864,
Sherman’s troops torched
strategic areas of Atlanta,
including rail stations,
warehouses, and city
offices, after forcibly
evicting the city’s civilian
population. The fire
inevitably spread,
destroying whole sections
of Atlanta’s residential
areas and beginning the
destruction that was to follow as Sherman marched an army
of 60,000 toward the Atlantic coast.
Lincoln confessed he was extremely nervous about the tactics
Sherman proposed—to cut through Georgia’s richest
agricultural areas, not just to destroy stockpiles of staple food,
kill livestock, and take war material useful to the Confederacy
but also to deliberately intimidate the civilian population.
Washington, D.C., insiders like Edwin Stanton were horrified
by Sherman’s style of command and his raggedy army of
slouching “bummers,” who failed to meet public standards of
spit and- polish military style.
Period: _____________
____________________________________
____________________________________
____________________________________
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Directions: Read the following information about Sherman and his
march to the sea. Does the text agree or disagree with the
following statements?
Agree
Disagree
Text Structure
On November 15, 1864, Sherman’s
troops torched strategic areas of
Atlanta, including rail stations,
warehouses, and city offices, after
forcibly evicting the city’s civilian
population.
Lincoln was not nervous about the
tactics Sherman proposed and had
full confidence in his ability to lead.
Sherman’s men were to destroy only
those things considered valuable for
the war effort.
Sherman’s march to the sea was not
meant to deliberately intimidate the
civilian population of the south only
to make them stop supplying the
Confederacy with supplies.
Sherman did NOT approve of looting
and wastage carried on by his men
as they stripped the countryside.
Nevertheless, Sherman deployed his men in three columns, over a 60-mile swath, falling on more than $100 million in
resources, including rail lines, stands of timber, livestock herds, and cotton stores. Technically, Sherman’s men were to
destroy only those things considered valuable for the war effort and to leave the possessions of slaves alone. Sherman
did personally oversee destruction in retaliation for local sabotage, burning the houses nearest any wrecked roads,
bridges, or ferries, and he became infamous for winking at the additional personal looting and wastage carried on by his
men as they stripped the countryside like a huge swarm of locusts.
His March on Atlanta
 On _________________________, Major General Sherman’s men began burning the city of _________________.
 On ____________________ he left Atlanta with his 60,000 soldiers and continued his march toward the Atlantic
coast.

Chief among Sherman’s targets were _________________ where his men twisted ties into
“___________________________________”
I n _ __ _ __ __ d ur i n g th e M a rc h, S he r m a n ’ s a r my d est roy ed _ __ _ __ __ _ _ i n,
h e c ut t he s u p pl y a n d __ _ __ __ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ __ , i n cl u di ng __ _ __ _ __ _ _ ,
_ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ __ _ __ _ _ , a n d __ __ _ __ _ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ __ _ __ to t he no r t h.
S he r m a n ’ s a r my s et off o n a d evasta ti ng ma rch.
Sherman’s March to the Sea


General Sherman moved his army _________in
______________ great wings of two corps each
complete with a 5,000 man cavalry screen.
The Federal troops left a path of destruction
_________ miles long and up to _________ miles wide
across the Georgia countryside.

Anything of military value was ___________.

______________, or groups of stragglers,
destroyed all ____________ __________ and
_______________ that they could not carry-off or
use.

No Confederate opposition was encountered.

Sherman arrived at Savannah in
December, offered it as a
“___________ ___________” to
Lincoln, got resupplied by the sea,
and headed north to combine with
Grant.
What did Sherman give to Lincolm as a Christmas Gift?
1. _________________________________________
2. _________________________________________
3. _________________________________________
4. _________________________________________
The ___________ was shipped to the North were
it sold for $_____ Million dollars. The south now
had no way of __________ ___________ to
rebuild after Sherman’s destructive plan.
My Dear General Sherman,
Many, Many thanks for your Christmas gift—the capture of Savannah. When
you were about leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not
fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that
“nothing risked, nothing gained,” I did not interfere.
Now, the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none
of us went further than to acquiesce. And taking the work of Gen. Thomas into
the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it
afford the obvious and immediate military advantages; but, in showing to the
world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an
important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing
force of the whole—Hood’s army—it brings those who sat in darkness to see a
great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safe if I leave Gen. Grant and
your-self to decide. Please make my grateful acknowledgments to your whole
army—officers and men.
Yours very truly
A. Lincoln
Sherman’s March
The Fall of Richmond
 S h e r m a n m a r c h e d a c ro s s
 As Sherman marches on to meet up with
Georgia in what came to be
___________, Lee is low on supplies and
known as the __________ to
s o l d i e rs .
 __________decided not to wait for
the ____.
 Sherman cut a swath of
____________troops.
 I n s t e a d , h e b ro ke t h ro u g h L e e ’s d e f e n s e s a t
destruction ________ miles
long and 50–60 miles wide.
P e t e rs b u r g a n d w e n t o n t o t a ke
 Af t e r t a k i n g _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ,
_______________.
 ___________ tried to escape with his few
Sherman turned _________
th rou gh __ ___ ___
_______,
r e m a i n i n g t ro o p s , b u t _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ b l o c ke d
d e s t r o y i n g c i v i l i a n p ro p e r t y
t h e i r w a y.
 Lee saw no other alternative but to
a l l a l o n g t h e w a y.
_________________.
Lee and Grant

With Union forces surrounding them, Lee decided to
surrender.

_________ presented the terms of the surrender to ___.

_________ showed ___________ on the Confederate forces
and was extremely generous for such a bloody conflict, Lee’s
troops merely had to turn over their __________ and
____________.
The war is over
 N e w s o f L e e ’s s u r r e n d e r
b rou ght _ ____ ___ __ _
____________ in the north.
 Lincoln requested
“__________” be played at the
White House.
 T h e l a s t o f t h e C o n f e d e ra t e
forces surrendered on
______________________
 S a d l y, P r e s i d e n t L i n c o l n w o u l d
not live to see the official end
o f t h e w a r.
G ra nt a n n o u n c ed :
“ T h e __ _ __ _ __ i s o v er. T h e __ _ ___ _ __ _ a re
o u r _ __ _ __ __ _ ___ _ a g a i n .”
Homework: Create a commemorative marker in honor of those who lost their lives in the Civil War. You must include at
8-10 sentence explanation describing this war and what this commemorative marker represents.