THE FINAL PHASE
The Main Idea
Southerners continued to hope for victory in 1864, but
military and political events caused those hopes to fade.
Essential Questions
• What tactics did Grant use against Lee to change the course of
the war?
• How did the election of 1864 affect Confederate hopes for victory
in the Civil War?
• How did the actions of Sherman and Grant help bring the war to
an end?
INTRODUCTION
“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 a people can pour
out.”
—William Tecumseh Sherman
Letter to the city of Atlanta, 1864
ALL EYES TURN TO GEORGIA -TOTAL WAR
IS DECLARED
 Sherman’s March to the
Sea was a military
campaign begun by the
Union soldiers during the
American Civil War in late
1864, and was led by Major
General William T.
Sherman.
 Total War was a declaration
against all those supplying
the south with resources to
continue to fight.
MARCH TO THE SEA
 On November 11, 1864,
Major General Sherman’s
men began burning the city
of Atlanta.
 On November 15, 1864 he
left Atlanta with his 60,000
soldiers and continued his
march toward the Atlantic
coast.
Chief among Sherman’s
targets were railroads where
his men twisted ties into
“Sherman’s bow-ties”
SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA
 In Atlanta During the
March, Sherman’s army
destroyed anything in, he
cut the supply and
communication lines,
including bridges, telegraph
wires, and railroad tracks to
the north.
 Sherman’s army set of f on
a devastating march.
SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA
 General Sherman
moved his army south
in two great wings of
two corps each
complete with a 5,000
man cavalry screen.
 The Federal troops left
a path of destruction
275 miles long and up
to 60 miles wide across
the Georgia
countryside.
 Anything of military
value was burned.
 Bummers, or groups of
stragglers, destroyed
all food stuffs and
livestock that they
could not carry-off or
use.
 No Confederate
opposition was
encountered .
SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA
 While Sherman was
cutting through
Georgia, Hood was
defeated at Franklin
and Nashville
 Sherman arrived at
Savannah in
December, offered it
as a “Christmas
present” to Lincoln,
got resupplied by the
sea, and headed north
to combine with Grant.
WHO GAVE PRESIDENT LINCOLN A GIFT?
General Sherman
gave president
Lincoln Savannah as
a Christmas Gift.
WHAT WAS GIVEN?
“I beg to present you
as a Christmas gift:
1. City of Savannah
2. one hundred fifty
guns,
3. plenty of
ammunition,
4. also about twentyfive thousand bales
of cotton.
Sherman’s telegraph
to Lincoln
THE COTTON
The cotton was
shipped to the North
were it sold for $28
Million!
The south now had
no way of making
money to rebuild
after Sherman’s
destructive plan.
THE WAR COMES TO AN END
Sherman’s March
The fall of Richmond
 Sherman marched across
Georgia in what came to be
known as the March to the
Sea.
 As Sherman marches on to
meet up with Grant, Lee is
low on supplies and
soldiers.
 Sherman cut a swath of
destruction 300 miles long
and 50–60 miles wide.
 Grant decided not to wait
for Sherman’s troops.
 After taking Savannah,
Sherman turned north
through South Carolina,
destroying civilian property
all along the way.
 Instead, he broke through
Lee’s defenses at
Petersburg and went on to
take Richmond.
 Lee tried to escape with his
few remaining troops, but
Grant blocked their way. Lee
saw no other alternative but
to surrender.
MARCH NORTH
Sherman continued
his destruction
being particularly
hard on South
Carolina because of
its role in starting
the secessionist
movement
 Burned the capital of
Columbia
SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX
Lee and Grant
 With Union forces
surrounding them, Lee
decided to surrender.
 Grant presented the terms
of the surrender to Lee.
 Grant showed mercy on the
Confederate forces and
was extremely generous
for such a bloody conflict,
Lee’s troops merely had to
turn over their weapons
and leave.
 Grant announced, “The war
is over. The rebels are our
countr ymen again.”
The war is over
 News of Lee’s surrender
brought joyful celebrations
in the north.
 Lincoln requested “Dixie”
be played at the White
House.
 The last of the Confederate
forces surrendered on May
26, 1865.
 Sadly, President Lincoln
would not live to see the
of ficial end of the war.
THE SURRENDER!
At Appomattox Court
House in Virginia
General Robert E.
Lee surrendered to
U.S. Grant
This ended the Civil
War
SHERMAN’S MARCH TO THE SEA