Why was general William Tecumseh sherman's march to the sea famous and notorious?

Answer 1

General Sherman fought the Confederates in a series of battles as he pushed them from Chattanooga, TN to Atlanta, Georgia. There he fought the Battle of Atlanta in July 1864 and captured that important city. All of this fighting had been accomplished by obtaining supplies brought down from Nashville to Atlanta using river boats, trains and wagons.

General Sherman made the decision to lead his army from Atlanta to Savannah without having any supply lines. The men would obtain their food from the land they marched through.

General Sherman's plan meant that he would take the War to the people. The local farmers and industrialists were supporting the Confederate army by supplying food and ammunition. Sherman proposed Total War which would mean destroying the means for the civilians to support the war effort.

This Total War was applied in many different times. A good example is World War 2. The Americans decided that in order to defeat the Japanese army, they had to send their bombers to hit the towns where the civilians used small shops to build guns and planes. They began to "carpet bomb" the cities with fire bombs in order to stop their capability to produce.

This concept of Total War was new at the time of the Civil War. And it did have a tremendous impact on the morale of the Southern people and the government and their willingness to fight.