Sherman Fights in the South

General William Tecumseh Sherman played a major role in the southern campaign of the war as commander of the Army of the Tennessee. He captured Atlanta and delivered Savannah to Lincoln as a Christmas present in 1864. To win the war, the South had to lose the will to fight. Sherman launched a campaign of “all-out” or “total” warfare and was ruthless in this practice. Following the capture of Savannah, Sherman’s troops marched through the Carolinas and hoped to complete an eventual rendezvous with General Grant’s troops against Lee. He did not meet Grant, but did secure the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston on April 26, 1865.