Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign conducted by Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman during the American Civil War from November 15 to December 21, 1864. The campaign began with Sherman's army leaving Atlanta, Georgia, and marching southeastward to the port city of Savannah, Georgia. The Union army burned and destroyed much of the infrastructure and resources in the path, crippling the Confederate army's supply lines and effectively cutting off the Confederate army from its vital resources.
Sherman called this strategy of total warfare "hard war." He believed that the best way to defeat the Confederate army was to destroy its ability to fight. This meant destroying railroads, bridges, factories, and anything else that could be used to support the Confederate war effort. Sherman's March to the Sea was a brutal campaign, but it was also a successful one. It helped to bring the Civil War to an end and freed millions of enslaved people.