from European warfare in that “we are not
only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile
people. And must make old and young,
rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as
well as their organized armies.” He talked
of the Georgians’ faith in Davis being
shaken and looked forward to doing the
same to the people of the Carolinas.
While Georgia was the breadbasket of
the Confederacy, Sherman understood that
the army he took with him through the
state must be lean and trim to facilitate fast
movement. “The most extraordinary
efforts had been made to purge this army
of non-combatants and of sick men,” he
wrote. He systematically purged the sick,
lame, lazy, and generally unnecessary men
from his force around Atlanta, reducing
his numbers from about 81,000 men to
just over 60,000. He took a rapier to the
artillery train as well, reducing the com-
pliment to 65 guns and 200 shells for each,
and slashing the wagon complement so
that each of his four columns was reduced
to a mere 800 wagons, enough for forag-
ing and a rolling supply train, but no more.
Drawn by a team of four horses, each
wagon could haul about 2,500 pounds.
Sherman took along a 20-day supply of
rations, beef on the hoof, and five days of
forage for the horses and cattle. Each man
carried a musket, 40 rounds of ammuni-tion, a tin cup, and a haversack. Theodore
Upson, a private with the 100th Indiana,
described the trimmed-down accou-
trements carried by the rank and file on
the march: “All a good many carry is a
blanket made into a roll with their rubber
‘poncho’ which is doubled around and tied
at the ends and hung over the left shoul-
der,” said Upson. “Of course, we have our
haversacks and canteens, and our guns and
cartridge boxes with 40 rounds of ammu-
nition. Some of the boys carry 20 more in
their pockets.”
Sherman organized his army into two
wings. The right, commanded by Maj.
Gen. Oliver O. Howard, 34, and the left
commanded by Slocum, 37. Both generals
held Sherman’s full confidence. Sherman
described his wing commanders as “both
comparatively young men, but educated
and experienced officers.” Howard had
XV and XVII Corps, totaling seven divi-
sions, while Slocum commanded XIV and
XX Corps, totaling six divisions. Each
corps would march more or less indepen-
dently of each other and Sherman. Each
corps had with it a swinging pontoon
bridge, 900 feet long. Sherman held Brig.
Gen. Judson Kilpatrick’s cavalry division
in reserve and would use it over the course
of the campaign to keep Confederate cav-
alry and skirmishers at bay.
Sherman chose his path well, relying onthe intricate series of roads in Georgia to
facilitate the movement of each corps. The
corps would march in unison but function
as semi-independent forces with their own
self-contained supply train. That supply
train would be augmented by Sherman’s
foraging scheme whereby skirmisher par-
ties, the soon-to-be infamous “bummers,”
would scout ahead. Each brigade assem-
bled a foraging force of men and wagons
under the command of a picked officer to
supervise the effort. The columns were to
avoid picking up stragglers and refugees at
all costs, although able-bodied freedmen
could be co-opted and organized into pio-
neer battalions.
Sherman took steps to limit the destruc-
tion wrought on private property. His Spe-
cial Field Order No. 20 read in part: “To
Corps commanders alone is entrusted the
power to destroy mills, houses, cotton-gins,
etc. In districts and neighborhoods where
the army is unmolested, no destruction of
such property should be permitted.” Sher-
man did make exceptions for certain indi-
viduals. On November 20, Sherman was
riding with XX Corps when it encountered
the plantation owned by Confederate Gen-
eral Howell Cobb, commander of Cobb’s
Legion and former secretary of the treasury
in the Buchanan administration. Sherman
sent a message back to the local division
commander, Jefferson C. Davis, instructingAs it moved through Georgia, the Union army attracted throngs of escaping slaves seeking their freedom.
Sherman, focused on his military objectives, tried to discourage their intrusive presence.CWQ-Sum16 Sherman's March_Layout 1 4/20/16 4:40 PM Page 69