Sherman's March

“War is cruelty. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”

General William Tecumseh Sherman

SHERMAN’S MARCH

a two-hour special on The History Channel®

Premieres Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 9:00pm ET/PT

History.com Supplemental Coverage Features Interactive Map of the March

New York, NY, 2007 —Known affectionately as “Uncle Billy” by Union soldiers, but reviled in the South as a brutal war criminal, General William Tecumseh Sherman is one of the truly enigmatic and complex figures in the American pantheon. His legacy, built during a five-week campaign of terror and destruction, ranks as one of the most daring endeavors in U.S. military history. Controversial to this day, his epic story is told in SHERMAN’S MARCH, premiering Sunday, April 22 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on The History Channel®.

Play the Sherman's March Game

Sherman's March 001 After Sherman and his forces captured Atlanta, a key supply center for the Southern army, Sherman decided that the North should deliver a knockout blow to the Confederacy. He proposed a march from Atlanta to the coastal city of Savannah, implementing a practice that would come to be known as “total war.” “Success would be accepted as a matter of course. Whereas, should we fail, this ‘march’ would be adjudged the wild adventure of a crazy fool,” said Sherman, acknowledging the huge risk he was taking.

On November 15, 1864, Sherman and his troops set out from Atlanta, beginning a massive assault on the South, designed to eliminate all of the resources they needed to make war and to cripple the resolve of the Confederacy. Sherman ordered his troops to burn crops, kill livestock, destroy railroads, pilfer food supplies and to make sure the South’s civilian infrastructure was shattered. Although the concept had been around for centuries, this is the first time in modern warfare that total war was used to such an extensive degree. Sherman was given the green light to execute his bold strategy in large part because Lincoln had just been re-elected, the political fallout would be minimal , and the North was ready to do whatever it took to bring the war to a close.

The end result proved successful for Sherman and the Union Army. Savannah was captured and occupied on December 21, 1864. In the spirit of the holidays, Sherman offered the city to Lincoln, “His Excellency, President Lincoln. I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah. With 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and about 25,000 bales of cotton”

Sherman's March 02 The South never recovered from the capture of Savannah, but just to be sure, Sherman began another march, this time from Georgia through South Carolina. In February 1865, after burning several cities to the ground, something he did not do in Georgia, Sherman reached Columbia, the capital of South Carolina and the cradle of the rebellion. By nightfall the entire city was in flames and would soon be burned to the ground. On the heels of Sherman’s destructive onslaughts, the Confederacy officially conceded victory to the Union on April 9, 1865

While viewed as a hero in the North and as a villain in the South, Sherman’s military effectiveness is unquestionable. He led 60,000 soldiers over 650 miles in less than 100 marching days, losing only 600 men along the way. When it was all said and done, Sherman achieved his goal, to speed up the end of the American Civil War.

Executive Producer for The History Channel is Margaret G. Kim. SHERMAN’S MARCH is produced by JWM Productions for The History Channel.

Civil War: A Nation Divided - Now Available on Activision - Click here for more information

History.com, the official website of The History Channel, will supplement the two-hour special with a SHERMAN’S MARCH minisite featuring an interactive map, complete with video and text providing specific details on each of the stops along the march.

The History Channel® is one of the leading cable television networks featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. The network provides an inviting place where people experience history in new and exciting ways enabling them to connect their lives today to the great lives and events of the past that provide a blueprint for the future. The History Channel has earned four Peabody Awards, three Primetime Emmy® Awards, ten News & Documentary Emmy® Awards and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History Channel reaches more than 91 million Nielsen subscribers. The website is located at www.History.com.


Atlanta Is Ours and Fairly Won	Union Troop On the March	Sherman in Atlanta Headquarters	Sherman Marching With His Troops	Sherman, Lincoln and Grant

General Grant Waiting in his Tent	Firing the Canon	Confederate Troops in Battle	Slaves Waiting at Ebenezer Creek	Slaves Left Behind at Ebenezer Creek

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Send mail to PopStarsPlus@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2004-2008 Pop Stars Plus®, a subsidiary of Gift Ideas Plus®, unless indicated otherwise.