On Wednesday, November 9, 1864, at Kingston, Georgia, William Tecumseh Sherman reorganized his command under Generals O.O. Howard and H.W. Slocum and ordered his troops to commence a campaign.through the Georgia countryside which would end at the Atlantic seacoast. Sherman intended to punish the South, ordering his commanders if they met resistance to “order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless” while confiscating horses, mules, wagons, etc. Ordering his troops to “forage liberally on the country during the march,” Sherman believed that Thomas’ Union command was sufficiently reinforced to meet Hood’s expected invasion of Tennessee. While Hood’s Confederates would be confronted by Thomas’ troops, Sherman would be left alone and essentially unopposed to ravage the interior of the Confederacy. His campaign would bring unparalleled suffering to Georgia.
00000174-b11b-ddc3-a1fc-bfdbb1a20000The Schreiner University Department of History is honoring the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War with a series of short vignettes focusing on events from 1861 through 1865. The Civil War was the most destructive conflict in American history, but it was also one of our most defining moments as a people and as a nation. Let us know what you think about "This Week in the Civil War." E-mail your comments to Dr. John Huddleston at jhuddles@schreiner.edu.Airs: Weekdays at 5:19 a.m., 8:19 a.m., 4:19 p.m. on KTXI and 4:49 a.m., 9:29 p.m. on KSTX.