The Battle Of The War - 2555 Words

â€Å"Tis only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated ... that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation,† said Union General William Tecumseh Sherman at the end of our nation’s deadliest war, the Civil War. Determined to end the war after four long years, the Union called on Sherman to execute a controversial war strategy to defeat the Confederacy. His tactic, deemed total war by historians, aimed to bring the horrors of war to civilians in the heart of the South. Sherman’s focus on destroying the manufacturing, logistical, and farming bases that supported the Confederate soldiers and civilians, is viewed by many as heinous and unnecessarily brutal. The strategy†¦show more content†¦Yet, Sherman’s aim with total war tactics was not to physically harm Confederate civilians, but to hasten the end of the war. The military tactics he employed were sanctioned by the highes t Union general, General Grant. Sherman brought the war to the people of the South as a form of psychological warfare to demoralize them and break their determination. The Southern campaign successfully limited the number of combatant deaths, on both sides, and caused few civilian deaths. The destructive foraging by Union soldiers was instituted to make Northern soldiers safer by causing the ruin of the South’s military manufacturing bases and acquiring needed supplies from Southern farms. General William Tecumseh Sherman’s total war tactics employed during his Southern campaign were not an act of senseless brutality of a villain, but were the actions of a brilliant military strategist. Sherman’s critics claim that his tactics in the Southern Campaign were not part of a thought filled military strategy, but were instead brutalities rained upon the civilians for the purpose of inflicting maximum pain. However, this is a misperception. Sherman did destroy civilian property, but it was not a random act and the Union was not solely responsible for the destruction. The worst damage to civilian property occurred in South Carolina, where Sherman aimed to take over Columbia