150 years ago this week, Sherman has an eventful week. On New Years Eve he receives a letter from his wife that his six-month-old son, Charles, whom he never met, had died. In 1863 his namesake Willy had died at the age of eight. There are other pressing matters. Grant has told him of his plan to move Shermans armies by ship to Virginia, where they can join him against Lee. But Sherman has had other ideas since early in his march to Savannah. Facing minimal opposition and wreaking maximum havoc on his leisurely voyage, he began planning a march through Carolinas. Once in Savannah he began correspondence with Grant to convince him of letting him march northward through the Carolinas to join him instead of by sea. Grant quickly saw the merit in Shermans plans. Sherman marching from the south would keep the traitor armies in the Carolinas from moving north to reinforce Lee. Remember, Hardee had abandoned Savannah with 10,000 troops. Grant and Sherman surmised that the rebels could put together another ten to fifteen thousand. So this time, Sherman would have an army to his front, but his army would be almost 3 times the size of his opponents. Additionally, by virtue of the Carolinas being closer to the coast he could be easily reinforced. To Gods Terrible Swift Sword, this plan also had other merits. While his March to the Sea had been to take Georgia out of the war and destroy their ability to supply the traitor armies, this time Sherman wanted to teach a lesson, too. South Carolina, the first state to secede, and the state to fire on Fort Sumter to start the war, and been largely untouched by the war. If the idea was to make Georgia howl, his plan was to make the Carolinas scream. And when a plan works so well, why change it? Once again, he would start with two armies separated by many miles. Once again, the traitor armies would not know his planned route - once again there were several potential targets in his path - Charleston? Wilmington? Augusta? Columbia? And once again, they would live off the land, and leave wrath in their path.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 21:58:43 +0000
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