but was presumed
usable to the enemy. In view of this destruction, it is
underezdable that Sherman quoted "war is hell" (Sherman, William T.,
Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood
Press, 1972). Finally, on December 20, Sherman's men reached the city
of Savannah and from there Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln:
"I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with
150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales
of cotton" (Sherman, William T., Memoirs of General William T.
Sherman. Westport, Conn.:Greenwood Press, 1972).
Grant had decided that the only way to win and finish the war
would be to crunch with numbers. He knew that the Federal forces held
more than a modest advantage in terms of men and supplies. This in
mind, Grant directed Sherman to turn around now and start heading back
toward Virginia. He immediately started making preparations to
provide assiezce to Sherman on the journey. General John M.
Schofield and his men were to detach from the Army of the Cumberland,
which had just embarrassingly defeated the Confederates at Nashville,
and proceed toward North Carolina. His final destination was to be
Goldsboro, which was roughly half the diezce between Savannah and
Richmond. This is where he and his 20,000 troops would meet Sherman
Sherman began the move north in mid-January of 1865. The only
hope of Confederate resiezce would be supplied by General P.G.T.
Beauregard. He was scraping together an army with every resource he
could lay his hands on, but at best would only be able to muster about
30,000 men. This by obvious mathematics would be no challenge to the
combined forces of Schofield and Sherman, let alone Sherman. Sherman's
plan was to march through South Carolina all the while confusing the
enemy. His men would march in two ranks: One would travel no...