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22 t the beginning of the Civil war, william t. Sherman had shunned high command. he understood that there would be a learning curve to be faced by both soldiers and politicians. he rightly predicted that commanding generals in the first few years of the war would be very unlikely to survive in their positions until the end. Sherman’s goal was to have the job security of the army when the war ended. he knew that if he were relieved of another command, he would once again be unemployed when the army shrank to its prewar size following the Civil war. he had great success following Grant. Sherman’s loyal support helped Grant win, and as Grant rose with each of the great victories, Sherman would occupy his last position. By the end of 1863, Sherman would have to take independent command if he were to rise any further. it is in this last year and a half of war that Sherman gained his reputation and would be judged by future generations. after the battle of Chattanooga, it was obvious to most that the armies of the military division of the mississippi would move south along the railroad with atlanta as the main target. northern and Southern papers agreed that this was the next logical step for General Grant.1 They did not, however, predict that Grant would be given command of all union armies and that General Sherman would be the one to lead the armies of the tennessee, the Cumberland, and the ohio south into Georgia. when Sherman replaced Grant in command, the news generated no great surprise. ever since his victory at Vicksburg, the northern public regarded Grant as the savior of the union cause who could do no wrong. This included his choice of Sherman as the commander of the military department of the mississippi. By the time of his appointment, Sherman was the most prominent ChaPter 2 the atlanta Campaign and the march to the sea A the atlanta Campaign and the march to the sea 23 general in the west, second only to Grant himself. his raid into the interior of mississippi had dominated the newspapers for weeks.2 in february 1864, with twenty-one thousand men, Sherman left Vicksburg for meridian on the border with alabama. The mission was to destroy the railroads around the city. meridian was a railroad junction that connected memphis, mobile, and montgomery. if this junction was cut there would be disastrous consequences for the Confederacy. what made meridian a tempting target also made it a dangerous one. There were about seventeen thousand Confederate soldiers scattered throughout the area under the command of lieutenant General leonidas Polk. This was a sizable force on its own, but because meridian was a railroad hub and the Confederates had the advantage of interior lines, reinforcements could be brought against Sherman from atlanta and mobile.3 to keep the Confederates from massing their forces against Sherman, Grant ordered all the forces under his command to make demonstrations against their closest opponent. The navy would maneuver outside mobile Bay. Thomas was to move his army of the Cumberland south as if he was beginning an advance toward atlanta. General w. Sooy Smith’s force of seven thousand cavalry would ride south from memphis, sweeping the cavalry force of nathan Bedford forrest out of his way and join forces with Sherman in meridian. after completing his objectives at meridian, Sherman had the discretion to choose his next move. an invasion of alabama was a real possibility. Sherman, in a letter to halleck, wrote that Selma was the most likely target for his army after meridian. The destruction of the Selma Cannon foundry would have been a serious blow to the Confederacy. Pascagoula was also discussed by Sherman and Grant as a possible destination.4 Sherman was limited in what he could do by two things. Grant wanted him to be cautious in his operations. The loss of Sherman’s force might threaten union control of the mississippi. Sherman, also, only had a limited amount of time. nathaniel Banks’s ill-fated red river campaign was scheduled to begin the next month. it would include portions of Sherman’s command. The red river campaign was a priority for lincoln, halleck, and Grant and was strongly supported by Sherman. he could not operate in east mississippi or west alabama very long.5 The initial stage of the plan worked perfectly. Sherman reached meridian on february 15...

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