William Tecumseh Sherman’s campaign through the Carolinas in early 1865 was not merely a military offensive, but a deliberate act of retribution aimed at the state many Union soldiers considered the birthplace of the rebellion. With a force that grew to roughly 70,000 men, Sherman sought not just victory, but to make the South feel the full cost of secession. Sherman’s rise through the Union ranks had been marked by early struggles. After commanding a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run, he became a brigadier general in August 1861.
His career nearly collapsed amid press reports of instability while he served in Kentucky, but he rebuilt his reputation under General Henry Halleck, eventually leading a division at the Battle of Shiloh. His success there led to promotion to major general in May 1862, and he played a key role in the capture of Vicksburg. After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to overall command, Sherman took charge of the Western Theater.
On May 7, 1864, he launched a punishing campaign from Chattanooga toward Atlanta, a 128-day siege that ended with the city’s capture on September 2. The fall of Atlanta was a major political victory, helping secure President Abraham Lincoln’s reelection. Without pausing, Sherman began his most famous operation on November 16, 1864: the March to the Sea. For 36 days, his forces cut a 275-mile path of destruction through Georgia, capturing Savannah on December 21.
Rather than moving north to support Grant in Virginia, Sherman turned his army inland toward the Carolinas, an expedition widely seen as punishment for the region that had championed secession. South Carolina, in particular, was the target of intense Union anger. In a letter to General Halleck on Christmas Eve 1864, Sherman acknowledged his army’s desire for revenge. “I almost shudder at her destiny,” he wrote, “but she has earned it.
” He had previously argued to Grant that destroying South Carolina would hurt General Robert E. Lee and satisfy a public eager to see the state devastated. The march through South Carolina proved far more difficult than the push through Georgia. Historic rainfall turned roads into swamps, with soldiers often wading through chest-deep water.
Sherman’s engineers built corduroy roads from logs to keep the army moving, a feat that drew astonished reactions even from Confederate officers. General William Hardee admitted he would not have believed it if he had not seen it, while General Joseph Johnston said no army like it had existed since the days of Caesar. Confederate forces were stretched dangerously thin. General P.
G. T. Beauregard cobbled together a defense with roughly 30,000 men against Sherman’s larger force. The Army of Tennessee, once 40,000 strong, had been reduced to about 11,000.
Efforts to reinforce from Virginia were hampered by collapsing railroads. The destruction of South Carolina was swift and severe. Hardeeville was burned to the ground. Barnwell, renamed “Burnwell” by Union troops, was left in ruins.
Towns including Orangeburg and Lexington suffered similar fates. A plantation mistress near Barnwell described soldiers ransacking her home, emptying feather beds, smashing chests, and drinking stolen whiskey until they were wild with greed. Columbia, the state capital, had swollen from 8,000 to 20,000 residents as refugees flooded in. When Confederate cavalry under General Joe Wheeler arrived to defend it on February 16, they instead looted stores on Main Street before retreating.
Federal troops entered the city the next day, and Sherman assured Mayor Thomas Goodwyn that the city would be protected. That promise collapsed by nightfall. Weary Iowa soldiers given whiskey by residents became unruly. Drunken troops set buildings ablaze as gale-force winds spread the flames.
A teenage diarist named Emma recorded soldiers yelling, cursing, and singing vile songs while allowing the fire to spread. The blaze consumed hundreds of buildings before it was done. Confederate leaders, including Wade Hampton, accused Sherman of deliberate arson. Sherman countered that retreating rebels had set fire to cotton bales, which sparked the conflagration.
Historian Marian Lucas later concluded there was no single cause—only a combination of disorder, alcohol, and sparks carried on a fierce wind. Regardless of cause, Sherman conceded the fire accelerated the war’s end. While Columbia still smoldered, Charleston surrendered, ending a siege that had lasted 567 days. By February 20, Sherman’s columns turned northward, reducing towns like Winnsboro to ashes.
The Confederacy struggled to respond. Lee restored Johnston to command, but morale was collapsing. Fewer than half of the expected Tennessee soldiers reported for duty, with many choosing to protect their own homes instead. As Sherman entered North Carolina, he issued General Order No.
8, prohibiting the plunder of dwellings—a shift from the scorched-earth policy of Georgia. Yet discipline remained inconsistent. Kilpatrick’s horsemen burned mills and barns in some areas, while thousands of freed enslaved people followed the army, slowing its progress. Confederate forces managed a few sharp counterattacks.
At Monroe’s Crossroads, Hampton’s dawn assault nearly captured Kilpatrick, who escaped in his nightclothes. Hampton’s troopers bloodied Sherman’s advance guard before withdrawing. Sherman entered Fayetteville on March 11, dismissing a committee of citizens with harsh words. “Your populace initiated this war,” he told them.
“Now gather its harvest. ” He also destroyed the town’s arsenal, reportedly saying that “Negroes and cotton produced this war” and that he wished them both in hell. By March 15, Sherman’s command crossed the Cape Fear River and split into two wings. Near Averasborough, Hardee’s rear guard held for two days, creating an opening for Johnston to mount a final desperate attack.
The resulting Battle of Bentonville was the last large-scale Confederate offensive of the war. Despite catching portions of Sherman’s army off guard, Confederate mismanagement wasted the initial advantage, and Union reinforcements arrived by dusk. The battle cost roughly 3,440 Confederate and 1,527 Union casualties. Johnston, dispirited, confessed to Lee that he could do little more than harass Sherman now.
Sherman linked up with General John Schofield at Goldsboro on March 23, where weary soldiers received fresh uniforms and long-delayed mail. Sherman then sailed for Virginia to meet with Grant and Lincoln. At City Point, the three discussed terms for peace. Lincoln urged mercy, telling Sherman and Grant to let Confederate soldiers simply return to their farms.
“We require their allegiance, not revenge,” the president said. Sherman carried these instructions back to Goldsboro, where a Union force of 90,000 now dominated North Carolina. Governor Zebulon Vance fled Raleigh, leaving the capital to be plundered by Wheeler’s horsemen before Union troops arrived. In Greensboro, Jefferson Davis clung to hopes of regrouping in Alabama, but Johnston and Beauregard rejected the plan.
Word of Lee’s surrender at Appomattox shattered what remained of Confederate resolve. By April 15, Davis was fleeing southward in a carriage. On April 17, Sherman and Johnston met at the Bennett farm near Durham Station under a flag of truce. Inside a small log cabin, they negotiated the surrender of roughly 89,000 Confederate troops, the largest single surrender of the war.
Sherman had followed Lincoln’s directive to end the conflict with compassion rather than further destruction. The march did not simply end at Bennett Farm. It left an enduring question about whether such devastation was necessary or excessive, a debate that continues to shape how the Civil War is remembered.