Soldiers
Being a solider under Sherman's march was an experience like no other. There was minimal fighting for such a large invading army. Wherever the Union marched through Georgia, the Confederate army decided to run more often than fight. The soldiers would steal and burn everything behind them.
Collection of letters from a Union Corporal during the March to the Sea.
Union soldiers believed that the goal of the march was to cut off the Confederate's supply line. They were, however, not only destroying their supply, but destroy their morale as well. In the letters sent by Corporal Eli Ricker, he says, "We left a black trail in South Carolina. I cannot regret it." The Union wanted to end the war and destroy the Confederacy.
Report of a Confederate deserter and his experiences of Sherman's March.
When the soldier in the passage was discharged. he goes home and finds the destruction that Sherman left behind. He says, "it was here [Winnsboro, SC] that we began to behold the shocking signs of almost unbelievable cruelties that marked his raid through South Carolina "(pg.87). The Confederate soldiers believed that Sherman had marched through their home and desroyed it. The soldier in the passage talks of the terrible killing of all the animals and residences. The homes of the Confederate were completely destroyed.