Question

The MOST LIKELY reason General William T. Sherman wanted to control the rail lines running through Atlanta, Georgia, during his "Atlanta Campaign" was because he wanted to

Answer 1

The March of Sherman towards the Sea is the name given to the military campaign directed by the American general William Tecumseh Sherman with its troops of the Army of the Union in the American Civil War. This campaign began after the triumphs of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in mid-1863 Union troops had the opportunity to launch a major offensive from the state of Tennessee to Georgia, in the very center of the territory of the Confederate States. After Sherman's troops took Atlanta on September 2, 1864, they set out to advance through the Confederate territory to the Atlantic Ocean, defeating Confederate troops who could find and destroy industries, railroads, mills, canals, warehouses, haciendas, workshops, and practically every element that served to sustain the economy of the secessionist states.

This policy of Sherman and his troops caused very serious damage to the industry and infrastructure of the Confederacy, causing severe devastation as the northern troops moved into unknown territory, without supply lines, and with Sherman's order to subsist on the base of the crops and livestock that they could steal or loot from the farms and farms that they found in their way, destroying the livestock and surplus crops.

The objective of controlling and destroying the railroad lines was to avoid the rapid movement of the enemy as well as to hinder the commerce of the agriculture that he owned.