Destroying the South's strategic and economic capacity to fight. General Sherman destroyed everything in his path during the "march to the sea". He did whats know to the railroads as "bow tying them" when they could not be straightened back out and be destroyed making the trains useless and set fire to Atlanta,GA destroying their stuff for the war. Sherman stole food and destroyed stuff so that the Union would win against the Confederacy. the Confederacy had different kind of tracks for different trains so it took a lot longer to get supplies in and out from having to move from one different train to the next different one, and with having that issue and Sherman destroying them, it led to a bigger crisis because they didn't have the time/ money/ effort to rebuild it all and get supplies to their men on the field.
Source: answered a question similar to this a while back and learned it from Middle School history for being a history nerd ^.^
Answer:Sherman's soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back
