Question

The use of total warfare during the Civil War was best illustrated by

Answer 1

It was Sherman’s March to the Sea.  After the successful completion of his campaign in Atlanta, General William Tecumseh Sherman met with General Ulysses Grant to devise a plan to invade the South.  As he was doing that, Grant would continue to engage Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  His triumph in Atlanta paved the way for Sherman to march into the South with a battle-harden troops armed with repeating rifles that outgunned the Confederates.  In his march, he supplied his armies by living off the land.  He took away the South’s ability to supply rebel forces by destroying railroads taking food and materials from the residents.  Lee could do nothing as Grant kept him busy in Petersburg.  Soon many rebels began to desert and eventually the South surrendered.