Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- 1 Introduction: The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Part I Major Battles and Campaigns
- 2 The Battles of Virginia, 1861
- 3 The Battles of Tennessee, 1862
- 4 The Battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861–1863
- 5 The Peninsula Campaign
- 6 The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864
- 7 The Second Bull Run Campaign
- 8 The Antietam Campaign
- 9 The Western Theater, 1862–1863
- 10 The Battle of Fredericksburg
- 11 The Chancellorsville Campaign
- 12 The Gettysburg Campaign
- 13 The Vicksburg Campaign
- 14 The Battles of Tennessee, 1863
- 15 The Overland Campaign
- 16 The Georgia Campaign
- 17 The Carolinas Campaign
- 18 The Tennessee Campaign, 1864
- 19 The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns
- Part II Places
- Index
- References
17 - The Carolinas Campaign
from Part I - Major Battles and Campaigns
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 October 2019
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- 1 Introduction: The Cambridge History of the American Civil War
- Part I Major Battles and Campaigns
- 2 The Battles of Virginia, 1861
- 3 The Battles of Tennessee, 1862
- 4 The Battles of the Trans-Mississippi, 1861–1863
- 5 The Peninsula Campaign
- 6 The Shenandoah Valley Campaigns of 1862 and 1864
- 7 The Second Bull Run Campaign
- 8 The Antietam Campaign
- 9 The Western Theater, 1862–1863
- 10 The Battle of Fredericksburg
- 11 The Chancellorsville Campaign
- 12 The Gettysburg Campaign
- 13 The Vicksburg Campaign
- 14 The Battles of Tennessee, 1863
- 15 The Overland Campaign
- 16 The Georgia Campaign
- 17 The Carolinas Campaign
- 18 The Tennessee Campaign, 1864
- 19 The Petersburg and Appomattox Campaigns
- Part II Places
- Index
- References
Summary
The Union’s 1865 Carolinas campaign brought hard war to the Confederacy’s civilian population, emancipated thousands of slaves, and helped bring the Civil War to a close. The campaign began in January 1865 when Union major general William Tecumseh Sherman and 60,000 soldiers marched north from Savannah, and it ended on April 26, 1865 with Confederate general Joseph Johnston’s surrender at Durham Station in North Carolina. The campaign employed unconventional tactics earlier used along Sherman’s March to the Sea (see Chapter 16) in order to inflict physical and psychological damage upon the enemy. To do so, seasoned Union soldiers tore up railroads, burned fields and homes, confiscated food and various supplies, took or killed livestock, raided countless Southern homes, shredded personal treasures, liberated enslaved African Americans, and taunted elite white women. Throughout the month and a half of active campaigning through the Carolinas, Sherman’s troops averaged 10 miles of marching daily and faced little military resistance from the Confederate army.
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- The Cambridge History of the American Civil War , pp. 337 - 361Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019