The Georgia in the Civil War Message Board - Archive

Re: War and Ruin: UNCLE BILLY "SELECTIVE"...???

Hello,

If you carefully examine what Sherman actually did to the war making abilities of Georgia, you will come to see what I learned in researching the Confederate supply system for many years. That is, he failed to bring Georgia to its knees and failed to do much damage at all to its industrial/agricultural base!

If you follow the path of the march, it skirted the upper agricultural belt of the state, thus barely touching Georgia's huge food growing capacity. After the march, Howell Cobb, of GA. was going around the state propping up morale and one of the things he mentioned was that the state had more than enough food to continue the fight. That would not have been the case had it been as damaged as the mythology has it.

Secondly, and much more importantly for both sides, Sherman did not touch the vast majority of the war making industrial base! Other than the pistol factory at Griswoldville, he missed it completely. He was nowhere near Macon and its massive foundry, medical laboratory, arsenal or other local industries that supplied the military. Same for Columbus. And - same for Augusta - with the added critical mistake of leaving the massive powderworks intact and fully functional! These works, a two mile long complex, made over 95 per cent of the powder used by the military. Had he taken this out in November, 1864, the war would have been over by late January as the military would not have had anything to shoot with!

An author I know who is doing research on Col. Rains and the powder works has shown me the production figures and the ordnance figures for the CS armies and that is how he came to this conclusion.

This was the most critical mistake Sherman made.

Why did he miss these things? He never trusted his cavalry to do good recon service, in either this campaign or the one for Atlanta. For that reason, he was never sure if the Confederates would pop-up somewhere and pounce on him. Please recall that Hood had marched away to Tennessee (thus stupidly depriving Georgia of the bulk of its CS military protection); Wheeler's cavalry, never that good to begin with, had never recovered from its mid-1864 Tennessee raid; and other than that and some GA Militia, Sherman never had to face a real force. But he did now KNOW for sure if anything else was on the horizon. So he played it very safe. In addition, Sherman was not that much of a fighter and marching was better to him than fighting all the way to Savannah! Plus, Augusta and Macon were somewhat fortified and garrisoned - but neither were strong enough to resist 65,000 veteran troops! He knew this.

Thus, he really goofed, from the Union perspective, by not taking the works out.

If you wish to compare industrial damage in Georgia by campaigns, compare what Sherman did (more correctly, did not do) with what James Wilson did in March/April 1865 to Columbus and Macon with his massive cavalry raid! There is really no comparison - and yet Sherman gets all the blame for making Georgia howl!

Greg Biggs

Messages In This Thread

War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: and Cassville
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Thank you, Jim and Richard!
Re: Thank you, Jim and Richard!
Re: Thank you, Jim and Richard!
Oops! Me and my big mouth!
Re: Oops! Me and my big mouth!
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey
Re: War and Ruin: UNCLE BILLY "SELECTIVE"...???
Re: War and Ruin: UNCLE BILLY "SELECTIVE"...???
Re: War and Ruin: UNCLE BILLY "SELECTIVE"...???
"WAR CRIMINALS" ARE FROM THE LOSERS SIDE SADLY...
Thank You. Kenneth Byrd!
Re: War and Ruin: ...Roswell women
Re: War and Ruin: ...by Anne J. Bailey