Battle of Atlanta
"Victory in Gate City" July 22nd, 1864 Atlanta, GA Gen. William T. Sherman was marched to Atlanta. He was going there to begin his famous march. He wanted to burn the south to the ground and this was his starting point. |
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The Actual Battle
He approached the city's outskirts and began to tell the strategy which would be to surround the city in a half circle around the city in the hills. Then he would push in, on the other side the confederate army was badly outnumbered and going through a leadership change. When told the Union charged ahead and pushed ahead into the city. The Confederates eventually retreated, while the city evacuated. When Sherman and his army entered the city, they burned everything to the ground. Nothing was standing as they left and headed towards Savannah with the intent to burn everything in his path. In the end the union lost 3,641 troops while the rebels lost 5,500 men. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/civilwarinthewest/p/battle-of-atlanta.htm
The Result of the Battle
After the battle, however the city was literally toast. The north however was joyous in for they had a huge victory, because of this win Lincoln was reelected for president against his opponent George McClellan. This was also the start of Sherman's march where he and his men destroyed every food store they could find and burned all towns with resistance. http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/shermans-march-sea