Marching Through Georgia

IDENTIFICATIONS

Western and Atlantic Railroad
Joe Brown's pikes 
Miss Abby (a.k.a. Cyrena Bailey Stone)
"Potomac men"
flank 
withdrawal
forage
"open stock" system
"eating off the locals"
District of the Etowah
Roswell mill women deported
skulker
"Terminus"
James M. Calhoun
Andersonville
Gen. Leonidas Polk
Capt. Orlando Poe
Gen. Joseph Wheeler
Gen. Judson Kilpatrick
Signal Corps
Covington
"Joe Brown's Pets"
"plucking a Georgia goose"
skirmish
"Georgia shits"
truce
picket
Hubbard Pryor, for example
shebangs
"grit"
provost marshal
sutler
Izora M. Fair, for example
Battle of Griswoldville
Joe Brown's November 19, 1864 proclamation
Camp Lawton
Sherman's Special Field Order Nos. 119, 120
"Sherman's sentinels"
pioneer corps
"bummer"
Gen. William J. Hardee
Fort McAlister
Fanny Andrews
"Marching Through Georgia" (1865)

QUESTIONS

1. What obstacles (both natural and man-made) lay in the paths of Sherman's invading armies in Georgia?
2. Why had so many Southern exiles settled in Georgia by 1864?
3. What hardships did Georgians experience during the war, and how did Governor Brown and the General Assembly attempt to address these issues?
4. Why was Brown critical of Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy?
5. What role did black slaves play in the state's defenses? Approximately how many former Georgia slaves served in the Union armed forces?
6. How did the Army of Tennessee compare to Sherman's armies? In what ways were these opposing armies similar?
7. What does the author mean by the statement: "For Johnston's public image the Chattahoochee would be a Rubicon of sorts" (p. 79)?
8. How did the people in North Georgia's hills feel about slavery and secession, and what was their attitude toward the Confederate government and Joe Brown's Georgia?
9. Why did Sherman expel or deport non-combatants from Georgia? Was the deportation of civilians (even Unionists) justified? What military benefits were derived from the practice?
10. Did Georgians view Sherman's men as liberators or invaders? What activities by Sherman's "vandal hordes" angered Georgians the most?
11. How did the war impact Atlanta prior to Sherman's arrival?
12. Why did Jefferson Davis remove General Johnston from command on July 18, 1864? Why did Davis choose Hood to succeed "Old Joe"?
13. What strategy did Sherman employ to capture Atlanta? How did the tactic of using his cavalry forces help to accomplish this goal?
14. Why was the Stoneman-McCook "big raid" a disaster?
15. How did Sherman's men attempt to disable railroads, and how were Confederates able to mitigate the damage inflicted on them?
16. What battles comprised the "Atlanta Campaign"? 
17. Why didn't Sherman's black troops see any serious fighting in Georgia?
18. What actions by Sherman led Hood to vow: "We will fight you to the death!"?
19. How did Hood seek to counteract the loss of Atlanta? How effective was Hood's campaign?
20. What was the purpose of Sherman's "March to the Sea"? How did Sherman attempt to ensure that his armies didn't overdo it?
21. How do we know that Sherman's campaign did not in fact become a "carnival of pillage and destruction"? What evidence is there that some atrocities were indeed committed by both sides?
22. What obstacles stood in the way of Sherman's "March"? What Confederate armed forces also attempted to impede his progress?
23. "Did the March to the Sea produce a major breakdown in discipline or a new level of violence directed at noncombatants?" (p. 276)
24. Why is the image of blacks flying en masse to meet Sherman's columns not historically accurate?
25. Why didn't many Georgians answer Governor Brown's desperate call to arms of November 19? How did he view their failure to ignite a guerrilla war?
26. What "rules of engagement" did Georgia women seem to have followed when dealing with the Yankee enemy?
27. Why does the author believe that "outrages" (rapes) were rare?
28. What percentage of Georgia's territory became "Burnt Country" (devastated) by Sherman's March to the Sea? 
29. Did Sherman's march make Georgia "howl," as he had hoped? Why or why not?
30. Which city was hit the hardest, Atlanta or Savannah? Explain.

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Last updated on 08/06/2011
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