Introduction
Ulysses Grant and William Sherman were army generals in the northern army who came up with a strategy that led to the defeat of the confederate army. Abraham Lincoln appointed Grant as the lieutenant-general, and he was in charge of most army units in the north. Sherman was a general who worked with Grant to come up with a plan to defeat the confederate army in the south (Mirza, 2007, p. 287). They met in Burnet House where they discussed their plans to attack the Confederate army and eventually end the war.
The strategy that Grant and Sherman used was total war. The meeting proposed that Sherman was to destroy the resources of the South that helped the army while the grant was to go for General Lee. Sherman was to make an attack on General Johnston and his army and take control of the railroads and Atlanta. The attack on the railroads would separate the Confederates into two. Their supplies would thus be cut, and they would be at a disadvantage because of the shortage of arms. Sherman, therefore, was to destroy the supplies of the Confederate army in Tennessee and eventually pursue the Confederate army and make an end of it. Grant on his part was to attack General Lee, who was in Virginia. The plan worked out as lieutenant general Grant fought through there were many causalities on both sides. General Lee eventually surrendered, and the plan on grants side succeeded.
Sherman succeeded though he did not fight the civilians, especially where he destroyed plantations. Sherman ensured that his men covered broader areas and helped destroy the remaining resources up to the sea from Atlanta. He wanted to use public opinion to make the people disapprove of the raging war. The civilians in Sherman’s case, were not attacked but their ability to help their soldiers was thwarted by the destruction of the railroads, plantation and army supplies.
The strategy of total war was effective in that the Union army led by Grant with the support of Sherman was able to defeat the Confederate army (Hess, 2009, p. 245). The overall war strategy was successful though there were many casualties especially that attack by Grant, which in ended in victory.
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