Download Sherman`s March Through South Carolina

Sherman’s March
Through South Carolina
Third Grade Social Studies
2/27/09
Let’s Review!
South Carolina seceded from the Union in 1860, and
formed a new country called the Confederate States of
America with other southern states.
 On April 12, 1861, the Confederacy demanded that
Union troops leave Fort Sumter.
 The Union troops refused, so General Beauregard of the
Confederate army began firing on Fort Sumter.
 This bombardment continued until the Union troops
surrendered.
 The Federal troops were allowed to leave peacefully, but
the Civil War had begun.

Let’s Review!
President Lincoln and the Union army prepared
for war, and so did the Confederacy.
 South Carolina depended on the export of cotton
in exchange for imports of much needed war
supplies from Europe.
 The Union Navy blockaded the Charleston
Harbor to keep the Confederacy from getting
these supplies.
 This brought great hardship on the people of
South Carolina because they could not get the
things they needed.

Let’s Review!
Determined to break the blockade, the
Confederacy developed the first
submarines near the end of the war.
 The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine
to sink an enemy ship in battle.
 However, the Hunley sank after attacking
the USS Housatonic, and was not effective
in breaking the Union blockade of
Charleston.

The Civil War Comes to South
Carolina
After Fort Sumter, most of the Civil War
battles took place outside South Carolina.
 However, the war came to our state when
the Union forces took over Port Royal
(near Hilton Head) and tried to take over
Charleston for over a year.

General Sherman


Near the end of the war,
General William
Tecumseh Sherman led
his troops across Georgia
and South Carolina in an
effort to split the
Confederacy and finally
bring an end to the war.
He used a tactic called
“total war.”
The March to the Sea
Sherman’s troops
marched from Atlanta
to Savannah, Georgia.
 They left behind a
“trail of destruction.”
 As they marched,
they burned and
looted farms and
plantations.

Sherman’s march through South
Carolina
Sherman’s march
continued through
South Carolina from
Savannah to
Columbia.
 The city of Columbia
burned, and
Sherman’s men
headed toward the
North Carolina border.

STOP!

Find page 22 of your South Carolina atlas
and trace Sherman’s March through our
state.
Why?
The purpose of Sherman’s march was to
destroy the Confederacy’s supplies and
anything that was important to the
economy of the south.
 This was all in an effort to end the war,
and convince the civilian population to end
the war.

What it might have been like…
What have you learned?
What major South Carolina city was
burned during Sherman’s march?
 What was the purpose of Sherman’s
march?
 What effect did Sherman’s march have on
the Confederacy?
