The Cumberland Mountain Civil War Roundtable will be hosting a presentation from a history professor on Major General William T. Sherman’s March to the Sea in 1864, which aided the end of the American Civil War.
Following the federal breakout from Chattanooga in November 1863, President Lincoln promoted Major General Ulysses S Grant to the special rank of Lieutenant General and placed him in complete command of all Union armies. Grant moved his headquarters to Washington, DC, leaving his trusted subordinate, Major General William T. Sherman, in command of federal operations in the western theater. Upon arriving in Washington, Grant’s primary military strategy was a coordinated effort to attack and defeat the two main Confederate armies in the field: Robert E Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia in the east and Joseph E. Johnston, later replaced by John Bell Hood, and the Army of Tennessee in the west. On May 5, 1864, Grant launched his overland campaign against Lee in Virginia. Two days later, Sherman launched his Atlanta Campaign in the west.
Sherman’s march is the most well-known example of the U.S. Army’s doctrine of “hard war” in the latter parts of the Civil War. This famous, or infamous, strategy was not a new direction in war making, but was a traditional strategy going back many centuries. It was, essentially, an offensive variant of the scorched earth strategy. A clear example is the chevauchee enacted by the English armies against the French during the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) in which English armies engaged in devastating marches deep into French territory and seized resources. The most classic case is the Grand Chevauchee of 1355 under Edward of Woodstock, where he marched 300 miles each way from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean and back. This example provides a very useful comparison with Sherman’s march to Savannah on the coast.
Dr. Don Leech, history professor at the University of Virginia at Wise, will mostly focus on Sherman’s march. He will make comparisons with Edward’s march in terms of multiple front strategy, goals and methods. He will also discuss how both marches have been misrepresented in history.
Leech grew up in England but immigrated to the United States as a teenager. Since then, he has lived in Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Kingsport, Tennessee. He obtained a Ph.D. in Medieval and Early Modern history from the University of Minnesota and is now on the faculty at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise. He has several publications on late medieval history. His interest in the American Civil War and Sherman’s march emerged from having lived in two countries and different parts of the US. He discovered that depending on where one lives, the American Civil War can be regarded very differently. This is especially true with Sherman’s march. Dr. Leech decided to combine a professional historian’s trained methodology with an outsider’s perspective – his English heritage and specialization in medieval history – to objectively consider Sherman’s march in the broader historical context.
The Cumberland Mountain Civil War Roundtable will meet Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 6 p.m. at the Christ Lutheran Church, 481 Snead Drive. After the presentation, Dr. Leech will be available for a Q&A. First time visitors are admitted for free, but we do ask a $5 donation to repeat nonmembers. Memberships to the roundtable can be obtained for the yearly subscription of $25 per person or $35 for couples.
American Civil War books will be on display for purchase.
The Cumberland Mountain Civil War Roundtable is an organization of Civil War enthusiasts. Presentations from authors, college professors and historians are normally presented on the second Wednesday of the month at Christ Lutheran Church in Fairfield Glade. The purpose of the roundtable is to educate, discuss and bring to focus the events and historical facts concerning the American Civil War. For additional information, call Ken Patton at 901-292-9312 or Dennis Flynn at 913-948-3499.