In 1864 the Union army destroyed an estimated 37 percent of Atlanta Georgia
CHAPTER 1 THE FALL OF ATLANTA Smoke rose through the night air in September 1864 as fires consumed homes and businesses in Atlanta Georgia Frightened citizens hurriedly packed what they could carry and fled the city The American Civil War 1861 1865 had been raging for more than three and a half years After a month long siege General William T Sherman and the Union army had finally captured the city of Atlanta All civilians were forced to evacuate For nearly four years Atlanta had provided the Confederate army with many of the supplies it needed for the war The city was a busy railroad hub and the industrial center of the Confederacy General Sherman ordered every building or structure contributing to the Confederate war effort to be burned This included mills
munitions factories foundries tanneries hospitals warehouses and many other buildings Two months later much of Atlanta lay in ruin A Union officer wrote home to explain Nothing was left of Atlanta except the churches the City Hall and private dwellings You could hardly find a vestige of the splendid railroad depots THE GATE CITY OF THE SOUTH warehouses etc By the 1850s Atlanta had become an important MARCH TO THE SEA railway hub Four major rail lines ran through Atlanta Its passenger depot was the largest On November 15 Sherman and the and finest in the South and the volume of people passing through it helped give Atlanta 62 000 Union soldiers under his command the nickname the Gate City of the South The left the smoldering city They began city's population boomed and Atlanta became marching east through Georgia burning a thriving center of business Mills tanneries law offices banks and insurance agencies the homes and barns of those who fought began to sprout up Immigrants made their way back They continued until they reached to Atlanta to become part of the growing city of opportunity By 1860 approximately 12 000 the coastal city of Savannah Georgia on people lived and worked in Atlanta December 21 During their 285 mile 460 km March to the Sea Sherman's troops destroyed railroads wrecked supply depots and ransacked government buildings They also stole livestock and raided homes for food What they could not consume or
Under General Sherman's orders soldiers destroyed railroad tracks in Atlanta carry with them they burned or ruined Their goal was to destroy everything in their path that might aid the Confederate army They sought to frighten civilians into abandoning the cause
