Sherman's March to the Sea. General Grant arranged two campaigns for the year 1864. One, under his own immediate direction, was for the seizure of Richmond, the Confederate capital; the other was for the seizure of Atlanta, Ga., the focus of several converging railways. The latter expedition was led by General Sherman. His army numbered nearly 100,000 men, comprising the Army of the Cumberland, led by Gen. George H. Thomas; the Army of the Tennessee, commanded by Gen. J. R. McPherson: and the Army of the Ohio, led by Gen. J. M. Schofield.
When, on May 6, 1864, Sherman began to move southward from the vicinity of Chattanooga, his army was confronted by a Confederate force of 55,000 men, led by confederate General Joseph E. Johnston, and arranged in three corps, commanded respectively by Generals Hardee, John Hood, and Polk. This army then lay at Dalton, at the parting of the ways â??one leading into east Tennessee and the other into west Tennessee.
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