A history of the United States . pursuit. Hood withdrew westward intomarch to the northern Alabama. When Sherman became con-^^^ vinced that his adversary was not willing to risk a general engagement, he sent Thomas north to hold Ten-nessee, while he returned to Atlanta. In a speech at Macon about this time JeffersonDavis compared Sher-mans position to that ofNapoleon in Russia, andpredicted that when hebegan his retreat his armywould be harassed anddestroyed. But Shermanhad no intention of re-treating. On the con-trary, he was planning amovement which tookthe Confederates com-pletely by surpri
A history of the United States . pursuit. Hood withdrew westward intomarch to the northern Alabama. When Sherman became con-^^^ vinced that his adversary was not willing to risk a general engagement, he sent Thomas north to hold Ten-nessee, while he returned to Atlanta. In a speech at Macon about this time JeffersonDavis compared Sher-mans position to that ofNapoleon in Russia, andpredicted that when hebegan his retreat his armywould be harassed anddestroyed. But Shermanhad no intention of re-treating. On the con-trary, he was planning amovement which tookthe Confederates com-pletely by surprise, andwhich caused the author-ities at Washington greatanxiety. He proposed tocut loose from his base,abandon his line of com-rnunications, and marchthrough the fertile fieldsof Georgia, the very heart of the Confederacy, to the was with great difficulty that he persuaded Lincoln andGrant to consent to his plan. I propose, Sherman wrote to Thomas, to demonstratethe vulnerability of the South and make its inhabitants feel. General William T. Sherman. The Outcome of the War 417 that war and individual ruin are synonymous terms. Aboutthe middle of November he started from Atlanta on hismarch to Savannah with an army of 62,000 finely Shermansequipped soldiers. His last message to Grant ruthlesswas: I will not attempt to send couriers back, ^° ^^but trust to the Richmond papers to keep you well ad-vised. Meanwhile Hood had invaded Tennessee with theconfident expectation that he would draw Sherman afterhim. The opposing armies were thus marching in op-posite directions, and Shermans march was unimpeded,Hardees infantry and Wheelers cavalry, the only Con-federate forces encountered, not being strong enough toseriously harass him. True to his intentions, Sherman systematically devastatedthe country through which he passed. Writing fromSavannah he says: We have consumed the corn andfodder in the region of country thirty miles on either sideof a line from Atlanta to Savannah as
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