Why did William Tecumseh Sherman destroy southern railways, bridges, crops, and livestock in 1864?
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William Tecumseh Sherman was a General in the Union Army.  He made his famous march, Sherman's March, through the South (at that time, the Confederacy) in order to destroy their infrastructure and sources they would have to make money to finance their side of the Civil War.\n\nSherman's March was hailed in the North (the Union) as a brilliant move to break the backbone of the Confederacy and start to draw the Civil War to a close.  Of course, it was equally demonized by the South (the Confederacy) for the scope of needless destruction, from which it took the people in the path of the march years to recover.
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1. More than one living relative is named after a southern civil war general. \n\n2. Your front porch collapses and more than six dogs are killed. \n\n3. You've ever used lard in bed. \n\n4. Your home has more miles on it than your car. \n\n5. You think that potted meat on a saltine is an hors d'ouerve. \n\nThe link is there its got tons of lines
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Description: In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations. This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. With the loss of Pemberton’s army and this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was effectively split in half. Grant's successes in the West boosted his reputation, leading ultimately to his appointment as General-in-Chief of the Union armies. \n\nResult(s): Union victory
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Good job! Evidently, you've done your homework! \n\nMany aren't aware that the American Civil War was "NOT" about slavery. Nor are many aware that slaves were still being held as private property in the North during that time. Abraham Lincoln owned a slave during the war, and Union General U.S. Grant owned 4. \n\nThe war was, from the Southern standpoint, over States Rights, i.e., a state had authority over the federal government within it's own borders. And also, to defend against an illegal military invasion from the North. \n\nBut it's always the victors in war that write the history, isn't it?
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To utterly demolish it.  Those were different times with different circumstances. There were no pre existing laws that were broke and now there are.
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the northern states wanted to defeat the southern states so as to keep the states together. they won (obviously) and therefore kept the US as a whole. And there's this website to help you:\n\nwww.vermontcivilwar.org
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The North in the late 1850s had a highly developed (for the time) industrial economy.  The Southern states were primarily agrarian in makeup; they looked to the North for manufactured products of all kinds; the only large-scale industrial concern in the South at the time was the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond, Virginia.\nMany historians think that the beginning of the end in 1859-60 was the inability to find a way to resolve the Missouri Compromise.  Keep in mind that "slavery" per se was not the issue; it was one of self-determination and states' rights.  The Compromise dictated that any new states north of Missouri would be free, while any south of Missouri could allow slavery.  When Kansas was admitted as a free state, Southerners were enraged.  Continuing agitation in the north to end slavery in the south also contributed to the general discontent in the south.  The presidential election of 1860 came down to the difference in the northern and southern concepts of states' rights.  Slavery did not become an important issue in the war until about halfway through it.  President Lincoln's primary desire was always to preserve the Union, not (at the start) to do away with slavery.
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If it is the US civil war, indeed slavery was one reason, but tensions between Northern and Southern politicians is another problem as they couldn't effectively compromise over how to deal with slavery and 1850 Compromise, Missouri Compromise etcetra were not effective. Also, Lincoln's election as President is a cause as well as he was suspected to be against slavery as he was a Republican:  as the Southern states succeeded in response to Lincoln's election, the North wanted the South to return = war. Also, arguments over who owned Fort Sumter is another cause. Other causes such as the break down of the two party system can be also claimed to have caused the civil war.
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The main underlying cause for the Civil War was the freedom of states, and the rights of the states granted under the US Constitution, which by the way does not state that succession is illegal orr forbidden.  The powers of the Federal government are stated clearly in the Constitution, and any powers not specifically granted to the federal government are the responsibilities of the states.  Slavery did not become an issue until 1863 when the United States President Lincoln freed the slaves in a forgien country to keep France and Britian out of the war.  Odds are they would not have done anything to really help the South's war effort, but it was a good political move on Lincoln's behalf.
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Major General Phillip Sheridan was relentless in his efforts. He did whatever it took to win. In 1864, he defeated Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and his destruction of the economic infrastructure of the Valley, called "The Burning" by residents, was one of the first uses of scorched earth tactics in the war. In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox.
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I don't have the time to list them for you, but here is a site that might help some...\n\n      http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761567354/Civil_War.html#p53
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There are entire books on this subject, so I'm not going to get too detailed.\n\nThe practice of slavery was an issue left up to individual states.  The states in the Southern region chose slavery because their economies were largely agrarian.  They produced raw goods like cotton.  The states in the Northern region were primarily industrial.  They produced finished goods, which meant they had less of a need for slave labor.\n\nWhen the country started spreading to the West, the Southern states assumed the new territories would be able to vote individually on the slavery issue.  The federal government, which tended to sympathize with the more developed Northern states, decided that it should be the one to assign 'slave' or 'non-slave' status as each new state was recognized.  The idea that individual states would no longer have the power to determine their own policies was objectionable to Southern representatives in Congress.  They voted to secede from the Union in order to preserve the rights of individual states.  The federal government desperately wanted to keep the supply states and the manufacturing states together for economic strength.\n\nIt's easy to portray the Southern cause as immoral, but in reality the number of large plantations with large slave populations was minimal.  The majority of Southerners were no more racist than Northerners.  The federal government eventually prevailed through superior firepower, not superior morality.
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CIVIL WAR\n\n•  1860-61: Causes and Goals \n\nWhat caused the Civil War was hatred of slavery and disgust with abolitionism, anger at the power of slaveowners and fear of slave insurrections, plus southern nationalism and northern nationalism, plus a myriad of slights and insults, fears and forebodings. Historians still are trying to sort out all the causes. In order to understand the military strategies employed, it is necessary to see how the causes leaders perceived were tied to the war aims they pursued. Journalist Edmund Stedman revealed a common sentiment in the North:  more…..\n\nhttp://tigger.uic.edu/~rjensen/cw-1.htm\n\nFrom April 1861 to April 1865, a brutal civil war was fought between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. The American Civil War is one of the most researched conflicts in modern history, yet many people still desire more knowledge about it.\n\nhttp://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/index.cfm\n\nLETTERS & DIARIES\n\nhttp://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/library/letters/index.cfm\n\nWEB SITES ON THE CIVIL WAR AND\nRECONSTRUCTION\n\nA comprehensive list of links for you to explore.\n\nhttp://www.cumbavac.org/Civil_War_and_Reconstruction.htm\n\nThe American Civil War Homepage \n\nhttp://sunsite.utk.edu/civil-war/warweb.html\n\nThe American Civil War Homepage gathers together in one place hypertext links to the most useful identified electronic files about the American Civil War (1861-1865). \n\nResearch/Informational Sites\n\nhttp://www.historyplace.com/civilwar/index.html\n\nhttp://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpcoop/nhihtml/cwnyhshome.html\n\nhttp://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/civwar.html\n\nhttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAcivilwar.htm\n\nhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/indexcivilwarinfo.htm\n\nhttp://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0173280-0&templatename=/article/article.html\n\nhttp://www.civil-war.net/\n\nhttp://members.aol.com/teachernet/\n\nhttp://www.refdesk.com/facthist.html\n\nTHE UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS IN THE CIVIL WAR\n\nhttp://www.coax.net/people/lwf/usct.htm\n\nCivil War Links\n\nBattles\n\nhttp://www.civilwarhome.com/cwinfo2.htm#Battles\n\nLinks to Other Civil War Sites\n\nhttp://www.smplanet.com/civilwar/civilwar.html#Links\n\nFour score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\n\nhttp://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm\n\nhttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/gadd/\n\nINTRODUCTION TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.\n\nhttp://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/25.htm\n\nColored Troops in the American Civil War\n\n"Once let the black man get upon his person the brass letter, U.S., let him get an eagle on his button, and a musket on his shoulder and bullets in his pocket, there is no power on earth that can deny that he has earned the right to citizenship."\n\nhttp://www.americancivilwar.com/colored/colored_troops.html\n\nApproximately 180,000 African-Americans comprising 163 units served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and many more African-Americans served in the Union Navy. Both free Africans-Americans and runaway slaves joined the fight. On July 17, 1862, Congress passed two acts allowing the enlistment of African-Americans, but official enrollment occurred only after the September, 1862 issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.\n\nhttp://www.americancivilwar.com/colored/histofcoloredtroops.html\n\nColored Troops Medal of Honor Winners\n\nWilliam Carney\nPowhatan Beaty\nAndrew Jackson Smith\nAlexander Kelly\nChristian Fleetwood\nThomas Hawkins\nJames Gardiner\n\nAbraham Lincoln (1809-1865) \n\nAbraham Lincoln was born Sunday, February 12, 1809, in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky. He was the son of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, and he was named for his paternal grandfather. Thomas Lincoln was a carpenter and farmer. Both of Abraham's parents were members of a Baptist congregation
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Actually, there WAS a lot of industry.  The civil war had ended, slaves were emancipated (but still very poor and discriminated against).  Most states in the West weren't states yet, just territories with no proper government.  Things were pretty busy in large cities and in Industrial New England and New York and Pennsylvania, but if there wasn't a railroad nearby, you had to take a horse or boat or just walk, so people didn't move very far away if they could help it.  I don't think there were labor usions in those times, so work conditions were pretty bad, and since medical science was pretty scarce compared to today, people died fairly young of diseases like smallpox, typhoid, cholera, etc.
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There are 4 primary causes of the US civil war (I'm assuming this is the one you want).\n\n1.  federalism--favouring a strong centralized government as opposed to strong state governments.\n2.  slavery\n3. expansionism--extending control into new territory\n4.  sectionalism--blind focus on the interest of a section or region instead of the whole.
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In the South, the economy was based on agriculture, and the chief crop was cotton, which depended heavily on labor to produce it. Slaves were an important source of labor in the farming industries.
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There are hundreds of web sites containing this information:\n\nhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Sherman%2C+Texas