Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sherman's March to the Sea took place from the 15th of November to the 21st of December 1864. It began when Major General William T. Sherman's forces left Atlanta and ended with the capture of Savannah, Georgia.
Sherman commanded 62,000 men: 55,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 2,000 artillerymen operating 64 guns. The force was divided into two columns, the Army of the Tennessee on the right wing and the Army of Georgia on the left.
S. H. M. Byers, a Union prisoner of war held at Camp Sorghum near Columbia, South Carolina, wrote the poem titled "Sherman's March to the Sea" in late 1864. Fellow prisoner W. O. Rockwell set it to music, and when Byers was freed he gave it directly to Sherman, who promoted him to his staff.
Sherman telegraphed President Lincoln on the 22nd of December 1864, offering him "as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." Lincoln replied on the 26th of December, crediting Sherman with the full honor of the achievement.
Sherman estimated the campaign inflicted $100 million in destruction. A 2022 American Economic Journal study found that the destruction caused a large contraction in agricultural investment, farming asset prices, and manufacturing activity, with elements of the agricultural decline persisting through 1920.
Historians disagree. Some describe it as an early example of total war in modern warfare, while others prefer the term "hard war" because Sherman's orders limited destruction to military-industrial targets and civilian death tolls were comparatively low. The debate remains active, particularly as scholars examine the more destructive Carolinas campaign that followed.