On November 12, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman
ordered the business district of Atlanta, Georgia, destroyed
before he embarked on his famous March to the Sea.

When Sherman captured Atlanta in early September 1864,
he knew that he could not remain there for long.

His tenuous supply line ran from Nashville, Tennessee,
through Chattanooga, Tennessee, then one hundred miles
through mountainous northern Georgia.

The army he had just defeated, the Army of Tennessee, was
still in the area and its leader, John Bell Hood, swung around
Atlanta to try to damage Sherman’s lifeline. Of even greater
concern was the Confederate cavalry of General Nathan
Bedford Forrest, a brilliant commander who could strike
quickly against the railroads and river transports on which
Sherman relied.

Atlanta’s Union Station Destroyed by The Union Army.

A Bank Lay in Ruins After The Battle and Occupation of
Atlanta.