Major General William T. Sherman, after capturing…
January 1865 CE
Major General William T. Sherman, after capturing Savannah in the culmination of his march to the sea, had been ordered by Grant to embark his army on ships to reinforce the Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James in Virginia, where Grant is bogged down in the Siege of Petersburg against the army of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.
Sherman has bigger things in mind.
He predicts on January 5, 1865: "I do think that in the several grand epochs of this war, my name will have a prominent part."
He persuades Grant that he should march north through the Carolinas instead, destroying everything of military value along the way, similar to his march to the sea through Georgia.
Sherman is particularly interested in targeting South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union, for the effect it will have on Southern morale.