Forty Acres and a Mule | The order by General Sherman was a Promise Never Kept

In 1864, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman marched his army of 100,000 soldiers through Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas. He burned entire towns and villages, wrecked railroads and captured hundreds of prisoners. The order by General Sherman was a promise never kept.

The promise of forty acres and a mule

The order by General Sherman was a promise never kept. Sherman’s orders to the army were to march to the sea and take Savannah. When they reached Augusta, Georgia, he changed his orders and told his men to march westward. They marched for over two hundred miles without stopping. When they reached Atlanta, Sherman changed his orders again and told his men to march northward. He then marched them all the way to the sea.

Why Sherman ordered the order

When General William T. Sherman ordered the burning of Atlanta in 1864, he made a promise to the citizens of the city that they would be allowed to take forty acres and a mule. Unfortunately, this order was never fulfilled and the citizens were forced to flee the city. The reason for this order is still unknown, but it may have had something to do with supply lines.

The aftermath of the order

The order by General Sherman was a promise never kept. After taking the city of Atlanta, he ordered the burning of the city. This resulted in countless families being displaced and many losing everything they had.

The future of acres and a mule

In the wake of the Civil War, the Union Army was in disarray. General William Tecumseh Sherman was tasked with rebuilding and reforming the army. One of his primary goals was to create an efficient supply chain that would allow for rapid movement of troops and materiel. In order to achieve this goal, Sherman created what is now known as the “Forty Acres and a Mule” order.

The order required that all troops be supplied with fifty acres of land and one mule for transportation. This system allowed for rapid movement of supplies and troops across the battlefield, without having to waste valuable resources on transportation. Although the order was a success, it was never fully implemented due to budgetary constraints. Today, the order is seen as a model for efficient military supply systems.

Conclusion

Forty Acres and a Mule is an excellent book that tells the story of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march to the sea from Atlanta to Savannah in 1864. The order by which he attacked was a promise never kept, as his troops were out of food and clothing long before they reached their destination. This book sheds light on what it was like for Sherman’s men, both during the march and after they reached their final destination.