William Tecumseh Sherman was probably the greatest asset to the Union side during the American civil war. He is considered among the greatest generals that civil war of the United States of America saw. He was present in the campaigns in 1862 and 1863 that resulted in the fall of the confederate stronghold in Vicksburg along the Mississippi river. In 1864, Sherman took after Grant as a union commander and in his reign saw several important victories. He led his troops to capture the Atlantic City. His march through the Georgia and the Carolinas did a good job of undermining the ability of the confederates to continue with the battles. His campaign in Atlanta was a huge success that that resulted in his name becoming a household name; one of his greatest victories. The Atlanta victory ensured that Abraham Lincoln went back to power. The loss of the presidency of Abraham would have meant a victory for the confederate’s side. Another of his successes that are worth a mention is his Carolinas campaign. Being the first state to have seceded from the union, Sherman was particularly interested in winning it back, and so took a battle to its doorstep. The result was a significant victory not only for Sherman but also for the union side. Sherman was on sight upon the historic surrender of the confederates. He is the one who negotiated with the confederates’ side although the terms were later disputed by the state secretary of war. Sherman still goes down the books of history as the greatest war generals that the union side had.
The emancipation proclamation
On the 1st of January, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln put into effect a proclamation that would significantly change the perspective and view of slaves in the United States. He declared that slaves who were in areas rebelling against the union free. This meant that the slaves in the confederate side were free men and women and they, therefore, had the right and freedom of choice. The union armed forces were, therefore, commissioned not to return any slaves that had fled from the side of the confederates. About three million slaves were considered free by this decree since most of the confederates’ side consisted of slaves due to their large farms and plantations. Some people argue that the emancipation proclamation had a huge significance of the outcome of the American civil war. The fact that slaves were free might have been of positive significance to the union side, but this fact is reputable. The emancipation proclamation was in actual sense, more of a symbolic gesture of equality and social justice. All the Abraham as the president succeeded in doing was to gain political good will. The declaration rendered them free, yes, but their freedom came with a few technicalities. The proclamation did not, in fact, free any slaves in actuality or destroy the institution of slavery. According the proclamation slaves were considered free only in states that had active rebellions, meaning only those in the confederate side. Therefore, the slavery institution was still very active in Border States and areas that were under union control. The impact to the civil war might have been felt only if the freedom of slaves was to be all over America. Most of the enlisting soldiers in the Union side were still slaves with a few free men; this meant that the proclamation had no impact or effect on the African American soldiers in any way, in the sense that African American men still enlisted to the army regardless of the functionality of the Emancipation Proclamation.
