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[[File:sherman.jpg|thumbnail|200px|left|''"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it."''William Tecumseh Sherman.]]After March 1864, the Army of the Potomac became relentless in the pursuit of the Army of Northern Virginia. Grant tracked Lee through the Wilderness, into Petersburg, and finally to Richmond. Known as the Overland Campaign, this unyielding chase during March and April 1865 resulted in over 60,000 Union casualties.<ref>Cutrer, Lecture.</ref>The general, who became known as a butcher, did not like the high casualty rate but predicted an even greater number if the fighting lingered. In a letter to his wife, he noted that the way in which battles were depicted in the newspapers may have been exciting to those who “lose no friends” and that he was in favor of as little carnage as possible. He continued to express his belief that “The way to avoid it [excessive carnage] is to push forward as vigorously as possible.”<ref>Greenville M. Dodge, ''Personal recollections of President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant , and General William T. Sherman'' (Council Bluffs: Monarch Printing, 1914), 36.</ref>While Grant hounded Lee at every turn, he relied solely on General William T. Sherman to control Georgia and march north through the Carolinas to link up with the Army of the Potomac. [[File:sherman.jpg|thumbnail|200px|''"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it."''William Tecumseh Sherman.]]Sherman did not disappoint Grant as he proceeded from Atlanta to Savannah. He was confident in his troops' ability to “make the march, and make Georgia howl!”<ref>McPherson, 808.</ref>Vilified in the South, both then and now, for what seemed like senseless destruction, Sherman acted appropriately. He was in enemy territory with his army in a time of war. His troops had no supply line and needed food. Also necessary was preventing the Rebels from regrouping after Sherman left Georgia. Southerners, soldier and civilian alike, had an uncanny knack of for restoring hope and renewing possibilities from seemingly hopeless situations. Sherman had personal knowledge of the tenacity of the people against whom he was fighting and was aware of the necessity to destroy any possibility of a Confederate resurgence. General Grant advocated Sherman’s tactics, averring that his actions were not unwarranted given he was “in the enemy’s territory and without any supplies.”<ref>Ulysses S. Grant,'' Personal Memoirs'' (Westminster: Random House, 1999), 510.</ref> 

Although he was seen by some southerners as the devil incarnate, Sherman enjoyed the South and its people. He lived in the region while teaching at the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy. He too was a West Point graduate and, like Grant, he resigned from the army; though Sherman did this of his own volition. Additionally, he was from the "West", Lancaster, Ohio, and endured many failures in civilian life and therefore had no concerns about shielding his reputation, thus, when he was berated for his actions in the war, which were not limited to Georgia and the Carolinas, he was unapologetic.<ref>Flood, 21-35.</ref>  Major-General Greenville Dodge recalled Sherman’s response to a woman who was criticizing him regarding the pillaging done by his troops on their march into Knoxville: “There are two armies here; one is in rebellion against the Union, the other is fighting for the Union – if either must starve to death, I propose it shall not be the army that is loyal.”<ref>Dodge,141</ref> General Sherman was acting due to war-time necessity and the preservation of his own army and the Union.