This was the U.S. Civil War campaign carried out by the Union General Sherman (William Tecumseh Sherman). During November and December of 1864. This was intended as campaign to punish the South for the war and to drive an army deeper into Southern territory than anyone could have expected, it was done by having the entire army live off the land - which essentially meant stripping everywhere they went of anything useful. In the words of Sherman's own order:
Headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi,
in the Field, Kingston, Georgia, November 8, 1864.
The general commanding deems it proper at this time to inform the officers and men of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Corps, that he has organized them into an army for a special purpose, well known to the War Department from our present base, and a long and difficult march to a new one. All the chances of war have been considered and provided for, as far as human sagacity can. All he asks of you is to maintain that discipline, patience, and courage, which have characterized you in the past; and he hopes, through you, to strike a blow at our enemy that will have a material effect in producing what we all so much desire, his complete overthrow. Of all things, the most important is, that the men, during marches and in camp, keep their places and do not scatter about as stragglers or foragers, to be picked up by a hostile people in detail. It is also of the utmost importance that our wagons should not be loaded with any thing but provisions and ammunition. All surplus servants, non-combatants, and refugees, should now go to the rear, and none should be encouraged to encumber us on the march. At some future time we will be able to provide for the poor whites and blacks who seek to escape the bondage under which they are now suffering. With these few simple cautions, he hopes to lead you to achievements equal in importance to those of the past.
By order of Major-General W.T. Sherman,
L. M. Dayton, Aide-de-Camp.
I will not fill this with boring details of the miles marched, the plantations burned, etc., etc. (Though I may come back and add them later when I am not feeling half so lazy.)
The entire event was capped off with Sherman's arrival at his goal: Savannah, Georgia. He dispatched a message to Lincoln that read in part:
"I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah..."
I have read the works of some scholars that contend that Sherman's campaign accelerated the end of the war. The argument is made that without this campaign the war would have gone on for many more months - with the correspondingly higher loss of life. His attempt to bring the war to the people of the South, and to make the cost of the war prohibitively high, was successful.
I have also read works that argue that Sherman was unnecessarily brutal. That there was no clear strategic purpose to the drive through the South, and that the effort simply stiffen Southern anger and drew out the painful years of the Reconstruction. I do know, from personal experience, that some in the South still curse the name of Sherman today...
Militarily it was quite the feat. Whether it was good for the country is another matter entirely.