Here is how it actually went down. They burned all manufacturing buildings. They burned anybodys homes who would dare to resist or confront them..take a shot at them or caught in the act of supporting the confederacy by sabotage. They lived off the land, that meant they took everything that could be used for the march, including food stuffs and horses and animals. They destroyed the rail roads-which were actually repaired by the rebels about as fast as they destroyed them.
The “Bummers” those not assigned to forage, where a problem. But then again, Joe Wheelers boys werent called Wheelers thieves for no reason. Joe Wheeler was the Rebel calvarey leader who was tasked with opposing Shermans march to the sea. Wheelers boys where particularly nasty against the southern rights supporters. If you resisted in letting them take what they wanted, they shot you.
History shows that when they arrived at the end of the march, that Savannah actually found out that Sherman wasnt so bad. Matter of fact, the north sent tons of supplies to the town to overcome the shortages created by the locust southern army eating up everything in site while they occupied the place.
Do you write fiction? LOL