Although Sherman was planning to march east to seize the city of Savannah, Georgia (the campaign that would be known as Sherman's March to the Sea) he was concerned about his lines of communications back to Chattanooga.
Selv om Sherman planlagde at marchere øst på for at tage byen Savannah (det felttog som blev kendt som Shermans march mod havet) var han bekymret for sine kommunikationslinjer tilbage til Chattanooga.