It is well known that General William Sherman did not attack Augusta during his famous military march during the American Civil War. His march destroyed property and confiscated livestock and crops. (Interestingly, Confederate General Joseph Wheeler, the main opposition to Sherman, was also under orders to destroy property and crops).
In a letter to the editor of the Augusta Chronicle, Sherman explained that he did not need to attack Augusta; he wanted to get to Savannah so the Union Navy could re-supply him.
A recent paper in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20200397) calculates how lucky Augusta was to avoid Sherman’s march. Feigenbaum and his co-authors estimate that the value of farms declined by 20 percent and livestock by 14 percent in counties Sherman marched through. Investment in farmland declined by about 15 percent following the march and persisted through the 1920’s.
Although manufacturing was a smaller sector than agriculture, it also suffered from Sherman’s march.
Capital declined by 30 percent and employment and establishment growth was 40 percent lower than in counties unaffected by the march. However, unlike agriculture, manufacturing recovered very quickly and had no long-lasting effects by 1880. The authors suggest the rapid growth of manufacturing after the Civil war may explain this result.
Another factor impacting the recovery in agriculture and manufacturing was the availability of credit. Nearly every bank in Georgia shut down right after the war, severely limiting credit and the recovery process.
Credit-dependent counties suffered a greater decline in manufacturing activity. Agriculture was less dependent on banks, relying more on local wealthy benefactors, and agricultural activity declined less in those counties with wealthy elites.
