 Poe was indispensable (by the commanding General's own words) during the March, when Sherman cut loose from his supply lines to Chattanooga and headed southeast across the body of Georgia to Savannah, living off the land, to bring fire and pillage to the center of the Confederacy rather than pursue John Bell Hood's elusive Rebel army, at the time a hotly debated and controversial strategy among the Union high command (aside from such vital targets as Vicksburg, New Orleans, Fort Donelson and the fixation on the capture of Richmond, Union strategy until that time had usually focused on the reduction of Confederate forces, not attacks on territory and infrastructure, and followed established military practices of protected supply lines.Hood eventually headed north toward Nashville on an ill-advised campaign of conquest and was soundly defeated near there by Union forces led by George Thomas).Dozens of river crossings, poor or non-existent roads and the extensive swamps of southern Georgia would have fatally slowed Sherman's force had not Poe's skills as leader of the bridge, road and pontoon building units kept the army moving.