Meanwhile, Sherman burned Atlanta and Savannah to try to weaken the South and to make it harder to supply the Confederate Army. He then marched north through South Carolina and North Carolina. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston attacked Sherman at the Battle of Bentonville. Sherman won the battle. Even in the 20th century, Southerners remember Sherman's march as destroying many homes, farms, and railroads, but his soldiers are blamed for things that they could not have done since they were too far away.