Sherman's burning of Atlanta changed war and branded the city

• Atlanta's literal rise from the ashes fueled the city's boosterish identity as a place of constant change that could defy any challenge.

Flashback: On Sept. 1, 1864, Sherman forced Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood and his forces out of Atlanta. For the next two and a half months, Union troops occupied the city to prepare for the next battle campaign.

• Sherman stayed in a stately home where City Hall now stands, and his troops built camps across the street on the grounds of what is now Georgia's capitol.

The general ordered civilians to evacuate the city, which, prior to Sherman's arrival, had a population of roughly 22,000 people.

• Over the final days of the occupation, from about Nov. 11-16, Union troops knocked down buildings and set fires in and around downtown.

• Some residents' homes and businesses and schools were burned, despite orders to spare civilian structures.

Caveat: Contrary to reports and images of a vast, smoldering wasteland, the Georgia Historical Society says, roughly 40% of the city was destroyed.

What happened next: Sherman began his famous March to the Sea, a scorched-earth campaign from Atlanta to Savannah.

• The general, who famously declared "War is hell," spared the historic city, which he later presented to President Lincoln as a "Christmas gift," along with guns, ammo and cotton.