Sherman's march to the sea was a turning point for the Union. It was the beginning of the end of the war. Sherman showed the Confederacy that their government could offer them no protection as he marched generally unchallenged thru the heart of the South. The damage done by his Army crushed the military industrial complex in Atlanta and shut down supplies the Confederates needed to continue to wage war.
Because of the toll on civilian non combatants, the march has been viewed by critiques of both Lincoln and Sherman as war crimes. Bombarding defenseless cities and burning them to the ground - forcing inhabitants of Atlanta to vacate and become homeless and without food just before winter set in were not tactics considered acceptable to many in the mid 1800's.
The fall of Atlanta was one of the most, if not the most important military successes of the Union and certainly can be credited with changing the tide of the war. It ensured the reelection of Lincoln. It decimated Atlanta's ability to make war material and transport it, disrupted communications, and drove a stake thru the heart of many in the South's will to fight.
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