science

Sherman's neckties

Sherman's neckties is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sherman's neckties rather than just read about it. In short: Sherman's neckties were a railway-destruction tactic used in the American Civil War. Named after Maj.

Key takeaways

Sherman's neckties belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sherman's neckties to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sherman's neckties from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sherman's neckties were a railway-destruction tactic used in the American Civil War. Named after Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army, Sherman's neckties were railway rails destroyed by heating them until they were malleable and twisting them into loops resembling neckties, often around trees. Since the Confederacy had limited supplies of iron, and few foundries to roll the rails, this destruction was very difficult to repair. They were also called Sherman's Bow Ties, Jeff Davis's Neckties, and Sherman Hairpins. Although the destruction was ordered by Sherman during his Atlanta campaign, the "necktie" shape formed by bending the rails around a tree was not; his orders specified a different method of track destruction which was not as popular:

In case of the sounds of serious battle [Major-General McPherson] will close in on General Schofield but otherwise will keep every man of his command at work in destroying the railroad by tearing up track, burning the ties and iron, and twisting the bars when hot. Officers should be instructed that bars simply bent may be used again, but when red hot they are twisted out of line they cannot be used again. Pile the ties into shape for a bonfire, put the rails across and when red hot in the middle, let a man at each end twist the bar so that its surface becomes spiral. After three days, only one Confederate railroad line leading into Atlanta remained intact. Sherman's neckties were also a feature of Sherman's March to the Sea, a campaign designed to bring hard war, or "serious destruction of infrastructure", to the Confederate States of America. Sherman implemented "scorched earth" policies; he and Union Army commander Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant believed that the Civil War would end only if the Confederacy's strategic, economic, and psychological capacities for warfare were decisively broken. In the early days of the Franklin-Nashville Campaign of late 1864, the Confederates employed similar tactics against Sherman's supply line, the Western and Atlantic Railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta. The rails deformed by fire were known to the soldiers of the Army of Tennessee as "Old Mrs. Lincoln's Hair Pins."

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sherman's neckties

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sherman's neckties claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sherman's neckties before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sherman's neckties ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sherman's neckties

In research: Sherman's neckties appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sherman's neckties in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sherman's neckties is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1864 in Georgia (U.S. state), 1864 in the United States, Area denial weapons, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sherman's neckties outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sherman's neckties in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sherman's neckties means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sherman's neckties out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sherman's neckties in simple terms?

Sherman's neckties were a railway-destruction tactic used in the American Civil War. Named after Maj.

Why does Sherman's neckties matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sherman's neckties?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sherman's neckties.