March to the Sea: Savannah

March to the Sea: Savannah is a Georgia historical marker in Chatham County, dedicated 2014.

In Madison Square across from St. John's Episcopal Church.

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On December 21, 1864, during the Civil War, U.S. forces under Gen. William T. Sherman captured Savannah, completing the March to the Sea, a military campaign designed to destroy the Confederacy's ability to wage war and break the will of its people to resist. After destroying Atlanta's industrial and business (but not residential) districts, Sherman's 62,500 men left that city in mid-November and marched over 250 miles, reaching Savannah by mid-December. Contrary to popular myth, Sherman's troops primarily destroyed only property used for waging war - food, railroads, train depots, factories, cotton gins, and warehouses. Abandoning their supply base, they lived off the land, destroying food they could not consume. They also liberated thousands of enslaved African Americans. Sherman's "hard hand of war" demoralized Confederates, hastening the end of slavery and the reunification of the nation.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1852 · Georgia, Florida. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1856 · The City Of Savannah Georgia. (with) The City of Charleston South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1863 · Sketch of sea coast of South Carolina and Georgia from Bull's Bay to Ossabaw Sound (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1865 · Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1874 · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina, 1865, covering the location of March to the Sea: Savannah, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Savannah, Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina, 1865, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Sherman's Headquarters: Green-Meldrim Mansionsame spot
History of Emancipation: Special Field Orders No. 15same spot
Old Sorrel-Weed Housesame spot
Madison Squareunder 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Green-Meldrim House170 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.