March to the Sea: Ebenezer Creek

March to the Sea: Ebenezer Creek is a Georgia historical marker in Effingham County, dedicated 2010.

GA Hwy 275 In front of the Historic Ebenezer Cemetery at the New Ebenezer Family Retreat.

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One mile north, on December 9, 1864, during the American Civil War, U.S. Gen. Jeff. C. Davis crossed Ebenezer Creek with his 14th Army Corps as it advanced toward Savannah during Gen. William T. Sherman's March to the Sea. Davis hastily removed the pontoon bridges over the creek, and hundreds of freed slaves following his army drowned trying to swim the swollen waters to escape the pursuing Confederates. Following a public outcry, Sec. of War Edwin Stanton met with Sherman and local black leaders in Savannah on January 12, 1865. Four days later, President Lincoln approved Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15, confiscating over 400,000 acres of coastal property and redistributing it to former slaves in 40-acre tracts.

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

1825 · Beaufort District, South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1856 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1864 · Colton's Georgia (1864) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1865 · South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1874 · Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud). (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud), 1874, covering the location of March to the Sea: Ebenezer Creek, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Plache VII. Sea Islands. (Carolina du Sud), 1874, 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

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The Rev. John Martin Bolzius the Rev. Israel Christian Gronauunder 1 mi
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Silk Culture at Ebenezerunder 1 mi