General Sherman's campaign through Georgia during the Civil War is often remembered for its devastation among Southern civilians, particularly depicted in films like 'Gone with the Wind.' His army inflicted heavy destruction, resulting in mass casualties and widespread ruin of plantations. However, for many enslaved people who joined Sherman's march, it represented a critical opportunity for freedom, as they sought escape from bondage amidst the chaos of war. This dual narrative highlights the complex legacies of conflict, where destruction for some fostered liberation for others.
This scene is typical of the way Sherman's march through Georgia is usually depicted. In the fall of 1864, Sherman took sixty thousand Union soldiers some two hundred and fifty miles from Atlanta to the ocean, scorching a vast swath of the state along the way.
Yet to the many enslaved people across the state who left their homes and followed Sherman to the sea, the march meant freedom. Theirs was not the stately freedom of legislative change, but a raw, desperate bid for liberation.
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