MAPS OF HISTORY · ON THIS DAY · DECEMBER 21 · Capture of Savannah (1864)ON THIS DAY · 21 DECEMBER 1864
Capture of Savannah
21 Dec 1864 — Sherman finishes the March to the Sea at Savannah and wires Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah.” Some 19,000 freedpeople have followed his columns out of slavery.
21 DECEMBER 1864 · THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, 1840–1877 These maps are reconstructed from published sources · US Military Academy: Principal Campaigns of the War · US Military Academy: Strategic Situation at the End of the Campaign, 27 February 1862 · US Military Academy: Southeastern United States, 1861 · US Military Academy: Chattanooga and Vicinity, 1863 – Movements Since 24 June · US Military Academy: Chattanooga and Vicinity, 1863 – Opening the Gateway, 30 September -17 October · US Military Academy: Grant’s Plan for the 1864 Campaign · US Military Academy: Sherman’s Turning Movement, 26 August 1864 · US Military Academy: Principal Federal Movements, November 1864 – April 1865 · US Military Academy: Capture of Weldon Railroad, 18 August 1864 · National Park Service: Port Royal and the Sea Islands · Cliopatria v 0.2.1 · Fort Donelson National Battlefield · Newberry Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: historical states and territories · Maps of History: Civil War source decisions
Source details US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. US Military Academy Department of History; selected geographic facts reconstructed independently, original chart retained outside distributed files.. Geographic evidence only. Source atlas index requests reprint permission; original artwork not redistributed. National Park Service; November1861 Port Royal occupation. The early coastline layer is date-specific, not the entire1862 coastal gain.. US government historical geographic evidence Cliopatria contributors / Seshat Global History Databank. Selected, combined, reprojected and corrected by Maps of History as described per layer.. CC BY4.0 National Park Service; February1862 river forts and Nashville campaign.. US government historical geographic evidence The Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. State/territory records unioned for the displayed date; disputed/joint territories excluded from exclusive US sovereignty.. Publisher permits commercial and noncommercial lawful reuse without fees; current terms supersede obsolete NC notice in archive Source-native legal boundaries, annual military control and independently reconstructed campaign sectors are kept separate. Region connectors and corridor widths are interpretive.. Original historical reconstruction with attributed evidence Legal US boundaries come from dated Newberry records. Secession and military control use separate source layers, while campaign corridors are educational geographic reconstructions rather than surveyed continuous fronts.
reconstruction: 1845 · reconstruction: 1861 · reconstruction: 1861-04-13 · reconstruction: 1861-07-21 · reconstruction: 1862-02-28 · reconstruction: 1862-06-08 · reconstruction: 1863 · reconstruction: 1863-07-10 · reconstruction: 1863-11-26 · reconstruction: 1864 · reconstruction: 1864-09-03 · reconstruction: 1864-12-22 · reconstruction: August1864 Richmond/Petersburg siege sectors · vector: 1860 state-interface reference · vector: us-e24e487b916d
Layer records and reconstruction methods
The moment in context In the summer of 1864, the Confederacy had reason to watch the Northern election as closely as the battlefield. Heavy losses and apparent stalemate had tested the public’s willingness to continue. The Democratic platform declared the war a failure and demanded an armistice. McClellan, its candidate, rejected parts of that platform and wanted to restore the Union. Even so, stopping the fighting while Confederate armies remained intact would have changed the bargaining position sharply. If those armies could hold out until November, Northern politics might offer the South a way to survive.
From 1864 election and March to the Sea , chapter 10 of The American Civil War, 1840–1877 (NOV 1864).
The place: Capture of Savannah — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes Why it happened — The election as a strategic front. After Gettysburg, Confederate leaders could hope to win time until Northern voters lost patience with the war. By the summer of 1864 that hope was…The turn — The vote of 8 November 1864. On 8 November voters chose Lincoln. A McClellan victory might have led to armistice talks with Confederate armies still intact and slavery’s future…What it changed — Pressure reaches soldiers’ homes. Sherman’s advance carried destruction into the Confederate interior, adding to the hardship of soldiers’ families. Letters from home could pull men…Then ask the room: How should we judge Sherman’s march: its conduct, its effect, and its human cost? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
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