On this Christmas Eve mere days after Savannah’s subjugation to the United States, the city’s Second Baptist Church, an African American congregation, long serving as a center of religious, social and political life for black citizens, is abuzz in a new way. Generations of slavery now behind them, black residents bask in their new found…
With Savannah safely in Union hands, a victorious General William T. Sherman telegrams U.S. President Abraham Lincoln with a simple message: “I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition and also about 25,000 bales of cotton.” The capture of the port city…
Despite defiance mere days earlier, Confederate forces evacuate from Savannah today, leaving the city to Sherman‘s army. An official Confederate report of the evacuation notes: “The troops from the western lines were quietly withdrawn in the order and at the hours indicated in the circulars issued by the lieutenant general for the evacuation of the…