Date of Award
Spring 2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
First Advisor
Blight, David
Abstract
When William Tecumseh Sherman’s army marched through Georgia in the last full year of the American Civil War, it didn’t march alone. As many, if not more, than 20,000 freed refugees from slavery marched along at the army’s rear. This dissertation tells their story. It argues that Sherman’s fateful March to the Sea represented not just an important military campaign, but quite possibly the largest emancipation event in American history. It also follows the refugee experience on to the shores of Georgia and South Carolina, showing how the army’s arrival in Savannah and this emerging refugee crisis shaped some of the major questions of Reconstruction.
Recommended Citation
Parten, Bennett, "Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman's March and the History of Emancipation" (2022). Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations. 643.
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/gsas_dissertations/643