The siege of Savannah (December 9 – 21, 1864) occurred at the conclusion of the Savannah campaign, when Union armies under the command of Major-General William T. Sherman successfully besieged the Confederate city of Savannah during the American Civil War.
Arriving in eastern Georgia, Major-General William T. Sherman discovered that Confederate Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee held fortified Savannah with 15,000 men. A skillful Confederate defense at Honey Hill kept the railroad open to Charleston, South Carolina.
On December 13th, Major-General William T. Sherman stormed Fort McAllister at the mouth of the Ogeechee River, 15 miles from Savannah. On the 16th, the Confederate forces were strengthened by the arrival of Brigadier-General Ferguson's brigade of dismounted cavalry. Then, establishing communications with the Union naval forces under the command of Rear-Admiral John A. Dahlgren, Sherman began an investment of the city. With his lines of communication about to be cut, Hardee evacuated Savannah on the night of the 20th of December, and Sherman moved in on December 21st, presenting the city in a shipborne and telegraph message as a "Christmas gift" to United States President Abraham Lincoln.
Jones, Charles C. (1874). The Siege of Savannah in December, 1864, and the Confederate Operations in Georgia and the Third Military District of South Carolina During General Sherman's March from Atlanta to the Sea. Albany, N. Y.: Joel Munsell. OCLC 1084957628. OL 6915627M – via Internet Archive.
Media related to Siege of Savannah at Wikimedia Commons
Evacuation of Savannah at the Historical Marker Database
NCWM Snapshot - "The Fight for and Surrender of Savannah" on YouTube
The American Civil War (1861–1865) was the deadliest conflict in American history, killing an estimated 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers and an unknown number of civilians. The Confederate States of America, formed by eleven seceding Southern states, faced the Union in four years of warfare across 23 states and territories. Major engagements included First and Second Bull Run, Antietam (the bloodiest single day in American history, September 17, 1862), Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), Vicksburg (surrendered July 4, 1863), and Sherman's March through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864–1865). President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, transforming the war's stated purpose to include the abolition of slavery and enabling the enlistment of approximately 180,000 Black men in the United States Colored Troops. Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. The war resolved the question of secession and ended American slavery, though Reconstruction would face sustained resistance in its attempt to secure civil rights for formerly enslaved people.
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