Thanks to Dr. Bennett Parten for joining me to talk about his fantastic new book, Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s March and the Story of America’s Largest Emancipation. The book offers a major reinterpretation of how the movement of Sherman’s army toward Savannah, in November 1864, resulted in the emancipation of roughly 20,000 enslaved men, women, and children.
The book centers the story of the enslaved during the march, but also complicates our understanding of how emancipation evolved over the course of the war. The decision of so many African Americans to follow the army created new opportunities in the form of Special Field Order No. 15, which redistributed confiscated Confederate land along the South Carolina and Georgia coast to formerly enslaved people in 40-acre plots. It also created, as readers learn, a serious crisis after refugees were forced to relocate to Port Royal, South Carolina.
Parten demonstrates that the story of ‘slavery to freedom’ in Georgia and South Carolina in 1864-65 was complicated and rife with setbacks, but ultimately must be understood within our broader struggle for freedom in America that continues to this day.
I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s well researched and extremely well written.
Next Meeting of the Civil War Memory Book Group
Do you enjoy reading Civil War history and spending time with other serious students of the war? If so, you are going to want to join us for our next meeting on May 18 at 8PM EST. We will be discussing Michael Vorenberg’s excellent new book, Lincoln’s Peace: The Struggle to End the Civil War.
Our special guest will be the author himself. You will have a chance to share your thoughts and ask questions.
The discussion will take place on Substack live, so you don’t have to do anything other than have the app uploaded to your phone, which is easy enough to do.
The only other thing that you need to do to take part is upgrade to a paid subscription. It’s worth the price.
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