Union General William T. Sherman captured Savannah at the end of his March to the Sea.
Sherman’s campaign began when Union troops left Atlanta on November 15, 1864. His armies crossed Georgia toward the Atlantic, destroying railroads, supplies, and other infrastructure that supported the Confederate war effort. The campaign was designed to damage Confederate morale and demonstrate that Southern armies could no longer protect the interior.
Union forces reached Savannah in December. Confederate General William J. Hardee evacuated most of his troops across the Savannah River, and the city surrendered on December 21, 1864. Sherman presented Savannah to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas gift, along with captured artillery, ammunition, and cotton.
Savannah was not the final city Sherman captured during the war. After resting there, his army moved north through the Carolinas, later taking Columbia, South Carolina, and helping force Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender in North Carolina. Atlanta was an important earlier Union victory, but it was the starting point of the March to the Sea, not its destination.