In the American Civil War, General Tecumseh Sherman’s march through the South is nothing short of legendary. Growing up in South Carolina, I heard about and witnessed the effects of how he set the secessionist state ablaze in retribution. The fall of Atlanta also carries a special place in history: It was a major victory on Lincoln’s resume before the midterm elections, and Gone with the Wind forever dramatized (albeit in a biased manner) how the city became decimated. I knew both these events well, but I did not know much about the history in between. Historian Bennett Parten revised and published his doctoral dissertation to explain this timespan to the wider public. He conveys important history about how emancipation snowballed into a refugee crisis that foreshadowed Reconstruction’s difficulties.
When in graduate school in Charleston, South Carolina, my wife and I often vacationed along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. We visited places like Beaufort, Port Royal, Savannah, Edisto Island, and Sapelo Island. This story features those areas prominently – a primary reason I picked up this book. While the Lowcountry knows this history intimately, I find that most of the rest of the country instead shares a whitewashed tale devoid of many racial injustices. Studying this history can remind us of how we can and must do better to achieve America’s promised freedom.
Until I vacationed in Beaufort, I did not know much about the Port Royal Experiment, but then I saw the Penn Center firsthand and read other historical plaques on the island. This book filled those outlines in with details, including how it sparked a public education system and how it fell apart due to a refugee crisis involving Georgia’s newly emancipated ex-slaves. I gained a deeper understanding of that harrowing story and frankly wish even more that more Americans would learn about it. Thankfully, several chapters describe those events.
With recent interest in black civil rights and renewed concerns about racial injustices, the reading public should welcome a book like this. As with any good history, it’s not a tale told with passion, but it gently enlightened me about how we arrived to where we are. It also showed me human nature more acutely that enables a hope of a better tomorrow. This work simultaneously moved me by the emancipation’s hope and saddened me by the persistent structural inequities. Those twin themes remain when I read today’s newspapers. This book enriched my understanding of emancipation’s dramas – and can enrich the understanding of many other people, too.
Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s March and the Story of America’s Largest Emancipation
By Bennett Parten
Copyright (c) 2025
Simon & Schuster
ISBN13 9781668034682
Page Count: 272
Genre: American History
www.amazon.com