The march of General Sherman’s armies through South Carolina (1865)

General William T. Sherman’s armies visit to Georgia and South Carolina during the American Civil War is well-known throughout the Southern states. His march is remembered primarily through the plundering and devastation by his five armies in Sherman’s quest to end the war. What has been poorly investigated is the relationships between the individual paths of the armies and the environment. This geohistorical research aims to create a detailed GIS reconstruction of the individual routes of the armies in relation to 1) existing transportation routes at the time of the Civil War, 2) the wetlands environment and 3) episodic meteorological events. Comparisons of the existing transportation routes and routes the armies traversed as strategic choices are conducted.

The research methods includes both qualitative and quantitative analysis of data gathered from different sources – historical maps, memoirs, newspapers, diaries, photos and field surveys