King's Bridge

In Dec. 1864 after a 300-mile march which had left a wide belt of destruction from 'Atlanta to the Sea,' Gen. Sherman's army (USA) of about 60,000 men was nearing Savannah. During the first weeks of his campaign, his four widely spread columns had found adequate supplies on the rich farms and plantations of central and eastern Georgia; but in Chatham County he found little but rice and rice straw upon which to subsist his men and animals. He needed all classes of supplies, as well as heavy guns with which to conduct a siege. Although a supply fleet, under Adm. Dahlgren, was waiting in nearby anchorages, the ships could not pass Fort McAllister (CSA) 10 miles downstream at Genesis Point, and all attempts to reduce it by naval bombardment had failed.