General Sherman's Special Field Orders #15

Todd Groce showed the historical marker at the place where General Sherman issued his famous Special Field Orders 15 -- more commonly known as “40 Acres and a Mule” -- which influenced generations of African Americans in the South following the Civil War. He talked about the history of the order. Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson was shown in his office the next day talking about the historic meeting with black leaders that led up to the order, and why it was ultimately unfulfilled.

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their “2011 LCV Cities Tour” in Savannah, Georgia, on June 1-8 to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the Comcast local cable affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on BookTV on C-SPAN2. close