December, 1864 - Savannah awaits the approach of a conquering Union Army. Some flee the city. With 60,000 men, General William Tecumseh Sherman has cut a swath of desolation across Georgia, destroying railroads and living off the land. With the remnants of Gen. John Hoods troops fallen back into Tennessee, a mere 9,000 Confederates under Gen. William Hardee are available to face the Union host. One last obstacle prevents Sherman from linking with naval forces in the Atlantic and falling upon Savannah. Fort McAllister, a little earthwork bastion on the Ogeechee River, blocks Sherman's access to the sea. Defended by Major George Anderson and a scant 150 men, the fort sits defiantly in Sherman's path. At nightfall on Dec. 13 waves of federal veterans break over the ramparts and in 15 minutes the fort is taken. Sherman resupplies his army and demands Savannah's surrender, threatening a destructive bombardment. Gen. Hardee's troops evacuate the city over a pontoon bridge to Hutchinson Island Dec. 20. On Christmas eve Sherman telegraphs President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas Gift, the City of Savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; and also about 25,000 bales of cotton. Thus, the war ended for Savannah and an occupation that would last into the Reconstruction era began. Spared destruction, the city struggled with post-war obstacles and by the middle of the next decade was attaining renewed prosperity, again from the export of cotton. 
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