Major General William T. Sherman's march from Savannah, Georgia, to Columbia, South Carolina, was marked by a battle with an unrelenting enemy: the swamps of the Palmetto State. For more than two weeks, Sherman's veterans faced an unforgiving quagmire, coupled by daily skirmishes with gallant bands of outnumbered Confederates. Along the way, a ruined countryside and wrecked towns marked the path of an army unlike any "since the days of Julius Caesar." It would take an army as adept with the axe as they were with the rifle to tame the rivers, tributaries and swamps of the South Carolina Low country. Join historian Chris Crabb as he traces the steps of Sherman's sixty-thousand-man army in its "amphibious march" from Beaufort to Columbia.

Will they invade us? Where is their army? -- You'd better get out; we are the Fifteenth Corps -- There goes your old gospel shop -- They are South Carolinians, not Americans -- Here began a carnival of destruction -- Men gasping in death -- Yanks, you better leave this country -- Build them strong, Catterson -- Those fellows are trying to stop us -- Nothing in South Carolina was held sacred -- A hasty visit to Mr. Simms -- The plantations now looked desolate -- The most complete rout I have ever witnessed -- Only those who were there could tell -- As if a knife was cutting the flesh -- The men of this army surprise me every day -- A conqueror through the streets of Columbia -- Forests filled with flames and pitch-black smoke -- The language would create consternation -- Conclusion: The army marched triumphantly into humiliated Columbia.