Book One: Georgia; Chapters 15 through 17 Summary

Chapter 15 takes place as General Sherman is being hailed as a national hero for his taking of Savannah, but he is oddly dissatisfied because he considers what he is currently doing governance rather than war. He tells his men they will soon be going back on the road to take the Carolinas. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton arrives and is complimentary of Sherman, but unhappy about his army discouraging the freed slaves from accompanying them north. Sherman is livid and, in order to get rid of the former slaves, decrees that each of them shall receives 40 acres of land in a certain section of the South for resettlement. He is starting to feel better when he reads in the newspaper that his six-month-old son has died.

In Chapter 16, Wilma and Coalhouse line up to apply...