The March

About “The March”

In 1864, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman led his army of sixty thousand troops from Atlanta through Georgia to the sea, then north through the Carolinas. The march involved fighting Confederate forces and living off the land, with the army taking food, animals, and supplies from Southern plantations. Along the way, the army included freed blacks and white refugees, creating a transient population of the uprooted and dispossessed. E. L. Doctorow's 2005 novel The March portrays this event through a large cast of characters, including General Sherman, a freed slave girl named Pearl, a Union surgeon, a Southern judge's daughter, and two soldiers. The novel captures the lives of those caught in the war's violence, presenting a powerful and immersive narrative.