Green-Meldrim House

General Sherman reached Savannah on December 22, 1864 where he was met by Charles Green who offered the use of his home as Sherman's personal headquarters. Shortly after Sherman arrived at the house , Mr. A.G. Browne, U.S. Treasury Agent, called on Sherman and offered to carry a message to the President. Sherman immediately penned his famous Letter to the President stating "I beg to present to you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns, and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." Lincoln received the message on Christmas Eve. On January 12, 1865, Gen. Sherman and Secty. of War Edwin Stanton met with twenty black community leaders of Savannah. They discussed land for the freed slaves. Subsequently Sherman issued Field Order #15 on January 16, 1865, setting aside confiscated and abandoned land along the SC, GA and northern FL coasts for the exclusive settlement of freed slaves. Each family would receive 40 acres of land and an army mule to work the land. The confiscated land became the jurisdiction of the Freedman's Bureau. After the war property disputes ensued and eventually President Johnson returned the land to its original owners.