On January 16, 1865, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi in Savannah, Georgia, issued his Special Field Order No. 15. Sherman had recently completed his famous march to the sea from Atlanta, Georgia. In the process his army had attracted many self-emancipated Black Americans, most of whom had no way to support themselves and relied on the army for food and shelter. Sherman felt pressured into finding a way for the freed people to support themselves, preserving the army�s resources for his fighting men.