Drawing extensively on Willie Lee Rose’s “Rehearsal for Reconstruction,” an influential chronicle of the Union’s early and mixed efforts to assist freed Black Americans, Parten argues that “what came after the march was as much a crucible, as much an ordeal, as the march itself.” Though Sherman triumphantly entered Savannah in December, most of the refugees never entered the city. Instead, they were sent up the coast to Port Royal, the Union outpost on the coast of South Carolina where about 15,000 freed people lived alongside Northerners who had migrated south to serve as educators and missionaries.

There, Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton, the military governor of the Department of the South, had been ordered to take possession of all plantations previously occupied by rebels and to feed, shelter and generally care for the formerly enslaved. But as 17,000 Georgian refugees arrived, many had to be housed in rough tents, or they slept outdoors, often without blankets. At least 1,000 of them died of exposure.

In this, the second and somewhat more derivative half of his book, which is less about the march than about its aftermath, Parten largely focuses on how the “hopes and failures” of the march persisted, particularly when Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, in Savannah, met with Garrison Frazier, a formerly enslaved pastor, who told them, “We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own.” Sherman’s subsequent Special Field Order No. 15 allowed freed men and women to settle on a strip of captured land that stretched from Charleston down to Jacksonville, under a provision that came to be known colloquially as “40 acres and a mule.”

Men like Edward Philbrick, one of the Northerners who came to Georgia’s Sea Islands with humanitarian intentions, purchased 11 plantations in the strip, arrogantly assuming that by employing freed people on his property, he would bring about their “elevation.” As Parten rightly observes, Philbrick represents those capitalists who wanted “to reshape the slaveholding South in the image of the North,” with its highhanded, paternalistic privatization of land.

With the aid of a dropped two-point conversion attempt, the Buffalo Bills held on to defeat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-25, on Sunday in the final divisional round game of the weekend.

Ravens tight end Mark Andrews was open on the game-tying two-point try with 1:33 to go but couldn’t haul in the pass from quarterback Lamar Jackson. Buffalo recovered the ensuing on-side kick and secured the victory.

The two-point conversion is no good 😳

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— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2025

The win puts Buffalo in the AFC Championship Game for the second time in five seasons and sets up a matchup next weekend with the Kansas City Chiefs — a nemesis that quarterback Josh Allen and coach Sean McDermott have yet to vanquish in the playoffs.

Allen emerged victorious over Baltimore and Jackson, a fellow MVP candidate, to improve to 7-5 in the postseason. Allen rushed for two scores, while completing 16 of 22 pass attempts for 127 yards (a season low in passing yards in a game where he attempted a pass). Rookie running back Ray Davis added a rushing touchdown as the Bills totaled 147 yards on the ground on the league’s top-ranked rushing defense (80.1 yards per game allowed in the regular season).

The Bills forced three turnovers — an interception and two fumbles. Buffalo’s secondary took a hit when Taylor Rapp was carted to the locker room in the second quarter with a hip injury and did not return.

The Bills will take on the Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game next Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET on CBS). In three of the past four seasons, Kansas City has eliminated Buffalo from the playoffs — in the 2020 AFC Championship Game and the 2021 and 2023 AFC divisional rounds. During the 2024 regular season, Buffalo was the only team to defeat the Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes starting at quarterback in a 30-21 home win in Week 11.

GO DEEPER

‘It’s not normal’: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs make it 7 straight AFC title games

Opportunistic defense delivers takeaways

In a game headlined by MVP co-favorite quarterbacks, Buffalo’s defense stole the show, emerging with several critical stops and takeaways.

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Despite the harrowing finish, Buffalo’s defense quashed Jackson and Derrick Henry for most of the night. Baltimore’s most effective weapon through three quarters was backup tailback Justice Hill, who finished with six carries for 50 yards. Jackson threw an interception to Rapp in the first quarter and fumbled while being sacked by safety Damar Hamlin in the second. Von Miller scooped up the loose ball and ran 39 yards to the Ravens’ 24-yard line. The Bills scored a TD four plays later.

CHAOS ON THE SNAP AND THE BILLS RECOVER 😮

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— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2025

Later, with the Ravens down five points and marching late, Bills linebacker Terrel Bernard peanut-punched the ball away from Andrews after a 16-yard gain and recovered the fumble, a pivotal play. It was Andrews’ first lost fumble since 2019. Buffalo turned that takeaway into a field goal and an eight-point lead with 3:29 to go.

Terrel Bernard forces it.
Terrel Bernard recovers it.@BuffaloBills ball!

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— NFL (@NFL) January 20, 2025

Linebacker Matt Milano delivered three quarterback hits, waylaid receiver Rashod Bateman on a third-down play to force a field goal and deflected Jackson’s pass on a two-point conversion attempt to tight end Isaiah Likely late in the third quarter. Edge rushers Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa combined for three tackles behind the line of scrimmage. — Tim Graham, Bills senior writer

Buffalo’s ground game comes up big

The Bills’ offense certainly didn’t have their best day, but when the opportunistic Bills’ defense gave them some chances, they held up their part of the bargain. The Bills focused on the running game, and surprisingly so, given how stout the Ravens’ defense had been against the run all season. The Bills found success early in the game with their trio of James Cook, Ty Johnson and Davis. The Ravens put up a better fight to begin the second half, but the Bills kept with it into the fourth quarter which helped set up what wound up being the pivotal field goal from Tyler Bass to put them up eight.

The Bills have one of the best offensive lines in the NFL this year, and they believed in them so much against this Ravens’ defense that they put the game in their hands, and they responded well. And to put the exclamation point on the day, Johnson gained 17 yards and went down to seal the game, sending the Bills to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the 2020 season. — Joe Buscaglia, Bills beat writer

A date with the Chiefs awaits

The Bills had some nervy moments late in the game, but in the end, they booked their ticket to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since the 2020 season. The Bills finished the year with a perfect record at home and now get a chance to head to the Super Bowl for the first time since the early 1990s. And, because, of course, it’s them, the Bills will move on to face the Chiefs, the very team that has stood in their way over multiple playoff runs.

The last time the Bills were in the AFC Championship Game, the Chiefs turned them away at Arrowhead Stadium. The Bills are now a much different team and have certainly learned their lessons in the playoffs and otherwise. Now they get the chance to beat the final boss at the end of the video game, and finally, for the first time since McDermott became head coach, advance to a round in the playoffs further than the Chiefs. — Buscaglia

Required reading

(Photo: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)