In celebration of the sesquicentennials of General William T. Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign and March to the Sea, the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History is opening a special exhibit titled “1864.” The exhibit will feature transcripts and letters from Civil War soldiers, a regiment snare drum and period photographs.

The museum hopes that the exhibit will allow visitors to “get a sense of the situation experienced by soldiers and citizens alike as that dreadful year got underway.”

The museum contains letters from several soldiers, including Captain George Hudson of the 36th Georgia. Although Georgia was spared the bitter fighting and devastation Southern soldiers experienced in Virginia and Tennessee, they still endured their fair share of hardships.

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“Sherman’s March devastated parts of Georgia’s landscape and left some citizens barely able to survive,” the museum explains. “We hope to tell the stories of not just the soldiers and military strategists, but some of these everyday citizens who endured hardships at the hands of warring armies.”

“I want to live through this war for your sakes,” Captain Hudson wrote in one his letters on display at the museum. “I will try to be a better Husband and Father Than what I have been.”

To learn more about the exhbiit and how the museum is celebrating the sesquicentennial, visit their website.