"P" is for Potter’s Raid (April 5-21, 1865)

"P" is for Potter’s Raid (April 5-21, 1865). General Edward E. Potter’s raid into the lowcountry and central South Carolina was neither massive nor particularly crucial to Union victory. In March 1865, while the rest of Sherman’s army marched into North Carolina, a detachment of Union soldiers drove toward Darlington in hopes of breaking the area’s railroad connections. Meeting resistance, they fell back. The failure irked Sherman who ordered that as much force as necessary be used to accomplish the mission. Leaving Georgetown and raiding as far inland as Sumter, Potter encountered little to stop him. During the raid he destroyed railroad trestles, rail lines, rolling stock, and 51,000 bales of cotton. When Potter’s Raid was over, in addition to the destruction of property, some five thousand newly-liberated slaves followed the Union troops back to Georgetown.