The water in the creek is steadily rising requiring a pontoon bridge to be built to get wagons and troops across, but when it comes time for the huge army of coloureds to cross, the order is given for the bridge to be hauled up after the last wagon has crossed.

That is until the Army reaches Ebenezer Creek after days and days of torrential rain. History as is often the case records the journey and the men, many who were far from the status of the hero history now records them as having been.Ĭrossing Ebenezer Creek is the tale of freedom, the high cost of leaving slavery and all that had been familiar, through the eyes of young slave girl Mariah as she grabs an opportunity to escape, taking with her two much younger children in Zeke and Dulcina, both struggling to comprehend the world of everyday, for vastly different reasons.Īs Mariah joins the caravan to freedom, she meets Caleb, a coloured man trusted by Captain Galloway, a true gentleman and believer in freedom and rights for all peoples, to drive the wagon and collect whatever supplies available as Sherman’s army moves steadily across the land.Ĭaleb and Mariah find they have much in common and enjoy each other’s company so much so, they both begin to dream of journeys end with a new beginning on a piece of land where they could grow their own crops and raise their children. Many made the journey into a new life, many did not. When the American Civil war raged between the North and the South many slaves took the opportunity to leave their places of cruel bondage and join General Sherman’s march through Georgia.

Crossing Ebenezer Creek by Tonya Bolden