Hutchinson Island

Hutchinson Island is a river island in the Savannah River, north of downtown Savannah in Chatham County, Georgia, United States. The island is formed where the Back River breaks off to the north from the Savannah River. Historically, Hutchinson Island's land use has been primarily industrial, much of which supported the Port of Savannah, one of the busiest containerization cargo ports in the world. The island is roughly 7 miles long and 1 mile wide at its widest point.
Hutchinson Island also played a major role in the capture of Savannah during the American Civil War. After capturing Atlanta, Union Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman turned his army east and south, toward the Atlantic Ocean, and arrived in Savannah in December 1864. Rather than destroying Savannah, Sherman elected to demand the city's surrender. Confederate Gen. William J. Hardee led his troops, under cover of darkness, across the Savannah River on a makeshift pontoon bridge, across Hutchinson Island and into the South Carolina wilderness.

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