force that landed Union Army troops and a battalion of United States Marines at Gregorie Point near Yemassee, South Carolina, in an attempt to cut the rail line between Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina; they were defeated by a significantly smaller Confederate force in the Battle of Tulifinny. Early in 1865, Sonoma participated in operations of the squadron clearing the way for General William Tecumseh Sherman in his march north from Savannah. On 9 February 1865, Sonoma, the sloop-of-war , and the sidewheel steamer engaged Confederate batteries at Togodo Creek, near North Edisto, South Carolina. Sonoma was hit twice in the action, but she silenced the Confederate guns. On the same day, Sherman was marching on nearby Orangeburg, South Carolina, which he took on 12 February 1865. Assurance of Union naval control of the waters in its path enabled Sherman's army to travel fast and light and helped to shorten the war. On 16 and 17 February 1865, Sonoma joined in the naval support of the Union Armys attack on Bull's Bay, South Carolina, a diversionary movement in the major drive on Charleston. A boat party from the ship helped in the fighting ashore. The tempo of Sonomas activity eased somewhat as Sherman moved north close to territory whose waters were within the jurisdiction of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, but she and her sister ships remained as visible evidence of Union power. After the Confederacy collapsed in April 1865, the ship sailed north and was decommissioned at New York City on 13 June 1865. She was sold there on 1 October 1867. See also Union Navy References Ships of the Union Navy Ships built in Kittery, Maine Steamships of the United States Navy Gunboats of the United States Navy American Civil War patrol vessels of the United States 1862 ships