Pine Barren Crossroads was a Native American trail crossing at Georgia Highway 56, itself a 19th century road, and in colonial times it lay on a major route called the Old Savannah Road. Beginning in Savannah, that road crossed the Ogeechee River, ran west and south of it, passed through Sandersville, and ended at another trail at Rock Landing on the Oconee River just south of Milledgeville, with much of it still in use. During Union Major General William T. Sherman's March to the Sea, between November 15 and December 21, 1864, Sherman accompanied his 17th Corps, led by Major General Francis P. Blair, Jr., from Tennille to Pooler near Savannah. After encamping on the evening of November 29 about ten miles west along the Old Savannah Road, the 17th Corps entered this intersection on the afternoon of November 30, then turned north to cross the Ogeechee River and camp at Burton, now Midville, Station 9 1/2 on the Central of Georgia Railroad, before continuing through Millen on roads east of the Ogeechee River toward Savannah. The region was known as both Wiregrass and Pine Barrens, and Major Henry Hitchcock of Sherman's staff wrote in his diary that the pine country had better farms than expected and large stores of corn, fodder, and sweet potatoes along the main roads, while away from them there were either no farms or only small patches; foraging was common throughout the area. The other half of Sherman's Right Wing, the 15th Corps under Major General Peter J. Osterhaus and accompanied by Right Wing commander Major General Oliver O. Howard, marched east on trails south of the Old Savannah Road and had considerable difficulty finding their way through pine forests, as maps were useless and few local residents either could or would give directions. Two 15th Corps divisions commanded by Brigadier Generals John M. Corse and Charles R. Woods camped just east of the intersection on November 30 after passing through that afternoon, then followed the Old Savannah Road east and south on the western side of the Ogeechee River before crossing near Savannah. The other two 15th Corps divisions, under Brigadier General William B. Hazen and John E. Smith, camped at Summerville, now Summertown, three miles south, then turned south and marched through Statesboro on roads approximating Georgia Highway 192 and U.S. Highway 80 to the Savannah area.