The Division of the Mississippi was victorious at the Battle of Chattanooga in November 1863, effectively routing the Confederate armies in Tennessee. When General Grant was called East by Lincoln to command all the Union armies, he was succeeded as head of the Division by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. Under Sherman, the Division invaded the state of Georgia, capturing Atlanta in September 1864 and then marching to the port of Savannah. As commander of the Division, General Sherman issued his Special Field Orders, No. 15 in January 1865. He then led the march through the Carolinas that culminated with the successful Battle of Bentonville and the surrender in April 1865, by General Joseph E. Johnston, of all the Confederate armies in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.