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Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order is the premier biography of William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War commander known for his “destructive war” policy against Confederates and as a consummate soldier. This updated edition of John F. Marszalek’s award-winning book presents the general as a complicated man who, fearing anarchy, searched for the order that he hoped would make his life a success.
Sherman was profoundly influenced by the death of his father and his subsequent relationship with the powerful Whig politician Thomas Ewing and his family. Although the Ewings treated Sherman as one of their own, the young Sherman was determined to make it on his own. He graduated from West Point and moved on to service at military posts throughout the South. This volume traces Sherman’s involvement in the Mexican War in the late 1840s, his years battling prospectors and deserting soldiers in gold-rush California, and his 1850 marriage to his foster sister, Ellen. Later he moved to Louisiana, and, after the state seceded, Sherman returned to the North to fight for the Union.
Sherman covers the general’s early Civil War assignments in Kentucky and Missouri and his battles against former Southern friends there, the battle at Shiloh, and his rise to become second only to Grant among the Union leadership. Sherman’s famed use of destructive war, controversial then and now, is examined in detail. The destruction of property, he believed, would convince the Confederates that surrender was their best option, and Sherman’s successful strategy became the stuff of legend.
This definitive biography, which includes forty-six illustrations, effectively refutes misconceptions surrounding the controversial Union general and presents Sherman the man, not the myth.
General William Tecumseh Sherman has come down to us as the implacable destroyer of the Civil War, notorious for his burning of Atlanta and his brutal march to the sea. A probing biography that explains Sherman's style of warfare and the threads of self-possession and insecurity that made up his character. Photos.
“In Sherman, John F. Marszalek has written the premier biography of the brilliant Civil War general. Based on exhaustive research, written smoothly, and argued intelligently, it easily surpasses any existing volume on William Tecumseh Sherman’s lengthy and controversial life.”—Journal of American History
Preface
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1 Unstable Beginnings 1
2 Making Southern Friends 30
3 Gold Rush Soldier 52
4 Setting Down Roots 77
5 The Disorder of Financial Life 93
6 Contented Southern Schoolmaster 123
7 Reluctant Warrior Under Attack 140
8 Rebirth at Shiloh 171
9 Restoring Order to Memphis 188
10 Battling the Bayous to Reach the Vicksburg Fortress 202
11 Practicing Destructive War in Mississippi 232
12 Atlanta Falls 259
13 March to the Sea 288
14 Punishing South Carolina and Ensuring Victory 317
15 Fame Tarnished 334
16 National Hero and the South's Friend 360
17 Indian Country Chaos 377
18 The Anchor of Home 401
19 Commanding General versus the Politicians 422
20 Retiring from the Army and Refusing the Presidency 445
21 Safeguarding Historical Order 460
22 A Full Life Ends 479
Notes 501
Bibliography 587
Index 613
Anonymous
Posted September 22, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Sherman: A Soldier’s Passion for Order is the premier biography of William Tecumseh Sherman, the Civil War commander known for his “destructive war” policy against Confederates and as a consummate soldier. This updated edition of John F. Marszalek’s award-winning book presents the general as a complicated man who, fearing anarchy, searched for the order that he hoped would make his life a success.
Sherman was profoundly influenced by the death of his father and his subsequent ...