CompleteMartialArts.com - Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea
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Manufacturer: Harper
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.7378
EAN: 9780060598679
ISBN: 0060598670
Label: Harper
Manufacturer: Harper
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 688
Publication Date: 2008-08-01
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: 2008-08-05
Studio: Harper
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Editorial Reviews:
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Award-winning Civil War historian Noah Andre Trudeau has written a gripping, definitive new account that will stand as the last word on General William Tecumseh Sherman's epic march—a targeted strategy aimed to break not only the Confederate army but an entire society as well. With Lincoln's hard-fought reelection victory in hand, Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union forces, allowed Sherman to lead the largest and riskiest operation of the war. In rich detail, Trudeau explains why General Sherman's name is still anathema below the Mason-Dixon Line, especially in Georgia, where he is remembered as "the one who marched to the sea with death and devastation in his wake." Sherman's swath of destruction spanned more than sixty miles in width and virtually cut the South in two, badly disabling the flow of supplies to the Confederate army. He led more than 60,000 Union troops to blaze a path from Atlanta to Savannah, ordering his men to burn crops, kill livestock, and decimate everything that fed the Rebel war machine. Grant and Sherman's gamble worked, and the march managed to crush a critical part of the Confederacy and increase the pressure on General Lee, who was already under siege in Virginia. Told through the intimate and engrossing diaries and letters of Sherman's soldiers and the civilians who suffered in their path, Southern Storm paints a vivid picture of an event that would forever change the course of America.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good, but mostly for serious Civil War buffs
Comment: If you are interested in the serious details of Sherman's March to the Sea, this book has it. Obviously well-researched, the book details the movements of each part of Sherman's army between Atlanta and Savannah. A series of geat maps will allow you to follow the movements day by day. As the title "Southern Storm" implies, there is a lot of material on the effects of the march on the Georgia population in Sherman's path. Although I like quotes from the participants of the times, there is a bit too much of that for me in this book, and I think that slows down the read. I agree with another reviewer that noted that this book definitely doesn't have the flow or excitement of a book by Sears or Rhea, two of my favorite Civil War authors. However, "Southern Storm" is a worthy addition to a Civil War library.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Civil War buffs will not be disapponted.
Comment: While heavily laden with statistics, especially corps and division movements/whereabouts, I found the book a great read. I was previously unaware of the immense logistical undertaking this campaign presented. And I really enjoyed the numerous quotes from the hundreds of letters and diaries from participants. Just obtaining and vetting that treasure trove of material had to be a huge undertaking. Highly recommended, especially for Civil War and military history fans.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just didnt flow well, but it's just my opinion
Comment: Let me just say that this opinion is highly subjective. I like a certain type of Civil War book, and this just really wasn't it, but that doesn't mean others won't love this book.
I prefer a steady operational type book, you know, where the divisions, brigades moved, peppered with excellent maps. While this book had both, it is mostly a book of quotes from diaries and contemporaries about the Southern condition. It just didn't "flow", like a Cozzens or Sears or Rhea book does. Maybe just too much description of the "human condition" caused by Sherman's march, interrupting the discussion of troop movements.
Now, I freely grant you that other people whose tastes are different will absolutely love this book. It just wasn't to my taste. Still it was of moderate interest. I can't seem to find a decent book on the march to the sea...
Also, I agree with the reviewer who said the author should have continued with the Carolina operations. Perhaps that's the next book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Storming Sherman
Comment: A very solid, workman-like account of Sherman's march through Georgia, but not especially emotionally engaging. It does stop at Savannah though, there's nothing on the continuation of the campaign into South Carolina and North Carolina. There are no great battles here, those pretty much ended with the capture of Atlanta. One point made quite clearly in this book is that Sherman did his best to avoid major confrontation with the Confederate forces and split his force into two prongs to at least appear to threaten the maximum number of targets and thin the Southern defences, and he was hugely successful at this, with a great deal of help from the South and its inability to form a united command structure to oppose him. Hood took his substantial forces left after the attacks out of Atlanta and went north to threaten northern supply lines and presumably force Sherman to divert his offensive to follow him, only to succeed in destroying what was left to no particular purpose. The remaining Confederate generals and their forces couldn't decide on what to defend or how to go on the offensive to blunt or stop Sherman. The book gives very clear explanations on what was on the minds of both sides. There's lots to learn here for those sufficiently interested, but little that will stir your blood unless you're a descendent of the folks in Sherman's path.
Customer Rating:
Summary: You get to join the left and right wings in the march from Atlanta to the taking of Savannah
Comment: Sherman's so-called "March to the Sea" is the stuff of American legend. The popular view of it as Total War with the goal of attacking civilians is utterly wrong. Nor was it, as Sherman later claimed, a mere relocation of headquarters from Atlanta to a port on the sea at Savannah. Noah Andre Trudeau takes us through the entire campaign including its origins, and a very detailed and almost day-by-day and mile-by-mile process of Sherman's forces through the forests and swamps of Georgia in November and December of 1864.
The campaign had a general intention, but not a detailed plan. Sherman's forces were 60,000 strong and hand sufficient food and arms to keep those men fed and armed for more than a month, if need be. The line of marching troops and hundreds of wagons were miles long. At the end, the supplies remained almost completely in tact because of the extensive foraging activities. Sixty-thousand men will eat an enormous amount of food each day and it is these foraging activities that caused most of the destruction of civilian goods. While there were some cities along the way that bore the brunt of Sherman's anger, for example the town of Millen near Camp Lawton, a Confederate prison camp for Union soldiers, was ordered destroyed in a "tenfold more devilish" manner than the commander of the Seventeenth Corps had ever dreamed of. Most of the time, guards were put around the homes and the civilians were protected in their homes and the property in the homes was left in tact. However, many of these people had hidden their goods outside and those, when found, were taken by the soldiers.
The citizens were left very vulnerable when their yams, pigs, beeves, horses, and other goods usable by Sherman's army were taken. These people couldn't simply go and get food at a nearby store and their neighbors surely suffered a similar fate. So, yes, there was terrible civilian hardship after such a large army passed through. But the notion that there was a continuous path of burning and murder from Atlanta to the sea is fantastically overblown. One of the interesting aspects of this campaign is the hundreds and thousands of slaves who left their homes to free themselves and follow the army. However, the army told them to go back home because the army could not and would not provide for them. At times, the army pulled up its pontoons and bridges immediately after crossing to leave slaves on the bank and unable to cross. Yet, many still found ways to cross (some probably drowned) and stayed with the army. Later some were used as laborers to lay corduroy (split logs laid crossways over the road) to enable the army to pass over mud.
The Confederate forces were quite ineffective in trying to stand against or even harass Sherman's army. The author places most of the blame for this on Jefferson Davis's empowering separate armies without a central command. The various commanders did not have sufficient force to do any more than sting Sherman's army and had no one to unify the forces. Nor did the civilians answer the call for 10,000 more volunteers.
The taking of Fort McAllister is fascinating reading. The preparation was extensive and the actual battle was over in less than a half-hour. Most of the fatalities on the Union side were caused by the "torpedoes", the word used at that time for what we call land mines. They were used to impede the progress of the army towards Savannah. Sherman ordered the Confederate prisoners of war be used to dig them up and remove them. This act was controversial then and remains so today. Sherman's view is that if they didn't want their soldiers blown up by the torpedoes they should not have planted them. He certainly wasn't going to endanger his men in that work. The taking of Savannah was more or less an abandonment and surrender. There was no battle and the Confederates scuttled some ships, most notably the spectacular explosion of the ironclad "Savannah", and burned some supplies that might have aided Sherman's army. The Rebels were ineffective in spiking their heavy guns, which the Union easily repaired and took for their own use.
This very interesting, well-written, and informative book also has a section of contemporary images and a list of the forces and their commanders for both the Union and the Confederacy during Sherman's march. There are also extensive footnotes, a detailed bibliography, and a very helpful index.
I think this is a superb book and recommend it strongly.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
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