Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea | 
 enlarge | Author: Noah Andre Trudeau
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $15.73
You Save: $19.27 (55%)
New (38) Used (11) from $15.73
Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1043
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.8
ISBN: 0060598670
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.7378
EAN: 9780060598679
ASIN: 0060598670
Publication Date: August 1, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New Item. All Items are Shipped in Boxes the Same Day or Next Business Morning with Delivery Tracking Info Emailed to Customer.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Southern Storm is a superb retelling of this iconic Civil War campaign August 13, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
If the average person were to be asked to name an event of the American Civil War, it is likely that Sherman's March would be near the top of the list, possibly ahead even of Gettysburg. A 20th Century series of damaging floods in Georgia were referred to as the "worse devastation since Sherman's Civil War march to the sea," and an Atlanta sportswriter referred to a disgraced Atlanta Braves' player as "the most disliked person hereabouts since William Tecumseh Sherman." During the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, T-shirts were sold, portraying a fiery image of the general, with the legend, "Atlanta's Original Torch Bearer." Routinely, visitors to ante-bellum homes, not only in Georgia but also in Mississippi and Alabama are treated by the docents to gory tales of what Sherman did to their town. They are befuddled when reminded that, (a) obviously the house we are in did not get burned, and (b) Sherman was no where near here.
Noah Andre Trudeau has written a number of books on the Civil War, among them, Like Men of War: Black Troops in the Civil War 1862-1865, an excellent account of the role of the United States Colored Troops, and added to these with Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea.
Trudeau's concern is that most books by and about the March have not tried to nail down exactly what Sherman expected to accomplish and exactly what really did go on. If the destruction was as great as not only remembered by Georgians, but bragged about by Sherman's boys, then why have so many ante-bellum properties survived.
Trudeau argues that the campaign was a highly organized, carefully planned operation, with ample room for Sherman to improvise. When he departed from Atlanta, on November 15-16, 1874, his troops were not travelling lean and mean. "Packed into more than 2500 wagons were a twenty-day supply of bread, forty days or sugar, coffee, and salt and three days worth of animal feed. Moving with the lengthy wagon trains were 5,000 cattle, representing a forty day beef supply." [538] Indeed, his wagon trains were larger per thousand men than were those the Army of the Potomac took into the Wilderness six months before.
Trudeau was also committed to discovering exactly what happened during the march. He dug deeply into writings of both Yankees and Rebels, their letters, their diaries, and to a lesser degree, their reminiscences. His bibliography is thirty-seven pages of fine type, mining numerous manuscript and newspaper sources, as well as dozens of published articles from historical magazines and autobiographies.
Starting with a quick discussion of the post-capture of Atlanta troops movements and the development of Sherman's idea to march to the Atlantic, Trudeau starts Sherman's army from the Atlanta area on November 15, 1864. Each day's march is illustrated by a small quarter page map of that day's troop activities, which would be very helpful if one wanted to drive the March. In addition, Trudeau discovered in his research that the weather was always mentioned by diarists and letter writers, if forgotten by memorialists and autobiographers, so each little map has an inset of that days weather (November 15 was clear, high 40s, low 50s). He argues that the weather played a major role in the campaign with the initial fine weather turning nasty with extensive rains and continued chilly conditions, something Sherman had not counted on.
A typical day, using Tuesday, November 22, went something like this: it snowed in the morning, then cleared in the afternoon with the temperature ranging from upper 20s to low 40s. Henry Slocum's Left Wing moved slowly toward the then-state capitol, Milledgeville, shivering in the cold. Advance units reached the town in the afternoon and evening. The troops moved through, with Slocum making his headquarter's in the local hotel. The residents hung out white flags, a successful protection device for their homes while the inmates torched the state penitentiary. And the blacks greeted their liberators with cheers and dancing in the street. Some African-Americans were not as lucky: an 8th Texas cavalryman recorded in his diary that they "whipped about 1,000 negros, who were on their way to the enemy."
Uncle Billy made his headquarters in the plantation of Confederate politician Howell Cobb, noticing the way the evening sky was lit by the surrounding campfires. Someone turned up a recent Cobb proclamation urging Georgians to assail the Yankees on all sides -- and that was enough to doom Cobb's property.
The Confederates, now convinced that Sherman was not heading to Macon, decided that Augusta with its powder works was the real target and made plans to dismantle the works. The Confederate response to Sherman was hampered by divided command between Wheeler, Beauregard, Hardee and Gov. Brown, each split off form the others by lack of a telegraph, whose lines had been cut by Sherman.
Oliver Howard's Right Wing was sliding past Macon and dealing with the snow and the resulting mud. An important aspect of Sherman's Army were the Pontoon trains that accompanied each wing, waiting to provide instant bridges over any water that could stop the Yankees. The 25th also saw skirmishing at Griswoldville between the Right Wing troops and Confederates from Macon.
Sherman reached Savannah on December 22, occupying the city and making contact with the blockading U.S. Navy ships.
Trudeau is continually concerned with exactly how much damage was actually done to property on the way - not as much as both the Confederate memories and the Yankee boastings would remember - and with the impact of the March on the War.
Where the troops actually passed, damage was extensive: animals killed, fences cut down to build campfires. "Many of us are utterly ruined," one Bulloch County farmer wrote. More fences than houses were destroyed -as is evident by the number of ante-bellum homes that can be toured in the path of Sherman's Boys. The biggest property loss were the slaves who, in the thousands, tramped after the liberating Yankees. Railroads had ties burned and rails bent. Slocum reported that his Left Wing destroyed 119 miles of railroad.
But as soon as the shock passed, people began to rebuild. Telegraph service from Mobile to Richmond had been restored by New Years Day and by January 3, 1865, Confederate engineer, Major General J. F. Gilmer was able to report "cars now run from Macon to Milledgeville."
Ironically, the greatest damage Sherman caused was the exact opposite of what he intended. Trudeau argues that Sherman was a conservative who wanted to end the war as quickly as possible and restore the old world. But the psychological destruction to Georgia society, even more than the physical destruction, made that impossible.
Southern Storm is a superb retelling of this iconic Civil War campaign and will make a welcome addition to your shelves.
 Northern Yawn August 11, 2008
10 out of 22 found this review helpful
Immensely disappointing.
Sherman's "March to the Sea" is an American military epic that has long needed a fresh look and interpretation given the enormous amount of material that has become readily accessible to civil war historians in the last couple of decades. Unfortunately, Mr Trudeau, author of a fine book on Gettysburg (though inferior in so many respects to that produced by Stephen W. Sears at about the same time) has done the research, but has failed to synthesize it into a readable, dynamic, informative, and compelling account. The narrative has no natural flow and one gets the impression that Mr Trudeau decided that, by gum, he had to wade through all of those boring diaries, letters, and reports until his eyelids became singed from boredom and the reader is going to have to suffer also. The fact that letter or diary accounts of events exist is no compelling reason for an historian to quote them ad nauseum; rather, it is the function of the historian to sift the material and present its significance or the power of its narrattive or description to the reader. An early example of this is Mr Trudeau's account of the destruction of Atlanta. He recounts diary excerpt after letter excerpt describing how buildings, etc were destroyed; yet nowhere does he sum it all up and describe just how much destruction Sherman caused in Atlanta and what its military significance was. Indeed, at one point Mr Trudeau takes pains to quote Gen Sherman's orders to his Chief Engineer not to use fire as a weapon of destruction only to, several pages later, accuse Sherman of "firing" Atlanta.
The march to the sea, as presented by Mr Trudeau, is an endless series of quotations from diaries, etc that has very little flow and almost no military insight. In fact, Mr Tudeau is at his weakest when discussing military matters and seems to have discovered most of them while doing research for this book. Mr Trudeau offers us no real insight to the various generals and politicians involved in this narrative and, I would argue, that he really has no insight into them. There is very little of the dynamics between the various Union Commanders and very little of the broader military picture.
One gets the impression that this subject is just a little beyond Mr Trudeau's expertise or ability.
As an aside, the publisher sure didn't spend a lot of money on maps. Was it the end of the fiscal year and they ran out of money? If a subject cries out for detailed maps, it's this one.
A new, fresh account of one of the most famous campaigns in American military history still is waiting to be written.
An American Epic August 10, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
Sherman's March to the Sea is a simple story. Hood took off for Tennessee, Wheeler presented no real threat and Confederate leadership dithered. For the men it was a long walk in the sun with ample food taken from the local population. In the process, they tore the heart out of Georgia and broke the moral of the Confederacy. Given such a simple story, how could anyone write a 688-page book that is worth reading?
Noah Andre Trudeau is one of our best authors with a number of excellent books and prestigious awards. His writing style conveys large amounts of information in a readable manner that makes large books easy to read. This skill helps the reader by keeping the story fresh and interesting in this very detailed account of the campaign.
The book opens with an explanation of how Sherman came up with the idea for the campaign and how he talked Thomas, Grant & Lincoln, via Halleck, into approving it. The author says the Meridian Mississippi Campaign provided the idea for The March. I feel that he should have gone back to Grant's Vicksburg Campaign for the idea. The Mississippi Campaign may have proven living off the land is practical but the Vicksburg Campaign started the idea. This is a minor point and subject to debate. The second and equally major idea is the role of civilians in the Southern war effort. The author gives us a detailed description of Sherman's ideas on this subject and how they developed during the course of the war. The selling of his idea presents a side of Sherman we seldom see. Here is an accomplished administrator at his best. Alternating assuring Thomas, watching Hood and explaining things to Grant & Halleck, step by step the project is approved.
The heart of the book is the daily chapters, where the activities of all major formations are detailed. Each chapter has a map, showing weather, marching routes and population centers. This daily map keeps the reader in the story and located in Georgia. Gradually, we see how the march is developing and can trace the major formations' progress. This is a major benefit and one of the books strongest points. In addition to the daily map, any significant fighting has a map too. I want to congratulate HarperCollins Publishing for not stinting on this critical item. They have taken a very good book and made it a great one by including these maps.
Sherman's major formations are the Left Wing, the Right Wing and the Cavalry. Depending on the situation, independent detachments appear as required. The work is marching, destruction and foraging. Each day, miles must be covered, food must be found, regulations enforced, infrastructure destroyed and Confederate forces kept at bay. Very quickly, we come to appreciate how complex this campaign is. The rank & file is required to make a huge effort each day. Protecting the wagon train may be the most wearing duty. Encumbered by the slow moving wagons, mud, poor roads and hills these men alternately stand and run. This is in addition to pushing wagons up hills and pulling them out of the mud holes.
Straying to far from the road leads to death. Straggling leads to death. Confederate response while generally ineffective can be deadly for isolated parties. The author does an excellent job of detailing the problems in mounting a response to Sherman. These problems, while endemic during the war, seem much worse during this campaign. "Joe Brown's Pets", a divided and confused command structure, John B. Hood's Tennessee adventure, States Rights, P.G.T. Beauregard, William J. Hardee and Jefferson Davis all have roles in the unfolding disaster. Joe Wheeler is the only person that tries to mount an effective response. Resources, orders and his problems as a commander limit how effective the response is. This is not a long dull walk in the sun. This is a very difficult, dangerous and somewhat speculative campaign.
This is a detailed account. The daily format ensures the reader will have a full picture of the dangers and difficulties. This sequential approach ensures that the reader instantly understands each encounter or problem. The ugly incident where General Davis strands Afro-Americans on the wrong side of the creek is fully explored with realistic and fair comments by the author.
The last chapter, "At the Right Moment and in the Right Direction", is a fitting finial to the story. The author provides a clear assessment of the campaign from both a Northern & Southern perspective. In addition, he gives us a glimpse of the making of an American epic.
I am a huge fan of Noah Andre Trudeau's books. He is an excellent writer that produces well thought out readable informative histories. This may not be his best book but it is one of his best books and deserves consideration as his best.
|
|
|
