Marching Through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians During Sherman's Campaign [Paperback]

Lee B. Kennett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 29, 1996

In this engrossing work of history, Lee Kennett brilliantly brings General Sherman's 1864 invasion of Georgia to life by capturing the ground-level experiences of the soldiers and civilians who witnesses the bloody campaign.  From the skirmish at Buzzard Roost Gap all the way to Savannah ten months later, Kennet follows the notorious, complex Sherman, who attacked the devastated the heart of the Confederacy's arsenal. Marching Through Georgia describes, in gripping detail, the event that marked the end of the Old South.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA?Instead of merely chronicling General William T. Sherman's (in)famous March to the Sea from a military standpoint, Kennett has portrayed this milestone from the viewpoint of the common soldier and civilian. He relies heavily on the diaries and personal remembrances of privates (from both sides of the campaign), farmers and plantation owners and their wives, as well as on the perspective of the (soon to be freed) slaves. It is through the views expressed by average participants or curious bystanders that readers are able to get a rich picture of the drudgery associated with the stalemated trench warfare and the loss and helplessness many Georgians experienced as the Union forces combed the countryside in what was termed "total war." The information is arranged into three parts: Sherman's invasion of northern Georgia; the siege and capture of Atlanta; and the march southeastward from Atlanta to Savannah during the last full year of the Civil War. What helps to make Marching through Georgia so absorbing is Kennett's talent for mixing historical scholarship with sound storytelling. A pleasant departure from standard, scholarly works on the Civil War.?Michael H. Sullivan, R.E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In this brilliant, unconventional book, Kennett (history, Univ. of Georgia) tells the story his subtitle promises. He describes life in a state peopled by two armies trying to eat, travel, move, and fight together with a civilian populace intermingled with swarms of refugees, prisoners, deserters, and guerrillas. The civilians faced questions such as whether to leave their homes and how to try to save their property. The soldiers had an unusual mix of priorities; food and small luxuries such as tobacco were obvious concerns, but Kennett also remarks on the Federal troops' odd fondness for finding documents. A fascinating cast tells the story: a Filipino fighting in a Wisconsin regiment, an Indianan fighting in a Louisiana unit because he "despised" blacks, a clerk trading passes for sex. This book will be enjoyed by all readers.?Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (March 29, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060927453
• ISBN-13: 978-0060927455
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,787 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Recounting of a Painful Time, December 19, 2001

By 

Dr. Christopher Coleman (HONG KONG) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marching Through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians During Sherman's Campaign (Paperback)

I was raised in Georgia and attended public school in Athens in the 60s and 70s. Even in a university town some 100 years after the Civil War there were people with embittered attitudes toward the North who saw themselves as citizens of a conquered country. This was surely due in part to Civil Rights legislation enforcing integration; and in part to that fable of Southern life, GONE WITH THE WIND. Most white Southerners know and many revile the name of William Tecumseh Sherman; not because they are ardent historians but because Margaret Mitchell and director Victor Fleming immortalized Sherman's burning of Atlanta on celluloid. In fact, although I hardly studied anything about the Civil War in public school, our class did take a 60-mile bus ride to watch GONE WITH THE WIND at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Although many years have passed, I have no reason to believe that today's young Georgians are any more informed about the actual history of their state; whether this is through official ignorance, shame, fear, or willful deceit I cannot say.

Lee Kennett's book, MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA goes a long way toward addressing this ignorance, and should be required reading for every Georgian. The book focuses on Sherman's North Georgia Campaign, the Battle of Atlanta and the March to the Sea as it affected the soldiers and civilians of both sides. His discussion of strategy is general and primarily about Sherman's decision to have his army forage off the land. Even this is included because of the consequence such forage had for the people involved--Kennett lays the blame of the Union atrocities at the feet of this decision, but takes care to point out the nature of such "atrocities", and that truly severe crimes other than the destruction of property was rather rare. Indeed, what makes Kennett's book so valuable is its evenness of tone regarding the issues and personalities. A Sherman biographer, he neither idolizes nor demonizes the General. Sherman, though not the main subject of this book, emerges as a recognizable and very human figure. Sherman's devotion to duty was horrifyingly single-minded--Kennett relates an incident in which 28 Union soldiers are too ill to travel, and Sherman left them in the care of a Confederate hospital in Milledgeville while he moved on with his troops: "'If they die, give them a decent burial,' Sherman said, 'if they live, send them to Andersonville [the prison in south Georgia where Union soldiers were held in appalling conditions to die in the thousands], if course,' Dr. Massey may have looked a bit nonplussed at this, for Sherman added: 'They are prisoners of war, what else can you do? If I had your men I would send them to prison.'" In another incident, Sherman refused to accept Union prisoners from Andersonville in a prisoner exchange because they were too ill or wounded to fight.

Kennett's descriptions of Sherman's progress were very meaningful to me as a native of the state. Non-Georgians might get bogged down a bit in the geography, and this is one of the book's weaknesses, but a minor one. There are two maps included, but as neither shows a complete map of the state some readers might well be bewildered. The Andersonville prison played an important role as at least a potential target but appears on neither map. It was not liberated during Sherman's Georgia campaign, and had it been shown on the map its distance from Sherman's path would have been immediately clear. The only other flaw is the paucity of information on black Georgians and how the campaign affected them. Kennett addresses this, relating that most information on their situation is related by whites and is mostly stereotypical. He provides one touching conversation passed along from Joel Chandler Harris (author of the Uncle Remus/Brer Rabbit tales): "...an old black couple he found in a corner of fence, not far from the road Sherman's army had just passed: 'Who is that lying there?' asked Joe. 'It my old man, suh.' 'What is the matter with him?' 'He dead, suh, But bless God he died free.'"

Also extraordinary is the comradeship that grew between members of the opposing sides whenever contact was allowed. Animosity between combatants is expected, but over and over Kennett relates encounters between the two armies, or between Union soldiers and Southern civilians that are remarkable in that so many concerned seemed able to view their opposite number as a fellow human rather than an evil enemy. Southerners now know only the destruction Sherman's forces brought, emptying and burning Atlanta and many other towns; but at the time Sherman's actions were seen at least by some as a reasonable response to the Confederates' burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA is full of fascinating information: North Georgia, mostly populated by poor white farmers who didn't own slaves, was largely loyalist and opposed succession; Governor Joe Brown (after the war a US Senator!) supported States' Rights to the extent that he clashed repeatedly with Confederate President Jefferson Davis; Sherman's forces faced the most opposition and most difficult fighting in primarily loyalist North Georgia; after the burning of Atlanta Sherman was able to move through Georgia with very little fighting at all; and rather than "bushwacking" Sherman's forces and provoking a fight with vastly superior forces, most Georgians preferred to let him move quickly through their land.

The Civil War buff, fans of War Histories and Southern History and Georgians in general will all find much of interest in Marching Through Georgia. My knowledge of my home state has been immeasurably improved, and I am looking forward to reading Kennett's biography, SHERMAN.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet The Howlers And The Men Who Made Georgia Howl., October 24, 2001

By 

Wayne A. Smith (Newark, DE) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marching Through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians During Sherman's Campaign (Hardcover)

Lee Kennett is an excellent historian who combines exhaustive research with a splendid narrative pace in his "Marching Through Georgia."

This is not a book about Sherman's military campaign through the Peach State. The battles and maneuvers provide only the backdrop. The story is of the common soldiers who fought with and against Sherman and the citizens of Georgia who endured both armies during 1864.

The author makes heavy use of diaries and first person accounts. He focuses on several perspectives across the book: life in the trenches, on the battlefield, camp life, foraging, life on the March to the Sea, life in besieged and occupied Atlanta, and the life of Georgia's black and white citizens.

What is rendered is an exciting account of what these people experienced during these seminal months in their lives and the life of their country'. Kennett brings it all together as a story -- never falling into the trap of some authors of this genre of over repeating diary entries and accounts in a redundant attempt to be thorough. He achieves just the right mix of memoir and story to keep his book moving along at a good clip.

This book will fascinate and educate.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, thoroughly researched, and a good read, October 5, 2006

By 

Dennis Brandt (Red Lion, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marching Through Georgia: The Story of Soldiers and Civilians During Sherman's Campaign (Paperback)

If you're looking for a tactical study of Sherman's Atlanta campaign, this isn't it. If you're looking to delve into the human aspects of a massive Civil War campaign, this definitely is it. If you're looking for a well written book of interest to a broad range of readers, this is also it. No need to be a "buff" to enjoy Kennett's fast paced work that is full of interesting stories and insights into a broad range of topics. His writing keeps the pages turning. It is a unique combination of "beach" book and reference. I have two quibbles with Kennett's writing and they are technical: 1) Stop separating full sentences with semi-colons. Use periods. It aids in reading. 2) Stop using French terms where they aren't necessary or translate them. The book is too good for that to matter much.