Quest For A Star: Letters Diaries Colonel Francis T. Sherman (Voices of the Civil War) [Hardcover]

C. Knight Aldrich (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press; 1st edition (January 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572330643
• ISBN-13: 978-1572330641
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,394,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaulable, informative contribution to Civil War studies, July 4, 2000

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quest For A Star: Letters Diaries Colonel Francis T. Sherman (Voices of the Civil War) (Hardcover)

Quest For A Star is a collection of the Civil War letters and diary entries of Colonel Francis T. Sherman of the 88th Illinois, ably edited and with commentary by Knight Aldrich, Sherman's great-grandson. Thanks to his father's political influence, Sherman won an officers commission and commanded a brigade for much of his early service. He saw action at Perryville, Stones River, Missionary Ridge, and other battlefields. He was captured near Atlanta and endured three months in a Confederate prison before being released in a prisoner exchange. During the last months of the war, he served with General Philip Sheridan in the Appomattox campaign. His letters to his father and his diary entries reveal vivid descriptions of wartime experiences, insights into the volatile politics of the times, criticism of the incompetence of superior officers (especially General Don Carlos Buell), and more. Aldrich's commentaries give Sherman's observations an historical perspective, and draws upon his years as a professor of psychiatry and family medicine to offer fascinating speculation about inner conflicts that may have served to fuel Sherman's ambitions and political beliefs. Quest For A Star is an invaluable and much appreciated contribution to the growing body of Civil War era biographical literature.