To the Sea: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, Sherman's March Across Georgia and Through the Carolinas, 1864-1865 (Civil War Explorer Series) [Paperback]

Jim Miles (Author)

Book Description

Series: Civil War Explorer Series | Publication Date: June 5, 2002

In November 1864 William T. Sherman burned Atlanta and took an army of eighty thousand hardened Union veterans on a campaign that crushed the heart of the Confederacy. When he reached Savannah a month later, an ugly scar three hundred miles long and sixty miles wide had been burned across Georgia. Along the way the armies had destroyed factories, mills, and agricultural produce. Thousands of civilians—mostly women, children, and the elderly—had been left hungry and destitute.

To the Sea captures every aspect of the March, from Sherman’s strategy to the brilliant methods he used to execute it. Here readers travel from Atlanta to Savannah on a journey in which soldiers and civilians, heroes and opportunists, men and women alike fought for their lives. Included is a series of driving tours that enable readers to see firsthand the path the armies took.

In addition to the lively history of the march, To the Sea includes more than one hundred photographs, maps, fascinating tours of the routes, sidebar articles on military strategy and biographical sketches of generals as well as a chronology of important events, sources for additional travel information, an index, and a bibliography. HISTORY; CIVIL WAR ILLUSTRATED; PHOTOGRAPHS AND MAPS 8” X 10”, 336 PAGES PAPERBACK

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

JIM MILES is a seasoned battlefield explorer, author, historian, and teacher who has written more than one hundred articles and several books on Southern history, archaeology, and the Civil War. The Civil War Explorer Series includes five volumes on the western theater of the war and is projected to be nine volumes when the series is completed. The author of the best-selling Weird Georgia, Miles lives in Warner Robins, Georgia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing; English and 1964/ Special ed. edition (June 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1581822618
• ISBN-13: 978-1581822618
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,505,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, April 20, 2003

By 

dmwaters "dmwaters" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To the Sea: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, Sherman's March Across Georgia and Through the Carolinas, 1864-1865 (Civil War Explorer Series) (Paperback)

Miles has done a great job with this book. He includes countless examples, both good and bad, of encounters between Yankee soldiers and the people of Georgia. If you want to know more about the personal side of the March, as well as the dates and places, this is certainly the book for you.
A teacher could easily use "To the Sea" as a text for a course in the March alone. The margins are wide to provide plenty of room to write notes. Thank you Jim Miles!! I will not hesitate to buy another book by this author.

1 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Readers beware, December 6, 2010

By 

JAthey - See all my reviews

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This review is from: To the Sea: A History and Tour Guide of the War in the West, Sherman's March Across Georgia and Through the Carolinas, 1864-1865 (Civil War Explorer Series) (Paperback)

READERS BEWARE The author of "To the Sea" is from Georgia and an apologist for the Confederacy and slavery, so everywhere in this book you will read of poor Southern whites dislodged from their comfortable homes while vicious, callous Union soldiers rampaged with General Sherman boasting of his destruction (which was untrue altogether, and the author knows this but he couldn't stop himself building sympathy for slaveowners). Slavery is never mentioned, and infamous Andersonville prison camp is named once only because it was in the vicinity -- no word about its atrocities, that other side of Southern hospitality. Nothing said about black people welcoming their freedom and Sherman. In Atlanta, Sherman required people to evacuate the city, which was the chief weapons manufactory, and even called a truce and provided a train to deliver them to a Confederate-held town behind their own defense lines -- the author reports this but all of his commentary are on the suffering of these whites/slave-owners riding a train in the cold nighttime with only their clothes and what they could carry. Contrast that to Southern hospitality at Andersonville -- but the author never does. Just white children and women and old folks beat down by an invading army in the cold of night. (Besides, this is Georgia in the South, not Georgia in Russia where it actually does get cold.) Two months after Sherman departed Atlanta heading for the sea, Atlanta was humming again as a munitions center for the South. The author reports this but only in terms of how their gracious Southern lifestyle was despoiled by mean, uncaring Sherman. The facts reported in the book are good, the contempt for the Union cause is despicable: May the South -- and its antebellum civil rights -- rise again, it says.