Customer Reviews

Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan

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Though Roy Morris writes well and illuminates Sheridan's character adequately, there is ultimately something flat about this effort. His attempts to give a definitive analysis of Sheridan are compromised by some factual gaffes and problems in interpreting Sheridan in the context of his times. It must be stressed that being a bigot in the mid-19th century was accepted practice and not odious, as it's viewed today. Morris is sympathetic to Sheridan throughout, even in the midst of his advocating genocide for the Native American.

The lack of personal detail is disquieting. There is insufficient material on Sheridan's mistress from the 1850's and his marriage late in life.

A strong point of the book is Morris' descriptions of little Phil's relationships with Grant and Sherman, two generals infinitely superior and more intelligent that Sheridan. Morris does a good job in explaining this triumvirate that saved the nation during the civil war.

This is a good biography, but scarcely groundbreaking or on the cutting edge of scholarship. The elusive character of Philip Sheridan will have to await a more gifted and grounded biographer.

Phillip Sheridan's importance to the Union effort in the Civil War cannot be overstated. His place as a general in blue ranks behind only Sherman and Grant. His best moments were at Winchester where he stemmed a Union defeat and turned it into a smashing vistory, and at Five Forks where he routed a derelict George Pickett and ended the stalemate around Petersburg. He also led a fascinating life in the military both before and after the war, eventually becomming the army's commanding general late in his life. Morris's book is well written, but it lacks the drama of say the recent biographies of Grant and Sherman. I think this is because the stories of those two generals, who both overcame much adversity in both their personal and professional lives, are much more compelling. Sheridan was a great general, but not a tragic or epic figure. But at least he has a biography that does his memory justice.

While this book provides an in-depth view into the man himself, it does not provide the reader with detailed accounts of his campaigns and battles. It does analyze them on a basic level, but does not capture the imagination the way one would expect of a battle such as Brandy Station or Five Forks. However, it is a very readable and enjoyable book.

Being a dyed in the wool history buff, and especially interested in the American Civil War, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of attention payed by the author to Sheridan's battles and tactics. However, much has already been written on that subject by others, including Sheridan himself (in excruciating detail). I found the book interesting for it's attempted insight into the man and why he may have acted as he did, especially after the war. My great-aunt Margie (Sheridan's grand-niece) always said he was a S.O.B.. I can see how that opinion may have merit in certain circles.

One wonders if "Little Phil" Sheridan might be the perfect example of someone afflicted with the "little man complex." Only 5'5" tall, he was combative and aggressive almost to a fault. He was almost booted out of West Point for attacking a fellow cadet with a bayonet and then his fists, and his severe Reconstruction methods in Texas and Louisiana got him transferred - twice. But he was a competent commander and inspired loyalty in his troops. Roy Morris's biography is a good one, especially regarding Sheridan's Civil War career.

After leaving West Point, the 22-year-old Sheridan served in the infantry on the Texas frontier. Working in administrative posts during the early months of the war, it wasn't until May 1962 that he got his first command in the Michigan Cavalry. He distinguished himself at Booneville, MS, and then at Perryville, KY, three months later. He also played prominent roles at Stones River, TN, Chickamauga, and at Yellow Tavern, VA, where his men killed Lee's "eyes of the Confederate Army" Jeb Stuart. His most celebrated engagement in the war came during the so-called Shenandoah Valley Campaign (Aug, '64-March '65), with important victories at Winchester and Waynesboro. He was instrumental in halting Lee's retreat westward at Appomattox Court House.

After the war he commanded forces of the Fifth Military District in Texas and Louisiana, but his harsh Reconstruction enforcement policies led to his being transferred to Missouri. He led a campaign against the Indians in Kansas in 1868-69 (it was during this time that the infamous quote about dead Indians being the only good ones was attributed to Sheridan, though he always denied it and Morris can offer no proof that he actually said it). After this campaign Sheridan spent two years observing the Franco-Prussian War first-hand. Upon his return he was in Chicago during the famous fire that consumed the city in 1871 and directed further campaigns against the Indians. In 1883 he replaced Sherman as commanding general of the army. He died in 1888 soon after completing his Memoirs.

Morris's biography is vigorous and honest and measures the man fully. Sheridan was a forceful commander, but he could also be cruel. His Valley Campaign turned into a scorched-earth expedition, and his actions against the Indians were relentless. Morris captures Sheridan in his glory but also reveals his dark side. The book is fair and just, and Morris writes well. Recommended.

I've always found General Phil Sheridan to be a fascinating figure, and "Sheridan: The Life and Wars of General Phil Sheridan" was the first biography about him that I found. It's reasonably well written, chronicling Sheridan's early life, his attendance at West Point, and his meteoric rise to general officer rank in the early days of the Civil War. Author Roy Morris, Jr. also details Sheridan's post-Civil War military career as an unsuccessful military governor of Louisiana, an Indian fighter in the midwest, and ultimately as General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army. Especially interesting was Sheridan's relationship with George Armstrong Custer, which Morris traces from their days fighting together during the Civil War, to the time of Custer's death at Little Big Horn.

I did find a problem with this book, despite its being fairly well written. While it provided some reasonably detailed information on Sheridan's life, times and personality, I didn't feel that it approached depth found in the best biographies of military leaders. When I finished "Sheridan," I felt I hadn't really been introduced to the man; I almost got the feeling Morris left out information in order to keep down the length of the book (which runs only to 393 pages.)

"Sheridan" is a good basic survey of one of the great U.S. Army generals of the 19th century, but it's not a particularly penetrating study of General Philip Sheridan's life and times. In my view, Phil Sheridan deserves better.

A serviceable biography of General Phil Sheridan, the short, profane, and very aggressive Union general. This book traces his career, from his youth to his checkered career at West Point to his service in the Army.

In the Civil War, his first command was as an infantry officer. He served well in that capacity, at Murfreesboro, for example. When Grant went east, he requested that Sheridan take command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. And, here, Sheridan sparkled. When the Army of Northern Virginia dispatched Jubal Early to the Shenandoah to raise havoc, Sheridan was sent to command Union forces in the Valley. Here, of course, he gained fame with his famous ride to the battlefield at Cedar Creek. Later, back with the cavalry outside Petersburg, he sealed the fate of the Confederate army with his defeat of Pickett's forces at Five Forks.

After the war was over, Sheridan moved west, to lead the military against the Indian nations. The book covers his activities on this front, including his relationship with George Armstrong Custer.

In the final analysis, this is a nicely rendered biography of Phil Sheridan.

Philip Sheridan's life was a whirlwind. He came to Sam Grant's attention in northern Mississippi, early in the Civil War, long before Grant took Vicksburg, and came back into Grant's life during the Union assault on Missionary Ridge during the Chattanooga campaign. After Sheridan's exemplary performance at Chattanooga, Grant became his mentor understanding that in Sheridan he had a battering ram whose temperament fitted his own as far as waging war was concerned. Along with Sherman, these men favored total, unrelenting war to subjugate the Confederacy.

Transferring east to the Army of the Potomac, Grant places Sheridan in charge of the Federal cavalry at a time when this arm of the Army was coming into its own. Sheridan moulds it into a most efficient weapon of war and with Grant's help is able to delink it from George Meade. Available at last as an integrated mounted unit, the Union cavalry under Sheridan finally functions as effectively as its Confederate counterpart. Better mounted, armed and supplied, Sheridan defeats Jeb Stuart in detail and kills him at Yellow Tavern. Covering Grant's crossing of the James, Sheridan performs so well, Lee completely loses track of Grant during this operation.

When Lee dispatches Jubal Early for his famed raid on Washington, Grant does the same with Sheridan with orders to hunt Early down and destroy him while at the same time, completely destroying the Shenandoah Valley, the bread basket of the Confederacy. Surprised at Cedar Creek, Sheridan rallies his troops and routes Early's army. He then completes the destruction of the valley, decimates the Virginia Central Railroad at Lynchburg and rejoins Grant at City Point. It is Sheridan who stretches Lee's lines to the breaking point by winning at Five Forks and it is Sheridan who decimates Lee again at Saylers Creek on his retreat to Appomattox. Getting ahead of Lee, it is again Sheridan who puts the cork in Lee's bottle, forcing the Confederate surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House. This man was beyond pugnacious. He was an unrelenting warrior.

After the War he is responsible for reconstruction in Louisiana and Texas and gun running into Mexico as the United States seeks the ejection of France from Mexico. He is a complete failure at the first and unsurprisingly, remarkably successful at the second. Transferring west he subjugates the Indians, first the Southern Plains, and 10 years later, the Northern Plains, but periodically is moved in and out of New Orleans as reconstruction conditions there warrant. With President Hayes election in 1876, Federal occupation of the South ends and Sheridan's life begins to wind down. He is present at the Chicago Fire and performs well, maintaining peace at the request of local officials. He succeeds Grant and Sherman as head of the Army but heart trouble ultimately claims him.

He was a most remarkable, hard charging, type A personality. A thorough hater of people who crossed him, he was an equally steadfast friend of those who supported and befriended him. At the time of his death, besides homes in Washington DC and Chicago, his estate consisted of little more than $20,000. When you stop and realize his personal friends included people like Marshall Field, George Pullman and George Armour, for a leading figure of the Gilded Age his estate was eloquent testimony to his integrity. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, 100 yards from the entrance to Robert E. Lee's ancestral home. His wife Irene, 20+ years his junior and still a young woman at the time of his death, never remarried.

Talk about a fast paced, rapid read! Combining the life lived with the times within which it was lived, this is one of the better biographies I have had the pleasure to read.

As a story, this book is one of the better written biographies I've read in a while. Morris's style is compelling, and his writing flows in such a way that it is difficult to lose interest in the narrative. As a biography, however, this book is mediocre. The work is well-documented, but the chief problem I see is that the greater part of Morris's quotes and ideas come from secondary sources, making this book, in some respects, a tertiary source. In searching the notes for the source of several quotes made, I was frustrated to find that the only reference given was to another biography of Sheridan. Morris tells the story beautifully, but there seems not to be much which is groundbreaking or revolutionary.

Another flaw in the book, which occupies a disproportionately large amount of space, is the excessive attention it pays to General Rosencrans in the Tennessee era of Sheridan's Civil War career. During this time, Sheridan seems to be left in the background, and the resultant feeling almost left me with the impression that I was reading a biography of Rosencrans rather than of Sheridan. It seems that Morris has an ax to grind, and that ax is to glorify Rosencrans to the fullest extent. He claims that there were three major achievements around the 4th of July 1863: Gettysburg, Vicksburg, and Rosencrans's driving of the Rebels out of Tennessee. While it is true that he did indeed command the force opposing the Rebels, the sad truth is that Lincoln and Co. wanted this to happen nearly six months before it did. I have no problem with Morris's high opinion of Rosencrans (though I do not share it myself), but I don't think a biography of Sheridan is the place to extol the virtues of that man.

Overall, this is a good study of a great man. It is thoroughly well-written, and a joy to read. At times, it is even funny, and Morris's dry wit (such as recounting how General AS Johnston "carelessly" bled to death at Shiloh) keeps things entertaining while not straying into the inappropriate. Also a plus is the detail given to the many aspects of Sheridan's campaigns. Morris has a talent for painting the whole picture and not just the scant part Sheridan played in it. Again, this becomes excessive (to me, at least) only when praising Rosencrans. This book is certainly worth the time it takes to read it.

This book details the life and exploits of a true American hero. It also puts many of the battles fought during the Civil War into a proper military perspective and lets the reader see the war from the military's point of view. As a minor note, it also touches upon the lives, adventures, and sometimes the deaths, of some well known historical figures including Confederate Col. George S. Patton; George Armstrong Custer, J.E.B. Stuart; Buffalo Bill Cody, and future presidents William McKinley and Rutherford B. Hayes. And, interestingly enough, it goes a long way toward explaining what it took to become a general during the Civil War, why there were so many (over 1,700), why some failed, and why generals Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Most of what I knew about the Civil War before reading this book came indirectly through reading various biographies of Abraham Lincoln, and those, of course, tended to look at the war from the top down and from a political perspective. About all I knew about General Sheridan was that he was a Union cavalry commander who was rather diminutive in stature and who, following the war, commanded the U.S. troops controlling the Indian Territory.

I didn't know that, as a young lieutenant Sheridan served in Texas and campaigned against the Yakimas in the Oregon Territory; that with the outbreak of the Civil War he managed to wangle a transfer to Missouri where he served as quartermaster and chief commissary officer for the Army of the Southwest; that he eventually got himself transferred to the infantry where he distinguished himself in battle, earning a promotion and transfer to command a cavalry corps; that he proved himself to be such a dynamic, tenacious, and courageous leader that he was once described by a member of General Grant's staff as "the very incarnation of battle"; that General Grant, himself, described Sheridan as "having no superior as a general, either living or dead, and perhaps not an equal"; that Sheridan was instrumental in trapping Robert E. Lee's Army of Virginia, leading to Lee's surrender at Appomattox; that, following the war and during the early days of reconstruction, Sheridan commanded the Fifth Military District which encompassed both Louisiana and Texas; that he was later charged with administering one-million-square-miles of Indian Territory stretching from Canada to the Rio Grande and from Chicago to New Mexico; or that, shortly before his death, Congress revived the rank of four-star general so that he could be elevated to that rank, a rank which Generals Grant and Sherman had held before him.

I had always envisioned Phil Sheridan as leading glorious cavalry charges, mostly in small, behind the scenes, skirmishes. After reading this book, I'm not sure he ever did any such a thing. But he was obviously a brilliant tactician and a courageous leader of men who never left the field of battle and was seldom out-smarted or out-flanked by his enemy. If, as it would seem, he stands in the shadows of Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, it is only because they cast such large shadows, for, at least in my mind, "Little Phil" isn't quite so little anymore. This is a great book. I give it five stars.