Customer Reviews

Sherman's March

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When Lincoln won the election of 1864, any reasonable hope of winning the war, even of the most optimistic of Southerners, vanished. Yet still, they fought on, drawing out the bloody end game though its conclusion was already a certainty. General William T. Sherman had long considered that the war could not be won without completely breaking the will of the Southern people to continue fighting, and now, he was certain of it. His answer was to take war to the civilians - to pillage, burn, and destroy a large swath through Georgia and the Carolinas, mostly unopposed by any significant enemy resistance. Burke Davis' book, Sherman's March, grippingly tells the story of this dark chapter of American history.
The book opens with the fall of Atlanta, and ends with Sherman's army marching triumphantly through the streets of Washington in the Grand Review. In between, Burke deals with the battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, as well as various skirmishes and demonstrations, but this is not a campaign book, full of detailed military maneuvers. My copy doesn't have a single map other than the one on the inside cover of the book. Instead, this book concentrates on the march itself, using hundreds of eyewitness accounts, both of civilians, and soldiers of both sides, to bring to life this incredible and terrible event.
Though Mr. Davis is a Southerner, his account is largely a fair one. Sherman is neither presented as a devil or a hero, and a fair attempt was made to give an account that balanced the outrage of the Southerners with the reasons that Sherman believed his march to be necessary. Davis covers everything of significance, including the reactions of the politicians and generals to Sherman's bold maneuver, his capture of three Confederate State Capitols, and his burning of one of them. The greatest part of the book, however, is the story of the people who experienced the destruction, as well as those who brought it to them with the hope of ending the ongoing devastation of the war once and for all. This is a fascinating, well-researched and well-written account of Sherman's march through the South, and if there is any better, I don't know of it.

Theo Logos

This is a fantastic book. It's great for a number of reasons:

1. It is full of so many personal accounts of the events (from Union men and Southern civilians) that it fills out the events. The March comes alive and you realize that this REALLY happened and that real human beings were affected by it.

2. It is never dry. Some military history books get so wrapped up in the movements of individual regiments, etc. that you feel as if the writer is more interested in showing how much detailed study they have done than relating the event in its many dimensions. This book never grows dry. This is certainly not a tactical history, but it is never grows boring.

3. Sherman emerges as a complex man who has a genuine affection for people, but at the same time believes that the best thing for the nation is quick suppression of the rebellion and the restoration of the Union - to this end he is willing to take war to a new level.

4. The brutality of the war comes out in full force - from atrocities, willful and meaningless destruction, quick death, and the pain of those caught up in the midst of it.

If you're looking for a great book for some summer or vacation reading and you're fascinated by the Civil War, this is a great book to pick up.

This book is an excellent, readable treatise of Sherman's march. Davis skillfully puts together many sources of reference from both sides in order to accurately piece together the events which occurred during the march. Neither condoning nor villifying Sherman's actions, this account comes off as objective without being dry or ponderous to read.

Another of Burke Davis' fine books. His research and objective writing reveals history as it happened and lets the reader draw what conclusions there are to be had from the facts. As a native Georgian I had heard many tales about Sherman's devastation to the region, but this is the first scholarly treatment of the subject and I am very glad I read it. After reading this book, ask yourself how we would react if a campaign such as that were conducted today and I think it really contrasts U.S. military standards of battlefield behavior and campaign strategy. Davis also points out quite well that this was the beginning of modern warfare.

In recommending to General Grant the he be allowed to break free from his supply lines and march from Atlanta to Savannah, Sherman stated,"I can make this march and I will make Georgia howl". He did just that. This is an amazingly good book by Burke Davis. Written with just a bit of Southern bias ("Federal troops...plundered their way through the South"), the author makes Sherman's point for him: "War is hell, there is no use in trying to refine it".

This book accurately depicts the experience of the 65,000 Federal troops who made this march. It clearly illustrates the complete inability of the Confederacy to defend itself, the breakdown of organized resistance and the subsequent impact on the South's population. Sherman's uncontested march through Georgia and the Carolinas represents the final nail in the Confederacy's coffin. After Lincoln's presidential victory in November 1864 one can only wonder why the South did not sue for peace. They must have known, had to have realized, that the end was only a matter of time. European recognition had been laid to rest 18 months earlier.

In a very real sense, the South visited the horror of Sherman's March upon themselves. After reading this book you get a good feeling for the serious disconnect, the complete lack of effective communication, between Confederate field commanders and their government's civilian administration. This book is an awesome accomplishment: It is a poignant testament to why there will never be a William T Sherman High School in Georgia, South or North Carolina.

I really enjoyed this book. it was well worth the purchase price and turned out to be better than I actually expected. The only thing that would have made it better would have been the inclusion of detailed maps. This book is an excellent historical narrative, filled with many eyewitness accounts. The idividual stories gave the book an emtional impact I didn't expect.

I have been a Civil War buff all my life and thought I knew a fair amount of detail on all of the major engagements of the war. However, until I read "Sherman's March", I really didn't know anything about his post-Atlanta campaign except that he marched to Savannah. Presumably his soldiers fought battles along the way and presumably they did something after capturing Savannah but I guess my curiosity never led me to find out more. It was in the Atlanta campaign that my great great grandfather was captured so I thought I should find out what happened after that.

What the author, Burke Davis, chronicles is what exactly DID happen after the fall of Atlanta. He has put together a fascinating account of the March to the Sea (and beyond) by compiling first-hand accounts of the events of the campaign. Sherman's men found little oppostition after Atlanta but their march had a devestating effect on the South. The brutal, unforgiving thievery that his foragers and "bummers" committed led to a great loss of resources and morale for the Southern folks. What few battles there were did not register on the richter scale of war but the destruction wrought by his troops was of tsunami proportion. There is much about the various communities put to the torch (beginning with Atlanta) and focussing on Columbia, SC. There is also much to suggest that Sherman was guilty of oversight by not maintaining tight control over his troops. His attitude was that the South needed to learn the consequences of their wrongly conceived rebellion. The sooner their morale was broken, the sooner the war would end and the fewer number of soldiers would become casualties (on both sides). While the reader may find truth in Sherman's attitude, it is hard not to become enraged at the extent of the mayhem.

Davis also presents a fair amount of information of the slaves that were freed along the way and the attitude of the different Union Generals towards their emacipation. In the 21st Century it is pretty commonly felt that the Civil War was about slavery. However, a significant percentage of the Union's fighting men felt the issue of the South's secession from the Union was the cause they were fighting for, Sherman included. Nonetheless, they used the freed slaves whenever it was to their advantage and abandoned them when it wasn't.

Sherman's concept of a large army invading deep into enemy territory with no lifeline of support was a challenging concept at the time and its' success influenced military strategy thereafter. Although Davis documents that the soldiers were able to take far more than they needed, it was still an impressive campaign. There were plenty of things the men did without for roughly six months; clothing, pay, letters from home, and many other things that the Army of the Potomac took for granted.

After Savannah, their march through the Carolinas spelled the defeat of the South and Davis does a good job of detailing Sherman's significant involvement in the war's end. There was controversy surrounding that and Sherman found himself at odds with the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. Davis concludes by giving us a brief synopsis of the rest of Sherman's life after the war.

During the first chapter I was apprehensive about Davis's style of writing but the rest of the book made me appreciate his approach to the subject. His frequent use of primary sources was helpful yet not overdone. His writing gave way to some editorial comments but, overall, I thought the book was pretty well balanced. I gave it 5 stars because, after the first chapter, I couldn't put it down and because I learned so much about an aspect of the Civil War that no one else seems to make much mention of.

This was an awesome book. I recently finished the Shaara novels, and they left me wanting to learn more about the American Civil War. I went with Sherman's March on a whim and it paid off. I wasn't certain what it meant to describe a book as a narrative, but now I know and love it. It makes it so much easier to read and follow. They say it reads like a novel. That's failry accurate, but it's still a history book. The way he uses quotes and first-person accounts gives it that novel-like quality. The other thing I love about this book is it's size. He's chosen a relatively narrow segment of history to discuss, so the book is short and concise. My on complaint is the lack of maps. I really think history books that discuss many locations in detail need to have maps. Especially when discussing battles. I've learned that my West Point Atlas of the American Civil War has been invaluable for all my Civil War readings. However, the map on Sherman's March is lame. (The West Point Atlas of WWII is also invaluable). I definetly like this author and will try his other books.

Sherman wrote the mayor of Atlanta "... We don't want your Negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land, or anything you have, but we do want and will have your first obedience to the laws of the United States." And later says "How Southern gentlemen can speak of the 'lost cause' in terms other than sorrow and shame is more than I can understand." A must read for those of us who need to understand what caused Americans to slaughter our own children a mere 140 years ago.

This is an excellent book. It tells you about Sherman's horrific march to the sea. Burke Davis combines letters, Sherman's memoirs, and other Sherman books into the splendid narrative. It captures the feeling of his 60,000 man army. It tells about the pillaging of Georgia and the Carolinas and the determined southern women. This book brings right into the destructive path of Sherman's army. I reccomend this book to everyone!