Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas by Burke Davis

Sherman's March: The First Full-Length Narrative of General William T. Sherman's Devastating March through Georgia and the Carolinas by Burke Davis. Through the use of primary sources the author creates a book length study of this important campaign in the fall of the Confederacy. For the most part this is quite good at describing the methods and consequences of the scorched earth policy Sherman employed.

The book is mostly about the destruction visited upon the property of individuals by Sherman's army. The material is pretty balanced. There are accounts of both Union soldiers acting badly and protecting confederates. Some of the material from the Southern perspective was written after the fact. Much of it does sound like it's very similar. Southern women staring down the cowardly northerners.

Sherman is somewhat of an enigma. Publicly he disavowed the more destructive actions of his forces while seemingly turning a blind eye. He also had views on slavery which were much closer to the Southerners then the Northern politicians that he served throughout the war. This led to the surrender controversy which is also covered.

One irritation that I have that is common to many books on this topic is the argument that what Sherman did was "modern war". If anything this was a throwback to colonial warfare or ancient warfare. The Athenians who had their farms destroyed by the Spartans presumably reacted in much the same way the Georgians did. I have some more comments on this which I may write up in a separate post at some point.

Recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.