Scottish Shepherd: The Life and Times of John Murray Murdoch, Utah Pioneer Book

Many of my friends saw that I was reading this book and automatically replied with "Ugh! I pity you!" (granted, we are all Southerners)

First off, I found Sherman's text fascinating. He was an excellent writer and brought me into the scenes in which he lived.

Secondly, this was super clean! I think of military as a cussing hole, but I came across next to no curse words (a few uses of God's name in vain when he was quoting others).

Thirdly, Sherman copied many letters and telegrams, so the opinion I formed of Sherman was not made by him presenting himself as an upstanding citizen who never did wrong. Through his letters I got a good picture of who he was and what his view were. Yes, I did find that he was somewhat aloof to the humanity of the army, but then there were times when he did reach out to protect and prevent cruelty from happening. I did not at all find him to be the "monster" that many historians portray him to be.

Fourthly, this was a very political read (in other words, many times went over my head). It was fascinating to see the brain-work behind the tactics that Sherman and Grant used for their side of the War.

Fifthly, this covers not only the Civil War, but more or less Sherman's life as a soldier--starting with his work in California and ending at his resignation.

Sixth, I did enjoy this read. I can't lie. There were many gems of helpful information throughout these pages and it gave me an overall good view of the war (sometimes for both sides, as letters were shared between enemies). I can't say that I would read it again because of it's massive 800-page count, but I don't regret spending my time reading it.