Reviews for Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman

The average rating for Memoirs of General W.T. Sherman based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-08-22 00:00:00 David Chanan 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-09-04 00:00:00 Daniel Washburn Amazon fulfillment of third-party offering, 2009-09-04. Surely one of the most fascinating and, pound-for-pound, realbadassmuthafuckas America's ever produced. If someone had to burn my hometown, I'm glad it was this guy. What would have been truly epic, in the Achilles/Ajax-and-Hector vein, would have been Sherman mixing it up with Bad Bedford Forrest, Duke of New York and most definitely H.N.I.C.:A month later, Forrest was back in action at the Battle of Shiloh (April 6 to April 7, 1862). He commanded a Confederate rear guard after the Union victory. In an incident called Fallen Timbers, he drove through the Union skirmish line. Not realizing that the rest of his men had halted their charge when they got to the full Union brigade behind the skirmishers, Forrest charged the brigade single-handedly, and soon found himself surrounded. He emptied his Colt Army Revolvers into the swirling mass of Union Soldiers and pulled out his saber, hacking and slashing. A Union infantryman fired a musket ball into Forrest's spine with a point-blank musket shot, nearly knocking the cavalry man out of the saddle. Placing a Union infantryman on the back of his saddle to use as a shield, Forrest broke out and galloped back to his incredulous troopers. The musket ball was removed a week later without anesthesia.I think we all need to silently take a moment and realize nothing we'll ever do, or indeed collectively accomplish, will be as outstanding as that story. If Conrad discovers Wittgenstein III, it will be roughly one-third as groin-grabbingly fiercely wonderful as that anecdote. Sigh. Real sailing is dead!