Reviews for Soldiering for Glory: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Frank Schaller, Twenty-second Mississippi Infantry

The average rating for Soldiering for Glory: The Civil War Letters of Colonel Frank Schaller, Twenty-second Mississippi Infantry based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-10-14 00:00:00 Dave Perrin This book has some interesting parallels with Sherman's memoirs. Both were young officers in the west before the Civil War. Sheridan saw more fighting, against Indians in Oregon and Washington. Like Sherman and Grant, Sheridan is a clear writer, though following his accounts battles is aided greatly by referencing other sources like wikipedia. After whipping the rebels in the Shenandoah Valley in late 1864 he was instrumental in Grant's final defeat of Lee in April 1865. In some ways the chapters covering post Civil War are the most interesting. His accounts of southeners trying hard to defeat reconstruction resonate with my reading of The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomatox by Stephen Budiansky. Sheridan wanted to deal fairly with the freedmen, and clashed with resurgent locals who wanted to surpress the newly freed black people. President Andrew Johnson transferred him to Kansas due to his fairness towards the freedmen, right when bands of Arapahoe Cheyenne and Kiowa began bloody raids on settlers in Kansas. Sheridan carried the fight to the Indian tribes, with George Custer as one of his subordinates. The final section of his memoris details his tour of Europe in 1870, which was mainly his observation of the Franco Prussian War from the Prussian side as a respresentative of the US. I found his first hand accounts of this vanished era across the Atlantic to be very interesting.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-12-20 00:00:00 Mark Thomas Barnes These pages represent General Phil Sheridan's autobiography. It covers his life from birth to late in his career. However, the major part of the book features his recollections from the Civil War. Not as lucid as Grant's biography, nonetheless this has value. His spare description of Five Forks is powerful for its lean treatment. Just so, other summaries of battles of which he was part. One of the better Civil War autobiographies. . . .