The American Civil War & Reconstruction
Whistlestop Bookshop’s first store opened in Gettysburg in 1985. Eventually, over 19 years there, our Civil War section grew to be three large wall cases. A disproportionate percentage of it, naturally, was about the battle of Gettysburg and biographies of those who fought there. In addition to this book selling experience, my southern upbringing and Army family life created a lifelong interest in the War Between the States and all of its complexities. It is an understandable national obsession, considering how the first half of our nation’s history contributed to its ferocity, and the second half of our history has been the struggle to live with and understand the consequences.
William Tecumseh Sherman: Memoirs
William Tecumseh Sherman: Memoirs
Before his spectacular career as General of the Union forces, William Tecumseh Sherman experienced decades of failure and depression. Drifting between the Old South and new West, Sherman witnessed firsthand many of the critical events of early nineteenth-century America: the Mexican War, the gold rush, the banking panics, and the battles with the Plains Indians. It wasn’t until his victory at Shiloh, in 1862, that Sherman assumed his legendary place in American history. After Shiloh, Sherman sacked Atlanta and proceeded to burn a trail of destruction that split the Confederacy and ended the war. His strategy forever changed the nature of warfare and earned him eternal infamy throughout the South.
Sherman’s Memoirs evoke the uncompromising and deeply complex general as well as the turbulent times that transformed America into a world power. This Penguin Classics edition includes a fascinating introduction and notes by Sherman biographer Michael Fellman.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Suggestions for Further Reading
A Note on the Text
MEMOIRS OF W.T. SHERMAN
VOLUME I
I. From 1820 to the Mexican War, 1846
II. Early Recollections of California––1846–1848
III. Early Recollections of California––(Continued)––1849–1850
IV. Missouri, Louisiana, and California––1850–1855
V. California––1855–1857
VI. California, New York, and Kansas––1857–1859
VII. Louisiana––1859–1861
VIII. Missouri––April and May, 1861
IX. From the Battle of Bull Run to Paducah––Kentucky and Missouri––1861–1862
X. Battle of Shiloh––March and April, 1862
XI. Shiloh to Memphis––April to July, 1862
XII. Memphis to Arkansas Post––July, 1862, to January, 1863
XIII. Vicksburg––January to July, 1863
XIV. Chattanooga and Knoxville––July to December, 1863
XV. Meridian Campaign––January and February, 1864
VOLUME II
XVI. Atlanta Campaign––Nashville and Chattanooga to Kenesaw––March, April, and May, 1964
XVII. Atlanta Campaign––Battles about Kenesaw Mountain––June, 1864
XVIII. Atlanta Campaign––Battles about Atlanta––July, 1864
XIX. Capture of Atlanta––August and September, 1864
XX. Atlanta and After––Pursuit of Hood––September and October, 1864
XXI. The March to the Sea––From Atlanta to Savannah––November and December, 1864
XXII. Savannah and Pocotaligo––December, 1864, and January, 1865
XXIII. Campaign of the Carolinas––February and March, 1865
XXIV. End of the War––From Goldsboro’ to Raleigh and Washington––April and May, 1865
XXV. Conclusion––Military Lessons of the War
XXVI. After the War
Explanatory Notes
Index