General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating "March to the Sea" in
1864 burned a swath through the cities and countryside of Georgia and
into the history of the American Civil War. As they moved from Atlanta
to Savannah-destroying homes, buildings, and crops; killing livestock;
and consuming supplies-Sherman and the Union army ignited not only
southern property, but also imaginations, in both the North and the
South. By the time of the general's death in 1891, when one said "The
March," no explanation was required. That remains true today. Legends
and myths about Sherman began forming during the March itself, and took
more definitive shape in the industrial age in the late-nineteenth
century. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory examines the emergence of
various myths surrounding one of the most enduring campaigns in the
annals of military history. Edward Caudill and Paul Ashdown provide a
brief overview of Sherman's life and his March, but their focus is on
how these myths came about-such as one description of a "60-mile wide
path of destruction"-and how legends about Sherman and his campaign have
served a variety of interests. Caudill and Ashdown argue that these
myths have been employed by groups as disparate as those endorsing the
Old South aristocracy and its "Lost Cause," and by others who saw the
March as evidence of the superiority of industrialism in modern America
over a retreating agrarianism. Sherman's March in Myth and Memory looks
at the general's treatment in the press, among historians, on stage and
screen, and in literature, from the time of the March to the present
day. The authors show us the many ways in which Sherman has been
portrayed in the media and popular culture, and how his devastating
March has been stamped into our collective memory.
