I can make this march, and make Georgia howl. -William Tecumseh Sherman
The March to the Sea shocked Georgians from Atlanta to Savannah. For the
first time, suffering and carnage came to their very doorsteps in the
form of 60,000 battle-hardened Union troops led by General William
Tecumseh Sherman. In the late autumn of 1864, as his troops cut a
four-week long path of terror through Georgia, Sherman accomplished his
objective: to destroy civilian morale and with it their support for the
Confederate cause. His actions elicited a passionate reaction as tales
of his dastardly deeds and destruction burned Sherman's name into the
Southern psyche. He became the ruthless personification of evil, an arch
villain who made war on innocent women, children, and old men. But does
the Savannah Campaign deserve the reputation it has been given? And was
Sherman truly this brutal? In her new book War and Ruin, Anne J. Bailey
examines this event and investigates just how much truth is behind the
popular historical notions. Because Sherman's dash through Georgia was
so terrifying, it left an indelible impression on the people who were
unlucky enough to be in the Union army's way. Bailey contends that the
psychological horror rather than the actual physical damage-which was
not as devastating as believed-led to the wilting of Southern morale.
This dissolution of resolve helped lead to ultimate Confederate defeat
as well as to the development of Sherman's infamous reputation. Although
he rarely carried out his threats to the South in full, Sherman's
thunderous rhetoric nevertheless would resonate through the generations.
War and Ruin looks at the March to the Sea from its inception in Atlanta
to its culmination in Savannah. This fascinating text is a chronicle of
not just the campaign itself, but also a revealing description of how
the people of Georgia were affected. War and Ruin brilliantly combines
military history and human interest to achieve a convincing portrayal of
what really happened i
