Hailed as prophet of modern war and condemned as a harbinger of modern
barbarism, William Tecumseh Sherman is the most controversial general of
the American Civil War. "War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it," he
wrote in fury to the Confederate mayor of Atlanta, and his memoir is
filled with dozens of such wartime exchanges. With the propulsive energy
and intelligence that marked his campaigns, Sherman describes striking
incidents and anecdotes and collects dozens of his incisive and often
outspoken wartime orders and reports. This complex self-portrait of an
innovative and relentless American warrior provides firsthand accounts
of the war's crucial events--Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, the Atlanta
campaign, the marches through Georgia and the Carolinas.
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