william sherman. sherman is going to cut a wide swath from vicksburg down into alabama -- i am sorry, mississippi, and he is going to cause about $50 million in damage, according to william tecumseh sherman or so he feels, grand, that if we go to to the south and make this war about taking over the homeland by destroying crops and railroads, we will wear out the confederate's ability to supply their armies to we will drain morale on the homefront, drain morale on the war front. and then hopefully whenever it comes to the battlefield, that will have those armies depleted and the union, not only numbers, but strategy, will play out in the end. link it has another idea. he wants to try to find a decisive point and matter away at the's army -- i am sorry, davidson's army. this is the idea that grant is given. so when grant gives lincoln an initial breakdown of what he wanted to do, and lincoln was not very interested exactly in a wanted to do, grant had strategy in early 1864 of trying to send 50,000 men down through southeastern virginia and then down into north carolina to cut the underbelly of robert ely's army. you cut the supply chain. but when lincoln gives the mandate for what

in the deep south, william tecumseh sherman would be placed in charge of the army that will sweep through georgia and into the carolinas and we'll talk about sherman. sherman's record was marginal. he was a colonel at board run in 1861 -- bull run in 1861. he had rallied his men. it was noted by his superiors although ultimately his brigade left the field in much the same way as the rest of the union troops that day, which was fleeing. his first large command was a colossal failure and many journalists consider him as having lost his mind. he was at shiloh in 1862. it is plagued with logistical problems. however, he was one the most trusted men that were continued through the war. sherman's march georgia as subsequent action of total war as he moved up the east coast earned him his final legend in the north. in virginia, grant would meet lee at the wilderness and begin a march that would culminate in a massive siege at petersburg, virginia. in 1864 was the last full year of the war. the army of northern virginia had had any victories under its belt. fredericksburg and chancellorsville wer

this most explicitly in the surrender that follows after appomotox because there famously william tecumseh sherman, the scourge of the south and rightly so, what we see is that sherman there offers not surrender but armistice. peace to the confederate states. peace from the potomac to rio grande. goes far beyond anything that grant offered. at this moment sometimes you see in the literature people who say things like all the north cared about was union. if this were true, sherman was delivering that. union and peace. in fact this was not true. we can say the united states government including the most conservative element, president andrew johnson, did not believe union was sufficient because when the terms of sherman's offer and armistice and end to the war, you retain southern state governments in the south, you retain local governments, you retain even the right of rebels to vote and in turn put down their arms and stop fighting the north. when it gets to the united states capitol the cabinet rejected it, 8-0 including the most conservative members and an outraged andrew johnson directs grant t

in the deep south, william tecumseh sherman would be placed in charge of the army that will sweep through georgia and into the carolinas, and we talked for a moment about sherman. sherman's record was marginal. he was a colonel at bull run in july of 1861. against strong forces, he had rallied his men. ultimately, his brigade left the field in much the same way as the rest of the union troops that day, fleeing from the rebel onslaught. his first large command was a colossal failure and many journalists consider him as having lost his mind. he performed well at shiloh in the spring of 1862 but managed a disastrous attack a few months prior to the 1863 seats to vicksburg. his march was plagued with problems. thehis performance at battle of chattanooga was also questionable. trusted his men in that relationship continued. sherman marched through georgia and moved up the east coast which earned him his final status as a legend in the north. in virginia, grant would meet lee at the wilderness and begin a march towards richmond that would culminate in a massive siege at petersburg, virginia. 18

i recently read the memoir of william tecumseh sherman and i was amazed at his ability in some authorcapture in one detail the essence of something and i would like to hear your thoughts on sherman and my perhaps he's underrated by people that are interested in books today? >> guest: i feel about that the way i feel about grant's memoir that people have stopped reading, that they been placed on the shelf of great american classics rather than being a living part of our history. like most people in the 19th century he wrote extremely well. he was also very smart, and his march though cruel as it may have been was a brilliant dress that brought to an end that war. sherman is to say ike stuck with me when i was drunk and i stuck with him when he was crazy and there some truth to that. i agree his memoirs are readab readable. >> host: u.s. is one of your favorite books tolstoy's war and peace. how would you suggest people read that? what approach should they take? should they just open it and start reading? >> guest: there's no other way to approach a book but i think though that you firs

i recently wrote a memoir of william tecumseh sherman and i was amazed at his ability as an author tot in one detail the essence. i would like to hear your thoughts on sherman and perhaps why he is underrated by people who are interested in books today. >> guest: that is how i feel about grant's memoirs that people have stopped reading them and they are placed on the shelf of the great to bury akin passage as opposed to being part of our history. sherman like most people wrote extremely well. in his march and sherman used to say ike was stuck with him and he would stick with me when i was crazy but they're both readable and important. >> to list one of your favorite books as "war and peace". how would you suggest people read that? >> guest: yes. there is no other way to approach that book. so for those who are hugely expensive and which encloses not just the entire world that the entire point of view. so it is very important not to feel rushed. but to approach "war and peace". but for me i would agree that an accurate and that is probably the more engaging book. but "war and peace" is

i recently read memoir of william tecumseh sherman, and i was amazed at his ability as an author, hise detail the essence of something. and i would like to hear your thoughts on sherman and why perhaps he's underrated by people that are interested in books today. >> guest: well, you know, i feel about that the way i feel about grant's memoirs, that people have stopped reading them, that they have been placed on the shelves as great american classics rather than being realize as a living part of our history. sherman, like most people in the 19th century, wrote extremely well. he was also very smart, and his march through georgia, cruel as it may have been, was a brilliant that brought to an end that war. sherman himself, and i've always liked that, used to say i stuck with grant when he was drunk, and he stuck with me when i was crazy. [laughter] and there's some truth to that. [laughter] but i agree with you, his memoirs are both readable and important. >> host: you list as one of your favorite books leo tolstoy's "war and peace." how would you suggest people to read that? i mean, wha