Glatthaar,
Joseph T. The March to the Sea and Beyond: Sherman’s Troops in the Savannah
and Carolinas Campaign. Los Angeles: New York: New York University Press,
1985.
Glatthaar
is a Civil War historian who specializes at looking into the lives or the
everyday rank-and-file, though he has done work on major generals. He’s a bit
of a social historian with a military focus. He’s more well-known for Forged in Battle, which looked at the
relationship between black Union soldiers and their white officers. Before that
he wrote this overview of Sherman’s force after the fall of Atlanta and up to May 1865. He
attempts to show the reader that the various Union armies were unique in their
own way. Sherman’s army, which was actually a combination of the Army of Tennessee
and the Army of Georgia (actually two corps of the Army of the Cumberland) was
primarily made up of westerners who had a more egalitarian view of the army.
While there was discipline, officers and men spoke more freely. Officers, up to
generals, would sometimes pitch in manually when a wagon or artillery piece needed
to be freed from mud or quickly placed. Compared to the Army of the Potomac,
they had much less concern for proper drill and proper attire. Two corps from
the Army of the Potomac in fact helped make up Sherman’s force and they had
trouble adjusting to this new army, which “at first glance… looked more like a
mob than an army. They were an unkempt, boisterous, seemingly unruly lot, in no
way resembling the stereotypical professional army of the min-nineteenth
century...”
Glatthaar
does not pursue a chronological narrative. In between his intro and epilogue he
reveals his topic subject by subject, with the use of numerous collections of
letters and diaries by the soldiers. This provides insights into the minds of
the rank-and-file as well as plenty of anecdotes, some morbid and others
amusing. He does not go too deep into the wider political and military strategies
or the mindsets of the generals. This is about the lower ranks. However, the
soldiers’ everyday experiences and musings were very relevant to wider causes.
One chapter that exemplifies this is “The Army and Blacks”, which argues that
the men, though overwhelmingly racist, were disgusted with slavery. They came to
appreciate the blacks, who helped Union POWs escape, provided scouting services, and generally showed enthusiastic appreciation for their liberators. Glatthaar argues from several quotes that Sherman's soldiers pushed for equal civil rights for blacks. The follow-up
chapter, “The Army and Southern Whites”, shows that they perceived the
aristocratic planter class with contempt and poorer whites as their lazy,
ignorant, and misled pawns. Glatthaar further presents the army as overwhelmingly
in support of Lincoln, even when officers pressures them to vote Democrat. Many
of the points raised in these last few sentences have been challenged by the
latest social history, so keep that in mind if reading this.
Glatthaar
points out that military action was surprisingly light in Sherman’s final
campaigns. The only sizeable Confederate force tried to stop him by thrusting
north at Tennessee. This did not slow the Federals down. Most of the action is
confined to the chapter “Battle” and it mostly takes place in the form of
skirmishes. With little military opposition, Sherman’s troops spent more time
warring on the civilian population. They burned down homes and barns, seized
food stores, and looted goods for personal profit. Glatthaar devotes a whole
chapter to the Bummers, small units of men tasked with separating from the main
force to forage for food. In order to feed Sherman’s army, they deprived
civilians. In turn, the will of these civilians broke down and they begged
their husbands and sons to come home and rescue them. The most unpleasant
aspects of this book are accounts of soldiers going leaving southern families absent of food and sometimes even shelter. However, such
tactics did hasten the end of the war.
March to the Sea
and Beyond
serves the purpose of fleshing out the war’s final campaigns. Glatthaar does a wonderful
job of looking at how soldiers on the ground carried out or responded to
military policies and the social conditions they encountered in the Deep South.
The
book can be bought here.
Rating:
Highly Recommend
Rating
System
Must-Read:
Definite read for history in general
Highly
Recommend: Definite read within a certain subject
Recommend:
Good for further information or into on a certain topic
Adequate:
Useful if looking for further information certain topic
Pass:
Awful, only useful for examining bad or ideologically-tainted history
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