Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

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Memoirs of General William T. Sherman by William Tecumseh Sherman

Published:

1875

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Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

By

4
(1 Review)

Book Excerpt

ncluded to go to his uncle, Judge Parker, at Mansfield, Ohio, to study law. My, eldest sister, Elizabeth, soon after married William J. Reese, Esq.; James was already in a store at Cincinnati; and, with the exception of the three youngest children, the rest of us were scattered. I fell to the charge of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, who took me to his family, and ever after treated me as his own son.

I continued at the Academy in Lancaster, which was the best in the place; indeed, as good a school as any in Ohio. We studied all the common branches of knowledge, including Latin, Greek, and French. At first the school was kept by Mr. Parsons; he was succeeded by Mr. Brown, and he by two brothers, Samuel and Mark How. These were all excellent teachers, and we made good progress, first at the old academy and afterward at a new school-house, built by Samuel How, in the orchard of Hugh Boyle, Esq.

Time passed with us as with boys generally. Mr. Ewing was in the United States Senate, and I was notified to prep

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William "Cump" Sherman was arguably the best, most imaginative and original general the American army has ever produced. He single handedly invented modern warfare. He was the first to recognize that winning wars was a matter of destroying the enemies economic, industrial and agricultural base, not forcing their army to retreat or surrender as had been the goal of previous generals in previous wars. Sherman changed the face and nature of war. His is the strategy followed by all armies from the civil war to the Vietnam war.
This does not make his auto-biography easy to read or enjoyable however. I have read about 80% of this book and I must say it is tedious, long winded and at times pompous. Those sections dealing with Cump's early life in Ohio and West Point time as well as those dealing with major battles in the civil war are interesting and readable. The remainder is much less so. Although Sherman is listed as the author I find it difficult to believe he did not have help from a political speech writer of the kind we see and hear in the current and previous White House administrations. There are too many words and occasional bouts of hyperbole. I give it 4 stars and urge you to read it if you have any interest in American history. Should you have no interest in history one would be wise to give the book a pass.