Book Notes: In the Service of My Country
2025-12-24
A biography of William Tecmuseh Sherman.
Someone notify Henry Oliver: we have a late bloomer. I hadn’t realized how inconsequential Sherman’s career had been before the start of the Civil War. He was well regarded within the Army but saw no real action during the Mexican American War. He left the Army and was in charge of two banks that failed. The bank failures were largely bad luck caused by turbulent economic times, but all the same in his mid-forties he was being kept a float by his father-in-law and very much felt like he was at a dead in.
And then the war came, he rejoins the army and the rest is history. At the battle of Shiloh, his coming out party, he’s 43 years old. By the end, he was arguably the war’s most successful general. He’s seen as a peer to Grant and many would have run him for president, except he did not want to hold the office.
Sherman’s Civil War mostly takes place in the Western Theater. Seen from the perspective of the West, the War seems much more one sided than it does from the Eastern theater. By the summer of 1863, they’ve cracked the Confederacy in half and are pressing their advantage — victory no longer seems in doubt.
Another thing that was surprising to me was how confusing the opening months of the war were. All throughout the country, particularly in the border lands, towns and communities were choosing sides. Generals on both sides were prone to imagine large, invincible forces just around the corner that just didn’t exist and even the troops under their command may not be reliable.
A final treat when reading this book: so many of the places are in my backyard. Sherman spends a lot of time relieving and reinforcing Chattanooga, where my family went for spring break. The place where Sherman’s army crosses the Chattahoochee is a park my family frequents. Having a sense of place makes both books and places so much richer to me.