eBook Review: Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

Philip H. Sheridan, Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army

Product Details (Volume I)

• File Size: 393 KB
• Print Length: 534 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (March 27, 2005)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQU87A
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
• Price: $0.00 

 

Product Details (Volume II)

• File Size: 359 KB
• Print Length: 522 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (June 1, 2004)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQU87K
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
• Price: $0.00

1. Short review: 

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  History that you cannot get anywhere else, especially Sheridan's coverage of the Franco-Prussian War.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Mostly roller-coaster, but we know how the ride ends.
These books are free, and they are worth the downloads.

2.2. What I did not like:  Sheridan's writing style. His prose is gilded and pompous sounding. His writing shows the influence Grant had on him and becomes readable when he served under Grant, but out from under Grant's tutelage, he reverts to his old heathen ways.

2.3. Who I think is the audience:  History buffs.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yes.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book?  No. I've read all the Sheridan I can stomach.

2.6. Other:  I read Ulysses S Grant's memoirs and William T Sherman's memoirs.
     I divide Sheridan's memoirs into five parts:  1. In California and Oregon before the War; 2. The War; 3. After the War; 4. The Indian Wars; and 5. The Franco-Prussian War and a tour of Europe.

1. In California and Oregon before the War.
     Sheridan graduated from West Point in 1853. Soon he was ordered to the Pacific Northwest where he treated with and fought the local Indians in small unit actions. He campaigned summer and winter. This was important for his later campaigns against the Plains Indians.
     By Sheridan's account, he won the conflicts with the Indians single-handed. He stood short in the saddle and short on modesty.

2.  The War.
     Unlike Sherman, Sheridan did not plaster his memoirs with copies of orders. There are some, but they serve to highlight Sheridan's accounts.
     Sheridan found his unit in the Pacific Northwest divided in its loyalties when the Civil War began. Some officers resigned their commissions and went to fight for the Confederacy. Sheridan was promoted captain and ordered to report for duty in Missouri. He executed his orders by sailing from San Francisco to New York City and travelling cross-country.
     When he arrived in Missouri, General Halleck appropriated him to his staff to sort out the mess Fremont had made of Halleck's department's finances. Sheridan wanted a combat command, but he performed Halleck's accounting task so well that it looked like Halleck would keep on staff for the whole war.
     Sheridan ran afoul of General Curtis and his officers who were profiteering. Curtis tried to courtmartial Sheridan, but Halleck stepped in and saved him.
     All the while, Sheridan tried to wrangle a combat command. Sherman offered him a regiment of volunteers, but that appointment fell through. In May 1862, Sheridan was appointed to command the 2d Michigan Cavalry. He won his first battle with this unit and thereby gained a promotion to brigadier general of volunteers.
     Sheridan continued from success to success in other commands in the Western Theater, compiling a string of accomplishments that he never failed to trumpet. One instance stands as an example of his jealousy for acclaim. At the Battle of Chattanooga, his division overran a Confederate held ridge. Sheridan claimed the guns -- cannon -- the Confederates left behind, because his men had taken them. They did not stay to secure the guns but continued in pursuit of the Confederates. Other units secured the guns and were credited with their capture. Sheridan expended several dozen pages of his memoirs with sworn statements from his subordinate unit commandeers to show that his division took the guns, contrary to the official reports.
     After Chattanooga, Sheridan was given command of the Union cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. Meade, his immediate commander, wanted to use the cavalry in its traditional roles for screening and reconnaissance. Sheridan wanted to use the cavalry as a separate arm. Their dispute rose to General Grant, who persuaded Meade to give Sheridan his way. Sheridan took the Union cavalry on an extended raid around the Confederate army. Along the way, his forces defeated the Confederate cavalry and killed their commander, General J.E.B. Stuart. That's the upside. The downside is that the Army of the Potomac was effectively blind while Sheridan went raiding.
     It is worth noting that American cavalry in the Civil War was what the Europeans called dragoons. American cavalry rode to battle, dismounted, and fought with carbines. Sheridan himself wrote that, during the entire war, only once did his cavalry charge with drawn sabers.
     After commanding the cavalry army brilliantly (according to Sheridan) or with mixed results (according to Meade), Grant named him to command the Army of the Shenandoah. The Confederates used the Shenandoah Valley as a gateway to raid Maryland, Pennsylvania, and to threaten Washington, DC. The raids into Maryland and Pennsylvania did damage to the public but the Confederates trooping across the Potomac from Washington scared the bejeezus out of the politicians in Washington who demanded SOMETHING MUST BE DONE RIGHT NOW!
     Grant sent Sheridan to sweep the Confederates from the Shenandoah. Sheridan took some time getting organized, a fact that did not sit well with Grant because the politicians were pissing down his collar. In September 1864, Sheridan got going and burned the Shenandoah. Over the course of six months, he destroyed the Confederates forces opposing him. Then, in a surprise, he returned his army to the command of General Grant. Given Sheridan's ego, this is incomprehensible to me still.
     Sheridan reported that there was much spying going on in the Shenandoah, but he managed to turn this to his advantage by sowing disinformation with rebel spies.
     Grant left Sheridan in command of the forces that had comprised the Army of the Shenandoah. Sheridan headed for Petersburg, Virginia and effectively became the far right wing of Grant's army. His move meant he was perfectly positioned to cut off Lee's route of retreat, and that's what Sheridan did. Soon after followed the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
     Grant ordered Sheridan to Texas to defeat the last Confederate forces in the field, but Kirby Smith surrendered before Sheridan could cross the Sabine.

3. After the War.
     Sheridan showed great interest in events in Mexico. Although he never explicitly said so, my impression is that he wanted to invade Mexico to kick the French out. He does say that he passed firearms and ammunition to Juarez.
     In 1867, Sheridan was named military governor of Texas and Louisiana. He spent most of his term as governor in New Orleans, investigating a riot, enrolling voters, and replacing elected officials with his appointees. President Johnson spent a great deal of time undoing what Sheridan did. Finally, Thomas replaced Sheridan as military governor. In August 1867, Sheridan left to command the Department of the Missouri.
   
4. The Indian Wars.
     In Kansas, Sheridan quickly learned  that his forces were too few to keep the Indians pacified unless the Indians wanted to be pacified. He asked for and got state levies. He did the one thing the Indians could not do -- campaigned in the winter (see 'In California and Oregon before the War' above) -- and defeated the Indians thereby.
     His winter campaign was a logistical nightmare from start to finish. I give Sheridan credit for seeing it through. Forcing that campaign on to a successful conclusion was an act of will.
     The sad part is that it was unnecessary. The Indians said they wanted to talk. Sheridan refused. He said the deal was done and the Indians had to abide by it. A lot of Indians and a lot of soldiers died after Sheridan's refusal.
     When your choice is talk or bleed, talk.

5. The Franco-Prussian War and a tour of Europe.
     Grant promoted Sheridan to lieutenant general in 1869. He and Grant believed war between Prussia and France was imminent. Sherman asked for leave to go to Europe to observe the war. Grant gave him leave and supplied him with a letter of introduction.
     After some confusion, Sheridan arrived at King Wilhelm's headquarters in the field. King Wilhelm ordered that Sheridan be shown every courtesy possible.
     Wilhelm did not speak English and Sheridan did not speak German, so they communicated through a translator. However, Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor, and Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian chief of staff of the army, both spoke fluent English. (Moltke married an Englishwoman.)
     Sheridan wore his uniform at the front. This was not a good idea. His uniform closely resembled the French uniform. Many times he was accosted by Prussian troops. By accosted I mean they pointed guns at him and he surrendered to them. After the first incident, he rode with a royal pass in his tunic. This did not stop the Prussians from pointing rifles at him, but it did mean they released him quicker.
     At Gravelotte, Sheridan witnessed a charge of Prussian cavalry uphill against French infantry dug into the hillside. Predictably, the French destroyed the Prussian cavalry. Sheridan opined that the Prussians misused their cavalry. Well, they certainly did that day.
      After the French emperor surrendered his forces in the field but before the capital capitulated, Sheridan toured Europe. He was feted in Istanbul, Athens, and Italy. He returned through France and rejoined the Prussian Army about the time the German Empire was declared with Wilhelm as its first Kaiser.
     Bismarck told Sheridan he did not care to march the united German armies through Paris, but the troops wanted that glory. Not to give them that honor would risk mutiny. Bismarck wanted to install the daughter of Napoleon III on the French throne. He believed he could more easily manipulate her than a new French republic.
     I have seen few accounts of the Franco-Prussian War, so I was especially interested in Sheridan's. I gleaned from his account that cavalry made no difference for either side. The Prussians outmarched the French but did not outfight them. The Prussians did not win the war; the French lost it.
     The French moves evidenced poor strategic and tactical thinking. For example, the French marched 140,000 men into Metz, a fortress designed for 25,000. So what happened inside an overcrowded, besieged fortress? They got in each other's way, sanitation failed, and food was exhausted sooner. To Marshal Bazaine's credit, he held out for two months, a month more than expected.
     One thing I wonder about. The King and the Chancellor and many other government ministers were in the field with the army. So who was running the Prussian government during the war?
     Sheridan told Grant that, in military matters, the Americans had nothing to learn from the Europeans. I think he was right. The union army had demonstrated an ability to march and fight and keep supplied under conditions far worse than any the Europeans encountered. I have never found any evidence that Moltke studied American military science, but given the breadth of his knowledge I should be astonished to find that he did not.
     Sheridan's memoirs end here.

2.7. Links:  none

2.8. Buy the books:
Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army - Volume 1
Personal Memoirs of P. H. Sheridan, General, United States Army - Volume 2

eBook Review: Memoirs of General William T Sherman

 

William T. Sherman, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman

Product Details (Volume I)

• File Size: 616 KB
• Print length: 436 pages
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (June 1, 2004)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQU85C
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
• Price: $0.00

Product Details (Volume II) 

• File Size: 605 KB
• Print length: 310 pages
• Publisher: Public Domain Books (June 1, 2004)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000JQU85M
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
• Price: $0.00

1. Short review: 

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  W T Sherman wrote his memoirs in a simple, straightforward, modern style.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Neither and both.
These books give great value for your money.

2.2. What I did not like:  It appears that these books were scanned from old print editions and cleaned up but not edited. Often the dates given in the text are wrong; for example, 1881 for 1861, 1868 for 1863, March 81 for March 31. How often? By my count, V1 had 21 instances; V2 had 22. There were other errors: horse vice house; daring vice during; spars vice spurs.

Whoever scanned and uploaded Sherman's memoirs did so with skill but not love.

2.3. Who I think is the audience:  History buffs.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yes.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book?  Yes, but there aren't any.

2.6. Other:  I read Ulysses S Grant's memoirs. I am now reading Philip Sheridan's memoirs. Grant wrote like Ernest Hemingway. Sheridan wrote like James Fenimore Cooper.

W T Sherman wrote like Grant.

I divide Sherman's memoirs into three parts:  1. California and before the War; 2. The War; and 3. After the War.

1. California and before the War.

This part is written in narrative and reads fast and easy.

Sherman's account of his early life impressed me so little that I do not remember it. Wikipedia says he was from Ohio, came from a prestigious family, his father died young and left the family destitute, and W T was then raised by a family friend -- Thomas Ewing -- who secured for W T an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York.

(Sherman had powerful political connections throughout his life; his younger brother was a US Senator. If we rely on Sherman's account, he seemed to use his connections only to keep himself out of Washington, DC, and politics.)

On graduation from West Point and commissioning, Sherman was posted to Florida. As a lieutenant, he served in Florida and toured throughout South Carolina and Georgia, often hunting with friends.

When the War with Mexico began, Sherman was posted to California. He saw no combat, and this disappointed him. But his accounts of his travels throughout California are some of the most enjoyable pages of his memoirs.

With a small troop, Sherman went to Fort Sumter to verify the claim of finding gold. He did, and the California Gold Rush began.

After rising to the rank of captain, Sherman resigned his commission and returned east. He married and journeyed to St. Louis. Connections in St. Louis offered him a position as manager of their San Francisco branch bank, and Sherman accepted and returned to California.

Sherman managed the bank well. He saw that one gentleman held 20% of the bank's outstanding notes and asked the man to settle his debts. Other banks were quick to take the fellow's business and cash out Sherman's bank. This did not end well for them. The gentleman skipped off to South America. Sherman's bank was one of the few that survived the San Francisco bank panic of 1856.

Sherman returned east to manage the bank's newest branch in New York City, but that soon ended when the home office failed in the Panic of 1857. To support his growing family, Sherman tried a succession of jobs in the west and ended with an appointment as superintendent of a military academy in Louisiana. (This academy later became Lousiana State University.) Sherman was there when the War came.

2.  The War.

This part is heavily documented with written orders interspersed with clarifying short narratives. It was written as a defense of Sherman's actions during the War.

A staunch unionist, Sherman resigned his office in Louisiana rather than turn over federal arms to Louisiana state militia. He was commissioned a colonel and fought at First Bull Run. His actions there brought him a promotion to brigadier and a posting to Kentucky. After a few months, he was posted to St. Louis. It was here that Sherman got to know Henry Halleck and Ulysses Grant.

Halleck commanded the Division of the Missouri (later, the Military Division of the Mississippi), a cumbersome assemblage of military units stretching from Kentucky to Kansas. Grant was his most pugnacious subordinate. Halleck went on to become General-in-Chief of the Union armies until Grant succeeded him. Halleck then became Chief-of-Staff. Halleck spent most of the War in Washington, DC, as a soldier-bureaucrat.

Commanding a division, Sherman served under Grant first at Shiloh, then Corinth, then Vicksburg. They became friends and supported each other with advice and encouragement.

(An aside:  One of the striking features of the Mississippi Valley Campaign was the close cooperation of the Navy under Rear Admiral David Porter with the Union Army. Grant included Porter in his war councils. The success of the Union along the Mississippi was principally due to Grant, Sherman, Porter, and Farragut.)

Sherman complained of the poor equipment the government provided his soldiers and permitted his men to strip the Confederate dead of their firearms. At this time, the Confederate Army had superior small arms.

Sherman commented that often Confederate officers would sup with them under flags of truce and discuss the affairs of the day. He also mentioned that locals appealed to him for help finding their relatives who were prisoners or for protection. These continued throughout the War.

Sherman advised Grant against executing his plan to capture Vicksburg, but Grant -- apparently more attuned to the mood of the Yankee press than others -- overrode all opposition. Sherman willingly obeyed despite his voiced opposition.

Sherman followed Grant to Chattanooga to save Rosecrans's army. The evidence is that Sherman learned how to move an army from Grant's example at Chattanooga:  materiel moved by train and wagon; men and horses marched.

After Chattanooga, Grant was promoted to General-in-Chief (and he wisely made his HQ in the field instead of in Washington, DC). Grant named his trusted friend Sherman to command the Military Division of the Mississippi, the major force of which was now encamped south of Chattanooga. From there, Sherman marched on Atlanta and, on 3 September 1864, took it from Confederate General John Hood (who succeeded Joseph Johnston when Johnston was unable to lift the siege). Sherman then made a decision that still rankles in Georgia:  He ordered Atlanta evacuated. That meant that all civilians had to leave the city. He then burned the city.

The exchange of letters between Hood and Sherman regarding Atlanta and matters related to surrendered units and prisoner exchanges amused me. Here are two major combatants in the bloodiest war Americans ever fought closing their letters with 'Your most obedient servant'. But they serve as contrast against the letters Sherman wrote Grant which he closed 'Your true friend'.

After Atlanta, the Confederates were broken. Sherman commanded a veteran force that marched without notable opposition to the sea. They took Savannah before Christmas 1864.

(Although Sherman gave orders establishing foraging parties by brigade, he related an encounter with a private who carried chickens and meal pillaged along the way and answered his commanding general's disapproving look with "Forage liberally on the country," quoting Sherman's own order. Sherman clarified his order to state that foraging was limited to properly detailed and authorized foraging parties. This anecdote illustrated that Sherman's men expected they would receive justice from the commander they called 'Uncle Billy'. It is also clear that Sherman recognized the limits of a commander's control over the actions of his men in war.)

In 1865, Sherman marched north through the Carolinas. He and Grant knew the War would soon end. Grant took Robert E. Lee's surrender on 10 April 1865 at Appomattox Courthouse (the surrender terms were penned and signed in the home of Wilmer McLean near Appomattox Courthouse). Sherman took his lead from Grant and, when Confederate General Joe Johnston sued for terms a few days later, Sherman offered Johnston similar terms. Johnston enlarged his office to include all Confederate Armies and Sherman accepted, subject to approval by the President. Shockingly, Secretary of War Edwin Stanton violently disapproved and persuaded President Andrew Johnson to disapprove and order Sherman to reengage Johnston's army. (Lincoln had been assassinated. Sherman told Gen. Johnston of the assassination when they first met to agree surrender terms. Johnston expressed his shock and dismay at the assassination.) Stanton published the terms, his opinion of them, and the President's disapproval in the New York papers. Sherman, gobsmacked, withdrew the proffered terms from Johnston and gave him notice that hostilities would begin anew 48 hours after Johnston received the notice. Without options, Johnston surrendered. Union forces continued to pursue the remaining Confederate armies until they surrendered. This included the Battle of Brownsville, the last battle of the War, which the Union lost. All the blood spilled after Johnston's first surrender falls on Stanton's head.

Sherman did not conceal his anger towards and hatred for Stanton. When the victorious Union armies marched in review through Washington, DC, Sherman refused to shake Stanton's hand.

3. After the War.

Sherman thought he knew something about conducting a war -- and he did -- and he put those thoughts into a few paragraphs near the end of his memoirs. One thing that struck me was the manner in which volunteer units were raised. Wisconsin raised volunteer regiments and supplied them with replacements to fill their losses. Other states raised volunteer regiments and, when these lost men, raised new regiments. This resulted in green regiments at full strength and veteran regiments that were in fact under-strength companies. As an example, the famed 20th Maine formed 29 August 1862 and marched out with 700 men. Less than a year later, at the Battle of Gettysburg, it held the Union left at Little Roundtop with 80 effectives.

Sherman took up the rest of his memoirs with his promotion to Lieutenant General commanding the US Army; his repeated attempts to remove his HQ from Washington, DC; and his preparations for his retirement. He mentioned his tour of Europe without detail. He ignored the various wars against the Indians except to say that the transcontinental railroads were the true instruments of the defeat to the Indians, vice the Army. He lamented the reduction of the Army and concluded with the remark that Philip Sheridan would remain at the rank of major general when he assumed command of the Army.

2.7. Links:  none

2.8. Buy the books:
Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman - Volume 1
Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman - Volume 2
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eBook Review: Admiral Farragut

Alfred Thayer Mahan, Admiral Farragut

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 435 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN:  B004TQH05Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled 
• Average Customer Review: no reviews
• Price: $0.00 

1. Short review: 

2. Long review:
2.1. What I liked: The only contemporary biography of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? This should be an historical roller coaster, but Mahan's turgid style turns the bio into a tedious walk-in-the-park.
The book is free. At that, it is worth the download. Were it 99 cents, it would be overpriced.

2.2. What I did not like:  Mahan's style. Whenever Mahan had an idea, legions of words issued forth from his pen and trampled it to death.

2.3. Who I think is the audience:  Die-hard naval history buffs. 

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yeah. It'll put 'em right to sleep.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book?  I suppose I have to read The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 'cause I am a die-hard naval history buff, but after reading Admiral Farragut, I ain't looking forward to it. It will be a chore, not a pleasure.

2.6. Other:  Mahan presents a wealth of historical information that I have not seen anywhere else:  1) Farragut's service as a young midshipman aboard the USS Essex in the War of 1812; 2) Farragut's decision to move his residence from Virginia to New York on the eve of the Civil War (both Farragut and his wife were southerners); 3) the fact that Farragut ignored his orders and bypassed rather than reduce or capture two forts on the Mississippi delta to take New Orleans (after New Orleans was taken, the forts fell from lack of supplies); Farragut's cooperation with David Porter on the Mississippi; and 4) the details of Farragut running his ships into the harbor at Mobile.

Congress created the ranks of rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral specifically to reward Farragut for his wartime accomplishments.

Mahan's style reflects that of the 18th century more than that of the 19th century.

2.7. Links:  David Farragut (If you are a die-hard naval history buff, go ahead and download the book below and read it; else, click the link above and read the Wiki.)

2.8. Buy the book:  Admiral Farragut

____________________

Buy the book at Amazon Kindle Books.