When Sherman Came: Southern Women and the "Great March." (review)

BOOKREVIEWS83 pomattox a kind of realism often lacking in historical studies. Thus the author is reasonably successful in his main endeavor, the recreation of the spirit and feeling of the times. A clearer map at the beginning and a more complete index at the end would have improved this work. The decisive battle of Five Forks, the catastrophic beginning of the end for the Rebels, should also have received more attention. Nevertheless, the general reader who appreciates the tragedy of the war and the complexity of the issues involved will enjoy Appomattox, a worthwhile but not essential addition to the literature of the Civil War. F. N. Boney Washington State University When Sherman Came: Southern Women and the "Great March." By Katharine M. Jones. (New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1964. Pp. xiv, 353. $6.00.) That William T. Sherman fathered his own urban renewal program is a claim to fame most southerners vehemendy concede. Even today bitter controversy surrounds this lean, erratic general who, at the head of his battle-hardened Federal army, left an Adanta in flames and, five months later, accepted the surrender of Joe Johnston's army after cutting an unprecedented swath of destruction through three southern states. Sherman's 1864-1865 offensive was in truth a departure from accepted warfare. It was war carried to the people, a systematic crushing of the Souths will to fight, a psychological incision that figuratively , if not literally, disemboweled the dying Confederacy. Whether what Sherman did was right or wrong depends upon whether one considers war to have limitations of action and severity. Much has been written of the March to the Sea and the subsequent Carolina Campaign. Yet practically all of the commentaries have been military in either content or authorship. Overlooked almost completely have been the worst victims of Sherman's advance; southern women who were powerless to do more than witness and bemoan the fate that befell them. In many respects, what these women saw and recorded forms a more human picture of this decisive campaign than is found even in Sherman's own meticulous memoirs. It is fitting that Katharine Jones should tell the story of embatded females caught in the path of Sherman's invasion. Through her earlier works, Heroines of Dixie and Ladies of Richmond, Miss Jones established herself as the chief spokesman for Confederate women. This new book is the best of Miss Jones's labors, and it should add deserved luster to her status as an historian. When Sherman Came follows the same format Miss Jones employed in her previous volumes. The great bulk of the narrative consists of excerpts from women's reminiscences—many heretofore unpublished. The 84CIVIL WAR HISTORY author intrudes only to introduce each writer and to explain the circumstances prevalent at the time each passage was written. Having thus placed an excerpt in proper historical perspective, Miss Jones graciously leaves the stage and allows the eyewitness to relate her own experiences. This is not to imply that only one reaction exists for each segment of Sherman's campaign; quite to the contrary. For example, seven women describe the Federal march from Atlanta to Milledgeville; eight tell of the occupation of Savannah; nineteen recount aspects of the still-inflammatory destruction of Columbia; and eleven express their feelings during the final fighting in North Carolina. Some of the women (e.g., Dolly Bürge, Cornelia Spencer, and Margaret Devereaux) are familiar figures to Civil War students. Others (such as Kate McKimmon, Lily Logan, and Julia Gott) are new voices of an oppressed generation. Although Miss Jones undertook this volume as a labor of love, she used no short cuts. The multiplicity of excerpts, voluminous notes, and full bibliography attest to her painstaking research. Her strong prosouthem bent may irritate a few readers, but any injured feelings will be inconsequential when compared to those of southern women who witnessed and endured the "Great March." James I. Robertson, Jr. University of Montana Conquest of a Valley. By Marshall M. Brice. (Charlottesville, Va.: The University Press of Virginia, 1965. Pp. vii, 184. $4.50. ) Most battles of the Civil War have received adequate treatment by historians , but a few still remain in...