War and Ruin: William T. Sherman and the Savannah Campaign (review)

General William T. Sherman's famous "March to the Sea" has received considerable attention in the military historiography of the Civil War. That Sherman waged war against the civilian population, cutting a swath from Atlanta to Savannah, has established him as the "first modern general" in the eyes of many historians.

Anne Bailey's recent work, now volume 10 in the Scholarly Resources (SR Books) "American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era," provides a fresh new interpretation of that portion of the march focusing on the city of Savannah, Georgia. She is well qualified to address this topic. A professor of history at Georgia College and State University, she has authored more than 140 articles and reviews and five books on the Civil War era, which she studied under the direction of Grady McWhiney.

Bailey's approach to this study centers on the transformation of Savannah beginning in December 1864, "a conquered city where the inhabitants tried to celebrate the holiday season with enemy troops in the streets, a vicious episode unparalleled in their immediate past" (pp. xii-xiii). Chapter 1 provides a variety of enlightening photographs from the National Archives and the U.S. Army Military History Institute showing Savannah waterfront activities and scenes from Fort Pulaski, a prominent U.S. Army installation. Readers who have visited Savannah will readily recognize the area around modern-day Water Street, the heart of the commercial center in Civil War-era Savannah.

Bailey's work also takes issue with other contemporary historical accounts of Savannah's destruction. According to Professor Bailey, "the march to the sea was not considered total war as twentieth-century historians came to define that term nor did it come close to the ruthless warfare Sherman later waged against the Indians in the West" (p. xiii). Bailey points to the significance of correspondence between generals Sherman and Grant regarding the importance of Savannah versus other possible military objectives such as Mobile, Alabama. "Possession of Savannah would be fatal to the possibility of Southern independence" (p. 24).

Sherman's Savannah campaign was an important piece of the overall Union political and military strategy. Professor Bailey points to Lincoln's 1864 re-election campaign and the Union victories at Mobile Bay, the Shenandoah Valley, and Atlanta to counter Democratic charges that the war was a failure (p. 24). In fact, Sherman did not initiate his march until Lincoln was safely elected and in the White House for a second term. Additionally, with more than 60,000 soldiers on the march, Sherman had to plan carefully, considering the need for resupplying soldiers with food and water. Since the march coincided with the agricultural season in Georgia, moving through farmland would be an advantage. Troops would live off the land. "He recognized that shortages could occur as he neared the coast, and that knowledge increased his determination to link up with Union naval forces at the earliest opportunity" (p. 31).

Bailey provides an excellent assessment of Sherman's contributions to military history and Civil War historiography in her Epilogue. We learn, for example, that "Sherman was outspoken about his own significance to the war. Sherman had understood that if his career had ended with the surrender of Atlanta, he would have made but a limited mark on the historical record, for he would have captured a military objective while executing his orders from the War Department. It was the march to the sea and beyond, something that he alone had envisioned, that burned his name into the nation's memory" (p. 130).

Professor Bailey's work is a fine piece of scholarship and provides a comprehensive summary of the events associated with the Savannah campaign. It is a superb addition to the literature of America's greatest...