Sherman's March: Atlanta to the Sea

The Civil War #21

by David Nevin

Describes the Confederate strategy after General Sherman captured Atlanta, explains the reasons behind Sherman's March to the Sea, and recounts the fall of Savannah

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Military History, Nonfiction, Civil War Western Theater

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

David Reinhardt Nevin was born in Washington. His father, a veterinarian in the US Army when it had a horse cavalry, was soon assigned to Fort Sam Houston in Texas. Mr. Nevin joined the US Navy as a teenager and served in the Pacific. After the war he did poorly in college, but could write well enough to be hired as a police reporter for The Brownsville (Texas) Herald. That led to work for Time and Life magazines.

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a superb account of the Sherman's March after Atlanta pressing into the coastal Georgia and Savannah. The book follows the others and keeps the information clear and well-balanced. The book has great supporting photographs and maps detailing the account. This volume includes an abbreviated biography of Major General William Sherman and his senior officers, the effects on the civilian population of the Union invasion, engagements in Tennessee, and the Union push to the sea.

A photographic center segment gives pictures and detailed information about the tune 'Marching Through Georgia' by Henry Clay Work with lyrics, musical notes, and art work by Charles Copeland (pgs. 74-81).

This addition to the series was great and I highly recommend this series to anyone interested in the American Civil War. Thanks!

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue to read the text in the books from the Time-Life series, The Civil War, that has been in my home library since 1986.
i continue to learn a lot more than I knew before.
I recommend it for all students of the Civil War.

[EAL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative. Read for research.

[David Christensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Time-Life book, kind of a collectors edition with beautiful embossed hard-cover and fantastic illustration, pictures and finely detailed and well labeled maps. Jeffrey Korn took the lead on this edition, and told a very thorough tail of the strategic importance of Vicksburg, on the Mississippi, why is was so well defended, and the six- month struggle for the Union to figure out the right tactic to take this vital geographic point in Western Mississippi. The book covers key skirmishes along the Mississippi from Memphis down to Baton Rouge and out in Corinth and Jackson as preludes to the 48 day siege of Vicksburg the walled city which culminated July 4, 1863 (same day as Lee’s withdrawal/defeat at Gettysburg. It lays out the campaign in a very chronological manner, and adds in all the reasons why things tended to happen this way. The pictures and illustrations in these Time-Life books are the best I’ve seen on the civil war.
I have great interest in Vicksburg since I will be visiting it in 10 days on one of my civil war site visits on my way to wintering in the south from Minnesota.

Note: I wrote this entire review on the wrong book … I meant it for “War on the Mississippi: Grants campaign on Vicksburg”. It’s a great book. But I am starting this book on Sherman’s campaign from Atlanta to the Sea, because next month on my winter tRip to the south I’ll be in Savannah Georgia and Charleston South Carolina and will be able to relate to the geography in the book.