General Sherman’s Christmas: Savannah, 1864
Surely, Abraham Lincoln took a special pleasure from the high-spirited telegram he received from Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman on Christmas Day, 1864: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah.” This book should likewise give much pleasure to most of its readers. It appears to be at least the 12th book on military topics by the prolific Penn State scholar Stanley Weintraub. Previously, he has published Christmas-themed books about the Revolutionary War, World War I and World War II. He now fills the obvious gap, with his first book on the Civil War. Basically, despite its Savannah subtitle, this is a fast-paced, flavorful and generously illustrated study of the period from Election Day (Nov. 8), 1864, through New Year’s Day, 1865, as Sherman’s march from Atlanta to the sea and capture of Savannah cut the “viable remainder” of the post-Vicksburg Confederacy “in two … [and] ended any chances for the South’s survival.” The book starts with discussion of the 1864 presidential election season. Half of the text then relates Sherman’s march, with only the last third addressing the conquest of Savannah and the early days of its occupation. This book deserves an audience, but Weintraub apparently is not a long-time student of Sherman or the Civil War, and his content seems somewhat anecdotal, rather than deeply insightful. He has plumbed previous literature with a discerning eye and also appears to have turned up some fresh material from archives and period newspapers. These sources allow him to paint vivid pictures, often tinged with humor, of the march to the sea and the occupation of Savannah. Overall, though, the book is not a definitive treatment of these subjects, but a somewhat lighter and more readable fare, well suited to the holiday season. Weintraub peers into many corners, seeking to illustrate the impact of the march and Savannah’s capture on Georgians black and white, Christian and Jew, as well as on Sherman, his subordinates and their ineffective Southern military opponents. He even circles back to some of the affected civilians on Sherman’s route to see what kind of Christmas they had after Sherman passed on with his foragers and bummers. Weintraub is properly skeptical of some Southern complaints about alleged Union depredations, but details much destruction of property and opines several times that “pillage as punishment” does not work as a scheme for pacification. On the other hand, he also stresses how light-handed the Union occupation of Savannah was and shows how unbending many Southerners nonetheless remained. Sherman himself comes on stage most prominently during the short siege of Savannah and in his role presiding over the occupied city. The very presence on the page of one of the most colorful of Civil War figures enlivens the book, as do amusing anecdotes about the efforts of Generals Oliver O. Howard and Frank Blair to deal with recalcitrant Savannah womanhood. Despite its brevity, this book touched almost every base on this reviewer’s checklist for completeness. Still, it has its quirks and minor disappointments. Most striking, Weintraub’s extended discussion of the 1864 election season fails to emphasize the galvanic impact of Sherman’s Sept. 2 capture of Atlanta, coming as a much-needed and wildly celebrated victory for the Union just days after the Democrats had nominated former General-in-Chief George B. McClellan to run against the incumbent commander-in-chief. It seems odd for this book in particular to pass so lightly over Sherman’s contribution to Lincoln’s reelection, for that background must have added a special frisson to Sherman’s subsequent Christmas-gift telegram to Lincoln. Further, Weintraub stumbles into various errors of detail. He places the Confederacy’s Jefferson F. Davis in the prewar Cabinet of James Buchanan rather than that of Franklin Pierce. He wrongly reports bad blood between Sherman and Union chief-of-staff Henry W. Halleck at a time when their relations were cordial. And he puts Sherman’s Christmas-gift message into Lincoln’s hands on Christmas Eve, one day early according to the extant military telegram. Nonetheless, this book is well worth putting in a Christmas stocking. Reviewer: Carl R. Schenker Jr. is a lawyer living in Washington, D.C. His wife, Susan Sherman Richardson, is a great-great-granddaughter of William Tecumseh Sherman. Schenker is the author of “Grant’s Rise from Obscurity” in North & South magazine.
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Illustrated, map, notes, index, 238 pp., 2009. Smithsonian Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022, $24.99 plus shipping.