Grant and Sherman: The Friendship That Won the Civil War
Written by Charles Bracelen Flood
Narrated by Charles Bracelen Flood
4/5
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About this audiobook
""We were as brothers,"" William Tecumseh Sherman said, describing his relationship with Ulysses S. Grant. They were incontestably two of the most important figures in the Civil War, but until now there has been no book about their victorious partnership and the deep friendship that made it possible.
Heeding the call to save the Union, each struggled past political hurdles to join the war effort. Taking each other's measure at the Battle of Shiloh, they began their unique collaboration. Often together under fire on the war's great battlefields, they shared the demands of family life, the heartache of loss, and supported each other in the face of mudslinging by the press and politicians. Their growing mutual admiration and trust set the stage for the crucial final year of the war and the peace that would follow.
Moving and elegantly written, Grant and Sherman is a historical page-turner: a gripping portrait of two men whose friendship, forged on the battlefield, would win the Civil War.
Charles Bracelen Flood
Charles Bracelen Flood is the author of Lee: The Last Years; Hitler: The Path to Power; and Rise, and Fight Again: Perilous Times Along the Road to Independence, winner of an American Revolution Round Table Award. He lives with his wife on a farm in Richmond, Kentucky.
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Reviews for Grant and Sherman
75 ratings9 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An interesting and highly readable treatment of the friendship between William Techumseh Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War and its role in supporting and eventually assuring Northern victory. Some highlights of the text include a lengthy biographical introduction of both the main characters, especially interesting was that of Sherman, and their wives who receive large notice throughout the book (I'm always interested and delighted to read about the spouses of those notables in the book and Julia Grant and Ellen Sherman are some of the most interesting).It wrapped up particularly strong, with Shermans troubles over the surrender conditions with Joseph Johnston in North Carolina and the victory review in Washington.Throughout I thought that the author clearly got his arguement across - though it could have used a few more maps (a common complaint I will raise time and time again) and more of the supplied pictures should have dealt with Sherman and Grant directly.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a nice crisp read about what was assuredly the most effective military partnership in the history of the American military. Having just finished Ron Chodrow’s Grant this book provided a good transition down to an easier quicker read. The only failing in the book was that it did not really cover the separation of the two after the war on post war reconstruction issues where Grant remained a champion of the rights of freed blacks and Sherman was less enthusiastic. I recommend the book to anyone who has an interest in our Civil War. If you are a real Civil War buff this book will not provide much new information but it will interrelate the history of much that you have stored in separate mental files.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Very interesting description of the friendship between Grant and Sherman during the Civil War, and their key roles in winning the war. Charles Bracelen Flood has attempted to explore this unique relationship in "Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War." Beginning with their backgrounds, he shows their similarities. He then goes on to demonstrate the growing trust between the two generals during the early years of the war.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very interesting description of the friendship between Grant and Sherman during the Civil War, and their key roles in winning the war. Also covered are their common backgrounds as West Point graduates who both left the Army before the Civil War and had undistinguished careers in civilian life. Good detail on the key battles they were involved in: Shiloh, Ft Donelson, Vicksburg, Chattanooga,Sherman's victory at Atlanta, Sherman's March to the Sea, Sherman's March thru the Carolinas, and Grants final battle with Lee. Very well written - it's a fairly quick read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Union generals Grant and Sherman shared a similar background of failure and frustration, though at the beginning of the War Between the States, Grant was probably the bigger failure of the two. Both men were very dependent upon their families for support of one sort or another, be it as simple as Grant working in his father's leather shop or a bit more complicated like Sherman benefitting from the political influence of his politically-connected family. Just four years later, the pair was largely credited with winning the war and preserving the Union. They would go on to worldwide and national fame, something they could hardly have imagined possible in 1860 when the coming war was still brewing. Grant, of course, would become president of the United States (although his presidency is seen as somewhat of a failure due to the scandals occurring during his years in office), and Sherman would become head of the U.S. Army and would remain a soldier for almost five decades before finally retiring on his 64th birthday. Theirs was a special bond, one that involved true friendship and a melding of two very different military minds into one mindset that overwhelmed all the resistance that Robert E. Lee and the rest of the South could throw at them. They were exactly what the Union needed and they came along at precisely the right moment to save that Union. "Grant and Sherman" tells their story in just over 400 pages; it's a story well worth considering.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not a bad book for old Civil War buffs. The title is of course a tautology since it goes without saying that Grant and Sherman were the two best generals in the North and the North won. Very good on family life, early careers, and skill sets, gets bogged down after the war in the Sherman feuds. Tries to make a case for Grant as flexible and capable battlefield manager, instead of the usual meatgrinder view.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Many historians have often characterized the relationship between Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson as a close relationship, in which Lee trusted Jackson implicitly. Lee himself said that Jackson's death after the Battle of Chancellorsville was 'like losing my right arm.' For the remainder of the war, Lee lacked a similar relationship with any of the other Confederate generals.Less publicized, probably because the Union war effort is seen in such blunt, unpoetic and non-mythologized terms, is the close relationship between Union generals U. S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. Grant trusted Sherman completely, as is evident from his lack of concern when the subordinate general abandoned normal military tactics and procedure and marched through Georgia with no communication with the commanding general for weeks.Charles Bracelen Flood has attempted to explore this unique relationship in "Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that Won the Civil War." Beginning with their backgrounds, he shows their similarities. He then goes on to demonstrate the growing trust between the two generals during the early years of the war, when both served in the western theater. He also strongly implies that, at different times, each one helped to preserve the other's military position in times of outside criticism.The focus on these two individuals offers an interesting look at the Civil War, particularly the Union war effort, in terms of the relationships between the military and political leaders. Instead of focusing on battlefield tactics, it is interested in backroom tactics. What emerges is a portrait of an environment in which overcoming political obstacles is as important in the outcome of the war as defeating the opposing army. (This, of course, is not an unexplored area in other American conflicts: frequently George Washington's generalship in the American Revolution is studied in this way, as is Dwight Eisenhower's command of the multi-national allied forces in World War II.)Unfortunately, Flood oversteps by describing the relationship as a friendship, rather than a partnership. Ultimately, he may be correct, but the description he provides, like that which is often provided of Lee and Jackson, is of a highly successful partnership rather than a friendship. A similar relationship could be described, using similar letters and other evidence, of the close relationship between Grant and Abraham Lincoln, but none would suggest that it was a friendship, despite its success.As such, I found the book a frustrating read. Flood, who also wrote "Lee -- The Last Years," a book which I greatly admire, is convinced he is describing a friendship rather than a partnership. Page after page, I just did not see it, much as I might want to agree with the hypothesis in my heart. Still, there is value in the joint biography, in suggesting the importance of relationships and cooperation in overall Civil War strategy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This book is on my list of "Books to read again." (When I get caught up on all the ones I haven't read yet, that is). What a study in contrasts these two men were.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This brief book retells the highlights of the lives of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. There’s no analysis, a few inaccuracies, and some major elisions, but it’s still a great story. You’ve got Grant, Sherman, Lincoln, the Civil War – it would be pretty hard to make it dull. And you can’t help but wonder what would become of men in today’s world who had to slog through all the setbacks Grant and Sherman had and still go on to push themselves to the top. I wouldn’t recommend this as the sole source of background on the Civil War or its northern generals, but it’s not a bad place to start.