Southern Storm: Sherman's March to the Sea

New York Times Bestseller

A gripping, definitive account of Sherman’s legendary and destructive march through Georgia.

“Mr. Trudeau’s narrative is peppered with trenchant observations from Sherman, one of history’s more quotable military leaders. . . . Mr. Trudeau accomplishes what he set out to do: march through the experience in all its detail.” — The Wall Street Journal

In Southern Storm, award-winning Civil War historian Noah Andre Trudeau has written a fascinating account that will stand as the last word on General William Tecumseh Sherman’s epic march—a targeted strategy aimed to break not only the Confederate army but an entire society as well. In rich detail, Trudeau explains why General Sherman’s name is still anathema below the Mason-Dixon Line, especially in Georgia, where he is remembered as “the one who marched to the sea with death and devastation in his wake.”

Told through the intimate and engrossing diaries and letters of Sherman’s soldiers and the civilians who suffered in their path, Southern Storm paints a vivid picture of an event that would forever change the course of America.

Award-winning Civil War historian Noah Andre Trudeau has written a gripping, definitive new account that will stand as the last word on General William Tecumseh Sherman's epic march—a targeted strategy aimed to break not only the Confederate army but an entire society as well. With Lincoln's hard-fought reelection victory in hand, Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the Union forces, allowed Sherman to lead the largest and riskiest operation of the war. In rich detail, Trudeau explains why General Sherman's name is still anathema below the Mason-Dixon Line, especially in Georgia, where he is remembered as "the one who marched to the sea with death and devastation in his wake."

Sherman's swath of destruction spanned more than sixty miles in width and virtually cut the South in two, badly disabling the flow of supplies to the Confederate army. He led more than 60,000 Union troops to blaze a path from Atlanta to Savannah, ordering his men to burn crops, kill livestock, and decimate everything that fed the Rebel war machine. Grant and Sherman's gamble worked, and the march managed to crush a critical part of the Confederacy and increase the pressure on General Lee, who was already under siege in Virginia.

Told through the intimate and engrossing diaries and letters of Sherman's soldiers and the civilians who suffered in their path, Southern Storm paints a vivid picture of an event that would forever change the course of America.

“With Southern Storm, Noah Andre Trudeau has written the most comprehensive single volume on this chapter of the Civil War. Trudeau has combed libraries and archives—official memoirs, unpublished letters, diaries, newspapers—to produce an account that is unsurpassed in its detail. The result is a scrupulous history, painstakingly accurate in its recitation of troop movements, fighting and the machinations of the generals on both sides of the conflict.” - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Vivid and fascinating. . . . Trudeau deserves praise for recongnizing the need to revisit in detail this seemingly familiar chapter in American military history.” - The Washington Post Book World

“In Southern Storm, Noah Andre Trudeau relies on journals and letters written during the march, rather than memoirs written years later, to peel back the layers of lacquered mythology and offer a realistic, detailed, on-the-ground view of the campaign. . . . Civil War buffs will delight in this.” - The Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Trudeau is an able veteran of the military side of the Civil War, and his latest book lives up to its predecessors. The research is thorough, the judgments mature and objective, and the writing crisp and moving. . . . Perhaps most interesting of all is the portrait of Sherman that emerges.” - William C. Davis

“Excellent ... Rich in detail ... Remarkably even-handed ... (Trudeau) imbues the narrative with a sense of immediacy, without sacrificing his view of the big picture.” - CNN

“The march to the sea was in many ways “the day of jubilo,” and in Trudeau it has found its Xenophon.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Trudeau develops a myth-busting theme, that Sherman’s march was not a lark but a complex and risky military operation. Maps of daily marching routes let Civil War buffs follow the action in this detailed narrative.” - Booklist

“A sprawling and mesmerizing account of ‘the March’ that reminds the reader that General Sherman had no intention of waging a ‘total war’ against Confederate Georgia.” - Library Journal (starred review)

“Mr. Trudeau’s narrative is peppered with trenchant observations from Sherman, one of history’s more quotable military leaders. . . . Mr. Trudeau accomplishes what he set out to do: march through the experience in all its detail.” - The Wall Street Journal