The Civil War Shelf

Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil War
Derek D. Maxfield
Savas Beatie
PO Box 4527, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
www.savasbeatie.com
9781611215991, $16.95, PB, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Man-Fire-William-Tecumseh-Emerging/dp/1611215994

Synopsis: William Tecumseh Sherman has been accused of "studied and ingenio=
us cruelty". By turns, he has been called a savior and a barbarian, a hero = and a villain, a genius and a madman. But whatever you call General Sherman=
, he is arguably one of the most fascinating character within the context o=
f the American Civil War.

Sherman spent a lifetime in search of who he was, striving to find a place = and a calling. Informally adopted by the Ewing family of Lancaster, Ohio, w= hen his own father died when he was just nine, the young redhead lived in a=
spacious mansion just up the hill from his mother. Later, as a young man, =
he would marry his adopted sister, Ellen.

After attending West Point, the intrepid Ohioan found that being a soldier = suited him. Yet he always seemed to miss his opportunity. The second Semino=
le War was in its closing days before he saw action. When the Mexican-Ameri= can War broke out, he anticipated the opportunity to earn military glory on=
ly to be posted to Pittsburgh on recruiting duty. Transferred to California=
, he arrived too late after surviving two shipwrecks, then ended up on admi= nistrative duties.

Hounded by his family to leave the military, Sherman tried banking and prac= ticing law. Finally, he became superintendent of a new military academy in = Louisiana and thought he had found his place -- until civil war intervened.

After leading his troops at the battle of Bull Run, the anxious brigadier g= eneral was sent West to Kentucky. Apprehensive over the situation in the Bl=
ue Grass State, suffering from stress, insomnia, and anxiety, Sherman begge=
d to be relieved. Sent home to recover, the newspapers announced he was ins= ane. Colleagues concluded he was "gone in the head".

Instead, like a phoenix, he rose from the ashes to become a hero of the rep= ublic. Forging an identity in the fire of war, the unconventional general k= indled a friendship with Ulysses S. Grant and proved to everyone at Shiloh,=
Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Georgia, and in the Carolinas that while he was un= orthodox, he was also brilliant and creative. More than that, he was eminen= tly successful and played an important role in the Union's victory.

With the publication of "Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil=
War", Professor Derek D. Maxfield tells the story of a man who found himse=
lf in war -- and that, in turn, secured him a place in history. Condemned f=
or his barbarousness or hailed for his heroics, the life of this peculiar g= eneral is nonetheless compelling and thoroughly American.

Critique: illustrated throughout with black/white historical images, this n=
ew paperback edition of "Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil=
War" from Savas Beatie must be considered a core and essential addition to=
personal, professional, community, and academic library American Civil War=
History & Biography collections. It should be noted for students, academia=
, Civil War buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in t=
he subject that "Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil War" is=
also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $7.99).

Editorial Note: Derek Maxfield (https://ddmaxfield.com/about) is an Associa=
te Professor of History at Genesee Community College in Batavia, New York. = Author of Hellmira: The Union's Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp - Elmir=
a, NY, Maxfield has written for Emerging Civil War since 2015. In 2019, he = was honored with the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, an=
d in 2013, he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Sch= olarship and Creative Activities.

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