General Sherman's Christmas opens on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 24, 1864, one month before Christmas. Sherman was relentlessly pushing his troops across Georgia, reaching Savannah days before Christmas. His methodical encroachment of the city from all sides eventually convinced Confederate general W. J. Hardee to slip away in darkness across an improvised causeway toward South Carolina to the north. In freezing rain and terrifying fog, soldiers with their equipment crossed an improvised pontoon bridge across the mile-wide Savannah River. Three days before Christmas, the mayor, Richard Arnold, surrendered the city, populated now mostly by women and children and slaves who had not fled. Then General Sherman telegraphed to Abraham Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah." The end of the long war was in sight. The siege of Savannah took place as its inhabitants were preparing for Christmas, and Stanley Weintraub explores what remained of the holiday in the South by the last full year of the war. On Christmas Eve, the 33rd Massachusetts Regiment band serenaded Sherman and "a constant stream" of freed slaves filed by the house he had taken over for his headquarters. That he had come at Christmas was immensely symbolic to them. Including the voices of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the conflict, General Sherman's Christmas is the perfect holiday present for the history buff.
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"I got to "know" General Sherman more through reading this book. I especially enjoyed the quotes from his letters to Ellen, his wife. No gruesome details are spared about war and its results, but the vividness of the descriptions makes the reader experience what was happening." — Becky (4 out of 5 stars)
"I got to "know" General Sherman more through reading this book. I especially enjoyed the quotes from his letters to Ellen, his wife. No gruesome details are spared about war and its results, but the vividness of the descriptions makes the reader experience what was happening."
An engaging rendition of a few fleeting weeks that would come to speak volumes about the young American republic.... Fresh, fascinating, and delightful.
" A very good overview of Sherman's march through Georgia in late 1864. What makes this an outstanding book is the use of primary source material. "
" Entertaining summary of the events leading from Sherman's assault on Atlanta to his march on Savannah and his gift of Savannah to Lincoln for Christmas 1864. "
" THE METHDICAL SHERMAN ON HIS QUEST FOR SAVANNAH,REALLY GREAT DETAILED LOOK AT THIS GREAT MOVE FOR THE UNION "
" Dad said this was excellent. "
" I would probably rate this higher if I were taking a course on the Civil War. It was generally well-written, although the writing itself dragged in spots. "
Stanley Weintraub is a National Book Award finalist and a former Guggenheim fellow. A professor emeritus of arts and humanities at Penn State University, he is the author of numerous histories and biographies, including Silent Night and 11 Days in December, and is an expert on George Bernard Shaw. He lives in Newark, Delaware.
Ed Sala has narrated dozens of audio books throughout his career. His readings include Harlan Coben’s Tell No One, Stephen Sears’ Gettysburg, and Cormac MacCarthy’s Outer Dark.
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