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The Resource Fierce patriot : the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman, Robert L. O'Connell

Fierce patriot : the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman, Robert L. O'Connell

Creator
Summary
William Tecumseh Sherman was more than just one of our greatest generals. Fierce Patriot is a bold, revisionist portrait of how this iconic and enigmatic figure exerted an outsized impact on the American landscape'and the American character. America's first "celebrity" general, William Tecumseh Sherman was a man of many faces. Some of them were exalted in the public eye. Others were known only to intimates'his family, friends and lovers, and the soldiers under his command. In this rich and layered portrait, Robert L. O'Connell captures the man in full for the first time. From his early exploits in Florida, to his role in California at the start of the Gold Rush, through his brilliant but tempestuous generalship during the Civil War, and to his postwar career as a key player in the building of the transcontinental railroad, Sherman was, as O'Connell puts it, the "human embodiment of Manifest Destiny." Here is Sherman the military strategist of genius, a master of logistics whose uncanny grasp of terrain and brilliant sense of timing always seemed to land him in the right place at the most opportune moments. O'Connell shows how Sherman's creation of an agile, improvisational fighting force'the Army of the West'helped turn the tide of the Civil War and laid the foundation for modern U.S. ground forces. Then there is "Uncle Billy," Sherman's public persona, a charismatic hero to his troops and quotable catnip to the newspaper writers of his day. After the Civil War, this Sherman took his talents out West, where he applied them to the new work of nation building: displacing Indians, exterminating bison, and constructing the transcontinental railroad. Here, too, is the private Sherman. He was born into one powerhouse family'his grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence'and married into another. His foster father, Thomas Ewing, was an influential politician and cabinet member who helped provide key opportunities for Sherman throughout his career. But Sherman's fraught relationship with Ewing, coupled with his appetite for women, parties, and the high life of the New York theater, certainly complicated his already turbulent marriage to his foster sister Ellen, a relationship O'Connell likens to a mix of "gunpowder and gasoline"'all together a family triangle that might have sprung from the pages of a Victorian novel. As he peels away the layers of the Sherman persona, O'Connell dispels a number of common misperceptions about his subject. He sheds new light on Sherman's relationship with Ulysses S. Grant, and also on his struggle against Nathan Bedford Forrest and the insurgency that was the other half of the Civil War along the Mississippi. Later he reveals Sherman's fabled march from Atlanta to the sea not as a campaign of unmitigated destruction, as it is often portrayed, but the careful execution of a necessary piece of strategy calculated to scare the South back into the Union. O'Connell's Sherman is no Attila, but a complicated soldier/statesman'perhaps the quintessential nineteenth-century American. Warrior, family man, reality star avant la lettre, William Tecumseh Sherman has finally found a biographer worthy of his protean gifts. A masterful character study whose myriad insights are leavened with its author's trademark wit, Fierce Patriot will stand as the essential book on Sherman for decades to come
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource
Contents
  • Part I. The military strategist
  • Tyro
  • The golden state
  • Into the gloom
  • The black hole
  • Swamped
  • Atlanta
  • The march
  • Bands of steel
  • Part II. The general and his army
  • The boys
  • Road warriors
  • Part III. The man and his families
  • Cump
  • Big time
Isbn
9780679604693
Link
Instance
Label
Fierce patriot : the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman
Title
Fierce patriot
Title remainder
the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman
Statement of responsibility
Robert L. O'Connell
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
William Tecumseh Sherman was more than just one of our greatest generals. Fierce Patriot is a bold, revisionist portrait of how this iconic and enigmatic figure exerted an outsized impact on the American landscape'and the American character. America's first "celebrity" general, William Tecumseh Sherman was a man of many faces. Some of them were exalted in the public eye. Others were known only to intimates'his family, friends and lovers, and the soldiers under his command. In this rich and layered portrait, Robert L. O'Connell captures the man in full for the first time. From his early exploits in Florida, to his role in California at the start of the Gold Rush, through his brilliant but tempestuous generalship during the Civil War, and to his postwar career as a key player in the building of the transcontinental railroad, Sherman was, as O'Connell puts it, the "human embodiment of Manifest Destiny." Here is Sherman the military strategist of genius, a master of logistics whose uncanny grasp of terrain and brilliant sense of timing always seemed to land him in the right place at the most opportune moments. O'Connell shows how Sherman's creation of an agile, improvisational fighting force'the Army of the West'helped turn the tide of the Civil War and laid the foundation for modern U.S. ground forces. Then there is "Uncle Billy," Sherman's public persona, a charismatic hero to his troops and quotable catnip to the newspaper writers of his day. After the Civil War, this Sherman took his talents out West, where he applied them to the new work of nation building: displacing Indians, exterminating bison, and constructing the transcontinental railroad. Here, too, is the private Sherman. He was born into one powerhouse family'his grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence'and married into another. His foster father, Thomas Ewing, was an influential politician and cabinet member who helped provide key opportunities for Sherman throughout his career. But Sherman's fraught relationship with Ewing, coupled with his appetite for women, parties, and the high life of the New York theater, certainly complicated his already turbulent marriage to his foster sister Ellen, a relationship O'Connell likens to a mix of "gunpowder and gasoline"'all together a family triangle that might have sprung from the pages of a Victorian novel. As he peels away the layers of the Sherman persona, O'Connell dispels a number of common misperceptions about his subject. He sheds new light on Sherman's relationship with Ulysses S. Grant, and also on his struggle against Nathan Bedford Forrest and the insurgency that was the other half of the Civil War along the Mississippi. Later he reveals Sherman's fabled march from Atlanta to the sea not as a campaign of unmitigated destruction, as it is often portrayed, but the careful execution of a necessary piece of strategy calculated to scare the South back into the Union. O'Connell's Sherman is no Attila, but a complicated soldier/statesman'perhaps the quintessential nineteenth-century American. Warrior, family man, reality star avant la lettre, William Tecumseh Sherman has finally found a biographer worthy of his protean gifts. A masterful character study whose myriad insights are leavened with its author's trademark wit, Fierce Patriot will stand as the essential book on Sherman for decades to come
Cataloging source
RECBK
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
O'Connell, Robert L
Dewey number
  • 973.7092
  • B
Index
no index present
LC call number
E467.1.S55
Literary form
unknown
Nature of contents
dictionaries
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Sherman, William T.
  • United States
  • Generals
  • United States
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • History
  • Military
  • Nonfiction
  • BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • HISTORY
  • Civil War Period (1850-1877)
  • Military
  • 19th Century
  • Sherman, William T.
  • United States
  • American Civil War (1861-1865)
  • Generals
  • United States
Label
Fierce patriot : the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman, Robert L. O'Connell
Link
Instantiates
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Part I. The military strategist -- Tyro -- The golden state -- Into the gloom -- The black hole -- Swamped -- Atlanta -- The march -- Bands of steel -- Part II. The general and his army -- The boys -- Road warriors -- Part III. The man and his families -- Cump -- Big time
Control code
ocn869379472
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780679604693
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Publisher number
EB00164768
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
Stock number
6159062E-0356-4840-B1AE-66DCA6172497
System control number
(OCoLC)869379472
Label
Fierce patriot : the tangled lives of william tecumseh sherman, Robert L. O'Connell
Link
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Part I. The military strategist -- Tyro -- The golden state -- Into the gloom -- The black hole -- Swamped -- Atlanta -- The march -- Bands of steel -- Part II. The general and his army -- The boys -- Road warriors -- Part III. The man and his families -- Cump -- Big time
Control code
ocn869379472
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780679604693
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Publisher number
EB00164768
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
Stock number
6159062E-0356-4840-B1AE-66DCA6172497
System control number
(OCoLC)869379472

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