The Confederacy Last Hurrah Spring Hill Franklin and Nashville eBook Wiley Sword
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The rise of Civil War general John Bell Hood, his command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, and the decisions that led to its downfall.
Though he barely escaped expulsion from West Point, John Bell Hood quickly rose through the ranks of the Confederate army. With bold leadership in the battles of Gaines’ Mill and Antietam, Hood won favor with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. But his fortunes in war took a tragic turn when he assumed command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
After the fall of Atlanta, Hood marched his troops north in an attempt to draw Union army general William T. Sherman from his devastating “March to the Sea.” But the ploy proved ruinous for the South. While Sherman was undeterred from his scorched-earth campaign, Hood and his troops charged headlong into catastrophe.
In this compelling account, Wiley Sword illustrates the poor command decisions and reckless pride that made a disaster of the Army of Tennessee’s final campaign. From Spring Hill, where they squandered an early advantage, Hood and his troops launched an ill-fated attack on the neighboring town of Franklin. The disastrous battle came to be known as the “Gettysburg of the West.” But worse was to come as Hood pressed on to Nashville, where his battered troops suffered the worst defeat of the entire war.
Winner of the Fletcher Pratt Award for best work of nonfiction about the Civil War, The Confederacy’s Last Hurrah chronicles the destruction of the South’s second largest army. “Narrated with brisk attention to the nuances of strategy—and with measured solemnity over the waste of life in war,” it is a groundbreaking work of scholarship told with authority and compassion (Kirkus Reviews).
Though he barely escaped expulsion from West Point, John Bell Hood quickly rose through the ranks of the Confederate army. With bold leadership in the battles of Gaines’ Mill and Antietam, Hood won favor with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. But his fortunes in war took a tragic turn when he assumed command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
After the fall of Atlanta, Hood marched his troops north in an attempt to draw Union army general William T. Sherman from his devastating “March to the Sea.” But the ploy proved ruinous for the South. While Sherman was undeterred from his scorched-earth campaign, Hood and his troops charged headlong into catastrophe.
In this compelling account, Wiley Sword illustrates the poor command decisions and reckless pride that made a disaster of the Army of Tennessee’s final campaign. From Spring Hill, where they squandered an early advantage, Hood and his troops launched an ill-fated attack on the neighboring town of Franklin. The disastrous battle came to be known as the “Gettysburg of the West.” But worse was to come as Hood pressed on to Nashville, where his battered troops suffered the worst defeat of the entire war.
Winner of the Fletcher Pratt Award for best work of nonfiction about the Civil War, The Confederacy’s Last Hurrah chronicles the destruction of the South’s second largest army. “Narrated with brisk attention to the nuances of strategy—and with measured solemnity over the waste of life in war,” it is a groundbreaking work of scholarship told with authority and compassion (Kirkus Reviews).
The Confederacy Last Hurrah Spring Hill Franklin and Nashville eBook Wiley Sword
This is for the Kindle edition only. There are no maps, a necessity in my estimation for any military history to give a good perspective of how the battles were waged.Product details
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The Confederacy Last Hurrah Spring Hill Franklin and Nashville eBook Wiley Sword Reviews
Wiley Sword writes well of the tumultuous battles between JB Hood's Confederate Army of Tenessee and General George Thomas's Federal troops in one of the most bloody and calamitous of all Civil War campaigns.
The battles of Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville occurred concurrently with Sherman's March to the Sea and Grant's investiture of Petersburg. Although overshadowed by the latter, Sword is of the opinion that Thomas's eventual destruction of the Confederacy's western army was central to the Union's victory in our Civil War. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but for savagry of combat, quirks of personality, and impact of military politics, its tough to beat.
The Battle of Franklin featured a Confederate charge that was arguably more costly and viscious than Pickett's at Gettysburg. The Battle of Nashville featured a Union attack that was more thorough in it's success than perhaps any other similar scale engagement. In the aftermath of the Battle of Spring Hill, lady luck smiled upon the Union more brightly than when she delivered Lee's "cigar orders" to McClellan before Anteitam.
General's Hood, Thomas, Cleborne, Schofield and other principals are fascinating characters whose personalities figured large in their conduct during the campaign. Sword does a good job of describing these figures as men, providing enough backgorund to allow the reader to understand their motives and actions during the story.
This was a desperate winter campaign fought by Hood. Sword correctly portrays him as a man elevated beyond his command capacity. His soldiers valient and full of heart. Hood's lack of tactical finess wastes them against the breastworks of Franklin. He then marched them to confront Thomas's growing federal legions at Nashville. A cold, ragged army enduring snow, sleet and sub zero temperatures was perhaps tempermentally ill suited to withstand the onslaught of Thomas's superior numbers. When the final battle came, it removed an entire army from the Civil War Chessboard.
Sword is an engaging writer and this intersting story moves along. The book is thorough but not boring. The only weaknesses were the maps -- I did not think there were enough and some of the ones provided were not detailed enough to allow an easy visualization of the action. Sword also sometimes does not identify commanders as Union or Confederate, which can be confusing at the division or brigade level when one is relatively unfamiliar with these armies.
All in all, this in a very good book about a fascinating Civil War campaign.
Very good book of Battle of Franklin and Nashville during the Civil War. Very in-depth. More maps would be a great addition.
The book is very good and long on details. The author is very knowledgeable on the civil war. You will need a map and time to go slow to follow all the events. It is more a research paper than a novel. For me, it's a bit much. I will get back to book when I have more time to study along with a map. Nothing wrong with the book at all I just need more time to get my money's worth.
A great work by a great writer. As a CW buff this does get a bit depressing as every book on this campaign makes you wonder who would put such a man {Half of a man}, in charge of an Army. I know Hood fans will come out of the woodwork defending him, but, 5 dead Generals leading a battle at twilight ??? No nothing Hood did on this campaign, from planning ligistics to fighting the actual battles was in any way proper, or smart. Mr. Sword tells it like it is, was, the end of an Army.
This was a tough review to write. There is a great deal to love in this book, as well as some to be skeptical of. I will start with the good. This is a well written, engaging, even moving account of the tragic last campaign of the Army of TN. It is narrative history at its best. The full campaign is covered the aftermath of Atlanta, the hazy genesis of the invasion, the Union response, the missed opportunity at Spring Hill, the tragic abattoir of Franklin, and the final disaster at Nashville. The Franklin fighting alone may be the single best account I have ever read of that battle. Sword is skilled at keeping the reader oriented in the chaos of battle and he does an especially notable job in capturing the sheer intensity and horror of Franklin. The other battles are also well done. He paints a vivid portrait of both armies and their major figures, especially Cleburne, Forrest, Schofield, and Thomas. Overall, this is an affecting account of a quixotic campaign and the mortal wounding of a great army.
Now for the rest. I knew this book was somewhat controversial when I picked it up, with some saying it is nothing more than a hatchet job on General Hood. As I read, I wondered what the deal was. The book is certainly critical of Hood, but it is a fact that there is a lot to be critical of. The campaign was a questionable move to begin with (leaving Sherman free to ravage Georgia), and Hood made a hash of the logistical planning essential for such a movement. Spring Hill was botched largely because of Hood's failure to communicate and his distance from the field. Franklin honestly cannot be spun as anything other than a senseless slaughter of good troops, and Nashville was the most decisive defeat of any Civil War army. Clearly there is a lot to criticize Hood for. HOWEVER, Sword does go too far. He harps too much on questionable claims, such as Hood's laudanum addiction, and discredited assertions including that Hood ordered the Franklin assault to punish his army, particularly Cheatham, for Spring Hill. In his conclusion, Sword FINALLY pulls the hatchet out and asserts Hood was never a good general, that his battlefield success in the East was essentially dumb luck, was a "sad, pathetic failure" as a man and a soldier, was a stupid anachronism, and that he essentially murdered his army.
Needless to say, this is too much. There is indeed a lot to be critical of, from the campaign itself, to logistics, to tactical performance, to judgement. I think few would argue that Hood was the man for this job. But anyone who thinks he was not a good battlefield leader in the ANV is beyond biased. John Bell Hood was a born fighter and as a brigade or division commander he was one of the Confederacy's best. As a corps and especially an army commander in the West, he was out of his depth and it showed. I would argue he simply was promoted beyond his ability and the tragedy is he had only his own scheming and ambition to blame for that. Thus does a good soldier become a reviled commander. Grounds for harsh criticism certainly abound, but ultimately Sword took the low road. I recommend the book for the narrative of the campaign, especially Franklin, but not as an unbiased appraisal of General Hood.
This is an in-depth look at the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. These battles, especially Franklin, are often overlooked because they were overshadowed by Sherman's March to the Sea as well as because it was the "Western" theater of the war and not Lee's army. The book brought the battles to life for me, especially since I had lived in Nashville for 4 years, but knew very little about the part they played in the Civil War. It took a lot of concentration to read it, but that was because it was easy to get armies confused as leaders on both sides often had the same names! If youn are a Civil War historian or student, I highly recommend this book.
This is for the edition only. There are no maps, a necessity in my estimation for any military history to give a good perspective of how the battles were waged.
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