Rising in Flames: Sherman's March and the Fight for a New Nation

by J. D. Dickey

Overview

America in the antebellum years was a deeply troubled country, divided by partisan gridlock and ideological warfare, angry voices in the streets and the statehouses, furious clashes over race and immigration, and a growing chasm between immense wealth and desperate poverty.The Civil War that followed brought America to the brink of self-destruction. But it also created a new country from the ruins of the old one—bolder and stronger than ever. No event in the war was more destructive, or more important, than William Sherman’s legendary march through Georgia—crippling the heart of the South’s economy, freeing thousands of slaves, and marking the beginning of a new era.This invasion not only quelled the Confederate forces, but transformed America, forcing it to reckon with a century of injustice. Dickey reveals the story of women actively involved in the military campaign and later, in civilian net- works. African Americans took active roles as soldiers, builders, and activists. Rich with despair and hope, brutality and compassion, Rising in Flames tells the dramatic story of the Union’s invasion of the Confederacy, and how this colossal struggle helped create a new nation from the embers of the Old South.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681778259
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
File size:	42 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

J. D. Dickey is the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Mud: The Secret History of Washington DC. He has written for the Independent and Daily Telegraph and has made appearances on C-SPAN’s Book TV and "The Takeaway" on PRI. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.
J.D. Dickey is the New York Times bestselling author of Empire of Mud, a history of the troubled rise of Washington, D.C., in the nineteenth century and Rising in Flames: Sherman’s March and the Fight for a New Nation, also published by Pegasus Books. He lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Maps xiii

Introduction Two Armies in Washington xxi

Home Front 1

1 The Western Edge 3

2 Tip of the Sword 22

Invasion 45

3 Echoes of Chickamauga 47

4 Three Views of Chattanooga 66

5 Heroes in the Field 89

6 Damn Your Officers 104

7 The Wheel 123

8 The Anvil 142

9 Shadowy Territory 162

10 Comrades in Dirt 180

11 All Around Them Light as Day 203

12 Yell Like the Devil 222

Reckoning 241

13 Sentinels 243

14 Fire and Sword 264

15 To Raleigh 281

Legacy 303

16 The Grand Review 305

17 The Fires to Come 329

References 335

Sources 377

Acknowledgments 399

Illustration Credits 401

Index 403

Editorial Reviews

05/15/2018
Dickey (Empire of Mud) enters the crowded field of Civil War books with this fast-moving and engrossing story surrounding Union Gen. William T. Sherman's decisive campaign through Confederate states in 1864–65. Instead of limiting the narrative to the destructive march through Georgia and the Carolinas, Dickey spends the first third of the book creating context of not only Sherman's army but also aspects of society torn apart by civil war. Throughout his account of the creation of Sherman's powerful military force and their formable operation are interwoven stories of less-well-known individuals affected by the brutal fighting. Here, the author writes in a more personal style, using first names for many of these characters, who appear periodically within the main narrative and become familiar to readers. Some of them, including African Americans, were closely involved in the conflict, while others, such as women caring for the wounded, were more distant. Most significantly, they provide Dickey with a vehicle for bringing otherwise hidden figures into this history. VERDICT A fascinating book with new perspectives for both Civil War buffs and more general readers.—Charles K. Piehl, Minnesota State Univ., Mankato

Library Journal

★ 05/07/2018
This superlative, impeccably researched account of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s march through Georgia in 1864–1865 brings to life Civil War history through personal accounts and vivid descriptions of military strategy. Sherman, an avowed and largely unrepentant racist who came to despise slavery as both the driving force and supporting labor of secession, is thoughtfully portrayed as a complex figure whose unflinching military strategy eviscerated the rebel armies’ military capabilities. Dickey, a perceptive and agile writer, masterfully evokes the momentous military campaign, sweeping up the tales of home-front politics, newly freed slaves, an army chaplain, front-line officers, and fascinating portrayals of diverse Union Army members. He gives particular focus to Mary Bickerdyke, who worked for the U.S. Sanitary Commission channeling war relief funds and medical care efforts on a massive scale to save lives and feed troops as they carried out the invasion of the deep South, and “Black Eagle” John Logan, an Illinois legislator who began the war an ardent foe of Abraham Lincoln and author of proslavery laws and, after seeing the horrors of slavery firsthand, became aligned with Lincoln’s goals. Dickey fuses tactical analysis and terrifying descriptions of combat to make Sherman’s military strategy clear, and his accounts of the Battle for Atlanta, its subsequent burning, and the fight for Missionary Ridge are riveting. Dickey tells the story of Sherman’s march unforgettably, with power on every page. Agent: Adam Chromy, Movable Type. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Interesting. Dickey looks at the march mainly through the eyes of soldiers and other participants, like nurses."

New York Times Book Review

"A page-turning and highly original account, one of the best in the long line of ‘Sherman’s March’ books. [Dickey] writes grippingly about the army’s adventures on campaign . . . and he has ingeniously chosen to view much of the story through the experience of a handful of colorful soldiers and civilians. No one interested in Sherman’s March should be deprived of his lively narrative. Absolutely spellbinding."

The Wall Street Journal

"Dickey looks at Sherman’s complex and often conflicting character, but also studies how the march affected Northern soldier and civilians. These diverse accounts, blended into the narrative, provide a deeper perspective on how Sherman’s March changed people, especially in transforming a war about secession into a crusade to free slaves. A fine and unique addition to the ever-growing mound of studies of Sherman’s march."

Civil War Times

"This is more than straightforward biography. In assessing Sherman’s Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, Dickey concentrates not only on Sherman but also on lesser-known unionists and thus provides a unique perspective on this oft-written-about topic. The military aspects of the march and what Sherman called “hard war” are vividly recounted in their dreadful detail. A valuable contribution to Civil War history."

Booklist

This is more than straightforward biography. In assessing Sherman’s Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, Dickey concentrates not only on Sherman but also on lesser-known unionists and thus provides a unique perspective on this oft-written-about topic. The military aspects of the march and what Sherman called “hard war” are vividly recounted in their dreadful detail. A valuable contribution to Civil War history.

Booklist

Engrossing and revealing, As the city slowly expanded, it was fertile ground for greedy speculators, hordes of corrupt businessmen, and prostitutes.

Booklist (starred) [praise for 'Empire of Mud']

A bracing and graceful read. Lawlessness approached levels usually associated with Tombstone. A century and a half later, we still await our Hercules.

The Washington Post [praise for 'Empire of Mud']

Grover Gardner narrates this account of Sherman’s March to the Sea with his usual excellence. The audiobook emphasizes the social impact of this 1864 event as much as it does the military aspects of the campaign. Listeners follow detailed accounts of the lives of several Union participants. Major General John Logan and Mother Bickerdyke serve as notable examples of certain social attitudes brought about by the Civil War. They also to show how the culture of what was then “the West” was different from that of the country east of the Alleghenies. Gardner’s confident delivery, easy pace, and subtle inflection make for a near-perfect match of text and voice. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

2018-04-11
A study in unintended consequences as a reactionary Civil War commander unleashed a series of progressive forces.William Tecumseh Sherman was a man who, in the field, spared his enemies no violence and showed little mercy. He leaned toward the despotic and was a law unto himself, and his troops were similarly situated on the edge of lawlessness. As Washington-based historian Dickey (Empire of Mud: The Secret History of Washington, DC, 2014) writes at the beginning of his book, when Union forces staged a victory parade after the Confederate surrender, Sherman's Army of the West "sported the same uniforms they had fought in—worn and tattered, ripped and frayed, riddled with bullet holes, speckled with mud, and stained with blood." The piratical look emphasized the fact that Sherman had fought a relentless, punitive war, cutting a swath across the Deep South on his famous March to the Sea. But, pointedly, parallel to Sherman's army was a force of African-American men and women who had served as road builders, nurses, ambulance drivers, telegraph lineman and in other support roles. Dickey ably captures the shape and feel of the desperate battles Sherman's forces waged, "scorching the Southern earth and issuing no quarter to those who stood in his way." That black forces marched in support of Sherman's victorious army emphasizes numerous points: that African-Americans were essential to the Union's military success even if their contributions were long devalued; and that Sherman himself, though full of racist sentiments, contributed to the postwar push for civil rights through orders for the redistribution of seized plantation lands with self-determination for communities of newly freed slaves—a program later known as "40 acres and a mule" and promulgated by a commander who at the time was not "known for his sympathies for black people."A readable blend of military and political history; though not in the first rank of recent Civil War studies, a valuable addition to the literature.

Kirkus Reviews