Rating: 
Summary: Thorough History of A Most Violent Campaign
Review: 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.
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