William Reese Company

One Union General's Gift to Another: An Indictment of Sherman

SHERMAN'S HISTORICAL RAID. THE MEMOIRS IN THE LIGHT OF THE RECORD. A REVIEW BASED UPON COMPILATIONS FROM THE FILES OF THE WAR OFFICE.

Boynton, H.V.:

Cincinnati: Wilstach, Baldwin, & Co., 1875. [4],276,[4]pp. plus four-page facsimile of Sherman's terms with Johnston. Original blue cloth, gilt, boards and spine tooled in blind and black, rebacked with original backstrip laid down. Moderate shelf wear. Interior a bit tanned, occasional very minor foxing. Contemporary presentation inscription on front free endpaper (see below). Very good. Item #WRCAM57048

An interesting indictment of Sherman's campaign in Georgia, gifted from one Union general to another. The front flyleaf of this copy bears a contemporary presentation inscription "To Gen'l Joseph C. Jackson with compliments of F. Sigel," dated at New York, December 15, [18]75. Franz Sigel was a German military commander who led revolutionary forces in the 1848 Revolution, leaving for the United States after its eventual failure. He was commissioned colonel of the 3rd Missouri Infantry after the start of the Civil War, and was promoted by Lincoln to brigadier general in 1861 (and eventually to major general in 1862) as part of a move to actively garner support from antislavery, pro-Union foreigners. Sigel saw little success on the battlefield in his many campaigns, but remained an important figure in the Union army due to his ability to recruit German immigrants to the cause. The recipient, Joseph Cooke Jackson, was a graduate of Yale Law School and practiced in New York City before the Civil War. He entered the Union army by volunteering as an aide-de-camp, and was attached to Brigadier General Philip Kearny throughout the Peninsular Campaign and until Kearny's death at Chantilly, during which period he likely encountered Sigel, as both were involved in the Second Battle of Bull Run. Jackson left field duty in 1862 and was appointed as a commissioner of United States Navy credits, where he was highly successful in supplying naval enlistments from New Jersey. His success in his various duties led to his breveting as brigadier general in 1865 for "faithful and meritorious services in the field." Also laid in is an empty envelope addressed to Jackson.

In his preface Boynton states his objective: "to show wherein the Memoirs of General Sherman fall short of presenting the correct history of many great events of which they treat; how much they lack of giving a complete account of incidents which they relate...and to provide the future historian with facts which will guard him against perpetuating the error and injustice which pervade both volumes of the work." Boynton was Washington correspondent for the CINCINNATI GAZETTE, and based this sometimes scathing analysis of Sherman's memoirs on the official documents of the War Department which at times directly contradict Sherman's version of events. "A hard-hitting, sometimes convincing attack on Sherman, his Savannah campaign, and his memoirs" - Nevins. NEVINS I, p. 24.

Price: $650.00