Marching Through Georgia~ A Walk Along Sherman's Route

Miss Markie

Cadet
Joined
Mar 19, 2006
Location
Wisconsin
This book is by Jerry Ellis, and I picked it up last week at the bookstore on Jekyll Island, GA. The original publish date was 1993, with a reissued forward in 2001.

I really liked this book. It satisfied my curiosity of what it would be like NOW to walk this route. What would you see? Do people still talk of Sherman (indeed they do, I have visited Savannah often enough...). As a person who strains to see traces of Sherman's mark on the land every time I fly to Savannah, I was very intrigued that indeed one can still find debris left by the soldiers.


Ellis had two great-grandfathers fight in the WTBS, one of who switched from CSA to the Union, then just gave up and went home to "fight with his wife" for the rest of the war. Some interesting insights as to what it means to be southern, what people in Georgia still think about the war, and just danged interesting and unique folks. He starts at Margaret Mitchell's apartment in Atlanta, and ends up in a cemetery in Savannah.

Great sense of humor and history, a highly entertaining read. I read the 300+ pages in a couple of days. I got so caught up in his quest that I couldn't put the book down.

Take a break from troop placement and firearm caliber, and see what a modern day forager walking in Sherman's footsteps has to say about the lingering effect of the war we all can't get enough of.

BTW, the author also walked the entire Trail of Tears for another book, (he is part Cherokee) and rode bareback the entire Pony Express route. I liked this book well enough to get the other two.

And I did have a CW ancestor who made the march to the sea with the 101st Illinois. He was a young farm boy (19), entered the service and was immediately a seargent. He re-upped on September 1st of 1864, and made the march with Sherman all the way to the Grand Review. He left the army as a Captain, a rank that appears on his January 1866 wedding certificate.(Hope the rebs on this board don't hold this against me!)
 
The term yanks was earned by attitude and actions in the civil war and since. Few southerners were trying to capture or destroy the south, but more often were trying to preserve a hard-fought-for Union of the United States. This was a Union their great grandfathers had sacrificed greatly to create. Andrew Johnson was from Tennessee (born in North Carolina) as were many Union soldiers. They weren't yanks and they weren't Rebs, just farmers, blacksmiths, carpenters, preachers, teachers and the like. The Civil war's issues should have been settled through Congressional debate and action, not bullets, cannon balls and sabres.
 
this is most edifying...

and I do understand what you are saying, larry_cockerham, but...

Has anyone else read the BOOK??

Just curious!:wink:
 
Have not read the book, Miss Markie, but will forthwith seek its availability at abebooks.com. Walking the route is something I'd like to do but cannot without the aid of a cross-country sackle.
Ole
 
Good for you!

The book was a fast and enjoyable read, and I would like to walk at least part of the route (the parts not in Atlanta!!) myself.

Miss Markie
 
You win. Ordered the three. If they are that good, Mr. Ellis also has written "walking" books on other subjects as well.
Ole
 
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