Sherman's Mississippi Campaign

By: Buck T. Foster

Narrated by: Todd Curless

The rehearsal for the March to the Sea.

With the fall of Vicksburg to Union forces in mid-1863, the Federals began work to extend and consolidate their hold on the lower Mississippi Valley. As a part of this plan, Major General William Tecumseh Sherman set out from Vicksburg on February 3, 1864, with an army of some 25,000 infantry and a battalion of cavalry. They expected to be joined by another Union force moving south from Memphis and supported themselves off the land as they traveled due east across Mississippi. Sherman entered Meridian on February 14 and thoroughly destroyed its railroad facilities, munitions plants, and cotton stores, before returning to Vicksburg. Though not a particularly effective campaign in terms of enemy soldiers captured or killed, it offers a rich opportunity to observe how this large-scale raid presaged Sherman's Atlanta and Carolina campaigns, revealing the transformation of Sherman's strategic thinking.

©2006 The University of Alabama Press (P)2014 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

" Sherman's Mississippi Campaign is a noteworthy addition to the historiography of the Civil War's western campaigns and to the military life of William T. Sherman." ( Civil War History)

"With Sherman's Mississippi Campaign Foster has contributed significantly to the literature on the Civil War's western theater." ( Journal of Southern History)

" Sherman's Mississippi Campaign is a well-researched and well-written study of an often-neglected campaign and should be on the shelves of those interested in the Civil War." ( Alabama Review)

Sherman’s. Failure to make Mississippi “Howl”

The author and narrator do excellent work. My issue is the subject matter. Sherman’s ill conceived campaign across the central width of Mississippi to and from Meriden was a strategic failure. The much more valuable port of Mobile AL was easily within the Union grasp. Sherman marching Southeast from Meridian in combination with Banks army from New Orleans, Florida units and Farrigat’s Navy coming from the Gulf coast (which occurred many months later) should have overwhelmed Mobile defenses. Then think of the possibilities. Union forces moving northeast from Mobile to take Atlanta from the South with Grant attacking from Chattanooga in the North. Atlanta taken,The army of Bragg-Johnson could have been squeezed into oblivan, and the thousands of poor Union retches held prisoner at Andersonville freed. The Louisiana-Red River campaign could have taken place later.
But this is not the author’s fault. He does an excellent job in discribing what is an essentially useless campaign, but finding some tactical lessons of significance for Sherman and his method of waging war.