Phil Sheridan And His Army

"Paul Hutton’s study of Phil Sheridan in the West is authoritative, readable, and an important contribution to the literature of westward expansion. Although headquartered in Chicago, Sheridan played a crucial role in the opening of the West. His command stretched from the Missouri to the Rockies and from Mexico to Canada, and all the Indian Wars of the Great Plains fell under his direction. Hutton ably narrates and interprets Sheridan’s western career from the perspective of the top command rather than the battlefield leader. His book is good history and good reading."–Robert M. Utley

Whether recreating the bloody chaos of Stones River and Chickamauga, the Byzantine politics of Reconstruction Louisiana, or the massacre of Little Bighorn, this outstanding biography restores Sheridan to his place in American military history and makes the momentous age he lived in come alive. Photos. Maps.

*Includes pictures of Sheridan and important people, places, and events in his life. "A brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping." – Abraham Lincoln describing Phil Sheridan In the most popular narratives of the Civil War, Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are celebrated as the Union's most successful generals and men who revolutionized total warfare with the use of scorched earth tactics. Sherman's March to the Sea continues to be one of the most famous campaigns of the war, and he is still widely reviled in the South because of it. Lost in this common narrative is the fact that Sherman's March was preceded by a scorched earth campaign that made Virginia howl, led by “Little Phil” Sheridan. The 5'5 Sheridan was one of the smallest and toughest fighters in the Union Army, whose capabilities as both a general of infantry and cavalry made him one of the most valuable and versatile officers in the North. A close associate of Grant's in the West, Sheridan was so critical that Grant brought him east in 1864 and gave him command of the Union cavalry to face off against the vaunted JEB Stuart. Despite his successes in the West and during the Overland Campaign, Sheridan's most famous campaign was in the Shenandoah Valley, which had seen much fighting and Stonewall Jackson's famous 1862 Valley Campaign. In 1864, however, Sheridan and his Army of the Shenandoah defeated Jubal Early and systematically destroyed the economic infrastructure and viability of the Valley, which had been considered the “breadbasket” of Virginia during the war's earlier years. Residents of the Valley simply referred to Sheridan's campaign as “The Burning”. After Sheridan's cavalry proved instrumental in surrounding Lee's army and forcing its surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan had cemented his legacy as one of the greatest Union generals of the Civil War. But he was far from done. During Reconstruction, he was a military governor responsible for trying to pacify Southern civilians in the wake of the Civil War, and it should come as no surprise that Sheridan and Southerners didn't see eye to eye. Sheridan himself famously stated, "If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell." Sheridan also ran afoul of President Andrew Johnson, who later removed him from his post. The tough and acerbic Sheridan was also one of the highest ranked officers who fought the Indian Wars in the decades after the Civil War. Notorious for uttering “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead", which has since been misattributed into more generalized and bigoted forms, Sheridan's biographers have taken pains to try to point out that Little Phil wasn't a racist, though there can be no denying he ruthlessly waged war on the Great Plains to subdue Native American tribes. Enemies on the battlefield rarely got the best of Sheridan, but his hard living finally caught up with him around the end of the 1880s, when Sheridan, in his 50s, began suffering massive heartattacks. By the time he died in 1888, he had been General-in-Chief and Commanding General of the U.S. Army, the very upper echelons of the military, and he was celebrated as one of the Civil War's foremost heroes. Little Phil: The Life and Career of General Philip Sheridan provides a comprehensive account of the fighting general's military career, but it also humanizes “Little Phil”, the quintessential military man. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Phil Sheridan like you never have before, in no time at all.

Alongside Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip H. Sheridan is the least known of the triumvirate of generals most responsible for winning the Civil War. Yet, before Sherman's famous march through Georgia, it was General Sheridan who introduced scorched-earth warfare to the South, and it was his Cavalry Corps that compelled Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse. Sheridan's innovative cavalry tactics and "total war" strategy became staples of twentieth-century warfare. After the war, Sheridan ruthlessly suppressed the raiding Plains Indians much as he had the Confederates, by killing warriors and burning villages, but he also defended reservation Indians from corrupt agents and contractors. Sheridan, an enthusiastic hunter and conservationist, later ordered the US cavalry to occupy and operate Yellowstone National Park to safeguard it from commercial exploitation.

*Includes pictures of Sheridan and important people, places, and events in his life. "A brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping." - Abraham Lincoln describing Phil Sheridan In the most popular narratives of the Civil War, Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are celebrated as the Union's most successful generals and men who revolutionized total warfare with the use of scorched earth tactics. Sherman's March to the Sea continues to be one of the most famous campaigns of the war, and he is still widely reviled in the South because of it. Lost in this common narrative is the fact that Sherman's March was preceded by a scorched earth campaign that made Virginia howl, led by "Little Phil" Sheridan. The 5'5 Sheridan was one of the smallest and toughest fighters in the Union Army, whose capabilities as both a general of infantry and cavalry made him one of the most valuable and versatile officers in the North. A close associate of Grant's in the West, Sheridan was so critical that Grant brought him east in 1864 and gave him command of the Union cavalry to face off against the vaunted JEB Stuart. Despite his successes in the West and during the Overland Campaign, Sheridan's most famous campaign was in the Shenandoah Valley, which had seen much fighting and Stonewall Jackson's famous 1862 Valley Campaign. In 1864, however, Sheridan and his Army of the Shenandoah defeated Jubal Early and systematically destroyed the economic infrastructure and viability of the Valley, which had been considered the "breadbasket" of Virginia during the war's earlier years. Residents of the Valley simply referred to Sheridan's campaign as "The Burning." After Sheridan's cavalry proved instrumental in surrounding Lee's army and forcing its surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan had cemented his legacy as one of the greatest Union generals of the Civil War. But he was far from done. During Reconstruction, he was a military governor responsible for trying to pacify Southern civilians in the wake of the Civil War, and it should come as no surprise that Sheridan and Southerners didn't see eye to eye. Sheridan himself famously stated, "If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell." Sheridan also ran afoul of President Andrew Johnson, who later removed him from his post. The tough and acerbic Sheridan was also one of the highest ranked officers who fought the Indian Wars in the decades after the Civil War. Notorious for uttering "The only good Indians I ever saw were dead," which has since been misattributed into more generalized and bigoted forms, Sheridan's biographers have taken pains to try to point out that Little Phil wasn't a racist, though there can be no denying he ruthlessly waged war on the Great Plains to subdue Native American tribes. Enemies on the battlefield rarely got the best of Sheridan, but his hard living finally caught up with him around the end of the 1880s, when Sheridan, in his 50s, began suffering massive heartattacks. By the time he died in 1888, he had been General-in-Chief and Commanding General of the U.S. Army, the very upper echelons of the military, and he was celebrated as one of the Civil War's foremost heroes. Little Phil: The Life and Career of General Philip Sheridan provides a comprehensive account of the fighting general's military career, but it also humanizes "Little Phil," the quintessential military man. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Phil Sheridan like you never have before, in no time at all.

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