Grant and Sherman

Charles Bracelen Flood examines the unique story of two military "brothers" who led Union forces in the Civil War. As he unfolds the lives of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, Flood reads with a lecturer's tone, but the details of the two extraordinary lives he tracks from their early years to the end of the Civil War are fascinating. Listeners might be distracted by the lack of gravitas in Flood's voice as he quotes Lincoln and other historical figures. In an interview at the end Flood reflects on the rarity of wartime friendships as close as that of Grant and Sherman. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2005
Nodding acquaintances at West Point, Ulysses S. Grant and William T. Sherman met again in 1862 and liked each other immediately. The author of this engaging dual biography doesn't claim this friendship "won the Civil War," but it made Union leadership remarkably friction free. Sherman, returning from a four-month sick leave he took to combat nerves, arrived on the battlefield of Shiloh with reinforcements for Grant; he served Grant loyally during the Vicksburg campaign, then accompanied him east to share in the victory at Chattanooga in November 1863. When Lincoln appointed Grant leader of all Union forces, Grant gave Sherman the Army of the Tennessee, an independent command. He captured Atlanta and marched brutally across Georgia while Grant fought to a bloody stalemate with Lee near Richmond. The surrender at Appomattox restored Grant's pre-eminence, and he and Sherman remained close after the war. The key, Flood writes, is that Sherman was the ideal subordinate, brilliant but insecure. In Grant he found a leader whose poise was contagious and who convinced Sherman he could do whatever job he was assigned. Better biographies of both exist, but Flood (Lee: The Last Years ) has written a solid book that illuminates their productive relationship.