John F. Marszalek

Having never read Ambrose’s biography, I didn’t have that great a sense of Henry Halleck the man, except as being another of the overly methodical Union generals that ultimately had to be pushed aside to allow the likes of Grant and Sherman to win the American Civil War. What I didn’t appreciate was the high level of public esteem that Halleck had when he rose to the summit of Union military command, or how ineffective he was in this position of military authority. Let’s just say show more that it was unfortunate that there was never an administrator that could quite replace Halleck, as it would have been for the good of all if this had occurred, on the grounds of ill health if nothing else.

What I’m not buying is some of Marszalek’s psycho-historical analysis of the roots of Halleck’s incapacities as a military executive, such as how he would not take the reins as active director of operations, or how he allowed himself to be cowed by the likes of Gen. George McClellan. Even if you grant that Halleck’s catastrophic relationship with his father certainly didn’t help, and probably laid the foundations of the man’s inflexible tendencies, it would seem more likely that lack of active command was at the base of Halleck’s inability to assert himself over his field commanders when that was precisely the brief that Pres. Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton gave Halleck. It’s actually all rather pathetic. show less

I loved this book. It was an enlightening look into the mind of an often misunderstood man. Sherman has been maligned by many southerners because of the march to the sea, but this book makes the point that Sherman's desire was to end the war as quickly as possible with as little of loss of life as possible. Any atrocities that were committed were not by his will or permission. Sherman actually seems to be a man who loved the south.

Andrew Jackson was a man of deep moral principles and unfailing loyalty to his friends. When his wife Rachel, who had been much maligned during her marriage to Jackson, died before his inauguration, Jackson transferred his emotional support to his friend John Eaton and his wife Margaret Timberlake Eaton when her reputation was manipulated by the scandal of her marriage to Eaton before the required mourning period for her first husband had ended. The rules of mourning at that time required show more the widow to wear black for at least 2 years, not leave the house except for church, attend no social events. The widow wasn't even supposed to do any sewing because if she did she was not showing the proper amount of regard at loosing her spouse.
Margaret Timberlake lived with her family who ran a hotel and helped entertain the guests so she was constantly in view and socializing with men. For this fact, after her marriage to John Eaton (less than a year into her widowhood) Margaret Eaton was not considered by the other Washington wives as welcome into the polite society.
John Eaton had been a friend of Andrew Jackson's for more than 20 years and Jackson had selected him to be the Secretary of War. The other cabinet member wives refused to invite Margaret Eaton and her husband to social events and noticeably snubbed her at events held at the White House. Jackson took offense and through the first two years of his presidency tried to resolve the issues but was unable to. His solution was to start his cabinet over.
"The dissolution of the Jackson's cabinet, the only such event in American history, demonstrated the depth of the president's determination to have his way in the matter of Margaret Eaton."
"Andrew Jackson could never understand it, but it was he, not John C Calhoun, who made the snubbing of Margaret Eaton into the political cataclysm it became."

I found this book highly interesting showing that scandal and politics are not new bedfellows of the 20th century. I was also very surprised by the detail of the book since the 1000 page biography I had previously read about Jackson had very little about the Eaton Affair. I'm definitely glad that I took the time to read it. show less

This book provides a brief but helpful overview of Sherman's march to the sea. A nice feature of the book is biographical information of key figures provided in insets. The author also provides a helpful explanation of Sherman's motivations, and he tries to separate fact from later propaganda.