Product Description

Originally published as Embrace an Angry Wind

Following the fall of Atlanta, rebel commander John Bell Hood rallied his demoralized troops and marched them off the Tennessee, desperately hoping to draw Sherman after him and forestall the Confederacy's defeat. But Sherman refused to be lured and began his infamous "March to the Sea," while Hood charged headlong into catastrophe.

In this compelling dramatic account of a final and fatal invasion by the Confederate Army of Tennessee, Wile Sword illuminates the missed opportunities, senseless bloody assaults, poor command decisions, and stubborn pride that resulted in 23,500 Confederate losses--including 7,00 casualties in one battle-- and the pulverization of the South's second largest army.

Sword follows Hood and his army as they let an early advantage and possible victory slip away at Spring Hill, then engage in a reckless and ill-fated frontal attack on Franklin, often called the "Gettysburg of the West." Despite that disaster, Hood refuses to yield and presses on the Nashville and a two-day bloodbath that unhinges what is left of his battered troops--the worst defeat suffered by any army during the war.

Telling the story from both the Confederate and the Union perspectives, Sword pursues personalities as well as battles and troop strategy. He portrays Hood as a gutsy yet irresponsible leader--"a fool with a license to kill his own men"--whose valiant but rapidly dwindling troops were no match for the methodical General George G. Thomas and his better prepared--and entrenched--Union army. Hood, however, was not entirely to blame for Confederate failures, says Sword, who shows how decision making and actions--both good and bad, logical and chaotic--by key players on both sides helped determine the battles' outcomes.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #270681 in Books
• Published on: 1993-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 499 pages

About the Author
Wiley Sword is the author of Shiloh: Bloody April.

Customer Reviews

� Hood of Texas played hell in Tennessee �
Of all the poor leadership decisions made by Jefferson Davis (there were many), probably his worst was the appointment of John Bell Hood to command the Army of Tennessee. At the time, Joe Johnston had fought a three-month delaying action against William Tecumseh Sherman's Federal army in the west, precipitating a standoff at the outskirts to Atlanta. While preserving the fighting strength of his army, Johnston had committed the cardinal sins (in Davis' eyes) of giving up much of the southern heartland without pitched battle and never committing to an offensive-minded strategy. Davis was looking for another R. E. Lee to command the Army of Tennessee and Joe Johnston was never going to measure up to that standard (nor was anyone else). Upon taking command of the Army of Tennessee, Hood committed to a series of pointless, bloodily repulsed, uncoordinated assaults which guaranteed Sherman's success, the loss of Atlanta, Lincoln's re-election and the Confederacy's eventual demise. Wiley Sword's excellent account of the Tennessee campaign of November/December 1864 is the story of the ultimate price paid (in their last significant campaign) by the weary, long suffering but still - miraculously - willing and valiant soldiers of the Army of Tennessee. Hood's vainglorious attempt to recover lost fortune by invading Tennessee (with the longer term goal of reaching the banks of the Ohio - there to demand terms from the, by then, reeling Federals, as this fantasy was supposed to have played out) was an exercise in human folly never exceeded in the military history of the United States. Sword's description of the Battle of Franklin, senseless, barbaric, heroic human slaughter that we can only pray we will never again experience the like of on this continent or any other, is a masterful description of the indescribable. Sword takes the time to build the characters that were the principal players - Thomas, Schofield, Hood among others - to put their deeds and words in the proper context. Reactions to the final victory before Nashville would be comic if not so tragic - on both sides. The Federals came close to cashiering one of their best generals on the eve of the most decisive Federal victory of the war. The Confederates completely deceived themselves as to the incompetence of their leaders and the hopeless condition of their western army - until the patient Thomas was good and ready to deliver the coup de grace - which he proved fully capable of skillfully administering. This is a standard on the Civil War bookshelf, a thorough and thoughtful survey of the final chapter of the Army of Tennessee.

Not Afraid To Show His Slant
One of the great "myths" is that a good history book is written from an "objective" point of view. In truth, this is simply not possible. Every author approaches the subject with a certain degree of bias and a certain "agenda" that they wish to push. Sword, unlike some other authors, does not seek to hide his "bias", but rather sets out his clear (and frankly rather convincing) case that Sam Hood's generalship was poor. Within this setting, he provides detail about some of the more important, but again forgotten, battles of the Civil War and sheds light on some of the more important, but again forgotten, figures such as Pat Cleburne. All in all a superb book and well worthy of the prizes that it has won and the accolades that it has received.

Beware the fury of Lost Causers
The Confederacy's Last Hurrah is an outstanding book that combines first rate research with a novelist's eye for vivid recreation of the brutal chaos that is battle. Sword's talent also shines in breathing life into the cast of characters involved, from the Generals to the common soldier.
This book seems to strike a nerve with those who only see the war through the romance-tinted glasses of the "Lost Cause". They blast Sword for his unapologetic scorn for Hood's leadership of his army, and seem to refuse to admit even the obvious - that Hood was advanced in rank beyond his capabilities. That Hood was a brave and gallant soldier and an outstanding fighter leading a brigade is without question. That he lacked the vision or intelligence to effectively lead an army would seem to be equally beyond question to any fair observer.
What those attacking Sword for his treatment of Hood overlook is that the target of his disgust is not just Hood, who intrigued for a job beyond his ken, but Bragg and Davis, who promoted him while repeatedly snubbing the most brilliant general in the Army of Tennessee, Patrick Cleburne. Cleburne, called by Davis the Stonewall of the West, was never the less passed by for promotion four times after he had dared to suggest a plan for saving the Confederacy by freeing and enlisting slaves. The implied question of The Confederacy's Last Hurrah is how might things have been different had those in charge been less obtuse, and Cleburne's talents were put to use for his cause commanding the army, while Hood served as he served best, leading a brigade? It is clear that Sword feels that the senseless slaughter that was the battle of Franklin, and the virtual destruction of the Army of the Tennessee at the battle of Nashville happened because of the pride, vanity, and blindness of the Southern leadership who promoted the brave but wooden Hood over the brilliant Cleburne.
Unless you become enraged when someone calls the conflict the Civil War instead of the War of Northern Aggression, you will find this book thrilling and informative

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