Sherman's March To The Sea: Hood’s Tennessee Campaign and the Carolina Campaigns of 1865

by Jacob Dolson Cox, Brooks D. Simpson (Introduction)

Often hailed as a stroke of military genius, General William T. Sherman's decision to divide his command and his subsequent, infamous march through the interior of Georgia to the Atlantic coast inaugurated the final phase of the war. General Jacob D. Cox (1828–1900) played key roles in most of the decisive actions that followed. Left with Generals Schofield and Thomas to delay Hood's advance, Cox led his men through the night and at Spring Hill; he supervised the construction of the fortifications that proved so effective against Hood's assaulting columns at Franklin; at Nashville his division joined the attack on the crucial Confederate position at Shy's Hill; and later he finished his service with Sherman in North Carolina. It was Cox's self-professed qualities of "a bold heart, a cool head, and practical common-sense" that subsequently earned him the command of the entire Twenty-third Corps and the rank of major general. After the war, Cox applied those same attributes to his books, Sherman's Battle for Atlanta, and Sherman's March to the Sea, two volumes in the landmark series Campaigns of the Civil War. If readers are seeking concise, astute, and balanced accounts of Sherman's march to the sea, the burning of Columbia, the bloody battles of Franklin and Nashville, the oft-overlooked assault on Fort Fisher (which sealed the Confederacy from Europe), and the surrender of Johnston's Army, Cox's single volume provides all the scope, detail, and color that these critical campaigns demand.

Genres: Civil War

265 pages, Paperback

First published August 21, 1994

About the author

Cox was born in Montreal, Canada, to American parents, Jacob Dolson Cox and Thedia Redelia Kenyon Cox. Cox married Helen Clarissa Finney, whom he met at Oberlin College in Ohio.

He became superintendent of the Warren, Ohio, school system as he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1853. As a strong abolitionist, in 1855 he helped to organize the Republican Party in Ohio and stumped for its candidates in counties surrounding Warren. He entered the Ohio State Senate in 1860 and formed a political alliance with Senator and future President James A. Garfield, and with Governor Salmon P. Chase. While in the legislature, he accepted a commission with the Ohio Militia as a brigadier general and spent much of the winter of 1860–61 studying military science.

After Cox fought in the Civil War he became the Governor of Ohio from 1866-1867. He was appointed Secretary of the Interior by Ulysses S. Grant upon his inauguration in March 1869, serving until November 1870.

During his later years, Cox was a prolific author. His works include Atlanta (published in 1882); The March to the Sea: Franklin and Nashville (1882); The Second Battle of Bull Run (1882); The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee (1897); and Military Reminiscences of the Civil War (1900).
Cox died on summer vacation at Gloucester, Massachusetts. He is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati.