Marching Through Georgia: My Walk With Sherman

by Jerry Ellis

In 1864 William Tecumseh Sherman led a throbbing, hooting, violent river of 62,000 soldiers through the heart of the American South, looting, pillaging, trailing plunder, stealing animals, and dazing civilians. The raucous swath of devastation stretched from Atlanta to the sea at Savannah and brought the Confederacy to its knees. More than a hundred years later, Jerry Ellis, inveterate traveler, storyteller and adventurer, set off to walk from Atlanta to Savannah using Sherman's route as his guide. Searching for the living, breathing artifacts of a nation's most bitter war, Ellis was also a man in search of his own South. He knew the South as a place of complexities and contradictions, of manners and blood-grudges, of change and timelessness. In today's South, Ellis not only found living memories of the Great Lost Cause - and, in one case, of General Sherman himself - but a vibrant American culture of blacks and whites, of young people and old timers grappling with such issues as racism and social justice. His many experiences, from meeting folk heroes to sleeping by cemeteries, helped him realize that what he was looking for was all around him.

Genres: Travel, Civil War

MP3 CD

First published October 1, 1995

About the author

Jerry Ellis, Cherokee and Scottish, graduated from the University of Alabama. He was the first person in the modern world to walk the 900 mile route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, where 4,000 of his ancestors died in 1838: Seven thousand armed US Soldiers marched them from their homes in the SE to present day Oklahoma in the heart of winter. Many of the Cherokee had no shoes. They were buried in shallow unmarked graves. Ellis' book about his trek, WALKING THE TRAIL, ONE MAN'S JOURNEY ALONG THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF TEARS, was published by Random House and nominated by the publisher for a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. The book was endorsed by Dee Brown, author of BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE. WALKING THE TRAIL was included in two anthologies, one by Norton, and it was quoted in Reader's Digest. Last year it went on display in the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Ellis has lectured about his trek, the book and the Cherokee in Asia, Africa, Europe and USA. He has had four non-fiction history/adventure books published by Random House and has written for the New York Times. He has had five plays produced. His fifth book, CIAO FROM ROMA! SPRING IN THE ETERNAL CITY OF LOVE, is on Kindle at Amazon. His sixth and new book, THE BOY WITH GIANT HANDS, is also on Kindle. Ellis lives in both Fort Payne, Alabama and in Rome, Italy. He has traveled to six continents and speaks Spanish and Italian.

Reviews

[Cynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerry Ellis often uses his journey books to heal family divisions. Living as a multi-ethnic can be like living in a strange land. Family diversity and downright differences can create dramas within dramas. Ellis identifies first as Cherokee and farmer and second as Scottish, first at Confederate with family members fighting on both sides of the Civil War. How to make sense of it all.

I will not tell you here how it settles his desire to heal. The solution is one I never dreamed of, but one that works just right for Ellis, one that keeps his self respect as both Cherokee farmer and as respect or of human beings. Sounds obvious. Wasn't obvious to Ellis, so he went on a journey following Sherman's lead.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the history part of this book and the interesting people he met, but I could have done without the sex scenes, real and imagined, of him and his girlfriend!

[Tom Darrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty amusing book that would appeal to people who like travel books, Civil War history and social history. Ellis hikes along the same route that Sherman's army marched in 1864. Along the way, he explains what happened in 1864 and meets many of the charming locals, who he interviews and gets their perception on the impact of Sherman's March. If you ever wondered why the South still thinks it didn't lose the Civil War, this book will help you answer the question.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marching Through Georgia: My Walk With Sherman by Jerry Ellis (Delacorte Press 1995)(917.5804). Jerry Ellis is known for taking long walks on historical paths and trails and writing about the journey. Here he explores the path taken by the bastard Union General William Tecumseh Sherman across Georgia during the Civil War. My rating: 7/10, finished 2007.

[Lynn Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at Sherman's march -- both historically and from a modern perspective. I love William Tecumseh Sherman. I can see why Grant relied so heavily on him. He was a brilliant tactician.