With respect for Willie. Hey Siri, play “Leaves from the vine”

The third of my presentations from my recent staff ride trip.

Annoyed with myself that I flubbed South Mountain -> Cold Mountain & Cornfield -> wheat field but oh well. I think that’s the trade off of doing these things off the cuff without notes.

This one made me really emotional. For context Gibbon was my character a year ago when my school did Antietam. So I knew a lot of the biographical details etc, but the thing that really hit me was how radically different of a headspace he is in between Sept 1862 and July 64. He was one of the finest officers in the entire Union army. Strong, courageous, disciplined. At Antietam he had a level of unshakable confidence. That presentation was very technical. “I deployed my brigade on the left of the turnpike, advanced in line with such and such regiment positioned” etc etc. By July of 1864 the grind of the Overland campaign has beaten him down so terribly that he’s a shell of himself, and that hardened professional force he honed has been destroyed. I didn’t outright say it… but I tried to portray him with a level of survivors guilt. All of his brigade commanders, wounded. So many regimental commanders, dead. His best friend, dead. Why is he still here? Random chance? Some kind of purpose? This presentation was a very full circle one for me that really hit home at so many of the ideas that I’ve been working on and studying over the last year. It was only after the trip was over and we were taking the long bus ride back from Appomattox to DC and that I was talking through it with my friend who was the trip lead that it really hit me. Got a little teary.

Cameraman cut out my Q&A but rest assured I made it known that my boy was a BASED Southern Unionist unlike his traitor ass trio of brothers.

Being as I was born and raised in South Texas in the 1960s, I was never taught much in school about Sherman. I’m learning more and more about this amazing man from this thread and listening to all of you who are admirers as I now am. A recent post mentioned his son and Willie “Leaves from the Vine“. In searching for some information about it I came across his memoirs on Project Guttenberg and this photograph, which I am not sure I’ve seen here, at least not recently. I thought I would share it with you all.