Who was William Tecumseh Sherman? Before the American Civil War, he was an obscure military man. In the early days of the conflict, he was considered by some to be insane. At the end of the war, he was considered one of America’s greatest heroes and generals.

Brilliant, erratic, and a force of nature, Sherman cut a swath across the South that is now a part of world history. In these intimate letters to family, you see a side of Sherman you perhaps have not seen before.