W. H. D. Rouse
speaker
492 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Aug 2026
last heard 8 Aug
W. H. D. Rouse’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
about where they had been when the war began in eighteen sixty one however the situation was quite different in the vast area between the appalachian mountains and the mississippi river a region known in the eighteen sixties as the west there in eighteen sixty two federal armies had driven the southerners out of kentucky and much of tennessee in the following year the northerners secured control of the mississippi river
and captured the important city of Chattanooga.
By early 1864, Union armies were posed for what they hoped would be a quick campaign to dismember the Confederacy and end the war.
This feeling was well illustrated by an Illinois soldier who wrote his sister on April 22, I think we can lick the ribs like a book when we start to do it and hope we will clean rebeldom out of this summer so we will be able to quit this business.
to realize these hopes lieutenant general ulysses s grant commander of the northern armies planned a simultaneous move on all fronts with the greatest efforts devoted to virginia where he would personally direct operations and to the region between the tennessee and chattahoochee rivers
where the federals would be led by sherman and major-general nathan p banks grant hoped that banks would move from new orleans seize mobile and advance northward toward montgomery while sherman's force struck southward from chattanooga
had these plans succeeded the confederacy would have been reduced to a small area along the coast of georgia the carolinas and virginia confederate victories in louisiana however made banks's projected campaign infeasible and sherman's drive southward into georgia with atlanta as the initial goal became the major union effort in the west
leaders on both sides had long recognized the importance of atlanta located a few miles south of the chattahoochee and about a hundred and twenty miles from chattanooga in eighteen sixty four only richmond was more important to the south
atlanta's four railroads were not only the best means of communication between the eastern and western parts of the confederacy but they were also the major lines of supply for the southern armies in virginia and north georgia the city's hospitals cared for the sick and wounded and her factories produced many kinds of military goods
in the words of a northern editor atlanta was the great military depot of rebeldom in addition the city's capture would give the union armies a base from which they could strike further into georgia to reach such vital manufacturing and administrative centers as milledgeville macon augusta and columbus all of these things were clear to the men who led the opposing armies william tecumseh sherman was a thin nervous active man
with a wild shock of reddish or light brown hair a forty four year old native of ohio he had been graduated from the u s military academy in eighteen forty and after several years service in the army had resigned his commission to go into banking and later into education the outbreak of war had found him serving as superintendent of a military college in louisiana
he resigned this position and returned to the north where he entered federal service rising rapidly in the army he was chosen as supreme commander in the west in early eighteen sixty four his soldiers liked him and affectionately called him uncle billy
an officer who was with him in eighteen sixty four described the federal commander as tall and lank not very erect with hair like a thatch which he rubs up with his hands a rusty beard trimmed close a wrinkled face prominent red nose small bright eyes coarse red hands he smokes constantly
sherman was also a dogged fighter unawed by obstacles that would have broken lesser men and grant knew he could be counted on to carry out his part of the grand strategical plan for eighteen sixty four sherman's assignment was to break up the confederate army in north georgia and to get into the interior of the enemy's country as far as you can
inflicting all the damage you can against their war resources to accomplish this mission he had almost a hundred thousand men organized into three armies the army of the cumberland commanded by major general george h thomas the army of the tennessee commanded by major general james b mcpherson and the army of the ohio commanded by major general john m schofield
By early May, Sherman had assembled these troops around Chattanooga and was prepared to march with them into Georgia.
opposed to sherman's host was the confederate army of tennessee commanded by general joseph e johnston johnston was a virginian and like sherman a graduate of west point class of eighteen twenty nine he had served in the u s army until virginia seceded in the spring of eighteen sixty one when he resigned and entered confederate service
in december eighteen sixty three he was named commander of the major confederate force in the west and given the mission of defending the area against further northern advance johnston had an almost uncanny ability
to win the support of his subordinates an arkansas officer who met the southern commander in early eighteen sixty four noted in his diary general johnston is about fifty years of age is quite gray and has a spare form an intelligent face and an expressive blue eye he was very polite raising his cap to me after the introduction
unfortunately for the confederacy johnston was also secretive stubborn when dealing with his superiors petulant and too prone to see difficulties rather than opportunities he constantly worried about defeat and retreat and was hesitant to act in sum he was a man whose personality prevented him from effectively utilizing his many abilities
Showing 41–60 of 492 · page 3 of 25
← Previous
Next →