Uses contemporary newspaper accounts, letters, memoirs, biographies, and histories of the Civil War to examine the past and present myths surrounding the controversial Union general, William Tecumseh Sherman.

The prewar years and the early war -- The Atlanta campaign and the March to the Sea -- The commanding general versus the North -- The war of the memoirs -- Sherman's last years -- Sherman versus the Lost Cause -- Embracing the Lost Cause -- Sherman in film -- Sherman and the modern historians.