War Like the Thunderbolt : the Battle and Burning of Atlanta

In War Like the Thunderbolt: The Battle and Burning of Atlanta, Russell S. Bonds presents the epic story of what one observer called "the greatest event of the Civil War"--the struggle for the city of Atlanta. Union commanderWilliam Tecumseh Sherman's relentless fight for Atlanta secured the reelection of Abraham Lincoln, sealed the fate of the Southern Confederacy, and set a precedent for military campaigns that endures today.Based on new research in diaries, previously unpublished letters, newspapers, and other archival sources, War Like the Thunderbolt takes the reader across smoky battlefields and into the lives of fascinating characters, both thefamous and the forgotten, including the fiery and brilliant Sherman; General John Bell Hood, the Confederacy's last hope to defend Atlanta; the diminutive young Indiana colonel, Benjamin Harrison, who would rise to becomePresident of the United States; and ten-year-old diarist Carrie Berry, who bravely bore witness to the fall of the city. War Like the Thunderbolt, like its fictional counterpart Gone With the Wind, is also the story of the ordeal ofAtlanta itself--the five-week artillery bombardment, the expulsion of its civilian population, and the infamous fire that followed. Beautifully written and authoritative, War Like the Thunderbolt is a stirring account of the battle andburning of the "Gate City of the South."