I heart the Civil War

When I have nothing better to do, (which is often) I read about the Civil War. Mr Charm was a devotee of this conflict, and collected lots of books about it. If you can pry your mind off the fact that it was a bloodbath which destroyed a large number of the country's youngest and bravest men, it's fun to read about. I have read the memoirs of Grant and Sherman and now am reading those of Phil Sheridan.

Writing your memoirs is a great way to set the record straight and to settle old scores, and Sheridan takes full advantage of this. If you want to know who the blockheads and incompetents were on the government side, in Sheridan's view, you will find out here. Like many Irishmen, he was a good hater.

He was also very smart, a superb leader of men, and a hothead. He got in trouble at West Point for his bellicose attitude and graduated in the bottom third of his class. However, he seems to have learned some useful things there.