GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON JR.'S PERSONAL COPY OF THE MARCH TO THE SEA, SIGNED BY HIM THREE TIMES, RECOUNTING THE MILITARY EXPLOITS OF ONE OF PATTON'S GREAT HEROES, GENERAL WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN

(PATTON, Jr., George S.) COX, Jacob D. March to the Sea. Franklin and Nashville. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1913. Octavo, original blue cloth. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

Later edition of General Cox's account of Sherman's March to the Sea and the eventual surrender of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, signed in ink on the front board and spine by General Patton and boldly signed and dated by him ("May 30 1926") on the front free endpaper.

Patton, who considered Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and William Tecumseh Sherman his military heroes, quoted Sherman often and "even Patton's tanks were famously named for Sherman" (Von Hassell & Breslin, Sherman, 163). Patton "told his men that, of all American generals, he understood Sherman best… When he was in England in the days before his assignment to Normandy, the British biographer of Sherman, Liddell Hart, made it a point to meet Patton on two occasions to discuss Sherman's mobile and indirect brand of warfare." Liddell Hart recalled: "I think the indirect argument made some impression. At any rate, when I spent another evening with him in June, just before he was going over to Normandy, he was no longer talking about the 1918 methods, but on much bolder lines. The way that, after the break-through, he actually carried out his plans, in super-Sherman style, is a matter that all the world knows." Military scholars note that in Normandy, in fact, "Patton deliberately emulated the 'super-Sherman style' of grand flanking maneuvers to the rear as a result of following Sherman's march firsthand in Georgia." Patton famously traced the route of Sherman's March to the Sea, on foot and by car, before WWII. Other historians equally note the similarities between these two brilliant military leaders: "Both were dashing, brilliant in often unorthodox tactics… By VE-day Patton had fought through more than 1,000 miles of enemy an enemy-held territory. Sherman's march to the sea, then back northward, was slightly short of the 1,000 miles mark when the surrender was consummated at Appomattox'… both were deeply devoted to saving the lives of the men they led and ending quickly the war that they fought" (Hanson, Soul of Battle, 283-4).

"General George S. Patton Jr. has earned a place in the pantheon of authentic American heroes…. [Yet] his great success on the battlefield did not come about by chance…. He read voraciously" (D'Este, Patton, 3-4, 317-18). This copy of The March to the Sea—Patton's own copy—is twice signed by him. No other military leader wrote so frequently in his letters or diary what he was reading, and no leader's library was so well-documented since Napoleon's. Patton's library, which was almost entirely inherited by his son, Major General George Patton III, was given to West Point, with just a small portion of books, including these volumes, inherited by other descendants or friends. Some years ago, when a prominent bookseller was discussing Patton's library with his son, his son remarked, "My old man could afford to buy the books and he could afford to write in them—nobody else in the army had any money." Patton's book collection remains a testament to the value he placed on books and the interest he took in them as tools for learning. This volume reflects Patton's interest in the sea. First published in 1882; this edition was issued as part of the "Campaigns of the Civil War" series. With 10 maps.

Only minor wear to cloth. An important volume from Patton's library.