*Includes pictures of Sheridan and important people, places, and events in his life.

A brown, chunky little chap, with a long body, short legs, not enough neck to hang him, and such long arms that if his ankles itch he can scratch them without stooping. - Abraham Lincoln describing Phil Sheridan
In the most popular narratives of the Civil War, Union Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman are celebrated as the Unions most successful generals and men who revolutionized total warfare with the use of scorched earth tactics. Shermans March to the Sea continues to be one of the most famous campaigns of the war, and he is still widely reviled in the South because of it.
Lost in this common narrative is the fact that Shermans March was preceded by a scorched earth campaign that made Virginia howl, led by Little Phil Sheridan. The 55 Sheridan was one of the smallest and toughest fighters in the Union Army, whose capabilities as both a general of infantry and cavalry made him one of the most valuable and versatile officers in the North. A close associate of Grants in the West, Sheridan was so critical that Grant brought him east in 1864 and gave him command of the Union cavalry to face off against the vaunted JEB Stuart.
Despite his successes in the West and during the Overland Campaign, Sheridans most famous campaign was in the Shenandoah Valley, which had seen much fighting and Stonewall Jacksons famous 1862 Valley Campaign. In 1864, however, Sheridan and his Army of the Shenandoah defeated Jubal Early and systematically destroyed the economic infrastructure and viability of the Valley, which had been considered the breadbasket of Virginia during the wars earlier years. Residents of the Valley simply referred to Sheridans campaign as The Burning.
After Sheridans cavalry proved instrumental in surrounding Lees army and forcing its surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan had cemented his legacy as one of the greatest Union generals of the Civil War. But he was far from done. During Reconstruction, he was a military governor responsible for trying to pacify Southern civilians in the wake of the Civil War, and it should come as no surprise that Sheridan and Southerners didnt see eye to eye. Sheridan himself famously stated, If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell. Sheridan also ran afoul of President Andrew Johnson, who later removed him from his post.
The tough and acerbic Sheridan was also one of the highest ranked officers who fought the Indian Wars in the decades after the Civil War. Notorious for uttering The only good Indians I ever saw were dead, which has since been misattributed into more generalized and bigoted forms, Sheridans biographers have taken pains to try to point out that Little Phil wasnt a racist, though there can be no denying he ruthlessly waged war on the Great Plains to subdue Native American tribes.
Enemies on the battlefield rarely got the best of Sheridan, but his hard living finally caught up with him around the end of the 188s, when Sheridan, in his 5s, began suffering massive heartattacks. By the time he died in 1888, he had been General-in-Chief and Commanding General of the U.S. Army, the very upper echelons of the military, and he was celebrated as one of the Civil Wars foremost heroes.
Little Phil: The Life and Career of General Philip Sheridan provides a comprehensive account of the fighting generals military career, but it also humanizes Little Phil, the quintessential military man. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Phil Sheridan like you never have before, in no time at all.