BEATS THE HECK OUT OF ANOTHER TIE:

Sherman’s gift to President Lincoln: a review of GENERAL SHERMAN’S CHRISTMAS: Savannah, 1864 By Stanley Weintraub (Michael Kenney, December 25, 2009, Boston Globe)

“General Sherman’s Christmas: Savannah, 1864’’ recounts the tale of Sherman’s March to the Sea, weaving in poignant anecdotes of Southerners, black and white, who found themselves in the army’s path.

It is the latest of Stanley Weintraub’s military-at-Christmas accounts, which include “Silent Night: The Story of the 1914 Christmas Truce,’’ “General Washington’s Christmas Farewell,’’ and “11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944.’’ [...]

The Union Army reached the outskirts of Savannah on Dec. 10, preparing for a bitter siege.

The expected siege never occurred as the city’s Confederate defenders had retreated under cover of darkness, and Union patrols entered the city on Dec. 21. That afternoon, the city’s mayor surrendered the city. Sherman, clearly feeling proud of his army’s accomplishment, sent a telegram to President Lincoln: “I beg to present you as a Christmas-gift the city of Savannah.’’ It arrived at the White House on Christmas Eve.