William Tecumseh Sherman
1820–91, Union general in the American Civil War, b.
Lancaster, Ohio. Sherman is said by many to be the greatest of
the Civil War generals.
Early Career
After the death of his father (1829) Sherman lived as a member
of the family of Thomas Ewing. In 1850 he married Ewing's
daughter Eleanor Boyle Ewing, well known for her many
philanthropic activities. After graduating (1840) from West Point,
he spent several years at various Southern garrisons, served in
the Mexican War, and was later stationed at St. Louis and at
New Orleans. Resigning from the army in 1853, he was a
banker in San Francisco and New York (1853–57) and a
lawyer in Leavenworth, Kansas (1858–59), before he became
superintendent of the state military academy at Alexandria, La.
(now Louisiana State Univ. at Baton Rouge).
Civil War Career
When Louisiana seceded Sherman resigned from the military
academy (Jan., 1861), and in May he rejoined the U.S. army as
a colonel. Sherman commanded a brigade in the first battle of
Bull Run (July) and in August was made a brigadier general of
volunteers and sent to Kentucky. There he succeeded Robert
Anderson in command of the Dept. of the Cumberland (Oct.),
but in November he was transferred to the Dept. of the
Missouri.
Sherman distinguished himself as a division commander at Shiloh
(April, 1862) and was promoted to major general in May. He
took part in the operations about Corinth, occupied Memphis
(July), and commanded the Dist. of Memphis (Oct.–Dec.,
1862). After his defeat at Chickasaw Bluffs in the first advance
of the Vicksburg campaign, he served under John A.
McClernand in the capture of Arkansas Post (Jan., 1863). In the
successful move on Vicksburg, Sherman ably led the 15th
Corps. In July he was made a brigadier general in the regular
army.
When Ulysses S. Grant assumed supreme command in the
West, Sherman became commander of the Army of the
Tennessee (Oct., 1863). He commanded the Union left at
Missionary Ridge in the Chattanooga campaign (Nov.), went to
the relief of Ambrose E. Burnside at Knoxville (Dec.), and
destroyed Confederate communications and supplies at
Meridian, Miss., in Feb., 1864.
When Grant became commander in chief, Sherman succeeded
him as supreme commander in the West (March). His Atlanta
campaign (May–Sept., 1864) resulted in the fall of that city on
Sept. 2. The Confederate attempt to draw him back failed, and
Sherman burned (Nov. 15) most of Atlanta and the next day,
with 60,000 men, began his famous march to the sea. With
virtually no enemy to bar his way, he was before Savannah in 24
days, leaving behind him a ruined and devastated land. Savannah
fell on Dec. 21.
In Feb., 1865, Sherman started northward to close in on Robert
E. Lee from the rear. Every step now reduced the area upon
which the Confederates in Virginia could depend for aid. His
advance through South Carolina (the state that in the eyes of
Sherman's men had provoked the war) was slower but even
more destructive than the march through Georgia.
In North Carolina, Joseph E. Johnston opposed Sherman in
engagements at Averasboro and Bentonville, but after hearing of
Lee's surrender, he asked for terms. Sherman, understanding the
South and the devastation it had suffered better than any other
Union general, offered him generous terms, but Secretary of War
Stanton repudiated them. Johnston then surrendered (April 26,
1865) the last major Confederate army on the same terms as
Lee. Sherman saw more clearly than any other Civil War general
that modern warfare was completely unlike its 18th-century
counterpart. Since the Civil War was a war between free
peoples, Sherman maintained that only by breaking the war spirit
of the enemy, noncombatant as well as combatant, could victory
be won—hence the march through Georgia and South Carolina.
His famous statement, “War is all hell,” epitomizes his sentiments.
Later Career
Sherman was promoted to lieutenant general in 1866 and to
general in 1869, when he succeeded Grant as commander of the
U.S. army. He retired in 1884. He resisted all efforts to draw
him into politics, vetoing Republican attempts to make him a
presidential candidate in 1884 with the words: “If nominated I
will not accept; if elected I will not serve.”
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition Copyright ©1993, Columbia University Press.