SHERMAN, William Tecumseh (1820-91).
Ranked second only to General Ulysses S. Grant as the greatest Northern commander in the American Civil War, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman was a master of modern warfare. Like Grant, Sherman was born in Ohio when it was a frontier state. He was named Tecumseh for the Shawnee Indian chief who had terrorized that region a few years earlier.
Sherman was born on Feb. 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio. His father died when the boy was 9 years old. Most of the 11 children in the family were distributed among the relatives and friends. He was adopted by Thomas Ewing.
After attending an academy at Lancaster, Sherman entered West Point. During the Mexican War he saw service in California. In 1853 he resigned his commission for a business, legal, and educational career. When Louisiana seceded from the Union, he was head of the state military academy (now Louisiana State University). He resigned his position and rejoined the army in May 1861.
He was commissioned a colonel of volunteers and commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run, on July 21, 1861. Three months later he was given charge of the Department of the Ohio (River). On taking over his new command he reported that 200,000 men would be needed to carry on a successful campaign in that region. Newspapers said that Sherman was crazy. Time proved him right, but popular protest cost him his command.
Sherman's military genius was so outstanding that he could not long be kept in the background. At the battle of Shiloh on April 6, 1862, he was in the thick of the fight. For his services he received the rank of major general. Serious mistakes had been made at the battle of Shiloh, and the commander, Grant, had to endure much criticism. Grant wanted to withdraw from the army, but Sherman persuaded him to stay.
In the Vicksburg campaign Sherman rendered valuable aid to Grant. At its successful conclusion he generously gave all the credit to his superior officer. When Grant, as a result of this campaign, was made commander of the armies of the United States, Sherman was appointed to fill Grant's position as commander in the West.
It was in this position that he carried on the campaign on which his fame chiefly rests. On May 6, 1864, he left Chattanooga, Tenn., for Atlanta, Ga. It took him four months to cover the 135 miles (215 kilometers) between the two places, for in this campaign he met a foe worthy of his steel in Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate commander. Atlanta was reached on September 2. After clearing the city of its civil population and resting his men, Sherman started on his famous march of 400 miles (645 kilometers) "from Atlanta to the sea." For 32 days no news of him reached the North. He had cut himself off from his base of supplies, and his men lived on what they could get from the country through which they passed. They covered a path 60 miles (95 kilometers) wide in their march, and in that path everything that they could not use but that might prove of use to the enemy was ruthlessly destroyed. In view of this destruction, it is understandable that Sherman said that "war is hell." Finally, on December 20, Savannah, Ga., was reached and Sherman telegraphed to President Lincoln: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton."
After a month's rest Sherman turned northward with his army, expecting to join Grant near Richmond, the Confederate capital. But before he reached the area the Confederacy had collapsed. After receiving the surrender of General Johnston in North Carolina, Sherman marched on to Washington.
Sherman remained in the army as commander in the West until Grant became president in 1869. He then assumed command of the entire army. He held that post until November 1883 and retired from active duty early in 1884. That year it was proposed that he run for president. His response was: "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." Sherman had made his famous "war is hell" statement in a speech at Columbus, Ohio, in 1880. In 1886 he moved to New York City, where he died on Feb. 24, 1891.
