William Tecumseh Sherman, Union general and
brother of U.S. Senator John Sherman, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, to Mary Hoyt
Sherman and Charles R. Sherman, a state judge. After the death of his father in
1829, young William was raised by Thomas Ewing, whose daughter he would later
marry. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when he was 16, later
graduating sixth out of 41 cadets in his class. Sherman’s military assignments
were mainly in the South—such as at Fort Morgan in Mobile, Alabama, and Fort
Moultrie in Charleston, South Carolina—and included duty in the Second
Seminole War (1840-1842) in Florida. The army transferred him to California when
the War with Mexico erupted, but he saw no action. After the war, he was
stationed in St. Louis and New Orleans while in the commissary service.
In order to provide greater financial security
for his growing family, Sherman resigned from the army to accept a management
position with a San Francisco bank (1853-1857). When financial problems caused
the bank to close, he took a similar position with a branch bank in New York
City, only to have it fold during the economic panic of 1857. He next joined the
real-estate and legal firm of two of his brothers-in-law in Leavenworth, Kansas.
Dissatisfied, Sherman accepted a post as superintendent of the new Louisiana
Military Seminary (today, Louisiana State University) in 1859. He thoroughly
enjoyed the position and gained respect for both his achievements in
establishing the school on a sound foundation and for his proslavery views.
When Louisiana seceded from the Union two years
later, Sherman made the difficult decision to resign his job and leave the
state, taking a position in St. Louis as president of a streetcar company. He
rejoined the U.S. army in May 1861 at the rank of colonel and on June 30 was
promoted to brigade commander under General Irvin McDowell in Virginia. In
August he became second in command of the Department of the Cumberland (Kentucky
and Tennessee), but soon had to take over for the commander, Robert Anderson,
who suffered a nervous breakdown. At his own request, Sherman was soon relieved
of his duties, then transferred to the Missouri theater to serve under General
Henry Halleck.
Since the beginning of the war, Sherman had been
worried about the Union’s chances for success and was continually vocal about
his pessimism. Consequently, Halleck ordered Sherman to take leave to rest with
his family in Lancaster, Ohio. The press, with whom Sherman already had a bad
relationship, reported that he was insane. While untrue, his lifelong depression
was exacerbated to the point that he considered suicide. A few months later he
returned to the army, first training troops in Missouri, then in March 1862 as
division commander. His performance at the battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862)
earned him the praise of Halleck and General Ulysses S. Grant, while serving
with Grant gave him hope for the Union cause.
In June 1862 Sherman was named military governor
of Union-occupied Memphis. His experience there, dealing with guerrilla and
civilian Confederates, led him to view the war as one between entire societies
rather than as just a military clash. Returning to the combat zone in the fall,
Sherman suffered some battlefield losses and resultant negative press, provoking
him to court-martial a New York Herald reporter, Thomas Knox (the only
court-martial of a member of the news media in American history). Sherman and
his men participated with Grant during the siege of Vicksburg (March 29 - July
4, 1863), helping to drive the Confederate forces under General Joseph E.
Johnston out of the area. In the fall of 1863 Sherman was named to command the
Department of the Army of the Tennessee.
In March 1864 Grant became the Union’s general
in chief and Sherman was tapped to head operations in the Western theater. As
Grant maneuvered Confederate General Robert E. Lee into a corner in Virginia,
Sherman marched his troops from Chattanooga into Georgia, capturing Atlanta in
September—a major victory which lifted Union spirits and helped ensure
President Lincoln’s reelection. Sherman’s tactics, which Lincoln and Grant
had originally opposed, involved massive property destruction aimed at
undermining the will of the general populace in the Confederacy. Those tactics,
controversial to this day, often appear ruthless, but were motivated by a desire
to minimize battle carnage and to force an end to the long, bloody, and
destructive war. Sherman and his men proceeded in the "March to the
Sea" (November 15 - December 21, 1864) to Savannah, Georgia, before turning
northward in the Carolinas Campaign (January - April 14, 1865). Although the
property destruction was extensive, casualties numbers were low.
After fighting an aggressive war, Sherman favored
a lenient peace. His charitable terms to surrendering Confederate General
Johnston sparked harsh criticism, including charges of treason, from the press
and some administration officials, compelling him to revise his offer. Except
for the extinction of slavery, Sherman favored returning to the status quo ante
bellum. He refused, however, to allow Andrew Johnson to make him a pawn in the
president’s struggle with Congress over control of the reconstruction process.
Upon Grant’s inauguration as president in March
1869, Sherman took over as general in chief of the U.S. army. He was frustrated
by Congressional downsizing of the military, the failure of political leaders to
heed his advice, and squabbling with Secretary of War William Belnap over
military authority. Sherman departed from the Washington scene whenever
possible, touring Europe and the Middle East (1871-1872) and staying in St.
Louis for eighteen months (1874-1876). As general in chief he established an
officers-training school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He retired in 1884 and was
in great demand for delivering after-dinner speeches. He declined encouragement
to run for the presidency by stating that "I will not accept if nominated
and will not serve if elected." He had earlier (1880) coined the phrase,
"War is Hell." Sherman is one of the most important figures in
American military history.
Source consulted: American National Biography;
Mark Boatner, The Civil War Dictionary.