[227] In one instance, he was summoned to testify as a witness in Andrew Johnson's impeachment trial. . In one amusing change to his text, Sherman dropped the assertion that, A "third edition, revised and corrected" of Sherman's memoirs was put out in 1890 by, According to Victor Davis Hanson, "In the eyes of Lewis and Liddell Hart, Sherman was a great man, who is judged on what he did and not on what he wrote: he saved lives and shortened the war; and he used military science to teach his nation what war is ultimately for. Two of his foster brothers served as major generals in the Union Army during the Civil War: Hugh Boyle Ewing, later an ambassador and author, and Thomas Ewing Jr., who was a defense attorney in the military trials of the Lincoln conspirators. [295], The influential literary critic Edmund Wilson found in Sherman's Memoirs a fascinating and disturbing account of an "appetite for warfare" that "grows as it feeds on the South". For more detailed discussion of this overall period, see Marszalek. Sherman died of pneumonia in New York City at 1:50PM on February 14, 1891, six days after his 71st birthday. [196][197][f] Another World War II-era student of Liddell Hart's writings on Sherman was General George S. Patton,[198] who "spent a long vacation studying Sherman's campaigns on the ground in Georgia and the Carolinas, with the aid of [Liddell Hart's] book" and later "carried out his [bold] plans, in super-Sherman style". [259], Proposed as a Republican candidate for the presidential election of 1884, Sherman declined as emphatically as possible, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected. [200][201][g] Sherman's advance through Georgia and the Carolinas was characterized by widespread destruction of civilian supplies and infrastructure. [304] Saint-Gaudens's Bust of William Tecumseh Sherman, which he used as the basis for the larger Memorial, is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In The White Tecumseh, Stanley Hirshson has crafted a beautiful and rigorous work of scholarship, the only life of Sherman to draw on regimental histories and testimonies by the general's own men. [40] Even though he earned a brevet promotion to captain in 1848 for his "meritorious service", his lack of combat experience and relatively slow advancement within the army discouraged him. Despite his harsh treatment of the warring tribes, Sherman spoke out against speculators and government agents who abused the Native Americans living within the reservations. Harrison, in a message to the Senate and the House of Representatives, wrote that: He was an ideal soldier, and shared to the fullest the esprit de corps of the army, but he cherished the civil institutions organized under the Constitution, and was only a soldier that these might be perpetuated in undiminished usefulness and honor. In response to this threat, Grant instructed Sherman to attack Johnston. When he attempted to attack the main spine at Tunnel Hill, his troops were repeatedly repelled by Patrick Cleburne's heavy division, the best unit in Bragg's army. In 1859, he became superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy (now Louisiana State University), a position from which he resigned when Louisiana seceded from the Union. "[283][284], "Since the public mind has settled to the conclusion that the institution of slavery was so interwoven in our system that nothing but the interposition of Providence and horrid war could have eradicated it, and now that it is in the distant past, and that we as a nation, North and South, East and West, are the better for it, we believe that the war was worth to us all it cost in life and treasure." Genealogy for William Tecumseh Sherman (c.1866 - 1867) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. [39] He also opened a general store in Coloma, which earned him $1,500 in 1849 while his army salary was only $70 a month. His foster mother, Maria Ewing, was devoutly Catholic and raised her own children in that faith. William T. Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on Feb. 8, 1820. His conduct and deportment toward us characterized him as a friend and a gentleman. Born William Tecumseh SHERMAN American soldier, businessman, educator and author Born on February 08, 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, USA , United States Died on February 14, 1891 in New York City, New York, USA Born on February 08 48 Deceased on February 14 31 Family tree Report an error Sherman Daniel 1721 - 1799 Taylor Mindwell 1720 - 1798 Stoddard [152] Thereafter, his troops did relatively little damage to the civilian infrastructure. He lived in Washington Township, Page, Iowa, United States for about 20 years and Locust Grove . "[293] Following Walters, James Reston Jr. argued in 1984 that Sherman had planted the "seed for the Agent Orange and Agent Blue programs of food deprivation in Vietnam". Fires began that night and by next morning most of the central city was destroyed. [212] This made repairs extremely difficult at a time when the Confederacy lacked both iron and heavy machinery.[213]. The nomination was not submitted to the Senate until December. William Tecumseh Sherman achieved the rank of Major General during the Civil War. "[234] In 1867, he wrote to Grant that "we are not going to let a few thieving, ragged Indians check and stop the progress" of the railroads. As with all family trees on this website, the sources for each ancestor are listed on the family group pages so that you can personally judge the reliability of the information. He took no precautions beyond strengthening his picket lines, and refused to entrench, build abatis, or push out reconnaissance patrols. After the Civil . [252], On June 19, 1879, Sherman delivered an address to the graduating class of the Michigan Military Academy, in which he may have uttered the famous phrase "War is Hell". He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-65), for whi He was Promoted to general (lieutenant general), 4 Mar 1869. Indeed, he had written to his wife that if he took more precautions "they'd call me crazy again". Death: January 04, 1924 (68) Immediate Family: Son of Preserve B Sherman and Emily Lacow. [232] One of the main concerns of his postbellum service was, therefore, to protect the construction and operation of the railroads from hostile Indians. [10][258] During this period, he remained in contact with war veterans, and he was an active member of various social and charitable organizations. In 1850 Sherman married one of the Ewing daughters, Ellen. It was a bitterly cold day and a friend of Johnston, fearing that the general might become ill, asked him to put on his hat. [174] Sherman rejected this, arguing that it would have delayed the "successful end" of the war and the "[liberation of] all slaves". War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. [311], This is actually a re-printing of the second, revised edition of 1889, published by D. Appleton & Company, of New York City. [226], There was little large-scale military action against the Indians during the first three years of Sherman's tenure as divisional commander, as Sherman allowed negotiations between the U.S. government and Indian leaders to proceed, while he built up his troops and awaited completion of the Union Pacific and Kansas Pacific Railroads. My average demerits, per annum, were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from number four to six. [165], Sherman was not an abolitionist before the war and, like others of his time and background, he did not believe in "Negro equality". William Tecumseh Sherman: Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman . [142] Sherman then dispatched a message to Lincoln, offering him the city as a Christmas present.[143][e]. Sherman was distantly related to US founding father Roger Sherman. In March, Halleck's command was redesignated the Department of the Mississippi and enlarged to unify command in the West. Born in Ohio into a politically prominent family, Sherman graduated in 1840 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. At the insistence of Johnston, Confederate president Jefferson Davis, and Confederate Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge, Sherman conditionally agreed to generous terms that dealt with both military and political issues. After Sherman's departure the spokesman for the black leaders, Baptist minister Garrison Frazier,[181][182] declared in response to Stanton's inquiry about the feelings of the black community: We looked upon General Sherman prior to his arrival as a man in the providence of God specially set apart to accomplish this work, and we unanimously feel inexpressible gratitude to him, looking upon him as a man that should be honored for the faithful performance of his duty. He captured Atlanta and Savannah and wrought great destruction in marches through Georgia and the Carolinas. Ellen's father, Thomas Ewing, was the US Secretary of the Interior at that time. In early November, Sherman asked to be relieved of his command. Sheridan used hard-war tactics similar to those he and Sherman had employed in the Civil War. "[94], In late April a Union force of 100,000 men under Halleck's leadership, with Grant relegated to second-in-command, began advancing slowly against Corinth. When Grant was promoted and took over the armies in the east, Sherman was put in charge of those in the west. Sherman was one of the few Union officers to distinguish himself in the field and historian Donald L. Miller has characterized Sherman's performance at Bull Run as "exemplary". Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman, was a successful banker. By Himself, published by D. Appleton & Company in two volumes, began with the year 1846 (when the Mexican War began) and ended with a chapter about the "military lessons of the [civil] war". After ordering almost all civilians to abandon the city in September, Sherman gave instructions that all military and government buildings in Atlanta be burned, although many private homes and shops were burned as well. [304] Sherman is represented astride his horse Ontario and led by a winged female figure of Victory. Johnston, ignoring instructions from President Davis, accepted those terms on April 26, 1865, formally surrendered his army and all the Confederate forces in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. [223][h], In June 1865, two months after Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Sherman received his first postwar command, originally called the Military Division of the Mississippi, later the Military Division of the Missouri, which came to comprise the territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The only general engagement during Sherman's marches through Georgia and the Carolinas, the Battle of Bentonville, took place on March 1921, 1865. [173] Sherman's views on race evolved significantly over time. [294] More recently, historians such as Brian Holden-Reid have challenged such readings of Sherman's record and of his contributions to modern warfare. In early 1858, he returned to California to finalize the bank's outstanding accounts there. I am not and cannot be. [51][52] In 1856, during the vigilante period, he served briefly as a major general of the California militia. Joseph E. Johnston, the Confederate officer who had commanded the resistance to Sherman's troops in Georgia and the Carolinas, served as a pallbearer in New York City. He was the son of lawyer Charles R. Sherman and Mary Hoyt both originally of Norwalk, CT. . He later began a new climb to success at Shiloh and Corinth under Grant. [145] According to a war-time account, it was around this time that Sherman made his memorable declaration of loyalty to Grant: General Grant is a great general. Sherman, beset by hallucinations and unreasonable fears and finally contemplating suicide, had been relieved from command in Kentucky. [256] Sherman stepped down as commanding general on November 1, 1883,[257] and retired from the army on February 8, 1884. In December, he was put on leave by Henry W. 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