Early life and career [296], 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". [100], In December, Sherman's forces suffered a severe repulse at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou, just north of Vicksburg. Free delivery for many products! The children were parceled out to relatives and friends. [136][137] Sherman left forces under Maj. Gens. "General Sherman" and "William Sherman" redirect here. 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". According to critic Edmund Wilson, Sherman: [H]ad a trained gift of self-expression and was, as Mark Twain says, a master of narrative. Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. I know him well. [72] On June 3, he wrote in a letter to his brother-in-law: "I still think it is to be a long warvery longmuch longer than any Politician thinks. [134], During September and October, Sherman and Hood played a cat-and-mouse game in northern Georgia and Alabama, as Hood threatened Sherman's communications to the north. According to Sherman's biographer Robert O'Connell, "Shiloh marked the turning point of his life. You are bound to fail. [56] Sherman was an effective and popular leader of the institution, which would later become Louisiana State University. This helped ensure that the Mississippi River would remain in Union hands for the remainder of the war. [21] His friends and family called him "Cump".[22]. The severity of the destructive acts by Union troops was significantly greater in South Carolina than in Georgia or North Carolina. [24] Fellow cadet William Rosecrans remembered Sherman as "one of the brightest and most popular fellows" at the academy and as "a bright-eyed, red-headed fellow, who was always prepared for a lark of any kind". . 15. Not long before his death, General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) told an interviewer: "My family is strongly Roman Catholic. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. Reported! An elder brother became a federal judge, and. [54][b] Later in 1858, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, where he worked as the office manager of the law firm established by his brothers-in-law Hugh Ewing and Thomas Ewing Jr. Sherman obtained a license to practice law, despite not having studied for the bar, but he met with little success as a lawyer. Charles Robert Sherman and Mary Sherman. On November 25, Sherman took his assigned target of Billy Goat Hill at the north end of the ridge, only to find that it was separated from the main spine by a rock-strewn ravine. Johnston replied: "If I were in [Sherman's] place, and he were standing in mine, he would not put on his hat." The publication of Sherman's memoirs sparked controversy and drew complaints from many quarters. Brother of Charles Taylor Sherman, Mary Elizabeth (Sherman) Reese, James Sherman, Amelia (Sherman) McComb, Julia Ann (Sherman) Willock, Lampson Parker Sherman, John H. Sherman, Susan Denman (Sherman) Bartley, Hoyt Sherman and Frances Beecher (Sherman) Moulton [211] For instance, Alabama-born Major Henry Hitchcock, who served in Sherman's staff, declared that "it is a terrible thing to consume and destroy the sustenance of thousands of people," but if the scorched earth strategy served "to paralyze their husbands and fathers who are fighting it is mercy in the end". He passed away on 30 June 1951 in Virginia, St Louis, Minnesota, USA. "[64], Sherman departed Louisiana and traveled to Washington, D.C., possibly in the hope of securing a position in the U.S. Army. [226] Sherman also clashed with Eastern humanitarians who were critical of the army's harsh treatment of the Indians and who had apparently found an ally in President Grant. Sherman at first trivialized the corresponding threat, reportedly saying that he would "give [Hood] his rations" to go in that direction, as "my business is down south". [127] In July, the cautious Johnston was replaced by the more aggressive John Bell Hood, who played to Sherman's strength by challenging him to direct battles on open ground. Sherman had, up to that point, achieved mixed success as a general, and controversy attached especially to his performance at Chattanooga. War is a terrible thing! the Sherman family papers are deposited at the University . in Lancaster, Ohio, USA , United States, Died on February 14, 1891 This letter was to James E. Yeatman, May 21, 1865, and is excerpted more extensively (and with slight variations) in Bowman and Irwin. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. [247] The Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. 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. [195], Liddell Hart credited Sherman with mastery of maneuver warfare, also known as the "indirect approach". Richard Sherman b: Bef. 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. [68] In early April, Sherman declined Montgomery Blair's offer of the administrative position of chief clerk in the War Department, despite Blair's promise that it would be followed by nomination as Assistant Secretary of War after the U.S. Congress assembled in July. The couple later had eight children, two of whom died from sickness while Sherman was serving in the Civil War. When Sherman was nine years old his father, a successful lawyer on the Ohio Supreme court, unexpectedly died in 1829. [201][202][g] Sherman's advance through Georgia and the Carolinas was characterized by widespread destruction of civilian supplies and infrastructure. Wrong username or password. Sherman excelled academically at West Point, but he treated the demerit system with indifference. William Tecumseh Sherman (/tkms/ tih-KUM-s;[4][5] February 8, 1820 February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. Civil war-era biographies that can double as doorstops seem to be in vogue again. [233] One of the main concerns of his postbellum service was, therefore, to protect the construction and operation of the railroads from hostile Indians. For more detailed discussion of this overall period, see Marszalek. Sherman's younger brother John was, from his seat in the U.S. Congress, a prominent advocate against slavery. In 1829, when Sherman was 9, his father died unexpectedly. His men swore by him, and most of his fellow officers admired him. William tecumseh sherman children.General William Tecumseh Sherman is best remembered for his leadership during the Civil War. [309], Other posthumous tributes include Sherman Circle in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C.,[310] the M4 Sherman tank, which was named by the British during World War II,[311] and the "General Sherman" Giant Sequoia tree, which is the most massive documented single-trunk tree in the world. . Username and password are case sensitive. [102] Soon after, Major General John A. McClernand ordered Sherman's XV Corps to join in his assault on Arkansas Post. Still, if he muffed his Vicksburg assignment, which had begun unfavorably, he would rise no higher. [237], Displacement of the Plains Indians was facilitated by the growth of the railroads and the eradication of the bison. He tells us what he thought and what he felt, and he never strikes any attitudes or pretends to feel anything he does not feel. HE MARRIED HIS FOSTER SISTER. From then on Sherman lived with his family's neighbor and friend, Senator Ewing. The orders provided for the settlement of 40,000 freed slaves and black refugees on land expropriated from white landowners in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. [51][52] In 1856, during the vigilante period, he served briefly as a major general of the California militia. [282] In 1888, Sherman wrote publicly that "my immediate family are strongly Catholic. "[272] He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. He voiced this view in remarks to a joint session of the Texas legislature in 1875, although the U.S. Army under Sherman's command never conducted its own program of bison extermination. His foster mother, Maria Ewing, was devoutly Catholic and raised her own children in that faith. : Dear Tommy", "General William Tecumseh Sherman 1888, cast 1910", "The sculpture "Victory" fully restored, on display at the Memorial Amphitheater", "General William Tecumseh Sherman Statue", "Firefighters are girding Earth's biggest tree. [53], Sherman's San Francisco branch closed in May 1857, and he relocated to New York City on behalf of the same bank, travelling on the steamer SS Central America. An error has occured while loading the map. Johnston did catch a serious cold and died one month later of pneumonia. Sherman's initial assignments were rear-echelon commands, first of an instructional barracks near St. Louis and then in command of the District of Cairo. [161] The U.S. Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, leaked Sherman's memorandum to The New York Times, intimating that Sherman might have been bribed to allow Davis to escape capture by the Union troops. William Tecumseh Sherman (1866-1867) Lampson Parker Sherman, Jr. (1868-1955) John Sherman (May 10, 1823-Oct. 22, 1900) Married Margaret Sarah Cecelia Stewart, Aug. 31, 1848 Children: Mary Stewart ("Mamie") Sherman (ca. [268], On February 19, a funeral service was held at his home, followed by a military procession. Sherman then became the military governor of occupied Memphis. Louis. Try refreshing the page. Sherman died of pneumonia in New York City at 1:50PM on February 14, 1891, six days after his 71st birthday. [252], During the election of 1876, Southern Democrats who supported Wade Hampton for governor used mob violence to attack and intimidate African American voters in Charleston. [35][36] Sherman unwittingly helped to launch the California Gold Rush by drafting the official documents in which Governor Mason confirmed that gold had been discovered in the region. Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 3 daughters. William Tecumseh Sherman, c. 1860-65. [229], When the Medicine Lodge Treaty failed in 1868, Sherman authorized his subordinate in Missouri, Major General Philip Sheridan, to lead the winter campaign of 18681869, of which the Battle of Washita River was part. He married Eleanor Boyle Ewing on 1 May 1850, in Washington D.C., United States. McPherson. [133] According to Holden-Reid, "Sherman did more than any other man apart from the president in creating [the] climate of opinion" that afforded Lincoln a comfortable victory over McClellan at the polls. The General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument is an equestrian statue of American Civil War Major General William Tecumseh Sherman located in Sherman Plaza, which is part of President's Park in Washington, D.C., in the United States.The selection of an artist in 1896 to design the monument was highly controversial. One of 11 children, Sherman was born to a prominent family in Lancaster . American historian Wesley Moody has argued that these commentators tended to filter Sherman's actions and his hard-war strategy through their own ideas about modern warfare, thereby contributing to the exaggeration of his "atrocities" and unintentionally feeding into the negative assessment of Sherman's moral character associated with the "Lost Cause" school of Southern historiography. [31][32], Sherman and Ord disembarked in Monterey, California on January 28, 1847, two days before the town of Yerba Buena acquired the new name of "San Francisco". Historian Mark Grimsley promoted the use of the term "hard war" to refer to this strategy in the context of the U.S. Civil War. He later began a new climb to success at Shiloh and Corinth under Grant. [148][149] His army proceeded north through South Carolina against light resistance from the troops of Confederate general Johnston. [119][120] Sherman's army captured the city of Meridian on February 14 and proceeded to destroy 105 miles of railroad and 61 bridges, while burning at least 10 locomotives and 28 railcars. [232], Sherman regarded the expansion of the railroad system "as the most important element now in progress to facilitate the military interests of our Frontier". [150], Sherman captured Columbia, the state capital, on February 17, 1865. [305] Sherman is represented astride his horse Ontario and led by a winged female figure of Victory. [135] In response, Hood moved north into Tennessee. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail. View Site William Tecumseh Sherman, Sr. (1820 - 1891) - Genealogy Born on february 08 43. Although he was impatient, often irritable and depressed, petulant, headstrong, and unreasonably gruff, he had solid soldierly qualities. [86], By mid-December 1861 Sherman had recovered sufficiently to return to service under Halleck in the Department of the Missouri. Gen. Rufus Saxton, an abolitionist from Massachusetts who had previously directed the recruitment of black soldiers, to implement that plan. [248][i] Grant, who was president when Sherman's memoirs appeared, later remarked that others had told him that Sherman treated Grant unfairly but "when I finished the book, I found I approved every word; that it was a true book, an honorable book, creditable to Sherman, just to his companionsto myself particularly sojust such a book as I expected Sherman would write."[251]. The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived. See more Charles Taylor Sherman (Feb. 3, 1811-Jan. 1, 1879) Mary Elizabeth Sherman Reese (April 21, 1812-Aug. 1900) Sherman's . William Tecumseh Sherman [1032] ,1 son of Charles Robert Sherman [1030] and Mary Hoyt [1031], was born on 8 Feb 1820 in Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH and died on 14 Feb 1891 in New York, New York Co., NY at age 71. Schofield. [230] He was successful in negotiating other treaties, such as the removal of Navajos from the Bosque Redondo to traditional lands in Western New Mexico. American soldier, businessman, educator and author. Thus, he was living in the border state of Missouri as the secession crisis reached its climax. Like Grant, he failed as a. The burning of Columbia has engendered controversy ever since, with some claiming the fires were a deliberate act of vengeance by the Union troops and others that the fires were accidental, caused in part by the burning bales of cotton that the retreating Confederates left behind them.[151]. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for William Tecumseh Sherman -A Family Chronicle - Laura Kerr -Signed By Author 1984 at the best online prices at eBay! William Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8 th 1820. In 1875, Henry V. Boynton published a critical review of Sherman's memoirs "based upon compilations from the records of the war office". The resulting trial of Satanta and Big Tree marked the first occasion in which Native American chiefs were tried by a civilian court in the United States. When William Tecumseh Sherman was born on 12 December 1828, in Columbia, New York, United States, his father, Roger Stevens Sherman, was 32 and his mother, Orilla Moses, was 34. Some of the most recently added connections of famous kin for General William Tecumseh Sherman Alice French (aka Octave Thanet) Novelist and Short Story Writer 6th cousin 1 time removed via Rev. The Sherman House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Civil War Preservation Trail and has been a memorial to the family since 1951. Born 12 Jul 1618 in Dedham, Essex, England Ancestors Son of Edmund Sherman and Grace (Makin) Sherman Brother of Edmund Sherman, Anne Sherman, Joan Sherman, Hester (Sherman) Warde, Richard Sherman, Bezaleel Sherman, John Sherman and Grace (Sherman) Livermore Husband of Sarah (Mitchell) Sherman married before 1640 [location unknown] Descendants "[283] Upon Sherman's death, his son Thomas publicly declared: "My father was baptized in the Catholic Church, married in the Catholic Church, and attended the Catholic Church until the outbreak of the civil war. William was sent to the family of Thomas Ewing, a neighbor and friend who was a U.S. In response to this threat, Grant instructed Sherman to attack Johnston. Charles Taylor Sherman, Judge 1811-1879 Married 2 February 1841, Mansfield, Richland Co., OH, toEliza Jane Williams 1822-1888; Mary Elizabeth Sherman 1812-1900 Married 19 October 1829, Lancaster, Fairfield Co., OH, toWilliam James Reese 1804-1883; John Sherman, Sen. 1823-1900 [174] Sherman rejected this, arguing that it would have delayed the "successful end" of the war and the "[liberation of] all slaves". He was born . Other. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. [188][191], Sherman's military legacy rests primarily on his command of logistics and on his brilliance as a strategist. The children were parceled out to relatives and friends. [297] Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara refers equivocally to the statement that "war is cruelty and you cannot refine it" in both the book Wilson's Ghost[298] and in his interview for the documentary film The Fog of War (2003). When Sherman's train passed Collierville it came under attack by 3,000 Confederate cavalry and eight guns under James Ronald Chalmers. Union Army - U.S. Civil War. Place of Burial: Mansfield, Richland County, OH, United States. Born in Ohio into a politically prominent family, Sherman graduated in 1840 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Sherman offered Grant an example from his own life: "Before the battle of Shiloh, I was cast down by a mere newspaper assertion of 'crazy', but that single battle gave me new life, and I'm now in high feather." "[78], The outcome at Bull Run caused Sherman to question his own judgment as an officer and the capabilities of his volunteer troops. Ancestor charts showing the family relationships of General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) to other famous people. [116] Following the defeat of the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga by Confederate general Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee, President Lincoln re-organized the Union forces in the West as the Military Division of the Mississippi, placing it under General Grant's command. My average demerits, per annum, were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from number four to six. [307], The General William Tecumseh Sherman Monument (1903) by Carl Rohl-Smith[308] stands near President's Park in Washington, D.C.[309] The bronze monument consists of an equestrian statue of Sherman and a platform with a soldier at each corner, representing the infantry, artillery, cavalry, and engineer branches of the U.S. Army. William Tecumseh Sherman had a lot in common with Ulysses S. Grant. Republican Governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain appealed to President Grant for military assistance. [146], While in Savannah, Sherman learned from a newspaper that his infant son Charles Celestine had died during the Savannah campaign; the general had never seen the child. Liddell Hart's claims for his own influence on the German doctrine of, Sherman wrote in a letter to Halleck, dated December 24, 1864, "that we are not only fighting hostile armies, but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war, as well as their organized armies.". This meeting was memorialized in G. P. A. Healy's painting The Peacemakers. [165], Sherman was not an abolitionist before the war and, like others of his time and background, he did not believe in "Negro equality". He led Union forces in crushing campaigns through the South, marching through Georgia and the Carolinas (1864-65). [158] After returning to Goldsboro, Sherman marched with his troops to the state capital, Raleigh, where Sherman sought to communicate with Johnston's army regarding possible terms for ending the war. [47], Sherman suffered from asthma attacks, which he attributed in part to stress caused by the city's aggressive business culture. One of his younger brothers, John Sherman, was one of the founders of the Republican Party and served as a U.S. congressman, senator, and cabinet secretary. Sherman, one of eleven children, was born into a . He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always. Louis. "[50], The failure of Page, Bacon & Co. triggered a panic surrounding the "Black Friday" of February 23, 1855, leading to the closure of several of San Francisco's principal banks and many other businesses. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. Sherman took command of the infantrymen in the local Union garrison and successfully repelled the Confederate attack. [160], Sherman believed that the terms that he had agreed to were consistent with the views that Lincoln had expressed at City Point, and that they offered the best way to prevent Johnston from ordering his men to go into the wilderness and conduct a destructive guerrilla campaign. He returned to Washington in 1876, when the new Secretary of War, Alphonso Taft, promised him greater authority. The magazine Confederate Veteran, based in Nashville, dedicated more attention to Sherman than to any other Union general, in part to enhance the visibility of the Civil War's western theater. On April 20, Sherman dispatched a memorandum with those terms to the government in Washington. When William Tecumseh Sherman Jr. was born on 8 June 1854, in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, his father, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, was 34 and his mother, Eleanor Boyle Ewing, was 29. Sherman, like many young officers who passed through Fort Moultrie in the antebellum period, described it . Senator John Sherman and home of the remarkable Sherman family. Elizabeth St. John , John Raymond, Isabeau de DAMPIERRE , John de FIENNES, Pernelle De Grandmesnil , Robert De Beaumont le Roger, Mary Katherine ELITHORPE , Richard MILES. 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. [288] By the 1880s, however, Southern "Lost Cause" writers began to demonize Sherman for his attacks on civilians in Georgia and South Carolina. [117], At Chattanooga, Grant instructed Sherman to attack the right flank of Bragg's forces, which were entrenched along Missionary Ridge overlooking the city. As long as resistance is made[,] death must be meted out, but the moment all resistance ceases, the firing will stop and all survivors turned over to the proper Indian agent". You have chosen this person to be their own family member. Lampson Parker Sherman . The influential 20th-century British military historian and theorist B.H. Liddell Hart ranked Sherman as "the first modern general" and one of the most important strategists in the annals of war, along with Scipio Africanus, Belisarius, Napoleon Bonaparte, T.E. Lawrence, and Erwin Rommel. [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. [124] As Grant took overall command of the armies of the United States, Sherman wrote to him outlining his strategy to bring the war to an end: "If you can whip Lee and I can march to the Atlantic I think ol' Uncle Abe [Lincoln] will give us twenty days leave to see the young folks. Born on February 08, 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, USA , United States. When William Tecumseh Sherman Harper was born on 30 June 1865, in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa, United States, his father, James Madison Harper, was 33 and his mother, Lydia Jane Lamb, was 31. [14], Sherman's unusual given name has always attracted attention. [23] Sherman roomed with and befriended another important future Civil War general for the Union, George H. Thomas. [55], In 1859, Sherman accepted a job as the first superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy in Pineville, Louisiana, a position he sought at the suggestion of Major Don Carlos Buell and obtained through the support of General George Mason Graham. [292] This led to the publication of several works, notably John B. Walters's Merchant of Terror: General Sherman and Total War (1973),[293] that presented Sherman as responsible for "a mode of warfare which transgressed all ethical rules and showed an utter disregard for human rights and dignity. [67] While trying to hold himself aloof from politics, he observed first-hand the efforts of Congressman Frank Blair, who later served under Sherman in the U.S. Army, to keep Missouri in the Union. Sherman was distantly related to US founding father Roger Sherman. When Grant became President of the United States in March 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of the Army. However, Sherman had proceeded without authority from Grant, the newly installed President Andrew Johnson, or the Cabinet. Born William Tecumseh SHERMAN. [188][189][190] In that essay, Sherman called upon the South to "let the negro vote, and count his vote honestly", adding that "otherwise, so sure as there is a God in Heaven, you will have another war, more cruel than the last, when the torch and dagger will take the place of the muskets of well-ordered battalions". He was stationed in Kentucky, where his pessimism about the outlook of the war led to a breakdown that required him to be briefly put on leave. The Confederate victory at Kennesaw Mountain did little to halt Sherman's advance towards Atlanta. Charles Robert Sherman, was 31 and his mother, Mary Elizabeth Hoyt, was 32. As Sherman himself once noted, his unusual middle name came from his father's "fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees, Tecumseh," who headed a confederacy of Native American tribes in Ohio. [242], Sherman's early tenure as Commanding General was marred by political difficulties, many of which stemmed from disagreements with Secretary of War Rawlins and his successor, William W. Belknap, both of whom Sherman felt had assumed too much power over the army and reduced the position of Commanding General to a sinecure. His father, a lawyer and jurist, died when he was nine, leaving the family destitute. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace. Fires began that night and by next morning most of the central city was destroyed. [16] Sherman had already been baptized as an infant by a Presbyterian minister[17][18] and recent biographers believe, contrary to Lewis's claims, that he was probably given the first name "William" at that time. . [287] At the same time, he was generally respected in the South as a military man, while his conservative politics were attractive to many white Southerners. Grave. You mistake, too, the people of the North. If one of them becomes President, it will be all in the family.". [273], Sherman's birth family was Presbyterian and he was originally baptized as such. [291], In the early 20th century, Sherman's role in the Civil War attracted attention from influential British military intellectuals, including Field Marshal Lord Wolseley, Maj. Gen. J. F. C. Fuller, and especially Capt. [12] He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children and no inheritance. 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".