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On March 11, 1865 General William T. Sherman's Union forces occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina. From the article:
"William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was a Union general during the Civil War, playing a crucial role in the victory over the Confederate States and becoming one of the most famous military leaders in U.S. history. The logistical brilliance on fiery display during Sherman’s March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, then north into the Carolinas, helped end the bloody war. But the devastation wrought by Sherman’s March remains controversial, with Sherman still loathed by many Southerners today.
Sherman’s Early Years
With an unusual middle name received from his father, a prominent lawyer and judge who admired the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, William Tecumseh Sherman was born February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio.
The death of Sherman’s father when he was 9 left his mother a poor widow with 11 children. Most of the Sherman children were fostered out to live with other families.
Sherman, nicknamed “Cump,” was raised by John Ewing, a family friend who was an Ohio senator and Cabinet member. Sherman later married his foster sister, Ellen Ewing, and the couple had eight children.
Sherman was not the only successful member of his family. An elder brother became a federal judge, and younger brother John Sherman was elected to the U.S. Senate and later served as both secretary of the treasury and secretary of state. Several of his Ewing foster siblings also rose to prominence.
West Point and Early Military Career
When Sherman was 16, John Ewing secured him a position at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. There he met and befriended several future military leaders who he would fight alongside – and against – during the Civil War.
Sherman graduated in 1840, ranked sixth in his class. He excelled in the academic side of his training, but was dismissive of West Point’s strict set of rules and demerits, a trait he would carry with him throughout his military career.
He was stationed in Georgia and South Carolina, and fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida. This first introduction to life in the South left a lasting favorable impression.
Unlike many of his West Point classmates, Sherman did not see action in the Mexican-American War. Instead, he was stationed in Northern California, which was just on the verge of the California Gold Rush. He spent several years there as an administrative officer, eventually rising to the rank of captain.
But with little combat experience, Sherman realized future advancement was unlikely. He resigned his commission in 1853, but remained in California with his growing family.
Sherman Before the Civil War
Sherman became a banker, but was overwhelmed by the frenetic pace of San Francisco, a city teeming with an influx of speculators. Sherman’s bank failed in 1857, and he briefly moved to Kansas, where he practiced law.
Sherman returned to the South in 1859, when he accepted a position as superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy (now Louisiana State University). He was a popular headmaster and was very fond of the friends he made there.
Sherman was not an ardent opponent of slavery, but he was vehemently against the idea of Southern secession over the issue. He repeatedly warned his Southern friends of the dangers they faced taking on the more prosperous, industrialized North, but to no avail. He resigned his position after Louisiana seceded in January 1861.
For several months, he worked as the president of a St. Louis streetcar company. After the Confederate States of America attacked Fort Sumter, Sherman worried that President Abraham Lincoln was not committing enough troops to bring the war to a swift end. But he overcame his doubts, and his brother John secured him a commission in the U.S Army.
First Battle of Bull Run
Sherman became colonel of the new 13th Infantry Regiment. Before that unit was fully activated, he led a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The Union suffered a surprising defeat, but Sherman was praised for his actions, and Lincoln promoted him to brigadier general of volunteers.
Sherman’s fears about the war escalated when he was transferred to Kentucky and the Army of the Cumberland. Sherman succeeded General Robert Anderson, but suffered grave doubts about his lack of men and supplies, as well as his own abilities.
Sherman called for 200,000 men, and was widely ridiculed in the press, some of which called him insane, an event that permanently soured Sherman on the media. In November 1861, Sherman was relieved of his duties and returned home to Ohio, suffering from depression and a nervous breakdown.
Sherman and Grant
He returned to service just weeks later, again assigned to the Western Theater. He supported Ulysses S. Grant at the successful Battle of Fort Donelson, Kentucky, and the two began to develop a close bond.
Now serving under Grant in the Army of West Tennessee, Sherman fought at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Caught unprepared by the Confederate assault (he had dismissed intelligence reports on the size and placement of enemy troops), he rallied his troops for an organized retreat that prevented a rout, allowing Union forces to secure victory the following day.
He was promoted to major general of volunteers. Grant was heavily criticized for the losses at Shiloh and considered resigning, but Sherman convinced him to stay.
Sherman continued to serve with Grant in the West, culminating in the capture of the vital Confederate stronghold after the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Despite misgivings over Grant’s unorthodox campaign and siege, which earned Grant more criticism (this time over his drinking), Sherman provided key logistical support.
When the city finally fell on July 4, 1863, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River, a key turning point in the war.
President Lincoln recognized the value of both men: Grant was put in charge of all troops in the West, and Sherman received an additional commission as brigadier general of the regular army.
At the head of the Army of the Tennessee, Sherman was criticized for his performance at the Battle of Chattanooga, although the Union eventually prevailed. He assumed control of all Western armies when Grant was transferred East to take command of all Union armies.
Sherman Takes Atlanta
In May 1864, Sherman set out for Atlanta, a center of Confederate industry. Sherman’s troops were on the move for four months, as he squared off against Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood. Hood was forced to abandon the city, and Sherman captured Atlanta in early September.
The city was nearly destroyed, although it is still debated whether the worst of the damage was done by Sherman’s men or retreating Confederate troops. With Grant suffering devastating casualties in the East (while winning militarily), Sherman’s victory in Atlanta helped Abraham Lincoln secure reelection to a second term.
By this time, Sherman was convinced that the Confederacy could only be brought to heel by the complete destruction of both its military and civilian ability to wage war. Despite his earlier fondness for the South and its people, his strategy of “total war” would bring devastation to the region, earning Sherman a deep level of hatred (some of which remains today).
Sherman himself loathed the impact of the fighting, but realized its necessity, famously saying, “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
Sherman’s March to the Sea
With the full support of both Lincoln and Grant, Sherman devised an unusual plan. In November 1864, he departed Atlanta with 60,000 troops, bound for the coastal port of Savannah.
He separated his men into two Corps, which tore through the countryside, destroying both military and civilian targets. Twisted railroad lines along the way became known as “Sherman’s neckties.”
Georgia’s citizens lived in fear of advancing troops, but the rest of the country had no news of Sherman’s March to the Sea. His distrust of the press led Sherman to ban reporters, and many Americans had no clue where the army went after leaving Atlanta.
Sherman’s March to the Sea showcased his logistical brilliance. Marching in secret meant he had no connection to Union supplies, forcing his men to carry with them everything they would need. They foraged and stole food to supplement rations, and built pontoon bridges and roads to traverse the terrain.
Finally, in December, Sherman’s troops showed up outside Savannah, which they easily occupied. Sherman wired the president on December 22, offering Lincoln the city as a Christmas gift.
Early in the new year, Sherman turned his attention north, marching his men through the Carolinas. South Carolina was treated perhaps even harsher than Georgia – the first state to secede was also the state where the Confederacy first fired shots on federal Fort Sumter. Most of the city of Columbia was burned to the ground.
By the spring, Sherman’s army was in North Carolina, when news spread of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
Sherman’s Post-Civil War Career
Sherman remained in the U.S. Army after the war. When Grant became president in 1869, Sherman assumed command of all U.S. forces.
He was criticized for the role he played in America’s war on Native Americans in the West, but he himself was critical of U.S. mistreatment of the native population.
He retired from active duty in 1884, eventually setting in New York. He brushed aside repeated requests to run for political office, saying, “I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.”
Sherman died in New York on February 14, 1891, at age 71, and was buried in St. Louis. In a final tribute from a former foe, Joseph E. Johnston served as pallbearer at Sherman’s funeral. Refusing to don a hat as a sign of respect, Johnston caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia and died just weeks later."
"William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was a Union general during the Civil War, playing a crucial role in the victory over the Confederate States and becoming one of the most famous military leaders in U.S. history. The logistical brilliance on fiery display during Sherman’s March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, then north into the Carolinas, helped end the bloody war. But the devastation wrought by Sherman’s March remains controversial, with Sherman still loathed by many Southerners today.
Sherman’s Early Years
With an unusual middle name received from his father, a prominent lawyer and judge who admired the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, William Tecumseh Sherman was born February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio.
The death of Sherman’s father when he was 9 left his mother a poor widow with 11 children. Most of the Sherman children were fostered out to live with other families.
Sherman, nicknamed “Cump,” was raised by John Ewing, a family friend who was an Ohio senator and Cabinet member. Sherman later married his foster sister, Ellen Ewing, and the couple had eight children.
Sherman was not the only successful member of his family. An elder brother became a federal judge, and younger brother John Sherman was elected to the U.S. Senate and later served as both secretary of the treasury and secretary of state. Several of his Ewing foster siblings also rose to prominence.
West Point and Early Military Career
When Sherman was 16, John Ewing secured him a position at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. There he met and befriended several future military leaders who he would fight alongside – and against – during the Civil War.
Sherman graduated in 1840, ranked sixth in his class. He excelled in the academic side of his training, but was dismissive of West Point’s strict set of rules and demerits, a trait he would carry with him throughout his military career.
He was stationed in Georgia and South Carolina, and fought in the Second Seminole War in Florida. This first introduction to life in the South left a lasting favorable impression.
Unlike many of his West Point classmates, Sherman did not see action in the Mexican-American War. Instead, he was stationed in Northern California, which was just on the verge of the California Gold Rush. He spent several years there as an administrative officer, eventually rising to the rank of captain.
But with little combat experience, Sherman realized future advancement was unlikely. He resigned his commission in 1853, but remained in California with his growing family.
Sherman Before the Civil War
Sherman became a banker, but was overwhelmed by the frenetic pace of San Francisco, a city teeming with an influx of speculators. Sherman’s bank failed in 1857, and he briefly moved to Kansas, where he practiced law.
Sherman returned to the South in 1859, when he accepted a position as superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy (now Louisiana State University). He was a popular headmaster and was very fond of the friends he made there.
Sherman was not an ardent opponent of slavery, but he was vehemently against the idea of Southern secession over the issue. He repeatedly warned his Southern friends of the dangers they faced taking on the more prosperous, industrialized North, but to no avail. He resigned his position after Louisiana seceded in January 1861.
For several months, he worked as the president of a St. Louis streetcar company. After the Confederate States of America attacked Fort Sumter, Sherman worried that President Abraham Lincoln was not committing enough troops to bring the war to a swift end. But he overcame his doubts, and his brother John secured him a commission in the U.S Army.
First Battle of Bull Run
Sherman became colonel of the new 13th Infantry Regiment. Before that unit was fully activated, he led a brigade at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. The Union suffered a surprising defeat, but Sherman was praised for his actions, and Lincoln promoted him to brigadier general of volunteers.
Sherman’s fears about the war escalated when he was transferred to Kentucky and the Army of the Cumberland. Sherman succeeded General Robert Anderson, but suffered grave doubts about his lack of men and supplies, as well as his own abilities.
Sherman called for 200,000 men, and was widely ridiculed in the press, some of which called him insane, an event that permanently soured Sherman on the media. In November 1861, Sherman was relieved of his duties and returned home to Ohio, suffering from depression and a nervous breakdown.
Sherman and Grant
He returned to service just weeks later, again assigned to the Western Theater. He supported Ulysses S. Grant at the successful Battle of Fort Donelson, Kentucky, and the two began to develop a close bond.
Now serving under Grant in the Army of West Tennessee, Sherman fought at the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. Caught unprepared by the Confederate assault (he had dismissed intelligence reports on the size and placement of enemy troops), he rallied his troops for an organized retreat that prevented a rout, allowing Union forces to secure victory the following day.
He was promoted to major general of volunteers. Grant was heavily criticized for the losses at Shiloh and considered resigning, but Sherman convinced him to stay.
Sherman continued to serve with Grant in the West, culminating in the capture of the vital Confederate stronghold after the Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Despite misgivings over Grant’s unorthodox campaign and siege, which earned Grant more criticism (this time over his drinking), Sherman provided key logistical support.
When the city finally fell on July 4, 1863, the Union gained control of the Mississippi River, a key turning point in the war.
President Lincoln recognized the value of both men: Grant was put in charge of all troops in the West, and Sherman received an additional commission as brigadier general of the regular army.
At the head of the Army of the Tennessee, Sherman was criticized for his performance at the Battle of Chattanooga, although the Union eventually prevailed. He assumed control of all Western armies when Grant was transferred East to take command of all Union armies.
Sherman Takes Atlanta
In May 1864, Sherman set out for Atlanta, a center of Confederate industry. Sherman’s troops were on the move for four months, as he squared off against Confederate Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood. Hood was forced to abandon the city, and Sherman captured Atlanta in early September.
The city was nearly destroyed, although it is still debated whether the worst of the damage was done by Sherman’s men or retreating Confederate troops. With Grant suffering devastating casualties in the East (while winning militarily), Sherman’s victory in Atlanta helped Abraham Lincoln secure reelection to a second term.
By this time, Sherman was convinced that the Confederacy could only be brought to heel by the complete destruction of both its military and civilian ability to wage war. Despite his earlier fondness for the South and its people, his strategy of “total war” would bring devastation to the region, earning Sherman a deep level of hatred (some of which remains today).
Sherman himself loathed the impact of the fighting, but realized its necessity, famously saying, “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.”
Sherman’s March to the Sea
With the full support of both Lincoln and Grant, Sherman devised an unusual plan. In November 1864, he departed Atlanta with 60,000 troops, bound for the coastal port of Savannah.
He separated his men into two Corps, which tore through the countryside, destroying both military and civilian targets. Twisted railroad lines along the way became known as “Sherman’s neckties.”
Georgia’s citizens lived in fear of advancing troops, but the rest of the country had no news of Sherman’s March to the Sea. His distrust of the press led Sherman to ban reporters, and many Americans had no clue where the army went after leaving Atlanta.
Sherman’s March to the Sea showcased his logistical brilliance. Marching in secret meant he had no connection to Union supplies, forcing his men to carry with them everything they would need. They foraged and stole food to supplement rations, and built pontoon bridges and roads to traverse the terrain.
Finally, in December, Sherman’s troops showed up outside Savannah, which they easily occupied. Sherman wired the president on December 22, offering Lincoln the city as a Christmas gift.
Early in the new year, Sherman turned his attention north, marching his men through the Carolinas. South Carolina was treated perhaps even harsher than Georgia – the first state to secede was also the state where the Confederacy first fired shots on federal Fort Sumter. Most of the city of Columbia was burned to the ground.
By the spring, Sherman’s army was in North Carolina, when news spread of Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.
Sherman’s Post-Civil War Career
Sherman remained in the U.S. Army after the war. When Grant became president in 1869, Sherman assumed command of all U.S. forces.
He was criticized for the role he played in America’s war on Native Americans in the West, but he himself was critical of U.S. mistreatment of the native population.
He retired from active duty in 1884, eventually setting in New York. He brushed aside repeated requests to run for political office, saying, “I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected.”
Sherman died in New York on February 14, 1891, at age 71, and was buried in St. Louis. In a final tribute from a former foe, Joseph E. Johnston served as pallbearer at Sherman’s funeral. Refusing to don a hat as a sign of respect, Johnston caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia and died just weeks later."
William Tecumseh Sherman
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Civil War
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American History
Military History
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Posted 5 y ago
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When Georgia Howled: Sherman on the March
FOR 37 WEEKS IN 1864, GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MADE GEORGIA HIS BATTLEGROUND. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta History Center have partnered t...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on March 11, 1865 General William T. Sherman's Union forces occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina.
William Tecumseh Sherman is a USMA graduate of the class of 1840, American soldier, banker, lawyer and superintendent of the Superintendent & Professor Louisiana State Seminary 1859-1861.
At USMA he is graduate number 1,022 [for comparison I am graduate number 37,403]
Per the USMA Register of Graduates and Former Cadets
William Tecumseh Sherman was commissioned as an artillery officer upon graduation on July 1, 1840
AG Officer Department of California 1847-1849, Brevet Captain; Resigned 1853; Banker 1853-1857; Mag Gen California Militia 1856; Superintendent & Professor Louisiana State Seminary 1859-1861; President Street Railroad, St Louis, 1861; Reappointed Colonel 13 Infantry in 1861; Wounded at Shiloh; MG USA 1864; LT Gen 1866; General commanding Armies of the United States 1869-1883; retired 1884; Hall of Fame for Great Americans 05.
Rest in peace William Tecumseh Sherman.
When Georgia Howled: Sherman on the March
FOR 37 WEEKS IN 1864, GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MADE GEORGIA HIS BATTLEGROUND. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta History Center have partnered to produce the gripping new documentary “When Georgia Howled: Sherman on the March,” premiering Thursday, September 10 at 8 p.m. on GPB Television. The program is the companion documentary to their Emmy-winning collaboration "37 Weeks: Sherman on the March,” a series of 90-second segments that premiered in April 2014 and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s 1864 march into Georgia. IT WAS 37 WEEKS THAT WOULD DETERMINE THE FATE OF A NATION.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kSUDp2BC0
Images:
1. William Tecumseh Sherman at Federal Fort No. 7, Atlanta, Georgia, c.1865. Courtesy Library of Congress
2. William Tecumseh Sherman 'I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.'
3. Maj Gen William T. Sherman & his staff; standing, l-to-r Oliver Otis Howard, William Babcock Hazen, Jefferson Columbus Davis, Joseph Anthony Mower; seated, l-to-r John Alexander Logan, William Tecumseh Sherman, Henry Warner Slocum.
4. The Burning of Columbia, South Carolina (1865) by William Waud for Harper's Weekly February 17, 1865
Background from {[https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-t-sherman]}
William Tecumseh Sherman
TITLE Major General
WAR & AFFILIATION - Civil War / Union
DATE OF BIRTH – DEATH [February 8, 1820 – February 14, 1891]
William Tecumseh Sherman, although not a career military commander before the war, would become one of "the most widely renowned of the Union’s military leaders next to U. S. Grant.”
Sherman, one of eleven children, was born into a distinguished family. His father had served on the Supreme Court of Ohio until his sudden death in 1829, leaving Sherman and his family to stay with several friends and relatives. During this period, Sherman found himself living with Senator Thomas Ewing, who obtained an appointment for Sherman to the United States Military Academy, and he graduated sixth in the class of 1840. His early military career proved to be anything but spectacular. He saw some combat during the Second Seminole War in Florida, but unlike many of his colleagues, did not fight in the Mexican-American War, serving instead in California. As a result, he resigned his commission in 1853. He took work in the fields of banking and law briefly before becoming the superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Sherman resigned from the academy and headed north, where he was made a colonel of the 13th United States Infantry.
Sherman first saw combat at the Battle of First Manassas, where he commanded a brigade of Tyler’s Division. Although the Union army was defeated during the battle, President Abraham Lincoln was impressed by Sherman’s performance and he was promoted to brigadier general on August 7, 1861, ranking seventh among other officers at that grade. He was sent to Kentucky to begin the Union task of keeping the state from seceding. While in the state, Sherman expressed his views that the war would not end quickly, and he was replaced by Don Carlos Buell. Sherman was moved to St. Louis, where he served under Henry W. Halleck and completed logistical missions during the Union capture of Fort Donelson. During the Battle of Shiloh, Sherman commanded a division, but was overrun during the battle by Confederates under Albert Sydney Johnston. Despite the incident, Sherman was promoted to major general of volunteers on May 1, 1862.
After the battle of Shiloh, Sherman led troops during the battles of Chickasaw Bluffs and Arkansas Post, and commanded XV Corps during the campaign to capture Vicksburg. At the Battle of Chattanooga Sherman faced off against Confederates under Patrick Cleburne in the fierce contest at Missionary Ridge. After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to commander of all the United States armies, Sherman was made commander of all troops in the Western Theatre, and began to wage warfare that would bring him great notoriety in the annals of history.
By 1864 Sherman had become convinced that preservation of the Union was contingent not only on defeating the Southern armies in the field but, more importantly, on destroying the Confederacy's material and psychological will to wage war. To achieve that end, he launched a campaign in Georgia that was defined as “modern warfare”, and brought “total destruction…upon the civilian population in the path of the advancing columns [of his armies].” Commanding three armies, under George Henry Thomas, James B. McPherson, and John M. Schofield, he used his superior numbers to consistently outflank Confederate troops under Joseph E. Johnston, and captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. The success of the campaign ultimately helped Lincoln win reelection. After the fall of Atlanta, Sherman left the forces under Thomas and Schofield to continue to harass the Confederate Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood. Meanwhile, Sherman cut off all communications to his army and commenced his now-famous “March to the Sea," leaving in his wake a forty to sixty mile-wide path of destruction through the heartland of Georgia. On December 21, 1864 Sherman wired Lincoln to offer him an early Christmas present: the city of Savannah.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Following his successful campaign through Georgia, Sherman turned his attentions northward and began marching through the Carolinas, chasing the Confederates under the command of Joseph E. Johnston. He continued his campaign of destruction, in particular targeting South Carolina for their role in seceding from the Union first. He captured Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865, setting many fires which would consume large portions of the city. He went on to defeat the forces of Johnston in North Carolina during the Battle of Bentonville, and eventually accepted the surrender of Johnston and all troops in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas on April 26, 1865, becoming the largest surrender of Confederate troops during the war.
After the war, Sherman remained in the military and eventually rose to the rank of full general, serving as general-in-chief of the army from 1869 to 1883. Praised for his revolutionary ideas on "total warfare," William T. Sherman died in 1891.'
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs SMSgt Lawrence McCarter SPC Michael Duricko, Ph.D GySgt Thomas Vick SGT Denny Espinosa SSG Stephen Rogerson SPC Matthew Lamb LTC (Join to see)Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. PO1 William "Chip" Nagel PO2 (Join to see) SSG Franklin Briant SPC Woody Bullard TSgt David L. SMSgt David A Asbury SPC Michael Terrell SFC Chuck Martinez CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
William Tecumseh Sherman is a USMA graduate of the class of 1840, American soldier, banker, lawyer and superintendent of the Superintendent & Professor Louisiana State Seminary 1859-1861.
At USMA he is graduate number 1,022 [for comparison I am graduate number 37,403]
Per the USMA Register of Graduates and Former Cadets
William Tecumseh Sherman was commissioned as an artillery officer upon graduation on July 1, 1840
AG Officer Department of California 1847-1849, Brevet Captain; Resigned 1853; Banker 1853-1857; Mag Gen California Militia 1856; Superintendent & Professor Louisiana State Seminary 1859-1861; President Street Railroad, St Louis, 1861; Reappointed Colonel 13 Infantry in 1861; Wounded at Shiloh; MG USA 1864; LT Gen 1866; General commanding Armies of the United States 1869-1883; retired 1884; Hall of Fame for Great Americans 05.
Rest in peace William Tecumseh Sherman.
When Georgia Howled: Sherman on the March
FOR 37 WEEKS IN 1864, GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MADE GEORGIA HIS BATTLEGROUND. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta History Center have partnered to produce the gripping new documentary “When Georgia Howled: Sherman on the March,” premiering Thursday, September 10 at 8 p.m. on GPB Television. The program is the companion documentary to their Emmy-winning collaboration "37 Weeks: Sherman on the March,” a series of 90-second segments that premiered in April 2014 and commemorated the 150th anniversary of Sherman’s 1864 march into Georgia. IT WAS 37 WEEKS THAT WOULD DETERMINE THE FATE OF A NATION.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8kSUDp2BC0
Images:
1. William Tecumseh Sherman at Federal Fort No. 7, Atlanta, Georgia, c.1865. Courtesy Library of Congress
2. William Tecumseh Sherman 'I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.'
3. Maj Gen William T. Sherman & his staff; standing, l-to-r Oliver Otis Howard, William Babcock Hazen, Jefferson Columbus Davis, Joseph Anthony Mower; seated, l-to-r John Alexander Logan, William Tecumseh Sherman, Henry Warner Slocum.
4. The Burning of Columbia, South Carolina (1865) by William Waud for Harper's Weekly February 17, 1865
Background from {[https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/william-t-sherman]}
William Tecumseh Sherman
TITLE Major General
WAR & AFFILIATION - Civil War / Union
DATE OF BIRTH – DEATH [February 8, 1820 – February 14, 1891]
William Tecumseh Sherman, although not a career military commander before the war, would become one of "the most widely renowned of the Union’s military leaders next to U. S. Grant.”
Sherman, one of eleven children, was born into a distinguished family. His father had served on the Supreme Court of Ohio until his sudden death in 1829, leaving Sherman and his family to stay with several friends and relatives. During this period, Sherman found himself living with Senator Thomas Ewing, who obtained an appointment for Sherman to the United States Military Academy, and he graduated sixth in the class of 1840. His early military career proved to be anything but spectacular. He saw some combat during the Second Seminole War in Florida, but unlike many of his colleagues, did not fight in the Mexican-American War, serving instead in California. As a result, he resigned his commission in 1853. He took work in the fields of banking and law briefly before becoming the superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy in 1859. At the outbreak of the Civil War, however, Sherman resigned from the academy and headed north, where he was made a colonel of the 13th United States Infantry.
Sherman first saw combat at the Battle of First Manassas, where he commanded a brigade of Tyler’s Division. Although the Union army was defeated during the battle, President Abraham Lincoln was impressed by Sherman’s performance and he was promoted to brigadier general on August 7, 1861, ranking seventh among other officers at that grade. He was sent to Kentucky to begin the Union task of keeping the state from seceding. While in the state, Sherman expressed his views that the war would not end quickly, and he was replaced by Don Carlos Buell. Sherman was moved to St. Louis, where he served under Henry W. Halleck and completed logistical missions during the Union capture of Fort Donelson. During the Battle of Shiloh, Sherman commanded a division, but was overrun during the battle by Confederates under Albert Sydney Johnston. Despite the incident, Sherman was promoted to major general of volunteers on May 1, 1862.
After the battle of Shiloh, Sherman led troops during the battles of Chickasaw Bluffs and Arkansas Post, and commanded XV Corps during the campaign to capture Vicksburg. At the Battle of Chattanooga Sherman faced off against Confederates under Patrick Cleburne in the fierce contest at Missionary Ridge. After Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to commander of all the United States armies, Sherman was made commander of all troops in the Western Theatre, and began to wage warfare that would bring him great notoriety in the annals of history.
By 1864 Sherman had become convinced that preservation of the Union was contingent not only on defeating the Southern armies in the field but, more importantly, on destroying the Confederacy's material and psychological will to wage war. To achieve that end, he launched a campaign in Georgia that was defined as “modern warfare”, and brought “total destruction…upon the civilian population in the path of the advancing columns [of his armies].” Commanding three armies, under George Henry Thomas, James B. McPherson, and John M. Schofield, he used his superior numbers to consistently outflank Confederate troops under Joseph E. Johnston, and captured Atlanta on September 2, 1864. The success of the campaign ultimately helped Lincoln win reelection. After the fall of Atlanta, Sherman left the forces under Thomas and Schofield to continue to harass the Confederate Army of Tennessee under John Bell Hood. Meanwhile, Sherman cut off all communications to his army and commenced his now-famous “March to the Sea," leaving in his wake a forty to sixty mile-wide path of destruction through the heartland of Georgia. On December 21, 1864 Sherman wired Lincoln to offer him an early Christmas present: the city of Savannah.
I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.
- William Tecumseh Sherman
Following his successful campaign through Georgia, Sherman turned his attentions northward and began marching through the Carolinas, chasing the Confederates under the command of Joseph E. Johnston. He continued his campaign of destruction, in particular targeting South Carolina for their role in seceding from the Union first. He captured Columbia, South Carolina, on February 17, 1865, setting many fires which would consume large portions of the city. He went on to defeat the forces of Johnston in North Carolina during the Battle of Bentonville, and eventually accepted the surrender of Johnston and all troops in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas on April 26, 1865, becoming the largest surrender of Confederate troops during the war.
After the war, Sherman remained in the military and eventually rose to the rank of full general, serving as general-in-chief of the army from 1869 to 1883. Praised for his revolutionary ideas on "total warfare," William T. Sherman died in 1891.'
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The Conquerors 8 Shermans March to the Sea (History Documentary)
Documentary in a series on the great conquerers of history. Produced by Greystone Television, History Channel and Invictus Films in 2005.The Conquerors - 8:...
The Conquerors 8 Sherman's March to the Sea (History Documentary)
Documentary in a series on the great conquerers of history. Produced by Greystone Television, History Channel and Invictus Films in 2005.
The Conquerors - 8: Shermans March to the Sea (History Documentary)- Part 2 Mysteries of India Tour Package | Go Collette | Asia Guided Travel- Part 2.
FOR 37 WEEKS IN 1864, GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MADE GEORGIA HIS BATTLEGROUND. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta History Center have partnered to produce the gripping new documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEv_fFLiPEk
Images:
1. Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman.
2. Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman, wife of William T. Sherman - portrait by G.P.A. Healy (1868)
3. 1866 painted portrait of William T. Sherman, by George P. A. Healy
4. William T Sherman and his 9-year-old son Willie Sherman who died of Yellow fever in Memphis for which he contracted on the steamer Atlantic.
Background from {[https://www.biography.com/military-figure/william-tecumseh-sherman]}
William Tecumseh Sherman Biography
(1820–1891)
UPDATED:FEB 5, 2020ORIGINAL:AUG 8, 2014
William Tecumseh Sherman was a U.S. Civil War Union Army leader known for "Sherman's March," in which he and his troops laid waste to the South.
Who Was William Tecumseh Sherman?
William Tecumseh Sherman's early military career was a near disaster, having to be temporarily relieved of command. He returned at the Battle of Shiloh to victory and then gathered 100,000 troops destroying Atlanta and devastating Georgia in his March to the Sea. Often credited with the saying, "war is hell," he was a major architect of modern total war.
Early Life
One of 11 children, Sherman was born to a prominent family in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. His father, Charles, was a successful lawyer and an Ohio Supreme Court justice. When Sherman was 9 years old, his father died suddenly, leaving the family with few finances. He was raised by a family friend, Thomas Ewing, a senator from Ohio and a prominent member of the Whig Party. There has been much speculation on Sherman's middle name. In his memoirs, he wrote that his father gave him the name William Tecumseh because he admired the Shawnee chief.
Early Military Career
In 1836, Senator Ewing secured Sherman an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he excelled academically, but had little respect for the demerit system. He never got himself into deep trouble, but had numerous minor offenses on this record. Sherman graduated in 1840, sixth in his class. He first saw action against the Seminole Indians in Florida and had numerous assignments through Georgia and South Carolina, where he became acquainted with many of the Old South's most respected families.
Sherman's early military career was anything but spectacular. Unlike many of his colleagues who saw action during the Mexican-American War, Sherman spent this time stationed in California as an executive officer. In 1850, he married Eleanor Boyle Ewing, the daughter of Thomas Ewing. With his lack of combat experience, Sherman felt that the U.S. Army was a dead-end, thusly resigning his commission in 1853. He stayed in California during the glory days of the gold rush as a banker, but that ended in the Panic of 1857. He settled in Kansas to practice law, but without much success.
In 1859, Sherman was headmaster at a military academy in Louisiana. He proved to be an effective administrator and popular with the community. As sectional tensions rose, Sherman warned his secessionist friends that a war would be long and bloody, with the North eventually winning. When Louisiana left the Union, Sherman resigned and moved to St. Louis, wanting nothing to do with the conflict. Though a conservative on slavery, he was a strong supporter of the Union. After the firing on Fort Sumter, he asked his brother, Senator John Sherman, to arrange a commission in the Army.
Service in the Civil War
In May 1861, Sherman was appointed colonel in the 13th U.S. Infantry, and was assigned command of a brigade under General William McDowell in Washington, D.C. He fought in the First Battle of Bull Run, in which Union troops were badly beaten. He was then sent to Kentucky and became deeply pessimistic about the war, complaining to his superiors about shortages while exaggerating the enemy's troop strength. He was eventually put on leave, considered unfit for duty. The press picked up on his troubles and described him as "insane." It is believed Sherman suffered from a nervous breakdown.
In mid-December 1861, Sherman returned to service in Missouri and was assigned rear-echelon commands. In Kentucky, he provided logistical support for Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant's capture of Fort Donelson in February 1862. The following month, Sherman was assigned to serve with Grant in the Army of West Tennessee. His first test as a commander in combat came at Shiloh.
Likely fearing renewed criticism of appearing overly alarmed, Sherman initially dismissed intelligence reports that Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was in the area. He took little precaution shoring up picket lines or sending out reconnaissance patrols. On the morning of April 6, 1862, the Confederates struck with Hell's own fury. Sherman and Grant rallied their troops and pushed back the rebel offensive by day's end. With reinforcements arriving that night, Union troops were able to launch a counter-attack the next morning, scattering Confederate troops. The experience bonded Sherman and Grant to a lifelong friendship.
Sherman remained in the West, serving with Grant in the long campaign against Vicksburg. However, the press was relentless in its criticism of both men. As one newspaper complained, the "Army was being ruined in mud-turtle expeditions, under the leadership of a drunkard [Grant] whose confidential adviser [Sherman] was a lunatic." Eventually, Vicksburg fell and Sherman was given command of three armies in the West.
Evolving toward "Total War"
In February, 1864, Sherman launched a campaign from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to destroy the rail center at Meridian and clear Confederate resistance from central Mississippi. Three railroad lines intersected at Meridian, which was located between Jackson, the state’s capital, and the cannon foundry and manufacturing center in Selma, Alabama. Time was of the essence, so Sherman’s army cut supply lines from Vicksburg and foraged off the land. The Confederates, under General Leonidas Polk, put up some resistance, but his 10,000 troops were no match for the 45,000 Union juggernaut. As Sherman moved west from Vicksburg, he employed feint tactics to keep Polk’s forces at bay protecting Mobile, Alabama. On February 11, 1864, Sherman’s army attacked and destroyed the railroad center at Meridian, then dispersed detachments in four directions destroying railroad tracks, bridges, trestles and any train equipment in their way. This was a prelude to Sherman’s “march to the sea” in Georgia and an important milestone in the evolution of strategy in the Civil War’s relentless ascent toward “total war.”
In early September 1864, under heavy siege, Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood and his men were forced to evacuate Atlanta destroying as many supplies and munitions as they could before Sherman took Atlanta and ultimately burned what was left of it to the ground. With 60,000 men, he began his celebrated "March to the Sea," ripping through Georgia with a 60-mile-wide path of total destruction. Sherman understood that to win the war and save the Union, his Army would have to break the South's will to fight. Everything was ordered to be destroyed in this military strategy, known as "total war."
When Grant became president in 1869, Sherman took over as general commander of the U.S. Army. One of his duties was to protect the construction of the railroads from attack by hostile Indians. Believing the Native Americans were an impediment to progress, he ordered total destruction of the warring tribes. Despite his harsh treatment of Native Americans, Sherman spoke out against unscrupulous government officials who mistreated them on the reservations.
Life After War and Death
In February 1884, Sherman retired from the Army. He lived in St. Louis before moving to New York in 1886. There he devoted his time to theater, amateur painting and speaking at dinners and banquets. He declined to run for the presidency, saying, "I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected."
Sherman died on February 14, 1891, in New York City. According to his wishes, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. President Benjamin Harrison ordered all national flags to be flown at half-staff. Though vilified in the South as a demon who perpetuated atrocities on civilians, historians give Sherman high marks as a military strategist and quick-witted tactician. He changed the nature of war and recognized it for what it was: "War is hell."
FYI Sgt John H. SGM Bill FrazerCSM (Join to see)SSG Jeffrey LeakeSSG Paul HeadleeCPL Michael PeckSgt (Join to see)PO1 Steve Ditto SPC Michael Terrell CPL Douglas ChryslerSP5 Geoffrey Vannerson SSG Michael Noll SSG William Jones Maj Marty Hogan LT Brad McInnisSPC Michael Oles SRLTC Stephan PorterTSgt George RodriguezPO3 Charles StreichMAJ Ken Landgren
Documentary in a series on the great conquerers of history. Produced by Greystone Television, History Channel and Invictus Films in 2005.
The Conquerors - 8: Shermans March to the Sea (History Documentary)- Part 2 Mysteries of India Tour Package | Go Collette | Asia Guided Travel- Part 2.
FOR 37 WEEKS IN 1864, GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN MADE GEORGIA HIS BATTLEGROUND. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the Atlanta History Center have partnered to produce the gripping new documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEv_fFLiPEk
Images:
1. Maj Gen William Tecumseh Sherman.
2. Eleanor Boyle Ewing Sherman, wife of William T. Sherman - portrait by G.P.A. Healy (1868)
3. 1866 painted portrait of William T. Sherman, by George P. A. Healy
4. William T Sherman and his 9-year-old son Willie Sherman who died of Yellow fever in Memphis for which he contracted on the steamer Atlantic.
Background from {[https://www.biography.com/military-figure/william-tecumseh-sherman]}
William Tecumseh Sherman Biography
(1820–1891)
UPDATED:FEB 5, 2020ORIGINAL:AUG 8, 2014
William Tecumseh Sherman was a U.S. Civil War Union Army leader known for "Sherman's March," in which he and his troops laid waste to the South.
Who Was William Tecumseh Sherman?
William Tecumseh Sherman's early military career was a near disaster, having to be temporarily relieved of command. He returned at the Battle of Shiloh to victory and then gathered 100,000 troops destroying Atlanta and devastating Georgia in his March to the Sea. Often credited with the saying, "war is hell," he was a major architect of modern total war.
Early Life
One of 11 children, Sherman was born to a prominent family in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. His father, Charles, was a successful lawyer and an Ohio Supreme Court justice. When Sherman was 9 years old, his father died suddenly, leaving the family with few finances. He was raised by a family friend, Thomas Ewing, a senator from Ohio and a prominent member of the Whig Party. There has been much speculation on Sherman's middle name. In his memoirs, he wrote that his father gave him the name William Tecumseh because he admired the Shawnee chief.
Early Military Career
In 1836, Senator Ewing secured Sherman an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. There, he excelled academically, but had little respect for the demerit system. He never got himself into deep trouble, but had numerous minor offenses on this record. Sherman graduated in 1840, sixth in his class. He first saw action against the Seminole Indians in Florida and had numerous assignments through Georgia and South Carolina, where he became acquainted with many of the Old South's most respected families.
Sherman's early military career was anything but spectacular. Unlike many of his colleagues who saw action during the Mexican-American War, Sherman spent this time stationed in California as an executive officer. In 1850, he married Eleanor Boyle Ewing, the daughter of Thomas Ewing. With his lack of combat experience, Sherman felt that the U.S. Army was a dead-end, thusly resigning his commission in 1853. He stayed in California during the glory days of the gold rush as a banker, but that ended in the Panic of 1857. He settled in Kansas to practice law, but without much success.
In 1859, Sherman was headmaster at a military academy in Louisiana. He proved to be an effective administrator and popular with the community. As sectional tensions rose, Sherman warned his secessionist friends that a war would be long and bloody, with the North eventually winning. When Louisiana left the Union, Sherman resigned and moved to St. Louis, wanting nothing to do with the conflict. Though a conservative on slavery, he was a strong supporter of the Union. After the firing on Fort Sumter, he asked his brother, Senator John Sherman, to arrange a commission in the Army.
Service in the Civil War
In May 1861, Sherman was appointed colonel in the 13th U.S. Infantry, and was assigned command of a brigade under General William McDowell in Washington, D.C. He fought in the First Battle of Bull Run, in which Union troops were badly beaten. He was then sent to Kentucky and became deeply pessimistic about the war, complaining to his superiors about shortages while exaggerating the enemy's troop strength. He was eventually put on leave, considered unfit for duty. The press picked up on his troubles and described him as "insane." It is believed Sherman suffered from a nervous breakdown.
In mid-December 1861, Sherman returned to service in Missouri and was assigned rear-echelon commands. In Kentucky, he provided logistical support for Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant's capture of Fort Donelson in February 1862. The following month, Sherman was assigned to serve with Grant in the Army of West Tennessee. His first test as a commander in combat came at Shiloh.
Likely fearing renewed criticism of appearing overly alarmed, Sherman initially dismissed intelligence reports that Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was in the area. He took little precaution shoring up picket lines or sending out reconnaissance patrols. On the morning of April 6, 1862, the Confederates struck with Hell's own fury. Sherman and Grant rallied their troops and pushed back the rebel offensive by day's end. With reinforcements arriving that night, Union troops were able to launch a counter-attack the next morning, scattering Confederate troops. The experience bonded Sherman and Grant to a lifelong friendship.
Sherman remained in the West, serving with Grant in the long campaign against Vicksburg. However, the press was relentless in its criticism of both men. As one newspaper complained, the "Army was being ruined in mud-turtle expeditions, under the leadership of a drunkard [Grant] whose confidential adviser [Sherman] was a lunatic." Eventually, Vicksburg fell and Sherman was given command of three armies in the West.
Evolving toward "Total War"
In February, 1864, Sherman launched a campaign from Vicksburg, Mississippi, to destroy the rail center at Meridian and clear Confederate resistance from central Mississippi. Three railroad lines intersected at Meridian, which was located between Jackson, the state’s capital, and the cannon foundry and manufacturing center in Selma, Alabama. Time was of the essence, so Sherman’s army cut supply lines from Vicksburg and foraged off the land. The Confederates, under General Leonidas Polk, put up some resistance, but his 10,000 troops were no match for the 45,000 Union juggernaut. As Sherman moved west from Vicksburg, he employed feint tactics to keep Polk’s forces at bay protecting Mobile, Alabama. On February 11, 1864, Sherman’s army attacked and destroyed the railroad center at Meridian, then dispersed detachments in four directions destroying railroad tracks, bridges, trestles and any train equipment in their way. This was a prelude to Sherman’s “march to the sea” in Georgia and an important milestone in the evolution of strategy in the Civil War’s relentless ascent toward “total war.”
In early September 1864, under heavy siege, Confederate Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood and his men were forced to evacuate Atlanta destroying as many supplies and munitions as they could before Sherman took Atlanta and ultimately burned what was left of it to the ground. With 60,000 men, he began his celebrated "March to the Sea," ripping through Georgia with a 60-mile-wide path of total destruction. Sherman understood that to win the war and save the Union, his Army would have to break the South's will to fight. Everything was ordered to be destroyed in this military strategy, known as "total war."
When Grant became president in 1869, Sherman took over as general commander of the U.S. Army. One of his duties was to protect the construction of the railroads from attack by hostile Indians. Believing the Native Americans were an impediment to progress, he ordered total destruction of the warring tribes. Despite his harsh treatment of Native Americans, Sherman spoke out against unscrupulous government officials who mistreated them on the reservations.
Life After War and Death
In February 1884, Sherman retired from the Army. He lived in St. Louis before moving to New York in 1886. There he devoted his time to theater, amateur painting and speaking at dinners and banquets. He declined to run for the presidency, saying, "I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected."
Sherman died on February 14, 1891, in New York City. According to his wishes, he was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis. President Benjamin Harrison ordered all national flags to be flown at half-staff. Though vilified in the South as a demon who perpetuated atrocities on civilians, historians give Sherman high marks as a military strategist and quick-witted tactician. He changed the nature of war and recognized it for what it was: "War is hell."
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LTC Stephen F.
Sean Chick's William Tecumseh Sherman, Part 3: The Two Marches
In this video, Sherman earns his place in the history books. Now the commander of the western theater, Sherman captures Atlanta and then makes a bold decisio...
Sean Chick's William Tecumseh Sherman, Part 3: The Two Marches
In this video, Sherman earns his place in the history books. Now the commander of the western theater, Sherman captures Atlanta and then makes a bold decision to march to the sea. After he arrived at Savannah and linked up with the navy, Sherman then marched through the Carolinas. These great deeds came at a time when Grant's Overland Campaign had bogged down at Petersburg. Arguably, Sherman's bold decision to march to the sea and then into the Carolinas shaved a year or more off of the bloodiest conflict in American history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbif6k-Uba8
Images:
1. William Tecumseh Sherman photograph by Granger
2. 1888 photograph by Napoleon Sarony served as a model for the engraving of the first Sherman postage stamp issued in 1893.
3. 1893 USA 8c Sherman, Lilac, Scott number 225
4. 1937 USA 3c Sherman, Grant, Sheridan Scott number 787
battleofchampionhill.org account The Ultimate Grief William T. Sherman
Background from {[http://battleofchampionhill.org/history/sherman.htm]}
The Ultimate Grief: William T. Sherman
Unknown to most, Sherman faced the ultimate grief in life only months after the Siege of Vicksburg. The story of Sherman is one of military triumph followed by personal tragedy.
by Rebecca Blackwell Drake
To Southerners, the name General William Tecumseh Sherman conjures up images of the meanest of the mean and the devil incarnate. Unlike Grant and McPherson, Sherman showed no compassion for human life. His trail was one of death and destruction. By the end of the war, he found himself literally despised and hated by Southerners - a reputation that has never diminished with time.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Unknown to most people, Sherman faced the ultimate grief in life only months after the Siege of Vicksburg. The story of Sherman is one of military triumph followed by personal tragedy.
In September of 1863, following the victory of the Union army in Vicksburg, Sherman made his camp near Bovina - at a site on the Big Black River His headquarters was a plantation known as Woodburne, the home of Reverend James A. Fox. Thinking that it would be a good time to reunite with his family, he sent home for his wife, Ellen, and their four children: Minnie [12], Lizzie [11], Willy [9] and Tom [7]. For the children, it was a wonderful time. They all lived in tents and enjoyed the companionship of the Union soldiers. The 13th U.S. Infantry Regiment even made Willy an honorary sergeant. They taught him the manual of arms, and included him in their guard details and formal parades. Willy loved to pretend that he was a real soldier and often accompanied his father on inspection tours of the army.
"I have a healthy camp," Sherman wrote to his foster father, Thomas Ewing, "and I have no fear of yellow or other fevers." As fate would have it, Sherman spoke too soon. In late September, as the family boarded the steamboat Atlantic to begin their journey back up the Mississippi River and home to Ohio, Sherman noticed that Willy did not look well. The boy was very quiet and his cheeks were flushed. Surgeon E. O. F. Roler of the 55th Illinois was consulted and he sadly diagnosed young Willy as having yellow fever.
The trip to Memphis could only be described as terrible. Willy suffered from high fever, diarrhea and other symptoms associated with the illness. The family refused to accept the prognosis and hovered over his bedside. Arriving in Memphis, the semiconscious boy was carried by ambulance to the Gayoso Hotel and seen by the best of physicians. The situation was grim and a Catholic chaplain was summoned to administer the last rites. As Willy floated in and out of consciousness, he realized that he was dying.
He told the priest that he was quite willing to die if it was God's will, but that he did not want to leave his father and mother. With this revelation, Ellen and William Sherman began to weep. Willy reached out and caressed their faces then closed his eyes and slipped away. He died at 5 p.m. on October 3, 1863.
For General Sherman, the death of his son was unbearable. Young Willy had been his favorite. First, he blamed himself for bringing the family to Mississippi and exposing them to a camp fever. Next, unable to deal with reality, he slipped into depression.
On October 6th, after placing his family on the steamer to return home, Sherman found himself alone at the Gayoso Hotel preparing to return to Vicksburg and the continuation of the war. From the hotel he wrote his wife a letter of total despair: "I have got up early this morning to steal a short period in which to write you, but I can hardly trust myself. Sleeping, waking, every-where I see poor little Willy. His face and form are so deeply imprinted on my memory as were deep seated the hopes I had in his future. Why, oh why, should this child be taken from us, leaving us full of trembling and reproaches? Though I know we did all human beings could do to arrest the ebbing tide of life, still I will always deplore my want of judgement in taking my family to so fatal a climate at so critical a period of the year….To it must be traced the loss of that child on whose future I had based all the ambition I ever had."
Several days later, in the midst of a military matter, Sherman wrote to Admiral David Porter saying, "I lost recently my little boy by sickness incurred during his visit to my camp on Big Black. He was my pride and hope of life, and his loss has taken from me the great incentive to excel, and now I must work on purely and exclusively for love of country and professional pride."
Sherman never ceased to blame himself for the death of his son. He literally went insane with grief. Historians now consider the fact that Sherman's madness, the burning and killing throughout Mississippi, continuing on to the March to the Sea, was the result of his insurmountable loss. Reflecting on Sherman's cruelties, Margie Bearss, wife of the famous historian, Edwin C. Bearss, wrote, "Did perhaps the death of Willy start a chain reaction of fires and desolation in Mississippi that the winds of more than a century have not entirely hidden? Did Sherman hold Mississippi 'that sickly region' responsible for his death? Who knows. Yet, we do know that between the end of the Vicksburg Campaign and the beginning of the Meridian Expedition, only a few months' time, his concept of warfare changed and he began his own version of the 'total war' for which he became well-known."
Sherman continued to mourn Willy for the rest of his life. One year before his own death in February of 1891, he left detailed instructions for his eventual burial. His last request before his death was to be buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, "alongside my faithful wife and idolized soldier boy."
And so it was. Only in death did General Sherman ever find peace.
FYI LTC John Shaw 1SG Steven ImermanGySgt Gary CordeiroPO1 H Gene LawrenceSgt Jim BelanusSGM Bill FrazerMSG Tom EarleySSgt Marian MitchellSGT Michael HearnSGT Randell RoseSSG Jimmy CernichSGT Denny EspinosaA1C Riley SandersSSgt Clare MaySSG Robert WebsterCSM Chuck StaffordPFC Craig KarshnerSFC Don VanceSFC Bernard Walko
In this video, Sherman earns his place in the history books. Now the commander of the western theater, Sherman captures Atlanta and then makes a bold decision to march to the sea. After he arrived at Savannah and linked up with the navy, Sherman then marched through the Carolinas. These great deeds came at a time when Grant's Overland Campaign had bogged down at Petersburg. Arguably, Sherman's bold decision to march to the sea and then into the Carolinas shaved a year or more off of the bloodiest conflict in American history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbif6k-Uba8
Images:
1. William Tecumseh Sherman photograph by Granger
2. 1888 photograph by Napoleon Sarony served as a model for the engraving of the first Sherman postage stamp issued in 1893.
3. 1893 USA 8c Sherman, Lilac, Scott number 225
4. 1937 USA 3c Sherman, Grant, Sheridan Scott number 787
battleofchampionhill.org account The Ultimate Grief William T. Sherman
Background from {[http://battleofchampionhill.org/history/sherman.htm]}
The Ultimate Grief: William T. Sherman
Unknown to most, Sherman faced the ultimate grief in life only months after the Siege of Vicksburg. The story of Sherman is one of military triumph followed by personal tragedy.
by Rebecca Blackwell Drake
To Southerners, the name General William Tecumseh Sherman conjures up images of the meanest of the mean and the devil incarnate. Unlike Grant and McPherson, Sherman showed no compassion for human life. His trail was one of death and destruction. By the end of the war, he found himself literally despised and hated by Southerners - a reputation that has never diminished with time.
William Tecumseh Sherman
Unknown to most people, Sherman faced the ultimate grief in life only months after the Siege of Vicksburg. The story of Sherman is one of military triumph followed by personal tragedy.
In September of 1863, following the victory of the Union army in Vicksburg, Sherman made his camp near Bovina - at a site on the Big Black River His headquarters was a plantation known as Woodburne, the home of Reverend James A. Fox. Thinking that it would be a good time to reunite with his family, he sent home for his wife, Ellen, and their four children: Minnie [12], Lizzie [11], Willy [9] and Tom [7]. For the children, it was a wonderful time. They all lived in tents and enjoyed the companionship of the Union soldiers. The 13th U.S. Infantry Regiment even made Willy an honorary sergeant. They taught him the manual of arms, and included him in their guard details and formal parades. Willy loved to pretend that he was a real soldier and often accompanied his father on inspection tours of the army.
"I have a healthy camp," Sherman wrote to his foster father, Thomas Ewing, "and I have no fear of yellow or other fevers." As fate would have it, Sherman spoke too soon. In late September, as the family boarded the steamboat Atlantic to begin their journey back up the Mississippi River and home to Ohio, Sherman noticed that Willy did not look well. The boy was very quiet and his cheeks were flushed. Surgeon E. O. F. Roler of the 55th Illinois was consulted and he sadly diagnosed young Willy as having yellow fever.
The trip to Memphis could only be described as terrible. Willy suffered from high fever, diarrhea and other symptoms associated with the illness. The family refused to accept the prognosis and hovered over his bedside. Arriving in Memphis, the semiconscious boy was carried by ambulance to the Gayoso Hotel and seen by the best of physicians. The situation was grim and a Catholic chaplain was summoned to administer the last rites. As Willy floated in and out of consciousness, he realized that he was dying.
He told the priest that he was quite willing to die if it was God's will, but that he did not want to leave his father and mother. With this revelation, Ellen and William Sherman began to weep. Willy reached out and caressed their faces then closed his eyes and slipped away. He died at 5 p.m. on October 3, 1863.
For General Sherman, the death of his son was unbearable. Young Willy had been his favorite. First, he blamed himself for bringing the family to Mississippi and exposing them to a camp fever. Next, unable to deal with reality, he slipped into depression.
On October 6th, after placing his family on the steamer to return home, Sherman found himself alone at the Gayoso Hotel preparing to return to Vicksburg and the continuation of the war. From the hotel he wrote his wife a letter of total despair: "I have got up early this morning to steal a short period in which to write you, but I can hardly trust myself. Sleeping, waking, every-where I see poor little Willy. His face and form are so deeply imprinted on my memory as were deep seated the hopes I had in his future. Why, oh why, should this child be taken from us, leaving us full of trembling and reproaches? Though I know we did all human beings could do to arrest the ebbing tide of life, still I will always deplore my want of judgement in taking my family to so fatal a climate at so critical a period of the year….To it must be traced the loss of that child on whose future I had based all the ambition I ever had."
Several days later, in the midst of a military matter, Sherman wrote to Admiral David Porter saying, "I lost recently my little boy by sickness incurred during his visit to my camp on Big Black. He was my pride and hope of life, and his loss has taken from me the great incentive to excel, and now I must work on purely and exclusively for love of country and professional pride."
Sherman never ceased to blame himself for the death of his son. He literally went insane with grief. Historians now consider the fact that Sherman's madness, the burning and killing throughout Mississippi, continuing on to the March to the Sea, was the result of his insurmountable loss. Reflecting on Sherman's cruelties, Margie Bearss, wife of the famous historian, Edwin C. Bearss, wrote, "Did perhaps the death of Willy start a chain reaction of fires and desolation in Mississippi that the winds of more than a century have not entirely hidden? Did Sherman hold Mississippi 'that sickly region' responsible for his death? Who knows. Yet, we do know that between the end of the Vicksburg Campaign and the beginning of the Meridian Expedition, only a few months' time, his concept of warfare changed and he began his own version of the 'total war' for which he became well-known."
Sherman continued to mourn Willy for the rest of his life. One year before his own death in February of 1891, he left detailed instructions for his eventual burial. His last request before his death was to be buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, "alongside my faithful wife and idolized soldier boy."
And so it was. Only in death did General Sherman ever find peace.
FYI LTC John Shaw 1SG Steven ImermanGySgt Gary CordeiroPO1 H Gene LawrenceSgt Jim BelanusSGM Bill FrazerMSG Tom EarleySSgt Marian MitchellSGT Michael HearnSGT Randell RoseSSG Jimmy CernichSGT Denny EspinosaA1C Riley SandersSSgt Clare MaySSG Robert WebsterCSM Chuck StaffordPFC Craig KarshnerSFC Don VanceSFC Bernard Walko
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3
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I lived about 40 minutes from his childhood home. It was cool to see.
I also love the story that he did not pass through Augusta GA on his March to the sea because he had a previous love interest who lived there even though Augusta was a large city with lots of munitions production etc.
I also love the story that he did not pass through Augusta GA on his March to the sea because he had a previous love interest who lived there even though Augusta was a large city with lots of munitions production etc.
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