WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN
Sherman, William T., lieutenant-general, was born at Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio, Feb.8,
1820. Left an orphan at nine years of age, he was adopted by Thomas Ewing,
later secretary of the interior, and attended school at Lancaster until 1836,
when he was appointed a cadet at the West Point military academy.
Graduating in 1840, sixth in a class of forty-two, he was made a second
lieutenant and assigned to duty in Florida where he was engaged from time to
time in incursions against the hostile Seminole Indians. On Nov. 30, 1841,
he was promoted to first lieutenant, and until the outbreak of the Mexican war,
was stationed at various posts in the South, including St. Augustine, and Forts
Pierce, Morgan and Moultrie. At one time he undertook the study of law,
with no thought of making it his profession, but to be prepared "for any
situation that fortune or luck might offer." In 1846 he was stationed at
Pittsburg, as recruiting officer, but shortly after, in consequence of repeated
applications for active service, was sent to California, where, contrary to
expectation, he was uneventfully engaged as acting assistant adjutant-general of
the 1Oth military department under Gen. Stephen W. Kearny, and later under Col.
R. B. Mason. In 1850 he returned to the Atlantic states as bearer of
dispatches, and was stationed at St. Louis, Mo., as commissary of subsistence
with the rank of captain. In March, 1851, he received the commission of
captain by brevet, to date from May 30, 1848. On Sept. 6, 1853, he
resigned from the army and became manager of the branch banking-house of Lucas,
Turner & Co., at San Francisco, Cal. In 1857 he returned to New York and,
his firm having suspended, opened a law office in Leavenworth, Kan., with Hugh
and Thomas E. Ewing, Jr. In July, 1859, he was elected superintendent of
the Louisiana military academy, with a salary of $5,000 per annum, the
institution opening Jan. 1, 1860, but on the seizure of the arsenal at Baton
Rouge in Jan., 1861, in anticipation of the secession of the state, he tendered
his resignation. Going to Washington, he endeavored in vain to impress
upon the administration the gravity of the situation which he characterized as
"sleeping upon a volcano," and the president's call for volunteers for three
months as "an attempt to put out the flames of a burning house with a
squirtgun." For two months he was president of the 5th street railway of
St. Louis, Mo., and on May 14, 1861, was made colonel of the 13th regiment of
regular infantry, commanding a brigade in the division of Gen. Tyler in the
battle of Bull Run, July 21. On Aug. 3 he was promoted to
brigadier-general of volunteers, to date from May 17, and on Oct. 7 relieved
Maj.-Gen. Anderson in command of the Department of Kentucky. On Nov. 12,
however, he was in turn relieved by Gen. D. C. Buell, his estimate of the number
of troops required in his department, "sixty thousand men to drive the enemy out
of Kentucky and 200,000 to finish the war in this section," being considered so
wildly extravagant as to give rise to doubts of his sanity. It was,
however, justified by later events. During the remainder of the winter he
was in command of the camp of instruction at Benton barracks, near St. Louis,
and when Grant moved upon Donelson, was stationed at Paducah, where he rendered
effective service in forwarding supplies and reinforcements. Here, also,
he organized the 5th division of the Army of the Tennessee from raw troops who
had never been under fire, and with these he held the key point of Pittsburg
landing and "saved the fortunes of the day" on April 6, and contributed to the
glorious victory of the 7th, although severely wounded in the hand on the first
day. On the second, he had three horses shot under him, but mounting a
fourth he remained on the field, and it was the testimony of Gen. Grant, in
recommending his promotion, that "to his individual efforts I am indebted for
the success of that battle." On May 1 he was commissioned major-general of
volunteers and on July 1 was put in charge of the Department of Memphis, which
he at once proceeded to organize, restoring the civil authorities, causing a
revival of business, and sternly repressing guerrilla warfare. In October
he concerted with Gen. Grant at Columbus, Ky., the details of the ensuing
campaign, in which Pemberton's force, 40,000 strong was dislodged from the line
of the Tallahatchie and driven behind the Yalabusha in consequence of a combined
movement by both generals from Jackson and Memphis, while 5,000 cavalry under
Washburne threatened his communications in the rear. Falling back to
Milliken's bend, Sherman resigned his command to Gen. McClernand, but shortly
afterward suggested and led the attack on Fort Hindman with its garrison of
5,000 men by which the control of Arkansas river was gained, the key to the
military possession of the state, with the loss of but 134 killed and 898
wounded, while of the enemy, 150 were killed and 4,791 taken prisoners. In
the campaign of 1863 Sherman was in command of the expedition up Steele's bayou,
abandoned on account of insuperable difficulties, though he dispersed troops
sent to oppose the movement; and the demonstration against Haynes' bluff was
also committed to him, though with some hesitation, by Gen. Grant, lest his
reputation should suffer from report of another repulse. In the Vicksburg
campaign of 109 days Gen. Sherman entitled himself, in the words of Gen. Grant,
"to more credit than usually falls to the lot of one man to earn." The drawn
battle of Chickamauga and the critical condition of Rosecrans at Chattanooga
called next loudly for the troops resting at Vicksburg, and on Sept. 22 Sherman
received orders to forward his divisions, with the exception of one which
remained to guard the line of the Big Black. Meanwhile Gen. Grant, having
been placed in command of the Division of the Mississippi, assigned the
Department of the Tennessee to Sherman, who, on the receipt of telegraphic
summons to "drop all work", and hurry eastward, pushed forward in advance of his
men and reached Chattanooga on Nov. 15. It was proposed that he initiate
the offensive, which he proceeded to do upon the arrival of his troops, Nov. 23.
He pitched his tents along Missionary ridge and his sentinels were clearly
visible, not a thousand yards away. The battle of Missionary ridge being
won, the relief of Burnside on the Hiawassee was next to be contemplated and
with weary troops who two weeks before had left camp with but two days'
provisions and "stripped for the fight," ill supplied now and amid the
privations of winter, Sherman turned to raise the siege of Knoxville. On
Jan. 24, 1864, he returned to Memphis, and in preparation for the next campaign
decided upon the "Meridian Raid." To the expedition of Gen. Banks up the Red
river he next contributed 10,000 men for thirty days, but the force did not
return to Vicksburg until more than two months had elapsed, too late to take
part in the Atlanta campaign. On March 14 Gen. Grant was appointed
lieutenant-general to command all the armies of the United States in the field,
and Sherman succeeded to the Division of the Mississippi. On May 6 the
movement toward Atlanta was started with the capture of the city as the
desideratum, and such progress was made that on Aug. 12 the rank of
major-general, U. S. A., was bestowed upon Gen. Sherman by the president, in
anticipation of his success. After indefinite skirmishing for a month,
following the fall of Atlanta, and during which the gallant defense of Allatoona
pass was made by Gen. Corse with 1,944 men against a whole division of the
enemy, the famous "march to the sea" was resolved upon, not alone as a means of
supporting the troops, but, in Sherman's own words, "as a direct attack upon the
rebel army at the rebel capital at Richmond, though a full thousand miles of
hostile country intervened," and from Nov. 14 until Dec. 1O he was accordingly
buried in the enemy's country, severed from all communication in the rear, and
crossed the three rivers of Georgia, passing through her capital in his
triumphal progress of 300 miles, during which his loss was but 567 men. On
Dec. 25 he telegraphed to President Lincoln, "I beg to present you as a
Christmas gift, the city of Savannah with 150 heavy guns and plenty of
ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton," in reply to which he
received the assurance that to him alone the honor of his undertaking was due,
as acquiescence only had been accorded him, and anxiety, if not fear, had been
felt for his success. The surrender of Johnston was made at Durham
station, N. C., on April 26, 1865, after a triumphal march of Sherman's army
through the Carolinas, and on May 24, a year after it had started on its journey
of 2,600 miles, the conquering host was reviewed at Washington, D. C. On
June 27 Gen. Sherman was placed in command of the military division of the
Mississippi which included the departments of Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas, and
on July 25, 1866, he succeeded Gen. Grant as lieutenant-general of the army.
On March 4, 1869, when Grant was inaugurated as president, Sherman became
general of the army, and in 1871-72, on leave of absence, made a tour of Europe
and the East. On Feb. 8, 1884 he was retired from active service, and on
Feb. 14, 1891, expired at New York, the day following the demise of his friend
and comrade in arms, Adm. David D. Porter.