William Tecumseh Sherman

In 1850, Sherman married Eleanor Boyle “Ellen” Ewing, daughter of Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Interior, in a ceremony in Washington, attended by President Zachary Taylor and other political leaders.

He published a first-hand account of the Civil War in his book ‘Memoirs’, published in 1875.

He died on February 14, 1891, at the age of 71, in his sleep. President Benjamin Harrison ordered all national flags to be flown at half mast.

William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio, to Charles Robert Sherman, a lawyer, and Mary Hoyt Sherman.

After his father’s unexpected death, his neighbour Thomas Ewing, an attorney and a prominent member of the Whig Party, raised nine-year-old Sherman.

At the age of 16, he joined the United States Military Academy at West Point as a cadet. He excelled academically, but did not like the system, and treated it with indifference.

In 1840, Sherman graduated, and started service as Second Lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery. He saw action in the Second Seminole War in Florida, but was not posted at the war front.

In 1850, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. But due to lack of combat assignment, he resigned from the army and became bank manager of Lucas, Turner & Co.’s San Francisco branch. After the branch closed, he relocated to New York.

With the financial Panic of 1857, he closed the New York branch. He tried practicing law. He then accepted the post of First Superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy.

In 1861, more Southern states were seceding from the Union. Sherman was required to accept receipt of arms surrendered to the State Militia by the U.S. Arsenal in Louisiana. Instead of complying, he resigned as superintendent because he could not bear to act or think any thought hostile to the United States.

After resigning, he went to the Washington D.C. He met Abraham Lincoln and shared his view about the the North's poor state of preparedness. But he found Lincoln unresponsive.

Sherman invaded Georgia, and captured Atlanta city on September 2, 1864 ensuring Republican candidate Lincoln’s presidential re-election. Otherwise, the Democratic Party would have acknowledged the Confederacy’s independence, resulting in states’ seceding from the Union.

He captured South Carolina’s capital, Columbia on February 17, 1865. His troops then marched into North Carolina, and defeated Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston’s troops at the Battle of Bentonville.