Home > William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman ( February 8, 1820 - February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, writer, and General for the Union forces in the American Civil War, best known for his capture of Atlanta, Georgia, and his March to the Sea (from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia).
1 Early life
He was born in Lancaster, Ohio. He was the older brother of John Sherman, the Senator who sponsored the Sherman Antitrust Act. Sherman's father, Judge Charles Sherman , died when Tecumseh was nine years old. The boy was informally "adopted" by a Lancaster neighbor, attorney Thomas Ewing, who served as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior. Ewing secured Sherman's apppointment to the United States Military AcademyAlternate meanings: West Point (disambiguation). The United States Military Academy also known as West Point and USMA is a U. military academy and former Army fort. It is located in West Point, New York, on the west bank of the Hudson River about 50 miles at West Point, from which he graduated sixth in his class of 1840. He entered the army as a second lieutenant and served through the end of the Mexican American War, during which he was stationed in California.
He resigned his military commission and became president of a bank in San Francisco. The bank failed in a financial panic in 1857. Sherman accepted a job offered to him by two of his Southern army friends, P.G.T. BeauregardPierre Gustave Toutant de Beauregard (BOH-rih-gahrd ( May 28, 1818 February 20, 1893), best known as a General for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, was also a writer, civil servant, and inventor. Beauregard was born in New and Braxton BraggGeneral Braxton Bragg ( March 22 1817- 1876) was a general in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. Bragg was born in Warren County, North Carolina, and was educated at the United States Military Academy. He served in the Second Seminole War, as the first president of Louisiana Military Seminary. He served in that post until the start of the American Civil War, when he resigned and went back north. It is ironic that Louisiana Military Seminary later became Louisiana State UniversityLouisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College or simply Louisiana State University or LSU is a public university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the main campus of the Louisiana State University System. LSU currently includes 9 - so the first president of what is now one of the most prestigious and beloved Southern universities was a Yankee general.
2 Secession
On hearing of South Carolina'sSouth Carolina ( In Detail) (Full size) State nickname: Palmetto State Other U. States Capital Columbia Largest City Columbia Governor Mark Sanford Area Total Land Water % water Ranked 40th 82,965 kmē 78,051 kmē 4,915 kmē 6% Population Total ( 2000) Densi secession, he presciently observed to a southern friend before going north to serve in the Union Army:
- You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing!
- You mistake, too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it ...
- Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of the most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth -- right at your doors.
- You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. 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. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in the end that you will surely fail.
