William Tecumseh Sherman

General Sherman redirects here. For information on the tree named after this person, see General_Sherman_tree.

Civil War

Beauregard and Bragg both became Confederate generals. Sherman accepted a commission as a colonel in the 13th U.S. Infantry regiment on May 14, 1861. He was one of the few Union officers to distinguish themselves at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, where he was grazed by bullets in the knee and shoulder. The disastrous Union defeat led Sherman to question his own judgment as an officer and to request that President Abraham Lincoln relieve him of independent command, which Lincoln refused to do, promoting him instead to brigadier general (effective May 17, which gave him more senior rank than that of Ulysses S. Grant, his future commander). He was assigned to command the Department of the Cumberland in Louisville, Kentucky.

Related Topics:
Confederate - Colonel - May 14 - 1861 - First Battle of Bull Run - July 21 - Abraham Lincoln - Brigadier general - May 17 - Ulysses S. Grant - Louisville, Kentucky

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Breakdown and Shiloh

During his time in Louisville, Sherman went through a personal crisis that would today be described as a "nervous breakdown". At a time when Sherman was probably working too hard, as well as drinking and smoking too much, he suffered from a personal collapse that made it necessary for him to go home to Ohio to recuperate, being replaced in his command by Don Carlos Buell. He quickly returned to service under Henry W. Halleck and just six months later fought as a division commander under Grant at the Battle of Shiloh on April 6–7, 1862. Despite bearing the brunt of the initial surprise Confederate attack, he rallied his division and prevented a disastrous defeat. He was wounded in the hand during the battle and had four horses shot from under him. He was promoted to major general of volunteers, effective May 1.

Related Topics:
Nervous breakdown - Don Carlos Buell - Henry W. Halleck - Division - Battle of Shiloh - April 6 - 7 - 1862 - Major general - May 1

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Vicksburg and Chattanooga

Sherman developed close personal ties to Grant during the two years they served together. At one point, not long after Shiloh, Sherman persuaded Grant not to resign from the army, despite the serious difficulties he was having with his commander, General Halleck. The careers of both officers ascended considerably after that time. They shared in the victories at Vicksburg in July of 1863 and Missionary Ridge, in Chattanooga that December. In later years Sherman said simply, "Grant stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him when he was drunk. Now we stand by each other always."

Related Topics:
Vicksburg - 1863 - Missionary Ridge - Chattanooga

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Total warfare

When Lincoln called Grant east in the spring of 1864 to take command of all Union armies, Grant appointed Sherman his successor as commander of the Western Theater of the war. Sherman's siege and capture of Atlanta, Georgia (see Atlanta Campaign) and the subsequent March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah in the autumn of 1864 made a great contribution to Abraham Lincoln's re-election as president and the successful conclusion of the war. Upon Sherman's depature Lincoln said, "I know what hole he went in but I don't know which one he will come out." He captured Savannah on December 21, telegraphing to Lincoln that he was presenting it to him as a Christmas present. In the spring of 1865 his army proceeded north through South Carolina, burning the state capital of Columbia, and he accepted the surrender of Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina in April.

Related Topics:
1864 - Atlanta, Georgia - Atlanta Campaign - March to the Sea - Savannah - Lincoln - December 21 - 1865 - South Carolina - Columbia - Joseph E. Johnston - North Carolina

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Sherman's military legacy is based on his masterful strategies rather than his tactical prowess. (His tactical record was mixed at best. He was critically surprised at Shiloh, suffered defeat at Chickasaw Bluffs in the Vicksburg campaign, assaulted unsuccessfully at Missionary Ridge, and suffered terrible casualties in his futile frontal assault at Kennesaw Mountain.) One aspect of his strategic success was his employment of maneuver warfare, such as his series of turning movements against Joseph E. Johnston in the Atlanta campaign. However, his strategy of total warfare (endorsed by Grant and Lincoln) has been controversial.

Related Topics:
Kennesaw Mountain - Joseph E. Johnston - Total war

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Sherman was convinced that the Confederacy's ability to wage further war had to be definitively crushed if the fighting was to end. Therefore, he believed that the North had to employ scorched earth tactics to destroy the economic and military backbone of the enemy. Sherman's advance through Georgia and the Carolinas was characterized by widespread destruction of civilian supplies and infrastructure, and sometimes accompanied by looting; although officially forbidden, historians disagree as to how well enforced this position was. This was, indeed, the point—to destroy the will and ability of the South to make war. The speed and efficiency of the destruction by Sherman's army was incredible, especially that of the railroads, where a tactic for bending rails around trees, known as Sherman's neckties, made repairs difficult.

Related Topics:
Confederacy - Scorched earth - Georgia - Sherman's neckties

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Accusations that civilians were targeted and war crimes were committed on the march have made Sherman a controversial figure to this day, particularly in the South. Many Southerners reviled him for ransacking their homes and economy, while slaves called him a liberator for freeing them. Neither of these claims tell the whole truth. The damage done by Sherman was almost entirely limited to property destruction—particularly property that could aid the Confederate war effort. Sherman claimed he and his men had, in Georgia alone, caused $100,000,000 in damages. The loss of life (especially civilian life) was remarkably minimal, especially when considering the size of his two-pronged army advance through the area (60,000 plus troops, in an advance that was 60 miles wide and 300 miles long). His army suffered approximately 100 dead and 700 wounded. This was always Sherman's goal and several of his Southern contemporaries noted this fact and commented on it. The slave issue was also not clear cut. Sherman was more than a little duplicitous when it came to his views and treatment of African Americans. He disapproved of chattel slavery and his actions did free many slaves from bondage, but he, like many of his time, was not a believer in "Negro equality".

Related Topics:
War crime - South - African American

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