William Tecumseh Sherman

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

Early life

Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio, near the shores of the Hockhocking River (now the Hocking). He was named Tecumseh after the famous chief of the Shawnee tribe against whom Sherman's grandfather had fought while serving under General (and later President) William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe. His younger brother John Sherman would later become a U.S. Senator and the sponsor of the Sherman Antitrust Act. His father, Judge Charles R. Sherman, died when Tecumseh was nine years old. Following this tragedy, Tecumseh Sherman was taken in and raised by a Lancaster neighbor and family friend, attorney Thomas Ewing, a prominent member of the Whig Party who served as a Senator from Ohio and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior. The name of William was bestowed upon him at this time when Ewing's wife, Maria, insisted Sherman be baptized Roman Catholic. Sherman never truly accepted "William", however, and friends and family always called him "Cump".

Related Topics:
Lancaster, Ohio - Hocking - Tecumseh - Shawnee - President - William Henry Harrison - Battle of Tippecanoe - John Sherman - U.S. Senator - Sherman Antitrust Act - Charles R. Sherman - Thomas Ewing - Whig Party - Ohio - U.S. Secretary of the Interior - Roman Catholic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ewing secured the appointment of the 16 year old Sherman as a cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated sixth in his class of 1840. He entered the Army as a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery and saw action in Florida in the fight against the Seminole tribe. During the Mexican War, Sherman performed administrative duties while stationed in California and received a brevet promotion for his "meritorious service" to captain.

Related Topics:
United States Military Academy - West Point - 1840 - Second lieutenant - Florida - Seminole - Mexican War - California - Brevet - Captain

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1850 Sherman married Thomas Ewing's daughter, Eleanor Boyle Ewing. Three years later he resigned his military commission and became president of a bank in San Francisco. Sherman's arrival in San Francisco was indicative of the turmoil of his time in the West: he survived not one but two shipwrecks and floated through the Golden Gate on the scraps of a foundering lumber schooner.{{Ref|schooner}} Sherman eventually found himself suffering from stress-related asthma thanks to the city's brutal financial climate.{{Ref|asthma}} Late in life, regarding his time in real estate speculation-mad San Francisco, Sherman recalled: "I can handle a hundred thousand men in battle, and take the City of the Sun, but am afraid to manage a lot in the swamp of San Francisco."{{Ref|swamp}} In 1856 he served as a major general of the California militia.

Related Topics:
1850 - Thomas Ewing - San Francisco - Golden Gate - Asthma - 1856 - Major general - Militia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sherman's bank failed during the financial panic of 1857 and he turned to the practice of law in Leavenworth, Kansas, at which he was also unsuccessful. In 1859 he accepted a job as the superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, a position offered to him by two of his Army friends from the South: P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg. Ironically, that institution later became Louisiana State University. Thus, the first president of what is now one of the most prestigious Southern universities was a Yankee general who would later be considered one of the most hated men in the South.

Related Topics:
Panic of 1857 - Leavenworth, Kansas - 1859 - South - P.G.T. Beauregard - Braxton Bragg - Louisiana State University - Yankee

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In January of 1861, just before the outbreak of the American Civil War, Sherman was required to accept receipt of arms surrendered by the U.S. Arsenal at Baton Rouge. He resigned his position and returned to the North, declaring to the governor of Louisiana, "On no earthly account will I do any act or think any thought hostile ... to the ... United States." He became president of the St. Louis Railroad, a streetcar company, a position he held for only a few months before being called to Washington, D.C.

Related Topics:
1861 - American Civil War - Baton Rouge - St. Louis Railroad - Streetcar - Washington, D.C.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~