Sherman, William Tecumseh (1820–91)

Civil War General

William Tecumseh Sherman was one of the generals most closely identified with the Union victory during the Civil War. After the conflict he became commanding general of the U.S. Army, during which time he presided over the destruction of the Plains Indians tribes and the resurgence in military professionalism in the 1870s and 1880s. But he is best known as an advocate of total war and for the epigram, “War is hell,” a dictum that lies at the core of the “realist” tradition in American strategic thought.

Born in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820, Sherman was nine years old when his father died, at which time he became the foster son of Thomas Ewing, a powerful state politician. Ewing used his connections to secure Sherman's appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Sherman graduated in 1840, sixth in his class, and became a 2nd lieutenant of infantry. He saw limited combat during the final years of the Second Seminole War and none during the Mexican War, although he was involved in the American occupation of California.

In 1853 Sherman left the Army and became a businessman in California. He had little success, however, and by 1857 sought to regain an appointment as an officer. Although no berths were available, friends secured him a position as superintendent of the Louisiana Military Seminary. During the secession crisis he resigned and went back north, where he soon became a colonel in the Union army. It was as a colonel that he led a brigade at the battle of First Manassas (July 21, 1861).

Portrait of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in 1865 wearing a black armband in honor of slain president Abraham Lincoln. (Source © Bettmann/CORBIS)

Following the battle, Sherman was promoted to brigadier general and sent to Kentucky to serve as second-in-command of the Union forces gathering in that state. While in temporary charge, he became convinced that the Confederate troops on his front were numerically superior to his own and suffered what was rumored to be a nervous collapse. After a few months’ convalescence in Lancaster, he joined the forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, then gathering near Shiloh Meeting House, Tennessee, for an offensive against Corinth, Mississippi.

On April 6, 1862, a Confederate force under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston surprised Grant's men at Shiloh and drove them back with heavy losses. Sherman, although as surprised as anyone, led his group with tenacity and earned Grant's respect and confidence. In the second day of fighting, Union forces regained their positions, but the surprise and the horrendous casualties placed Grant under a hail of criticism. He briefly considered resigning, but Sherman [Page 789]talked him out of it. Thereafter the two began one of the most important strategic partnerships of the war. Sherman served as one of Grant's corps commanders during the Vicksburg Campaign (December 1862–July 1863) and again during the Chattanooga Campaign (November 1863). When Grant went east to take command of all Union forces, Sherman remained in the west in charge of the Military Division of the Mississippi, a vast geographical expanse encompassing most of the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River.

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