365 Days of Facts

William Tecumseh Sherman was a Union general during the Civil War and is remembered as one of the most famous military leaders in US history. His calculated March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia, then north into the Carolinas, brought the Confederate surrender and end of the Civil War, but his tactics remain controversial, even now in the South.

Sherman’s father admired Shawnee chief Tecumseh, so William Tecumseh Sherman was born February 8, 1820, in Lancaster, Ohio. He was nicknamed “Cump” as a child. His father died young, so the younger Sherman and many of his 10 siblings were sent to various friends and relatives to be raised.

Civil War: William Tecumseh Sherman

Sherman’s father figure was John Ewing, who got him into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. There he studied with many military leaders who he would later fight for and against in the Civil War. Sherman first saw glory at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861 and was then moved to the Western Theater. He faced doubts and depression that necessitated a leave of absence, but later recovered and served under General Ulysses S. Grant.

In 1864, Sherman took over for Grant as the Union commander and captured Atlanta, which was considered an important military success for President Lincoln.

Sherman’s march through Georgia and the Carolinas destroyed the cotton plantations and other infrastructure, a strategic move to weaken the Confederacy.

In 1865 after the surrender Sherman wrote: “I confess, without shame, I am sick and tired of fighting—its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands and fathers … tis only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated … that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.”