Civil War Union Major General. He led an army of sixty-two thousand men with thirty-five thousand horses and twenty-five hundred wagons on an overland march to Savannah on a mission to punish the south for its secession from the union. He cut his army off from the union supply line allowing the troops to forage and sustain them self by feeding off the land. From Savannah, a swath of utter destruction was left by Sherman's Army. The tracks of the railroad, trestles and rolling stock were destroyed. Towns, plantations and farms were burned and looted. He destroyed all the public buildings in Atlanta but heaped the most vengeance on South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union. Columbia was completely burned to the ground. The results of this march, together with Grant's victories in Virginia, brought the South to the surrender table. He was born in Lancaster, Ohio as William Tecumseh Sherman into a family of eleven. His father, a lawyer and jurist, died when he was nine and the children were parceled out to relatives and friends. William was sent to the family of Thomas Ewing, a next-door neighbor who was a U.S. senator and a cabinet member. His excellent early education was at the Lancaster academy where his outstanding scholastic record earned him an appointment to West Point at age sixteen. After graduating sixth in his class, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Sherman served in South Carolina then Georgia, but saw very little action in the Mexican-American war. He resigned from the Army to pursue a career in banking, then a as a lawyer, but with little success. His bank failed and he accepted the position as first president of the Louisiana Military Seminary. The institution would become Louisiana State University. The Civil War brought him back to active duty and he took up the Union cause commanding a number of major battles from leading a brigade at Bull Run, a division at Shiloh and then in charge of four divisions at Vicksburg. Everlasting fame was his during the Georgia campaign and his "March to the Sea." The post Civil War...When Grant became President, Sherman became the top general in the Army and served in this high post until his retirement. He oversaw the completion of the transcontinental railroad and orchestrated the defeat of the Plains Indian tribes. An important contribution was the establishment of the Command School at Ft. Leavenworth. His memoirs, a two-volume classic, was published in 1875. Sherman retired from the army in 1884 and lived the rest of his life in New York City. He loved the theatre and was much in demand as a colorful speaker at dinners and banquets. Sherman was courted by the Democrats to became their presidential candidate spurring him to coin the famous response, "If nominated, I will not run, if elected I will not serve." He died in New York City at age seventy-one. A brief service was held at his residence with a grand procession escorting his coffin to a special waiting train poised to convey his body to St Louis for interment in the family plot. Upon arrival at the Union Depot in the Missouri city, a caisson drawn by four black horses waited to transport his remains through downtown St. Louis to Calvary Cemetery and burial beside his wife, the former Ellen Ewing, the daughter of his foster father, and two of his children. His son, Father Thomas Sherman, a Jesuit priest, conducted a brief service. The Sherman legacy...Countless streets, schools and buildings bear his name and hundreds of books have been written about the General. Some of the most enduring monuments...a statue of Sherman on his horse, walking behind an angel carrying an olive branch is located at Grand Army Plaza, corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street in New York. The statue was the 11-year project of Augustus Saint Gaudens. Its recent regilding was a gift of Donald Trump. The original and well preserved Sherman House, in his hometown of Lancaster, is his birthplace as well as his famous brother Senator John Sherman author of the Anti-Trust Act. The General Sherman Tree located in Sequoia National Park in the "Giant Forest" bears his name and is reputed to be the largest tree in the world. The M4 Sherman tank which was the mainstay of the western allies between 1942 and 1945 was named after the famous Civil War General. He has been honored four times by the Postal Service...in 1893 and again in 1895 with a definitive 8 cent stamp. He shared a 3-cent commemorative stamp with General Grant and Phil Sheridan in 1937 and then in 1995 was depicted in a set of twenty 32-cent commemorative stamps focusing on famous individuals and battles in the civil war.

Civil War Union Major General. He led an army of sixty-two thousand men with thirty-five thousand horses and twenty-five hundred wagons on an overland march to Savannah on a mission to punish the south for its secession from the union. He cut his army off from the union supply line allowing the troops to forage and sustain them self by feeding off the land. From Savannah, a swath of utter destruction was left by Sherman's Army. The tracks of the railroad, trestles and rolling stock were destroyed. Towns, plantations and farms were burned and looted. He destroyed all the public buildings in Atlanta but heaped the most vengeance on South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union. Columbia was completely burned to the ground. The results of this march, together with Grant's victories in Virginia, brought the South to the surrender table. He was born in Lancaster, Ohio as William Tecumseh Sherman into a family of eleven. His father, a lawyer and jurist, died when he was nine and the children were parceled out to relatives and friends. William was sent to the family of Thomas Ewing, a next-door neighbor who was a U.S. senator and a cabinet member. His excellent early education was at the Lancaster academy where his outstanding scholastic record earned him an appointment to West Point at age sixteen. After graduating sixth in his class, he was commissioned a second lieutenant. Sherman served in South Carolina then Georgia, but saw very little action in the Mexican-American war. He resigned from the Army to pursue a career in banking, then a as a lawyer, but with little success. His bank failed and he accepted the position as first president of the Louisiana Military Seminary. The institution would become Louisiana State University. The Civil War brought him back to active duty and he took up the Union cause commanding a number of major battles from leading a brigade at Bull Run, a division at Shiloh and then in charge of four divisions at Vicksburg. Everlasting fame was his during the Georgia campaign and his "March to the Sea." The post Civil War...When Grant became President, Sherman became the top general in the Army and served in this high post until his retirement. He oversaw the completion of the transcontinental railroad and orchestrated the defeat of the Plains Indian tribes. An important contribution was the establishment of the Command School at Ft. Leavenworth. His memoirs, a two-volume classic, was published in 1875. Sherman retired from the army in 1884 and lived the rest of his life in New York City. He loved the theatre and was much in demand as a colorful speaker at dinners and banquets. Sherman was courted by the Democrats to became their presidential candidate spurring him to coin the famous response, "If nominated, I will not run, if elected I will not serve." He died in New York City at age seventy-one. A brief service was held at his residence with a grand procession escorting his coffin to a special waiting train poised to convey his body to St Louis for interment in the family plot. Upon arrival at the Union Depot in the Missouri city, a caisson drawn by four black horses waited to transport his remains through downtown St. Louis to Calvary Cemetery and burial beside his wife, the former Ellen Ewing, the daughter of his foster father, and two of his children. His son, Father Thomas Sherman, a Jesuit priest, conducted a brief service. The Sherman legacy...Countless streets, schools and buildings bear his name and hundreds of books have been written about the General. Some of the most enduring monuments...a statue of Sherman on his horse, walking behind an angel carrying an olive branch is located at Grand Army Plaza, corner of 5th Avenue and 59th Street in New York. The statue was the 11-year project of Augustus Saint Gaudens. Its recent regilding was a gift of Donald Trump. The original and well preserved Sherman House, in his hometown of Lancaster, is his birthplace as well as his famous brother Senator John Sherman author of the Anti-Trust Act. The General Sherman Tree located in Sequoia National Park in the "Giant Forest" bears his name and is reputed to be the largest tree in the world. The M4 Sherman tank which was the mainstay of the western allies between 1942 and 1945 was named after the famous Civil War General. He has been honored four times by the Postal Service...in 1893 and again in 1895 with a definitive 8 cent stamp. He shared a 3-cent commemorative stamp with General Grant and Phil Sheridan in 1937 and then in 1995 was depicted in a set of twenty 32-cent commemorative stamps focusing on famous individuals and battles in the civil war.

Bio by: Donald Greyfield