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<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>WILLIAM T. SHERMAN</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>No. 1022 · Class of 1840</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Died February 14, 1891, at New York City, aged 71 years.</strong></p>
<p>General Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820. He entered the Academy at West Point, having received the appointment to a cadetship through his representative in Congress, the Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, July 1, 1836.</p>
<p>He graduated July 1, 1840, and was made Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery. Some of his classmates have attained a national reputation, among them Generals Thomas, Van Vliet, Getty, Shepherd, Wallen and Colonels Kingsbury and Whiting. Several made their mark in the Rebellion. On the Southern side was General Richard S. Ewell, who commanded a Confederate Corps at Gettysburg.</p>
<p>Sherman stood at graduation, No. 6 in general standing. His student life at West Point indicated ability of no common order, but he appears to have had no ambition at that time for office or rank.</p>
<p>Lieutenant Sherman&#x27;s first station, after the usual graduation leave, was at Governor&#x27;s Island. Very soon he was placed in command of a company of recruits which he took to St. Augustine, Florida, where he first met the famous Braxton Bragg. Sherman and Bragg subsequently became warm friends and there was little personal disseverment, though they fought against each other during the Rebellion.</p>
<p>Sherman next found himself at Fort Pierce, Florida. Here Dick Taylor and Stewart Van Vliet were his companions. All the rich experience that so many distinguished men of our service have gained here among the Indians and the Everglades, Sherman garnered.</p>
<p>He touched here and there, as duty shifted his posts, till finally he settled down for about five years at old Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor. From this post an important detail on a Board, examining horse claims, carried him through the Northern and Central parts of Georgia and Alabama.</p>
<p>He had a temporary detachment for service at Augusta, Georgia, and was necessitated at one time to ride through a portion of South Carolina on horseback. These journeys, with his hunting and fishing expeditions, coupled with his extensive acquaintanceship with families gained in the South at this time, especially fitted him for these Southern Campaigns twenty years later that attached to his name.</p>
<p>The Mexican War, which early in 1846, began to darken the horizon, found him on recruiting duty for his regiment, gathering men from Pennsylvania and Ohio with headquarters at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Ardently desiring active service as soon as the conflict was joined, the War Department, in answer to his application, sent him to California.</p>
<p>The 14th of July 1846, with his company, he took passage by the U.S. Steamer "Lexington", Captain Tompkins, Lieutenants Hallen and Ord were some of his companions of voyage.</p>
<p>The ship arrived at Monterey, California, January 26, 1847. Already Fremont and Kearney had reached that coast. Kearney assuming command of the Department soon after Sherman&#x27;s arrival, made him (Sherman) Aide-de-Camp. A little later upon Kearney being relieved by Colonel Mason, Sherman was made A. A. A. G. of the Department. When General Persifer F. Smith organized his larger Division of the Coast, Sherman acted as his Adjutant-General.</p>
<p>His career during this first visit to California was a curious mixture of civil and military function. After the discovery of the gold mines, and the soldiers had nearly all deserted, several of the officers there, among them Sherman, took brief leaves of absence.</p>
<p>During these he tried his hand at mining, trading, but principally surveying, with considerable success. He received much credit at this time for diplomatic talent in settling official difficulties; also for his quickness of apprehension and knowledge of law, and for his administrative ability. He received the brevet of Captain for meritorious services in California during the Mexican War, May 30, 1848.</p>
<p>September 20, 1850, after having returned to the East, he was promoted to a Captaincy in the Commissary Department, and stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. For three years he gave himself mainly to Commissary duty. The acquaintance that he thus gained with the methods of supplying an army were afterwards of incalculable service to him.</p>
<p>To a man of his sanguine temperament and nervous energy, promotion was at this period too slow and prospects too uninviting, so receiving an offer in a business opening, he went again to California, becoming the business manager of the California branch of Lucas, Turner & Co., of St. Louis, Missouri. In California and lastly in New York, while connected with the same concern, he won for himself marked credit for clear headed business management. When the business was at last closed up, in 1858, all debts were paid and obligations met though Sherman himself was left with little property and unemployed.</p>
<p>He next, at Leavenworth, Kansas, tried his hand in a law firm, having previously, during his moments of leisure studied law very thoroughly.</p>
<p>From this employment, in July 1859, he engaged to take command as Superintendent of a new Military Academy at Alexandria, Louisiana. His conduct of this institution in organizing, developing and establishing it upon a firm basis affords an example of Sherman&#x27;s quickness and energy.</p>
<p>When in Louisiana the overt acts of Rebellion began, the Baton Rouge Arsenal under Major Haskin, having been captured by State authorities, Sherman, a quasi State officer, threw up his commission as Superintendent of the State Military Academy and came North.</p>
<p>Believing that a great war was already upon the Nation, he pressed his views ardently at Washington during March 1861, and meeting with too little response, he went to St. Louis and there accepted the Presidency of a street railroad.</p>
<p>As the war clouds thickened, and such military men were more and more in demand, the 14th of the ensuing May he was commissioned Colonel of the Thirteenth U.S. Infantry; serving for a brief time on General Scott&#x27;s staff; then commanding a Brigade in McDowell&#x27;s army near Washington; commissioned Brigadier-General of Volunteers, the 17th of May, and engaged in the first Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861. From the 23rd to the 28th of August, he with his Brigade, was kept in the defenses of Washington.</p>
<p>At the request of General Robert Anderson, the last of August he was ordered to his Department, Department of the Cumberland, after a short time succeeding him in the command. He seized and occupied Muldraugh Hill, resisting attempts made by the Confederate Buckner, and organized new troops as fast as they came for the defense of Louisville and for the hoped for campaign to clear Kentucky.</p>
<p>His complaints of the want of sufficient force for the interior columns put him temporarily under a cloud, so for a time he was sent to work under General Halleck, in the Department of the Missouri, from November 23, 1861, to February 14, 1862, doing staff and inspection duty, and instructing troops at Benton Barracks; for a time he took a leave of absence during which he remained quietly resting at Lancaster, Ohio.</p>
<p>The latter part of February 1862, we find him transferred from St. Louis to command at Paducah, Kentucky, co-operating with General Grant who now begins to be prominent on the stage of active operations on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, Sherman supporting him strongly, forwarding troops and supplies.</p>
<p>About the 9th of March 1862, Sherman became a part of Grant&#x27;s Army, commanding the Fourth, afterwards changed to the Fifth Division. This was his Division in the famous Battle of Shiloh, April 6th. Here he won great distinction, sharing with his chief some public adverse criticism. He was twice wounded in the battle but remained on duty to engage successfully in the combat of "Briar Creek Bridge", April 14, 1862, and in the prolonged siege of Corinth up to May 30th. His brilliant service had already caused his promotion, May 1, 1862, to the rank of Major-General of Volunteers.</p>
<p>Some able and efficient commander being needed at Memphis Tennessee, he was kept in charge of that District to the 20th of the ensuing December, but meanwhile was engaged directly and indirectly with General Grant in pushing the Confederates southward as far as Granada, Mississippi. December 27th he set out to attempt Vicksburg by a coup de main, but had not force enough to carry out the plan.</p>
<p>On January 2, 1863, he rose to the command of the Fifteenth Army Corps. His first expedition to "Arkansas Post" was a success. The Confederate works were carried by assault, January 11, 1863.</p>
<p>Sherman&#x27;s connection with the Vicksburg Campaign, from January to July 1863, is elaborated in every history, emphasizing his expedition via Steele&#x27;s Bayou to the Yazoo, in March.</p>
<p>To facilitate Grant&#x27;s operations, a little later, April 29th and 30th, he made his demonstration upon Haines&#x27; Bluff, the object being to prevent the enemy leaving the Vicksburg works.</p>
<p>He was in the advance to Grant Gulf below Vicksburg during the first week of May; in the skirmish at Fourteen Mile Creek, May 12th; in the attack and capture of Jackson, May 14th; in the passage of Black River and connecting operations, from May 16th to 18th; he seized Walnut Hills, May 18th; and engaged in the assaults upon Vicksburg, May 19th and 22nd; he also took prominent part in the siege from this time to the unconditional surrender, the Fourth of July 1863; then immediately he, with others, turned against the relieving forces capturing Jackson, Mississippi, July 16th. For these grand services Sherman was made a Brigadier-General in the Regular Army, July 4, 1863.</p>
<p>As soon as Grant was placed in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, Sherman succeeded to that of the Army and Department of the Tennessee. In this he led the expedition via Memphis to Chattanooga, being engaged at Colyersville, Mississippi, October 11th, 1863; made a difficult crossing of the Tennessee River at Eastport, Alabama, November 1st, and had a prominent part in the Battle of Chattanooga: lasting from November 23rd to November 25th. His crossing of the Tennessee above Chattanooga and attack upon the eastern extremity of Missionary Ridge had a marked effect upon the final result.</p>
<p>His pursuit of Bragg and command of a column to relieve Knoxville ending December 1, 1863, wherein he compelled Longstreet to raise the siege and flee northward, and his immediate return to Chattanooga, making a lengthy march up and back of over two hundred miles without a moment&#x27;s rest to himself or to his troops, afford glimpses of the energy and enterprise of the man.</p>
<p>During the following winter he conducted that singular expedition, using about twenty thousand men, to Meridian, Mississippi and back. In this expedition he lived upon the country; broke up and destroyed railroads, and greatly puzzled the Confederate authorities as to his final destination.</p>
<p>When General Grant was called to the command of the Armies of the United States, Sherman took his Military Division, March 12th, 1864. He began the invasion of Georgia, May 2nd, using the Armies of the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee. The important engagements are as follows: Tunnel Hill, May 7th; Dalton, May 14th; Resaca, May 15th; Cassville, May 19th; Pickett&#x27;s Mill, May 27th; Dallas, May 28th; Kennesaw Mountain June 27th; Smyrna Camp Ground or Ruff&#x27;s Station, July 4th; Passage of the Chattahoochee, July 12th to 17th; terrific Battle of Peach Tree Creek, just after Hood had relieved Johnson the Confederate Commander, July 20th; battle just east of Atlanta, July 22nd; battle south of Atlanta (Ezra Chapel), July 28th.</p>
<p>The movements upon the enemy&#x27;s communications began the 25th of July; then after that the Battle of Jonesboro, August 31st and September 1st; Atlanta surrendered September 2nd.</p>
<p>For conduct during the preceding campaign, General Sherman received the rank of Major-General in the Regular Army, to date from August 12th, 1864.</p>
<p>Now Hood undertook to interrupt Sherman&#x27;s communications; Sherman turned upon him and had frequent small engagements along the line to the rear as far as Resaca, and pursued Hood through Snake Creek Gap and southward to Gaylesville, Alabama.</p>
<p>After a short rest, while he was re-organizing his forces he sent Thomas and Schofield back to Franklin and Nashville to meet Hood, while he himself entered upon his March to the Sea, Howard commanding the Right Wing, Slocum the Left and Kilpatrick the Cavalry of Sherman&#x27;s moving column.</p>
<p>The first battle defeating the enemy, occurred at Griswoldville, November 20th, near Macon, Georgia. After that there were only moderate skirmishes along the routes of the three and four columns, till Sherman reached the vicinity of Savannah. Fort McAllister was stormed and captured, December 13th, and Savannah surrendered December 21, 1864. His army was inside the city by the 25th, enabling him to make his Christmas gift of the city to President Lincoln.</p>
<p>The campaign of the Carolinas began about the 1st of January 1865. Howard&#x27;s Right Wing passed over by sea to Beaufort, South Carolina, and thence northward to the main land. A severe skirmish occurred the 15th of January, resulting in the capture of a fort and uncovering the railroad to Pocataligo. The Left Wing under Slocum, with the Cavalry, ascended the right bank of the Savannah, crossing at Sister&#x27;s Ferry.</p>
<p>The troops occupied Columbia, after several minor combats, February 17th. They occupied Cheraw, March 3rd; Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 12th; crossing the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, March 13th; fought the Battle of Averysboro, March 16th. Sherman&#x27;s Army was engaged March 20th and 21st in the last considerable battle at Bentonville, North Carolina. They occupied Goldsboro, March 22nd, and entered Raleigh April 3rd.</p>
<p>After considerable negotiation, at Durham&#x27;s Station, North Carolina, the Confederate forces under J. E. Johnson were surrendered to General Sherman, April 26, 1865. The whole army was thereafter marched via Richmond to Washington, arriving May 24, 1865. In these campaigns, some 2,600 miles were covered.</p>
<p>July 25, 1866, for the consummation of his great work in the war, General Sherman was promoted to a Lieutenant-Generalcy in the Army.</p>
<p>After the war and during the process of re-organization, General Sherman commanded the Military Division of the Mississippi with Headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri, from June 27, 1865 to August 11, 1866. When the changes by re-organization had been completed he commanded the Division of the Missouri, from August 11, 1866, to March 5, 1869. At this date he received the highest rank by promotion, that of General in the Army. From this time on to June 30, 1882, he was in active command of the Army, embracing the Divisions and Departments into which our whole territory, for military purposes, was geographically divided.</p>
<p>He retired from active service February 8, 1884, upon his own application, according to the law of June 30, 1882.</p>
<p>The degree of L. L. D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College July 19, 1866, and he was made Regent of the Smithsonian Institution in 1871. He received the thanks of Congress, by a Joint Resolution, dated January 10, 1865.</p>
<p>Such is a brief transcript of Sherman&#x27;s career. In civil life he was intensely active; President of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee, and occupying various active and honorary positions in other organizations. He made many public addresses which never failed to show the largeness of his mind, the patriotism of his heart, and his devotion to the best interests of the American people. During his last years he was a welcome guest at every anniversary, and, in fact, at every home he visited.</p>
<p>In another paper the writer said of General Sherman:</p>
<p>"His intellect furnished a mind rich in pearls and sparkling with diamonds, yet complete after nature&#x27;s own order.</p>
<p>He was ever at home in science or commerce, and never failed to interest the observer on his own fields.</p>
<p>His perception was like a flash of light.</p>
<p>War problems, large or small, were his forte; but the great enterprises of peace, like the Pacific railroad, whose beginning, progress and completion he so much aided, were a delight to his mind.</p>
<p>His working powers have been tested by results.</p>
<p>He generously gave confidence and scope to his officers, just as Grant had given confidence and scope to him.</p>
<p>His memory was phenomenal; he had acquired knowledge with intense rapidity from observation and books from childhood to age, and surely by a thousand tests: he showed that he had forgotten nothing that he had once learned.</p>
<p>He was usually most cordial and affable, yet many times newspaper correspondents who published what he desired to withhold, received from him sharp retorts.</p>
<p>At times he was combative and resentful, but the passion passed with the day; when the natural storm abated no hatred remained. I do not think that General Sherman ever meditated the doing of a wrong thing.</p>
<p>Whether he knew it or not he owed much of his soul&#x27;s illumination to the presence of the Divine Spirit.</p>
<p>While he abominated quackery and hypocrisy he had great admiration for sincere Christian people.</p>
<p>Loyalty to family, loyalty to friends, loyalty to society, loyalty to duty and country, he quickly observed in another; and this loyalty was a quality among the marked characteristics of his own great soul."</p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Oliver O. Howard, Major-General, U.S. Army, Governor&#x27;s Island, N. Y. H., April 23d, 1891</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/11200">Annual Report, June 12, 1891, pp. 51�59 · U.S. Military Academy Library</a></p>
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