Read complete books and articles on: General William Tecumseh Sherman

Sherman, William Tecumseh - 1820–91, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Lancaster, Ohio. Sherman is said by many to be the greatest of the Civil War generals.

Early Career

Sherman, William Tecumseh - 1820–91, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Lancaster, Ohio. Sherman is said by many to be the greatest of the Civil War generals.

Early Career

After the death of his father (1829) Sherman lived as a member of the family of Thomas Ewing. In 1850 he married Ewing's daughter Eleanor Boyle Ewing, well known for her many philanthropic activities. After graduating (1840) from West Point, he spent several years at various Southern garrisons, served in the Mexican War, and was later stationed at St. Louis and at New Orleans. Resigning from the army in 1853, he was a banker in San Francisco and New York (1853–57) and a lawyer in Leavenworth, Kans. (1858–59), before he became superintendent of the state military academy at Alexandria, La. (now Louisiana State Univ. at Baton Rouge).

Civil War Career

When Louisiana seceded Sherman resigned from the military academy (Jan., 1861), and in May he rejoined the U.S. army as a colonel. Sherman commanded a brigade in the first battle of Bull Run (July) and in August was made a brigadier general of volunteers and sent to Kentucky. There he succeeded Robert Anderson in command of the Dept. of the Cumberland (Oct.), but in November he was transferred to the Dept. of the Missouri.

Sherman distinguished himself as a division commander at Shiloh (Apr., 1862) and was promoted to major general in May. He took part in the operations about Corinth, occupied Memphis (July), and commanded the Dist. of Memphis (Oct.–Dec., 1862). After his defeat at Chickasaw Bluffs in the first advance of the Vicksburg campaign, he served under John A. McClernand in the capture of Arkansas Post (Jan., 1863). In the successful move on Vicksburg, Sherman ably led the 15th Corps. In July he was made a brigadier general in the regular army.

When Ulysses S. Grant assumed supreme command in the West, Sherman became commander of the Army of the Tennessee (Oct., 1863). He commanded the Union left at Missionary Ridge in the Chattanooga campaign (Nov.), went to the relief of Ambrose E. Burnside at Knoxville (Dec.), and destroyed Confederate communications and supplies at Meridian, Miss., in Feb., 1864.

When Grant became commander in chief, Sherman succeeded him as supreme commander in the West (March). His Atlanta campaign (May–Sept., 1864) resulted in the fall of that city on Sept. 2. The Confederate attempt to draw him back failed, and Sherman burned (Nov. 15) most of Atlanta and the next day, with 60,000 men, began his famous march to the sea. With virtually no enemy to bar his way, he was before Savannah in 24 days, leaving behind him a ruined and devastated land. Savannah fell on Dec. 21.

In Feb., 1865, Sherman started northward to close in on Robert E. Lee from the rear. Every step now reduced the area upon which the Confederates in Virginia could depend for aid. His advance through South Carolina (the state that in the eyes of Sherman's men had provoked the war) was slower but even more destructive than the march through Georgia.

In North Carolina, Joseph E. Johnston opposed Sherman in engagements at Averasboro and Bentonville, but after hearing of Lee's surrender, he asked for terms. Sherman, understanding the South and the devastation it had suffered better than any other Union general, offered him generous terms, but Secretary of War Stanton repudiated them. Johnston then surrendered (Apr. 26, 1865) the last major Confederate army on the same terms as Lee.

Sherman saw more clearly than any other Civil War general that modern warfare was completely unlike its 18th-century counterpart. In fact, he is sometimes credited with reinventing war, stressing the destruction of the infrastructure necessary to support an enemy army more than the killing of its soldiers, and establishing rules of conflict that are still in effect today. Since the Civil War was a war between free peoples, Sherman maintained that only by breaking the war spirit of the enemy, noncombatant as well as combatant, could victory be won—hence the march through Georgia and South Carolina. His famous statement that "war…is all hell" epitomizes his sentiments.

Later Career

Sherman was promoted to lieutenant general in 1866 and to general in 1869, when he succeeded Grant as commander of the U.S. army. He retired in 1884. He resisted all efforts to draw him into politics, vetoing Republican attempts to make him a presidential candidate in 1884 with the words: "If nominated I will not accept; if elected I will not serve."

Bibliography

See his memoirs (1875; ed. with foreword by B. H. Liddell Hart, 1957), The Sherman Letters (correspondence with his brother John Sherman, ed. by R. S. Thorndike, 1894), and Home Letters of General Sherman (ed. by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, 1909); biographies by B. H. Liddell Hart (1929, repr. 1960), L. Lewis (1932; with appraisal by B. Catton, 1958), R. G. Athearn (1956), J. M. Merrill (1971), J. Marszalek (1993), M. Fellman (1995), S. P. Hirshson (1997), and L. Kennett (2001); A. McAllister, Ellen Ewing, Wife of General Sherman (1936); T. H. Williams, McClellan, Sherman, and Grant (1962); J. B. Walters, Merchant of Terror (1973); J. F. Marszalek, Sherman's Other Wars: The General and the Civil War Press (1981); M. B. Lucas, Sherman and the Burning of Columbia (1988, repr. 2000); L. Kennett, Marching through Georgia (1995).

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: General William Tecumseh Sherman

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Memoirs of General William T. Sherman » Read Now
by William T. Sherman. 812 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
2.

The Sherman Letters: Correspondence between General and Senator Sherman from 1837 to 1891 » Read Now
by John Sherman, William T. Sherman, Rachel Sherman Thorndike. 400 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
3.

The Chessboard of War: Sherman and Hood in the Autumn Campaigns of 1864 » Read Now
by Anne J. Bailey. 228 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

No aspect of Civil War history is more fascinating than the two major campaigns that took place in the western theater in late 1864. The opposing generals, William T. Sherman and John Bell Hood, took armies that had been fighting for months and headed them away from each other: Hood marched north...
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No aspect of Civil War history is more fascinating than the two major campaigns that took place in the western theater in late 1864. The opposing generals, William T. Sherman and John Bell Hood, took armies that had been fighting for months and headed them away from each other: Hood marched north into Tennessee, and Sherman marched south into Georgia. As Sherman himself noted, "It surely was a strange event; two hostile armies marching in opposite directions, each in the full belief that it was achieving a final and conclusive result in a great war". Hood went on to catastrophic defeat at Franklin and Nashville, while Sherman successfully moved through Georgia to the coast.
Many books deal with either Sherman's march or Hood's Tennessee campaign, but although they unfolded simultaneously and concluded the main fighting in the western theater, no recent volume analyzes the two together. In her groundbreaking study, Anne J. Bailey assesses how military events in Georgia and Tennessee intertwined and affected the political, social, and economic conditions in those areas and throughout the nation.
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4.

Sherman's Other War: The General and the Civil War Press » Read Now
by John F. Marszalek. 256 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

William Tecumseh Sherman saw a direct correlation between press censorship and military victory. He diligently tried to implement severe antipress policies, and as a result was the target of intense newspaper counterfire. In Sherman's Other War (originally published in 1981), John Marszalek traces...
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William Tecumseh Sherman saw a direct correlation between press censorship and military victory. He diligently tried to implement severe antipress policies, and as a result was the target of intense newspaper counterfire. In Sherman's Other War (originally published in 1981), John Marszalek traces the roots of the general's hostility toward the press and details his attempts to muzzle reporters during the Civil War, culminating in Sherman's exclusion of all reporters from his famous March to the Sea.
Despite the passage of over a century, the question of press rights in wartime situations is very much today what it was during the Civil War. Marszalek finds throughout American history a recurring movement toward repression of the press, with Sherman's attitudes and practices only one of the most obvious examples. He also finds that press rights during wartime have often been governed by reactions to specific circumstances rather than treated as a constitutional issue. During Sherman's court-martial of reporter Thomas W. Knox after Vicksburg, the Constitution was never mentioned by either party; personal considerations were at issue.
Marszalek analyzes the constitutional ramifications of Sherman's antipress activities and demonstrates how such attitudes threaten American liberties.
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5.

The Atlanta Campaign: May-November, 1864 » Read Now
by John Cannan. 176 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
6.

Atlanta 1864: Last Chance for the Confederacy » Read Now
by Richard M. McMurry. 234 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Atlanta 1864 brings to life this crucial campaign of the Civil War, as federal armies under William T. Sherman contended with Joseph E. Johnston and his successor, John Bell Hood, and moved steadily through Georgia to occupy the rail and commercial center of Atlanta. Sherman's efforts were...
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Atlanta 1864 brings to life this crucial campaign of the Civil War, as federal armies under William T. Sherman contended with Joseph E. Johnston and his successor, John Bell Hood, and moved steadily through Georgia to occupy the rail and commercial center of Atlanta. Sherman's efforts were undertaken as his former commander, Ulysses S. Grant, set out on a similar mission to destroy Robert E. Lee or drive him back to Richmond. These struggles were the millstones that Grant intended to use to grind the Confederacy's strength into dust. By fall, Sherman's success in Georgia had assured the re-election of Abraham Lincoln and determined that the federal government would never acquiesce in the independence of the Confederacy. Richard M. McMurry examines the Atlanta campaign as a political and military unity in the context of the greater struggle of the war itself.
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7.

Sherman's March through the Carolinas » Read Now
by John G. Barrett. 323 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

In retrospect, General William Tecumseh Sherman considered his march through the Carolinas the greatest of his military feats, greater even than the Georgia campaign. When he set out northward from Savannah with 60,000 veteran soldiers in January 1865, he was more convinced than ever that the bold...
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In retrospect, General William Tecumseh Sherman considered his march through the Carolinas the greatest of his military feats, greater even than the Georgia campaign. When he set out northward from Savannah with 60,000 veteran soldiers in January 1865, he was more convinced than ever that the bold application of his ideas of total war could speedily end the conflict. Before him lay South Carolina, the birthplace of secession. Beyond were North Carolina and Virginia, where Grant and Lee stood deadlocked. John Barrett's story of what happened in the three months that followed is based on printed memoirs and documentary records of those who fought and of the civilians who lived in the path of Sherman's onslaught. The burning of Columbia, the battle of Bentonville, and Joseph E. Johnston's surrender nine days after Appomattox are at the center of the story, but Barrett also focuses on other aspects of the campaign, such as the undisciplined pillaging of the "bummers", and on its effects on local populations. Sherman himself, at the culmination of his military career, emerges here in an appealing portrait. His prewar sympathy for the South and its cause were in conflict with his love of the union and his theory of the least painful way of bringing the war to a conclusion. His unsuccessful attempt to offer the South a peace treaty that would restore the region to its prewar status is masterfully told and invokes a new and sympathetic understanding of the man.
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8.

Bentonville: The Final Battle of Sherman and Johnston » Read Now
by Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr. 340 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

The battle of Bentonville was the Confederacy's last desperate attempt to stop the devastating march of William Tecumseh Sherman's army north through the Carolinas. Nathaniel Hughes offers a comprehensive tactical study of this important battle, which involved an unusually high percentage of senior...
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The battle of Bentonville was the Confederacy's last desperate attempt to stop the devastating march of William Tecumseh Sherman's army north through the Carolinas. Nathaniel Hughes offers a comprehensive tactical study of this important battle, which involved an unusually high percentage of senior officers. In careful detail, he lays out the movement of Confederate and Union troops from South Carolina across the state line to Fayetteville and on to Goldsboro. Placing the battle within the larger military framework of the last months of the war, Hughes analyzes why initial success turned to failure for Johnston's offensive. Based on letters, diaries, and official documents, the book explores the experience of this final battle for the soldiers and officers fighting it. Hughes also assesses the performances of Union and Confederate commanders and includes biographical vignettes of several of them, including Braxton Bragg, William J. Hardee, D. H. Hill, Oliver O. Howard, and Henry W. Slocum.
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9.

Black Troops, White Commanders, and Freedmen during the Civil War (Chap. 7 "Sherman Marched and Proclaimed 'Land for the Landless'") » Read Now
by Howard C. Westwood. 198 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...4 Generals David Hunter...7 Sherman Marched...existed. William T. Sherman...hometown, Tecumseh, Nebraska...Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman--met with...Grants General...
10.

A Ruined Land: The End of the Civil War (Chap. 3 "The Sherman Lands") » Read Now
by Michael Golay. 384 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Advance Praise for A Ruined Land "A social and military history of the waning days and the end of the Civil War in Virginia, eastern Georgia, and the Carolinas. Solidly researched and finely written, it is a tragic and seldom-told story that illuminates this ‘ruined land.'" -Alan T. Nolan...
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Advance Praise for A Ruined Land "A social and military history of the waning days and the end of the Civil War in Virginia, eastern Georgia, and the Carolinas. Solidly researched and finely written, it is a tragic and seldom-told story that illuminates this ‘ruined land.'" -Alan T. Nolan, author of The Iron Brigade and Lee Considered General Robert E. Lee and Civil War History "A richly variegated narrative, chock-full of dramatic episodes and colorful vignettes, smoothly woven together to bring the final months of war and the early stages of Reconstruction vividly to life." -Michael Burlingame, Professor of History, Connecticut College, and Lincoln biographer "Well researched and beautifully written.... This book will appeal to historians and the general public alike." -William N. Still Jr., coauthor of Why the South Lost Praise for Michael Golay's To Gettysburg and Beyond "Ably captures the swirling chaos of battle. We are provided and ever-revolving point of view...enriched by the letters of foot soldiers and by the grand strategic accounts of generals." -New York Times Book Review "Superb." -America's Civil War "Thoughtful and well-written...a riveting portrait of two men who felt they had outlived the historical moment." -Kirkus Reviews "Fascinating... Golay's account is masterful....Well-chosen detail makes Gola's story vivid." -Hartford Courant
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11.

Sherman and His Campaigns: A Military Biography (1865) » Read Now
by S. M. Bowman, R. B. Irwin. 512 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

...GENERAL J. C. DAVIS -- BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL J. KILPATRICK . MAPS. -- THE ATLANTA...GOLDSBORO--OPERATIONS AROUND RESACA. SHERMAN AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTER I. BEFORE THE...
12.

The Ongoing Civil War: New Versions of Old Stories ("History in Hindsight: William T. Sherman and Sooy Smith" begins on p. 109) » Read Now
by Herman Hattaway, Ethan S. Rafuse. 164 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

In 1997, John Stanchak, an editor at Cowles Enthusiast Media (now part of Primedia), realized his vision of "a publication that contained the best, most up-to-date scholarship on the [Civil] war, but was edited with the amateur historian in mind," with the publication of Columbiad: A Quarterly...
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In 1997, John Stanchak, an editor at Cowles Enthusiast Media (now part of Primedia), realized his vision of "a publication that contained the best, most up-to-date scholarship on the [Civil] war, but was edited with the amateur historian in mind," with the publication of Columbiad: A Quarterly Review of the War between the States. In the four years the journal was published, it strived to lessen the rift between the scholarly world of professional historians and the "popular" history with which the general reader is more familiar. Now, a selection of the essays that best represent the successful balance between "serious scholarship" and a narrative reading style preferred by the educated layman has been collected in The Ongoing Civil War. The nine essays, written by such distinguished scholars as John Marszelak, Albert Castel, Archer Jones, Mark Snell, Noah Trudeau, and others, provide deeper insight into the war, introduce the general reader to unsung heroes, and correct some popular misrepresentations of history. They cover a range of topics as diverse as conflict among commanders, the supply runs vital to the Union victory at Gettysburg, the network of scouts and spies used by Robert E. Lee, and the painstaking process of organizing and publishing the Official Records. The synergy of sophisticated research combined with a compelling narrative style makes The Ongoing Civil War an enjoyable, informative work suitable for scholars and the general reader alike.
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13.

George B. McClellan and Civil War History: In the Shadow of Grant and Sherman » Read Now
by Thomas J. Rowland. 252 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Perhaps no other Union commander's reputation has been the subject of as much controversy as George B. McClellan's. Since the mid-point of this century, however, he has emerged as the complex general who, though gifted with administrative and organizational skills, was unable and unwilling to fight...
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Perhaps no other Union commander's reputation has been the subject of as much controversy as George B. McClellan's. Since the mid-point of this century, however, he has emerged as the complex general who, though gifted with administrative and organizational skills, was unable and unwilling to fight with the splendid army he had created.
Thomas J. Rowland argues that this interpretation rests squarely within the context of general historical verdicts of the way in which the North eventually triumphed. Civil War scholars have found the quality of Union leadership in the early years of the war wanting, and that it was not until U.S. Grant and W. T. Sherman emerged that success was ensured. On the other hand, Grant and Sherman knew failure, but were judged less harshly than was McClellan.
In George B. McClellan and Civil War History Rowland presents a framework in which early Civil War command can be viewed without direct comparison to that of the final two years. Such comparisons, in his opinion, are both unfair and contextually inaccurate. Only by understanding how very different was the context and nature of the war facing McClellan, as opposed to Grant and Sherman, can one discard the traditional "good general-bad general" approach to command performance. In such a light, McClellan's cater, both his shortcomings and accomplishments, can be viewed with clearer perspective.
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14.

This Hallowed Ground: The Story of the Union Side of the Civil War (Discussion of William Tecumseh Sherman begins on p. 338) » Read Now
by Bruce Catton. 438 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

A detailed description of the military and political aspects of the war.
15.

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Discussion of William Tecumseh Sherman begins on p. 743) » Read Now
by James M. McPherson. 910 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events...
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Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. James McPherson's fast-paced narrative fully integrates the political, social, and military events that crowded the two decades from the outbreak of one war in Mexico to the ending of another at Appomattox. Packed with drama and analytical insight, the book vividly recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the Civil War--the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry--and then moves into a masterful chronicle of the war itself--the battles, the strategic maneuvering on both sides, the politics, and the personalities. Particularly notable are McPherson's new views on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and the reasons for the Union's victory. The book's title refers to the sentiments that informed both the Northern and Southern views of the conflict: the South seceded in the name of that freedom of self-determination and self-government for which their fathers had fought in 1776, while the North stood fast in defense of the Union founded by those fathers as the bulwark of American liberty. Eventually, the North had to grapple with the underlying cause of the war--slavery--and adopt a policy of emancipation as a second war aim. This "new birth of freedom," as Lincoln called it, constitutes the proudest legacy of America's bloodiest conflict. This authoritative volume makes sense of that vast and confusing "second American Revolution" we call the Civil War, a war that transformed a nation and expanded our heritage of liberty.
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16.

Intimate Strategies of the Civil War: Military Commanders and Their Wives (Chap. Eight "General and Mrs. William T. Sherman, a Contentious Union") » Read Now
by Carol K. Bleser, Lesley J. Gordon. 292 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

From Robert E. and Mary Lee to Ulysses S. and Julia Grant, Intimate Strategies of the Civil War examines the marriages of twelve prominent military commanders, highlighting the impact wives had on their famous husbands' careers. Carol K. Bleser and Lesley J. Gordon assemble an impressive array of...
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From Robert E. and Mary Lee to Ulysses S. and Julia Grant, Intimate Strategies of the Civil War examines the marriages of twelve prominent military commanders, highlighting the impact wives had on their famous husbands' careers. Carol K. Bleser and Lesley J. Gordon assemble an impressive array of leading scholars to explore the marriages of six Confederate and six Union commanders. Contributors reveal that, for many of these men, the matrimonial bond was the most important relationship in their lives, one that shaped (and was shaped by) their military experience. In some cases, the commanders' spouses proved relentless and skillful promoters of their husbands' careers. Jessie Fremont drew on all of her connections as the daughter of former Senator Thomas Hart Benton to aid her modestly talented husband John. Others bolstered their military spouses in less direct ways. For example, Ulysses S. Grant's relationship with Julia (a Southerner and former slave owner herself) kept him anchored in stormy times. Here, too, are tense and tempestuous pairings, such William Tecumseh Sherman and his wife Ellen--his foster sister before becoming his wife--and Jefferson Davis's fascinatingly complex bond with Varina, further complicated by the hostile rumors about the two in Richmond society. Throughout, these historians paint remarkably intimate portraits of their subjects, ranging from hints of sexual passion, to the wives' fierce protectiveness of their husbands' reputations, to the surprisingly frequent visits of spouses to the front lines and battlefields. Readers will see these famed men in a way that they perhaps never considered: not merely as famous leaders, but as lovers, husbands and fathers. Illuminating a frequently neglected but extremely significant side of military history, Intimate Strategies is a must-read for anyone seeking fresh perspective on some of the war's best known commanders and a landmark contribution to Civil War history.
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