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William T. Sherman is best remembered as the general who declared "War is Hell." In 1864, he swept across the Confederacy, burning houses and crops, killing livestock, and bringing the hardships of the Civil War home to Southern citizens. His strategy, cruel at first glance, helped break Confederate morale and hastened the war's end. These practices were later applied to Native Americans of the plains region with similar results.
William Tecumseh Sherman, who went by his childhood nickname of "Cump," was born in Lancaster, Ohio on February 8, 1820. His father, an Ohio Supreme Court justice, died when Sherman was nine years old, and he was raised in the home of Sen. Thomas Ewing. In 1836, Sherman began attending West Point, graduating four years later as a second lieutenant in the Third U.S. Artillery.
When the Mexican-American War broke out in 1846, Sherman sought a combat assignment but ended up on recruiting service. The following year, he served in California on the staff of Gen. Stephen Watts Kearny but saw no fighting. In 1850, Sherman transferred east to become a captain in the commissary department but, dissatisfied with his career, he resigned from the army in 1853.
Through the influence of his brother, John Sherman, a U.S. senator, Sherman was reinstated as colonel of the newly raised 13th U.S. Infantry. He commanded a brigade in the army of Gen. Irvin McDowell and, after fighting well at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, was promoted to brigadier general.
Assigned to provide supplies to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, during his successful operations against Forts Henry and Donelson in February 1862. The two men took an immediate liking to one another. Sherman accompanied Grant's expedition down the Tennessee River where, on April 5-6, 1862, he fought conspicuously at the bloody Battle of Shiloh.
In December, Sherman participated in the decisive Vicksburg Campaign, but Sherman's attack on Chickasaw Bluffs on December 29 was bloodily repulsed. Amidst unfavorable press reports, Sherman was replaced by Gen. John A. McClernand. Swearing he would hang the next reporter that annoyed him, Sherman partially regained his reputation by capturing the batteries of Arkansas Post on January 11, 1863, which further facilitated operations around Vicksburg.
Following Vicksburg's surrender in July, Sherman succeeded Grant as commander of the Army of the Tennessee. He was now responsible for the Civil War in the West and implementing Grant's plan to end the war decisively.
Under the scheme put forward by Grant, Sherman would advance from Chattanooga across Georgia to Atlanta and then Savannah, cutting the Confederacy in half and separating the Upper South from the Deep South. Grant, meanwhile, would advance on Richmond, pinning the redoubtable Confederate general Robert E. Lee to the defense of his capital.
Beginning in May, Sherman, engaged in a masterful game of maneuver. The Union advance convinced Confederate president Jefferson Davis to replace Johnston with the more aggressive John B. Hood, who immediately went on the offensive. Sherman slowly enveloped Atlanta.
When the Confederacy abandoned the city to avoid being trapped, Sherman captured it on September 2 and declared "Atlanta is ours and fairly won."
Sherman then burned Atlanta to deny its use to the enemy, along with substantial public and private property. He subsequently cut his own supply line and advanced on Savannah. During Sherman's March to the Sea, he cut a swath of ruin 60 miles wide across the state, destroying anything that the Confederate Army could use. Savannah fell on December 21, and Sherman presented it to President Abraham Lincoln as a Christmas present. For a second time, Sherman received the gratitude of Congress.
On April 26, soon after Lee's April 9 surrender to Grant essentially brought the war to a close, Johnston surrendered to Sherman at Durham under terms so generous that Radical Republicans in Congress questioned Sherman's loyalty to the Union. Press criticism so angered Sherman that he threatened to boycott the proposed grand victory march in Washington, D.C. if the comments were not retracted.
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