William Tecumseh Sherman :: essays research papers

William Tecumseh Sherman was born onMay 8, 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. He was educated at theU.S. multitude Academy and later went on to become aUnion General in the U.S. civil war. Sherman resigned fromthe army in 1853 and became a partner in a banking firm inSan Francisco. He became the president of the MilitaryCollege in Louisiana(now Louisiana state University) from1859-1861. Sherman offered his services at the outbreak ofthe Civil War in 1861 and was put in command of avolunteer infantry regiment, becoming a brigadier general ofvolunteers after the first Battle of bull run. He led his divisionat the Battle of Shiloh and was thence promoted to majorgeneral of volunteers. Soon after Sherman fought in thebattle of Chattanooga he was made supreme commander ofthe armies in the west. Sherman fought many battles withsuch stack as Ulysses S. tolerate, and against people such asRobert E. Lee before he was commissioned lieutenantgeneral of the regular army. Following Grants election top residency he was promoted to the rank of full general andgiven command of the entire U.S. Army. William Shermanpublished his personal memoirs in 1875, retired in 1883, anddied in 1891. William Tecumseh Sherman, as you have read,was a very(prenominal) talented and very successful man. He isremembered by many accomplishments, but in all likelihood mostremembered by his famous March to the sea. Shermansmarch to the sea was probably the most celebrated militaryaction, in which about sixty thousand men marched withSherman from Atlanta to the Atlantic ocean, then magnetic norththrough South Carolina destroying the move of the southseconomic resources. Bedford Forrest was in Tennessee, andwith Atlanta secured, Sherman dispatched George H.Thomas to Nashville to restore the order there. John B.Hood threatened Thomass supply line, and for about amonth, they both fought north of Atlanta. Sherman decidedto do the complete opposite of what the strategic plan laiddown by Grant six months earl ier had proposed to do. Inthat plan Grant had insisted that Confederate armies werethe first and foremost objectives for Union strategy. WhatSherman decided now was that he would completely ignorethe Confederate armies and go for the "spirit that sustainedthe Confederate country itself", the homes, the property, thefamilies, and the food of the Southern heartland. He wouldmarch for Savannah, Georgia and the seacoast, abandoninghis own line of supply, and live off the land and harvests ofthe Georgia Country. Grant finally approved Shermans plan,so Sherman set off on his march eastward, "smashing thingsto the sea." On November 15, 1864, Sherman began his