Person1820 – 1891

William T. Sherman

Also called: William Tecumseh Sherman

Union general who took Atlanta in 1864 and marched across Georgia to the sea, destroying the South’s means of making war

Losing his father young, he was raised in the household of the politician Thomas Ewing and graduated from West Point. Relieved in Kentucky early in the war after a breakdown, he recovered his standing fighting under Grant at Shiloh and Vicksburg. In 1864 he took Atlanta and marched to the sea, then swept through the Carolinas and in April 1865 received Joseph Johnston’s surrender. He is known for “hard war” aimed at the enemy’s economy and morale, and the saying “War is hell” is attributed to him. After the war, as commanding general of the army, he directed the wars against Native Americans in the West.

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3 related events

1
1862Battle of Shilohcommander
Confederates surprised Grant’s army camped at Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, but reinforced the next day, the Union drove them back; the two days cost more than 23,000 casualties.
2
1863Fall of Vicksburgcommander
Grant’s army besieged the Mississippi River fortress of Vicksburg for 47 days and forced its surrender; the Union gained control of the Mississippi, cutting the Confederacy in two.
3
1864Fall of Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Seacommander
Sherman’s Union army took Atlanta, the South’s rail hub, then marched across Georgia to Savannah on the Atlantic, destroying railways, farms and supplies along the way.

People who appear alongside

Ulysses S. Grant1822 – 1885
Union general who took Vicksburg, became general-in-chief in 1864 and received Lee’s surrender; 18th US president (1869–1877)

Themes this person appears in

The American Civil War1850 – 1865
From the Compromise of 1850 to Lincoln’s assassination — a nation divided over slavery fought four years of civil war, preserving the Union and ending slavery