William T. Sherman
War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over-William Sherman
General William sherman was a General of the North during the Civil War. He is a very strong willed man who did not like long wars, as you can hear it in the quote above. His highest ranking was a two star general which is a Major General(Historynet). You will hear about his life and time in the Civil War.
William Sherman is one of the greatest military commander of the Civil War for the Union. he was born on February 8, 1820 and died February 14, 1891(Miller Center). Although his job wasn’t always his plan. He was one out of eleven children in his family. He left his family to go live with a senator. The senator signed him for West Point military academy(Miller Center). When the Mexican war came he signed up to be stationed in California because since he had to fight in the war he might as well go to a place where the fighting will be little or none(Miller Center).
After the war he went to Louisiana to be a superintendent at the military academy. However when the war broke out he moved north and was named Colonel of the 13th military infantry(Miller Center). His first battle of the war was Bull Run, even though the south won the battle the president was really impressed with Sherman and gave him a promotion to Brigadier General(Miller Center).
During the war he many times underestimated his enemy. During the battle of Shiloh his division was overrun by Albert Sydney Johnston(miller center). Also during the battle of Shiloh sherman was unable to help the troops at hornets nest because the rebel force was so overwhelming(civilwar.org)
After the battle of Shiloh Sherman moved his west and was appointed commander of all the armies in the western theatre(miller center). At this point in the war sherman was sure that if they needed to preserve the union they have to destroy the south.
Sherman came up with an idea, it was to march from Atlanta Georgia to Savannah Georgia and destroy all of the supplies that the South could possibly use(miller Center). What Sherman thought was if they could frighten georgian civilians out of the confederacy they could possibly win the war.
So on November 15, 1864 Sherman left with 60,000 troops and started the 285 mile march through Georgia. They destroyed all of the supplies they came to and come soldiers carelessly threw torches and burned more than they were supposed to. Sherman also ordered that his soldiers melt the railroad and wrap them around trees, they were named sherman's neckties(history).
Sherman was later named General of the whole army from 1869 to 1883. Then sherman retired from the military and died in 1891(miller center).
My aim then was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us-William Sherman
"William." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations,
n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
"General William Tecumseh Sherman | HistoryNet." HistoryNet. HistoryNet,
n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
"The Battle of Shiloh." Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations,
n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016
"Sherman’s March." History.com. A&E Television Networks,
n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
