1820
Born February 8 in New Lancaster (present-day Lancaster), Ohio, sixth child of attorney Charles Robert Sherman (b. 1788) and Mary Hoyt Sherman (b. 1787). Named Tecumseh (Shooting Star) after the Shawnee leader who had been killed in the battle of the Thames in 1813, and called “Cump” by his family. (Parents were both from Norwalk, Connecticut, where they were married in 1810 before moving west. Siblings are Charles Taylor, b. 1811; Mary Elizabeth, b. 1813; James, b. 1814; Amelia, b. 1816; and Julia Ann, b. 1818.)
1822
Brother Lampson born.
1823
Father is elected by the legislature to the Supreme Court of Ohio and begins riding its circuit. Brother John born.
1825
Sherman enters Lancaster Academy, a private school whose curriculum includes Latin, Greek, and French.
1826
Sister Susan born.
1827
Brother Hoyt born.
1829
Sister Fanny born in early May. Father dies, probably from typhoid fever, in Lebanon, Ohio, on June 24. Due to his mother’s straitened finances, Sherman moves into the home of family friends and close neighbors Thomas Ewing (b. 1789), a successful attorney later active in Whig politics, and Maria Boyle Ewing (b. 1801), and their children Philemon (b. 1820), Eleanor (b. 1824, called Ellen), and Hugh Boyle (b. 1826). Thomas Ewing, Jr., born in August.
1830
At the instigation of Maria Boyle Ewing and with his mother’s consent, Sherman is baptized by a Roman Catholic priest, and William is added to his name; he never becomes a practicing Roman Catholic, however. Visits relatives in Mansfield, Ohio, with his mother.
1831
Thomas Ewing is elected to the U.S. Senate (serves until 1837). Brother John moves to Mount Vernon, Ohio, to live with a cousin of their father’s. Sherman hunts rabbits, squirrels, and pigeons.
1833
Notified by Thomas Ewing to prepare to enter the U.S. Military Academy in 1836.
1834
Works during the fall on surveying team for canal in the Hocking Valley of Ohio for fifty cents a day. Forms, with other Lancaster boys, the Lancaster Academical Institute, evidently a reading and discussion society.
1835
Charles Ewing born in March. Sherman works as canal surveyor in the spring. Concentrates studies on mathematics and French in preparation for the military academy. John returns to Lancaster for 18 months.
1836
Travels in May to Washington, D.C., where he visits Senator Ewing, tours the city, and sees President Andrew Jackson. Visits family of William J. Reese, husband of his sister Mary Elizabeth, in Philadelphia, and his uncles Charles and James Hoyt in New York City. Sees first professional theater productions (will attend plays and concerts whenever possible for remainder of his life). Enters the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in June. Studies mathematics and French. Becomes friends with classmates George H. Thomas and Stewart Van Vliet. Begins regular correspondence with Ellen Ewing.
1837
Maria Teresa Ewing born in May. Sherman ranks 5th of 76 cadets in his class academically but 9th overall because of conduct demerits; ranks 124th of 211 cadets in conduct. Spends summer in training encampment. Studies mathematics, French, and drawing.
1838
Ranks 6th of 58 in his class. Rises to 78th of all cadets in conduct. Ranks 7th in mathematics, 4th in French, 1st in drawing. Returns to Lancaster on summer furlough in July. Stays at his mother’s house and begins using some of his cadet pay ($28 per month) to help her financially (support continues until her death). Returns to West Point by way of Niagara Falls. Studies natural philosophy (physics), chemistry, and drawing (including map-making).
1839
Ranks 6th in his class, 115th of all cadets in conduct. Meets Ulysses S. Grant, who enters the academy as a first-year cadet. Studies civil and military engineering, moral philosophy, rhetoric, international and common law, mineralogy and geology, artillery, and infantry tactics.
1840
Graduates 6th of 43 in his class, standing 4th academically. Visits Ellen Ewing at the Academy of the Visitation, a convent school in Georgetown, D.C., before going to Lancaster for a three-month furlough. Commissioned as second lieutenant in Company A, Third Artillery Regiment, with pay of $64 per month. Reports for duty at Governor’s Island, New York, in September and is assigned to Fort Pierce, Florida. Deplores what he considers demagoguery in the presidential campaign between Whig William Henry Harrison and Democrat Martin Van Buren.
1841
Thomas Ewing is appointed secretary of the treasury by William Henry Harrison (serves until September, when he resigns from the Tyler administration). Sherman takes part in expeditions to capture and remove Seminole Indians to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). Assists in the seizure of Coacoochee, a Seminole leader, and about 20 men, which leads to the removal of about 150 men, women, and children. Seeks transfer to western frontier. Promoted to first lieutenant on November 30. Transferred to Company G, Third Artillery Regiment, at Picolata, Florida, 18 miles from St. Augustine.
1842
Company G is transferred in February to Fort Morgan, Mobile, Alabama. Sherman enjoys visiting with wealthy Mobile families. Transferred in June with Companies D and G to Fort Moultrie, five miles from Charleston, South Carolina. Captain Robert Anderson takes command of Company G. Sherman becomes acquainted with many planters’ families, explores much of eastern South Carolina on hunting and fishing trips, and visits North Carolina twice. Briefly takes up painting.
1843
Takes three-month furlough in the autumn. Visits family and friends in Ohio, and discusses marriage with Ellen Ewing. While returning to Charleston in November and December, goes down the Ohio River, stopping at Cincinnati and Louisville, then down the Mississippi River, stopping for a week at both St. Louis and New Orleans. Travels eastward by way of Mobile, Montgomery, Macon, and Savannah.
1844
Receives a letter from Ellen Ewing in February agreeing to marry him. Reports to Colonel Sylvester Churchill, inspector general of the army, in Marietta, Georgia, and begins taking depositions from volunteer soldiers claiming compensation for the loss of horses and equipment during Seminole War. Writes to Thomas Ewing on March 4 asking for his consent to the marriage, which Ewing gives. Rides on horseback by way of Rome, Georgia, to Bellefonte, Alabama, where he takes. depositions for two months, then rides across northern Georgia to Augusta, making topographical sketches and notes on terrain. Reads Blackstone’s Commentaries and considers becoming a lawyer, but decides to remain in the army. Spends autumn at the Augusta arsenal. Writes to John, disapproving of his stump-speaking for Whig candidates but expressing wish that Henry Clay, the Whig nominee, be elected president.
1845
Dislocates shoulder while hunting in January and takes convalescent furlough. Visits Washington and Lancaster, returning to Fort Moultrie in March. Sherman and Ellen Ewing decide to defer their wedding for reasons of her health and his low pay.
1846
Ordered in April to recruiting service in Pittsburgh and arrives there in May. Congress declares war against Mexico, May 11–12. Eager to see active service, Sherman takes his recruits, without authorization, to Newport, Kentucky; the superintendent of the western recruiting service reprimands him and sends him back to Pittsburgh. Ordered to join Company F of the Third Artillery Regiment, assigned to California. Leaves New York aboard the U.S.S. Lexington on July 14; fellow officers onboard include Lieutenants Edward O. C. Ord and Henry W. Halleck. En route to California, the ship stops at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Valparaiso, Chile; Sherman tours both. Reads Washington Irving, Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers and Barnaby Rudge (will read and reread Dickens’ novels throughout his life), Shakespeare, the Bible, and histories of the Protestant Reformation. (Reading at other times includes works by Walter Scott, Robert Burns, Captain Frederick Marryat, Charles Lever, William Makepeace Thackeray, and later, Bret Harte and Mark Twain, as well as British and American histories, scientific and geographic treatises, the Duke of Wellington’s dispatches and other military writings, census and explorers’ reports, and ethnographic studies.)
1847
Arrives at Monterey, California, January 26. Makes scouting trip inland with Ord in February. Meets explorer Captain John C. Fremont. Sails to Los Angeles in May with General Stephen Watts Kearny, military commander in California, and returns to Monterey overland. With Kearny’s departure for the East, Colonel Richard B. Mason becomes civil and military governor of California and names Sherman his assistant adjutant. Goes to Sonoma by way of Yerba Buena (later San Francisco) in July, where he carries out Mason’s order to arrest the mayor the American settlers had illegally elected and to install his replacement, appointed by Mason. Hunts deer, bear, ducks, and geese.
1848
Learns in spring of discovery of gold at sawmill owned by John A. Sutter at Coloma, 45 miles from Sutter’s Fort (later Sacramento), and inspects samples sent to Mason by Sutter. Travels to quicksilver mines near San José with Mason, who adjudicates land title disputes. Meets scout Christopher “Kit” Carson, who has brought the first overland mail to California. Accompanies Mason on an inspection tour of gold fields in the Sacramento Valley during June and July. Drafts an official report, signed by Mason, August 17, on the discovery of gold. Learns in August of the peace treaty ending the Mexican War, which was ratified on May 30; considers the terms too generous to Mexico. Concludes that his military career has been damaged by his having no combat experience. Revisits the gold fields in September and October. Invests $500 in a store at Coloma and earns profit of $1,500.
1849
Becomes adjutant to General Persifor F. Smith, newly arrived commander of the Division of the Pacific, in February. Thomas Ewing becomes secretary of the interior. Sherman accompanies Smith to new headquarters at San Francisco, then returns to Monterey in May because of the high cost of living in the city. Helps transfer division headquarters to Sonoma, then becomes an aide-de-camp to Smith when new adjutant, Major Joseph Hooker, arrives. Takes a two-month furlough and works with Ord as a surveyor for land speculators and ranchers, making $6,000. Invited by Sutter to become his agent for selling city lots in Sacramento. Reads army promotion list, which does not include his name, and writes letter of resignation, but then withdraws it. Attends California constitutional convention in Monterey as Smith’s observer in September and October. Spends the remainder of the autumn in Sacramento, observing the arrival of gold-rush immigrants. Receives orders in San Francisco in late December to take dispatches to New York.
1850
Travels by way of the Isthmus of Panama to New York during January. Reports to General Winfield Scott and then takes dispatches to Washington in February. Lives with Thomas Ewing in the Blair House at 1651 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Reports to President Zachary Taylor on California. Takes a six-month leave of absence. Goes to Philadelphia to visit his sister Mary Elizabeth Reese, who is in financial difficulty, and loans her $1,500. Sees his mother and relatives in Ohio. Returns to Washington and in March attends Senate debates on the Compromise of 1850. Married to Ellen Ewing by Father James Ryder, president of Georgetown College, on the evening of May 1 at the Blair House; the wedding guests include President Taylor, his Cabinet, Senators Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Henry Clay, and Stephen A. Douglas. Travels with his wife to Baltimore, New York, Niagara Falls, and Ohio, returning to Washington on July 1. Attends funeral of President Taylor, who died on July 9. Thomas Ewing resigns from the Cabinet and is chosen to fill the remainder of Thomas Corwin’s term in the U.S. Senate (serves until 1851). Sherman and his wife return to Lancaster, where he is ordered to report to Company C, Third Artillery, commanded by Captain Braxton Bragg, at Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis in September. Ellen, who is pregnant, stays with her family in Lancaster. Receives commission, dated September 27, as captain in the Commissary Corps, with offices in St. Louis. Lives at the Planters’ House hotel.
1851
Daughter Maria Ewing Sherman (“Minnie”) born January 28. (She is baptized and raised a Catholic and educated in Catholic schools, as are all of Sherman’s children.) Sherman returns to Lancaster in March and takes Ellen and Minnie to St. Louis. Leases a house on Chouteau Avenue, near 12th Street. Thomas Ewing visits St. Louis on legal business in June, September, and November; he and Ellen urge Sherman to resign from the army. Purchases small tracts of land in St. Louis and in western Illinois. Suffers acute attacks of asthma (episodes will recur intermittently for the rest of his life). Through his army friend Henry S. Turner, meets James H. Lucas, a wealthy St. Louis property owner and banker.
1852
Receives financial assistance from his brother John and Thomas Ewing. Makes inspection trip to Fort Leavenworth, spending one night in a Shawnee settlement. Ellen, who is again pregnant, returns to Lancaster. Moves to a rented room on Market Street, opposite the courthouse. Ordered in August to become the commissary officer at New Orleans and to eradicate corruption in its depot. Learns in St. Louis on September 30 of the death of his mother in Mansfield, Ohio, September 23. Moves to New Orleans, living in the St. Louis Hotel. Daughter Mary Elizabeth Sherman (“Lizzie”) born November 17. Rents a house on Magazine Street in preparation for the arrival of his family.
1853
Wife and children arrive in New Orleans on January 1. Henry S. Turner visits New Orleans en route to California and offers Sherman the position of manager of Lucas, Turner, & Co., a new bank in San Francisco. Takes six-month leave of absence to provisionally accept Turner’s offer. Ellen and the daughters return to Lancaster in February. Leaves in March for San Francisco by way of Nicaragua. His ship runs aground north of San Francisco on April 9; Sherman goes ashore, finds a schooner that takes him to San Francisco, where it capsizes in the bay; picked up by a small boat, he reaches the city and summons help. Finds San Francisco prosperous and decides to accept the Lucas, Turner offer. Returns by way of Nicaragua to New York, then to St. Louis and Lancaster. Resigns his commission, effective September 6. Travels with Ellen and Lizzie, by way of New York and Nicaragua, to San Francisco, arriving in mid-October; Minnie stays with the Ewings. Operates the bank in a rented office on Montgomery Street between Sacramento and California streets, and rents a house on Stockton Street near Green Street.
1854
Has building constructed for bank at intersection of Montgomery and Jackson streets at cost of $82,000. Estimates the bank’s profits at $10,000 per month. Buys a house on Green Street for $3,500. Agrees to invest money for friends, mostly army officers (eventually invests approximately $130,000 of their funds). Son William Ewing Sherman born June 8. The flight of financier and timber merchant Henry (Honest Harry) Meiggs to South America in October, leaving over $800,000 in unpaid debts, precipitates bankruptcies and the start of financial instability in San Francisco. Family expenses for the year are approximately $13,000; Sherman’s income is $5,000 per year plus 10 percent of the bank’s profits; his personal account in the bank is overdrawn by $8,000 in October. Suffers from severe attacks of asthma, which often prevent sleep. John is elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 13th congressional district of Ohio. Sherman writes to him that slavery should be accepted where it exists, but that it should not and will not be extended to the West.
1855
In February rumors of the failure of St. Louis bankers Page, Bacon & Company lead to a run on its San Francisco branch; when it closes on February 22, runs begin on other banks. Sherman meets all withdrawals from Lucas, Turner on February 23. Buys a lot on Harrison Street between Fremont and First streets, builds a house on it at a total cost of $10,000, and moves into it April 9. Ellen leaves to visit Lancaster on April 17; Lizzie and Willie stay in San Francisco. Gold production declines, and property values, rents, and commercial activity drop in San Francisco. Sherman refuses in May to be the Democratic candidate for city treasurer. Serves as chairman of the Committee to Memorialize Congress for the Building of an Overland Wagon Road to California. Buys stock in and serves as vice-president of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, which lays 22 miles of track eastward from Folsom, California (track later becomes part of the Central Pacific Railroad). Ellen returns to San Francisco on November 29.
1856
Advises John not to speak against slavery in Congress, and predicts that the growing prosperity of the free states will eventually settle the issue. Accepts appointment as major general in the California militia from Governor J. Neely Johnson in early May. After the fatal shooting of newspaper editor James King of William by James Casey on May 14, the San Francisco Vigilance Committee seizes control of the city. Casey, along with Charles Cora, the killer of a U.S. marshal, is hanged by the Committee on May 22, and on June 1 it defies a writ of habeas corpus issued by Judge David S. Terry for the release of a man it had seized. Sherman publishes orders on June 4 summoning the militia in preparation for opposing the Committee. Brigadier General John E. Wool, commander of the Department of the Pacific, refuses to provide arms for the mifitia. Sherman resigns militia commission on June 6. Receives public criticism for opposing the Committee and anticipates that the businessmen who are its main supporters will hurt the business of Lucas, Turner in retaliation. The Vigilance Committee hangs two more men, expels others from the city, and remains the effective government of San Francisco until the fall election. Sherman predicts that continued agitation of the slavery issue will lead to civil war. Moves the offices of Lucas, Turner to Battery Street at Washington Street in October. Son Thomas Ewing Sherman born October 12. Votes for Democrat James Buchanan for president over Republican John C. Fremont and Whig-American Millard Fillmore (the only time Sherman ever votes in a presidential election).
1857
Receives a letter from Turner in January saying that Lucas and Turner have decided to close their bank in San Francisco. Gives notice in the newspapers in April and closes the bank on May 1. Rents house and leaves San Francisco with his family on May 20, traveling to New York by way of Panama with money borrowed from Thomas Ewing. Opens Lucas, Turner, & Company, a bank at 12 Wall Street, on July 21. Rents rooms at 100 Prince Street (wife and children stay with the Ewings in Lancaster). Financial and commercial panic begins on Wall Street on August 24 and soon becomes nationwide. Lucas’s bank in St. Louis closes, and Sherman receives instructions on October 7 to close the New York branch. Works in St. Louis during October and November on the closing of Lucas’s banks. Encounters Ulysses S. Grant, who is living at Hardscrabble, his small farm outside the city. Sherman applies for a commission in the army. Spends part of December with his family in Lancaster, then leaves after Christmas for San Francisco by way of New York.
1858
Arrives in San Francisco January 28. Liquidates the bank’s remaining assets in California and tries to recoup as much as possible of the $13,000 remaining of the investments he had made for friends. Repays entire amount, leaving himself with about $1,000 in savings. Provisionally accepts offer from Thomas Ewing to become manager of his salt works in the Hocking Valley of Ohio. Leaves San Francisco on July 3 and travels to Lancaster. Decides to join Hugh Boyle Ewing and Thomas Ewing, Jr., in a Leavenworth, Kansas, law firm. Goes to Leavenworth in September and is hired by Stewart Van Vliet, now the Fort Leavenworth quartermaster, to superintend repairs on a military road near Fort Riley, Kansas. Manages collections and real estate transactions for the firm, Sherman & Ewing, whose office is on Main Street, between Shawnee and Delaware streets. Becomes a member of the Kansas bar and a notary public. Ellen and the children, except Minnie, arrive in Leavenworth on November 12; family lives in the home of Thomas Ewing, Jr., on the corner of Third and Pottawatomie streets, while the Ewings are away. Hoping to return to St. Louis, considers entering real estate partnerships or opening a grocery there.
1859
Daniel McCook joins the law firm, which becomes Sherman, Ewing, and McCook. Sherman writes a report on the logistics and financing of a transcontinental railroad for John, who arranges for its publication in the Washington National Intelligencer on January 18. Ellen and the children return to Lancaster in March. Clears land owned by Thomas Ewing, Sr., on Indian Creek, 40 miles west of Leavenworth, and builds farm which he works with tenants. Invests $2,000 of his own and $3,340 of Thomas Ewing, Sr.’s, money in the purchase of 7,200 bushels of corn to sell to emigrants on their way to the recently discovered Colorado gold fields, but is left with 4,000 bushels unsold. Decides to leave Leavenworth and writes to Major Don Carlos Buell at the War Department, June 11, seeking position as an army paymaster. Travels to Lancaster. Learns from Buell of the position of superintendent at the newly created Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy and applies for it. Offered banking position in London by Cincinnati banker William R. Roelofson. Accepts offer of the superintendency in August at salary of $3,500 per year. Daughter Eleanor Mary Sherman (“Ellie”) born September 5. Earns $5,600 from sale of house in San Francisco, easing financial pressure. Travels to Louisiana in October. Meets Governor-elect Thomas O. Moore and other members of the Seminary’s board of supervisors, including its vice-chairman, George Mason Graham, half-brother of Richard B. Mason, Sherman’s commander in California. Purchases books and supplies in New Orleans for the Seminary, which is at Pineville, Rapides Parish, near Alexandria. In December John becomes the Republican candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives in a bitter contest dominated by his endorsement of an anti-slavery tract drawn from Hinton Rowan Helper’s The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It (1857). Sherman resolves not to tolerate criticism of his brother while also deploring abolitionist agitation, and tells the board of supervisors that he will accept slavery in the South but not disunion. Writes to Ellen predicting a terrible civil war if the South secedes.
1860
The Louisiana Seminary of Learning and Military Academy opens on January 2 with 56 cadets and faculty of five (later six), including Sherman as professor of engineering. Quells insubordination among the students; five cadets resign or are expelled. Becomes friends with David F. Boyd, professor of ancient languages. John loses contest for Speaker of the House. Roelofson travels to Alexandria in February to renew offer of banking position in London, which would pay $7,500 a year. Sherman works with legislators in Baton Rouge to improve the financing and operation of the Seminary. Reconsiders taking London position; travels to Cincinnati and Lancaster, and finally rejects Roelofson’s offer. Returns to Louisiana, where he hopes to permanently settle his family, but Ellen is reluctant to move there because she fears yellow fever outbreaks and refuses to own slaves (Sherman had written her that it was impossible to hire white servants in the parish). After the Seminary’s examinations, July 30–31, Sherman travels to Lancaster, then to Washington, where he secures from Secretary of War John B. Floyd a promise to ship 200 muskets to the Seminary for the cadets’ use in drill. Goes to New York to purchase uniforms, textbooks, and books for a library, then to Lancaster, where he remains until his return to Louisiana in October for the start of the Seminary’s fall session. After the victory of Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election, November 6, Sherman talks with many people who predict the secession of the Southern states. Receives on December 24 a newspaper reporting the secession of South Carolina on December 20. Weeps and predicts to Boyd a bitter civil war, ending in subjugation of the South.
1861
Deplores the inaction of President Buchanan in the face of secession. Louisiana militiamen seize the federal arsenal and barracks in Baton Rouge on January 10. Submits his resignation on January 18, to take effect when Louisiana secedes. Louisiana state convention votes for secession on January 26. Clears his accounts in New Orleans and goes to Lancaster at the end of February. The Ohio legislature elects John Sherman to the U.S. Senate. Travels to Washington in March and, accompanied by his brother, meets President Lincoln; Sherman is unimpressed. Moves with his family to St. Louis, renting a house at 226 Locust Street. Becomes president of the Fifth Street Railroad, a street railway in which Lucas holds stock, at salary of $2,000 a year. Declines on April 8 offer of the chief clerkship of the War Department. Regards Lincoln’s call on April 15 for 75,000 three-month volunteers as inadequate and rejects proposal that he raise and lead an Ohio regiment. Watches with his son Willie on May 10 as Unionist volunteers escort captured secessionist militia through St. Louis, and takes cover when they open fire on the crowd. Receives commission as colonel of the 13th U.S. Infantry, new regular army regiment, dated May 14. Travels to Washington while Ellen and children go to Lancaster. Assumes command of the Third Brigade, First Division, on June 30. Daughter Rachel born July 5. Commands his brigade in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21, and helps cover the retreat into the fortifications around Washington after the Union defeat. Trains and disciplines his troops. Promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 3. Ordered on August 24 to serve in Kentucky under Brigadier General Robert Anderson as second in command of the Department of the Cumberland. Visits Indianapolis, Indiana, Springfield, Illinois, and St. Louis before reporting to Louisville, Kentucky; finds a shortage of arms for recruits in all these places. Commands 5,000 men at Muldraugh’s Hill, 40 miles south of Louisville. Expects a Confederate attack and a general uprising of pro-Confederate citizens. General Anderson resigns because of ill health, and Sherman assumes command on October 8, with headquarters at Louisville, where he lives in the Galt House hotel. Attempts to exclude newspaper reporters from his department in order to keep military secrets from appearing in the press. Anticipates Confederate attacks in Kentucky and sends dispatches to Lincoln and to the War Department reporting his force at less than 20,000 men and saying that he needs 60,000 men and arms. Cancels planned expedition into East Tennessee to assist Unionists resisting the Confederacy. Stays at the telegraph office until 3 A.M., gets little sleep, smokes cigars constantly, and drinks excessively. Tells Secretary of War Simon Cameron and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas in October that expulsion of the Confederates from Kentucky will require 60,000 men and that a successful offensive in his theater of operations will eventually require 200,000. The adjutant general’s report of this conversation is published in the New-York Tribune, October 30, angering Sherman. Continues to send pessimistic dispatches to Washington. Warns Governor William Dennison of Ohio on November 6 that the Confederates cannot be stopped from overrunning Kentucky if they attack in the numbers reported. Telegraphs Major General George B. McClellan, general-in-chief of the army, asking to be relieved of command. Learns that East Tennessee Unionists have been repressed by Confederate troops, with many arrested and five hanged. Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell succeeds Sherman on November 15, becoming commander of the Department of the Ohio. Reports for duty under Major General Henry W. Halleck, commander of the Department of the Missouri, in St. Louis. Inspects troops at Sedalia, Missouri, and orders them concentrated in anticipation of Confederate attack. Halleck countermands Sherman’s orders, recalls him, and sends him to Lancaster for a 20-day furlough, telling McClellan on December 2 that Sherman is unfit for duty at present. The Cincinnati Commercial reports on December 11 that Sherman is “insane . . . stark mad,” and the charge is repeated in other newspapers. Philemon B. Ewing writes a refutation of the report, which the Commercial prints on December 13. Sherman returns to St. Louis and assumes command of Benton Barracks, a training camp, on December 23.
1862
Tells John in letter on January 4 that his sense of disgrace over having exaggerated Confederate strength in Kentucky has caused him to think of suicide. Ordered on February 13 to take command of the District of Cairo at Paducah, Kentucky. Supervises the forwarding of men and supplies up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant during Grant’s operations against Fort Donelson, which surrenders on February 16, and then in preparation for an advance against Corinth, Mississippi. Assumes command of the Fifth Division, Army of the Tennessee, on March 1. Arrives with his division at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, on March 15. Grant (now a major general) arrives in nearby Savannah, Tennessee, on March 17 and directs Sherman to organize the reinforcements arriving at Pittsburg Landing. Sherman commands his division and rallies troops from other units during repeated Confederate assaults on the first day of the battle of Shiloh, April 6, withdrawing his line toward the Tennessee River twice and sustaining a slight wound in the hand. Participates in the Union counterattack on April 7 by the combined armies of Grant and Buell, ending in Confederate withdrawal toward Corinth. Newspapers generally praise Sherman for his battlefield leadership but attack Grant for falling victim to a surprise attack and sustaining heavy casualties; Sherman defends Grant in public and private letters. Halleck assumes command at Pittsburg Landing and begins advancing on Corinth. Sherman is promoted to major general of volunteers on May 1. Recommends Captain Philip H. Sheridan, who had known Ewing family in Ohio, for appointment as colonel of an Ohio regiment (recommendation is rejected, and Sheridan becomes commander of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry). Confederates evacuate Corinth May 29–30. Advises Grant not to take leave of absence despite Halleck’s having put him in the powerless position of second-in-command; Grant is restored to command of the Army of the Tennessee on June 10. Commands the Fourth and Fifth Divisions in repairing the railroad between Grand Junction and Memphis, Tennessee, in June and July. Assumes command of the District of Memphis on July 21 and reinstates the city’s civilian government under his supervision. Oversees the feeding and employing of fugitive slaves, sends expeditions against guerrillas, and permits, under orders from Washington, the purchase of cotton by agents from the North. Has Randolph, Tennessee, burned on September 24 in reprisal for guerrillas’ firing on a boat in the Mississippi River. Issues Special Order Number 254 on September 27, announcing that ten families of Confederate soldiers or sympathizers will be expelled from Memphis for each boat fired on. After guerrillas fire on four boats, Sherman orders on October 18 the expulsion of 40 families from the city and the destruction of all houses, farms, and cornfields on the Arkansas bank of the Mississippi River for 15 miles downriver from Memphis. Confers with Grant in Oxford, Mississippi, on December 8, and is ordered to move against Vicksburg with four divisions, while Grant advances along the Mississippi Central Railroad against the Confederate forces under Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton. Leaves Memphis with about 100 transport vessels on December 19 and proceeds downriver, unaware that the Confederate raid on the supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi, on December 20 has induced Grant to turn back and has freed Pemberton to reinforce Vicksburg. Reaches the Yazoo River, north of Vicksburg, on December 26, and goes up it to face Confederate defenses on the bluffs above Chickasaw Bayou. Attacks with approximately 30,000 men on December 29; the assault fails. Plans further offensive moves, but cancels them due to heavy rains and increasing Confederate strength.
1863
Reembarks his troops on transports and returns to the Mississippi River on January 2. Many newspapers denounce Sherman for the assault at Chickasaw Bayou and renew the accusation that he is insane. Major General John A. McClernand, a former Illinois congressman, arrives and assumes command on January 4, and Sherman becomes commander of the 15th Army Corps under him. Plans attack on Fort Hindman, 50 miles up the Arkansas River, and leads troops under McClernand in assault on the fort, which surrenders January 11. Grant orders McClernand’s force downriver to Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana, about 15 miles above Vicksburg, and assumes personal command of the Vicksburg expedition. Sherman writes John that suffrage among men of military age should be restricted to soldiers. Arrests Thomas W. Knox, a New York Herald reporter who had severely criticized the Chickasaw Bayou attack, on January 31 and has him court-martialed for publishing military news without permission, publishing false accusations against army officers, and violating Sherman’s order that excluded reporters from the Vicksburg expedition in December 1862. Sherman testifies at his trial as the sole prosecution witness. On February 18 Knox is convicted of the third charge and expelled from the army’s lines. Sherman has his troops work on canal across bend in the river bank opposite Vicksburg designed to let boats pass downriver out of range of Confederate artillery. Commands three regiments in support of Acting Rear Admiral David D. Porter’s unsuccessful attempt to open a route through the Mississippi Delta, by way of Steele’s Bayou, to the Yazoo River east of Vicksburg, March 16–27. Resumes digging canal until heavy rains and rising water force its abandonment. Advises Grant to take the army back to Memphis and to approach Vicksburg overland along the line of the Mississippi Central Railroad; instead, Grant has Porter run his fleet past the Confederate guns on April 16 and then marches with most of his army down the west bank of the Mississippi below Vicksburg. Sherman feints an attack on Vicksburg’s northern defenses with ten regiments on April 29 as a diversion from Grant’s crossing of the Mississippi, then marches his men below Vicksburg and crosses near Grand Gulf, Mississippi, on May 7. Joins Grant, McClernand’s 13th Corps, and Major General James B. McPherson’s 17th Corps in march toward Jackson, Mississippi, during which the troops supply themselves by foraging on the countryside. Jackson falls on May 14. Sherman’s corps destroys railroads, the arsenal, and factories in the town on May 15–16. Commands the 15th Corps in a skirmish pushing Confederates west from the Big Black River on May 17. Begins, with McClernand and McPherson, the investment of Vicksburg on May 18. The three corps mount an assault against the Vicksburg defenses on May 19, which fails; Grant orders a second assault on May 22, which also fails. On June 17 and 18 Sherman and McPherson strongly protest McClernand’s publication of a self-congratulatory order in the newspapers without authorization. Grant, already unhappy with McClernand’s performance, removes him from command on June 18 and appoints Major General Edward O. C. Ord as his successor. Sherman commands three divisions at the Big Black River, guarding the Union rear against Confederate forces under General Joseph E. Johnston, from June 20 until the fall of Vicksburg on July 4. Commands the 15th, the 13th, and the recently arrived 9th Army Corps in pursuit of Johnston to Jackson; Johnston abandons the town on July 16. Sherman destroys railroads and warehouses in Jackson and then breaks off the pursuit due to the extreme heat and drought of summer. Returns to his camps on the west bank of the Big Black River and remains there during July, August, and September. Promoted to brigadier general in the regular army, dating from July 4. Ellen and the four oldest children arrive in camp on August 14, remaining until September 28. Begins, on September 25, to send troops to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to reinforce the Army of the Cumberland after its defeat in the battle of Chickamauga, September 19–20. Son Willie contracts typhoid fever and dies in Memphis on October 3. While en route by train to Corinth, Mississippi, on October 11, Sherman and 600 men hold off an attack by approximately 3,000 Confederates at Collierville, Tennessee, until the approach of Union reinforcements causes the Confederates to leave. Continues to move eastward through northern Mississippi and Alabama. Learns on October 24 that Grant, now commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi, has given him command of the Army of the Tennessee. Reaches Chattanooga on November 15. Crosses the Tennessee River with four divisions on the night of November 23–24 to threaten the right flank of General Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee, entrenched along Missionary Ridge overlooking Chattanooga. Advances on the Confederate right on November 24 but finds that the position he has occupied is separated from Missionary Ridge by a ravine. Attacks Tunnel Hill, the north end of Missionary Ridge, on November 25. Makes little headway, but troops of the Army of the Cumberland under Major General George H. Thomas break the Confederate center, and Bragg’s men retreat into northwest Georgia. Marches to Knoxville, Tennessee, which is besieged by Confederates under Lieutenant General James Longstreet. Sherman’s cavalry reaches Knoxville on December 3; the Confederates withdraw toward Virginia. Marches to Bridgeport, Alabama, and disposes his troops in winter quarters in northern Alabama and southern Tennessee. Arrives in Lancaster December 25 and spends a week with his family.
1864
Takes Minnie to Mount Notre Dame, a convent school at Reading, Ohio. Arrives in Memphis on January 10. Organizes a force of 25,000 men to march into central Mississippi. Orders Brigadier General William Sooy Smith to leave Memphis with 7,000 cavalry and destroy the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, defeat the smaller force of Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, then meet Sherman at Meridian, Mississippi. Marches to Meridian from Vicksburg, February 3–14, destroying the railroad, doing extensive damage to property, and fighting five skirmishes en route. Destroys Confederate supply depot, an arsenal, gristmills, cotton, and railroads at Meridian, February 14–20; Smith never arrives due to unsuccessful fighting with Forrest. Returns to Vicksburg, followed by hundreds of former slaves. Mother-in-law Maria Boyle Ewing dies February 20. On February 21 Congress passes a joint resolution of thanks to Sherman and his men for the march to Chattanooga and the battle of Missionary Ridge. Confers with Major General Nathaniel P. Banks in New Orleans, March 2–3, and agrees to lend Banks 10,000 soldiers for use in the Red River campaign. Travels to Nashville to confer with Grant, who has been made general-in-chief of the Union army, on March 17. Assumes command of the Military Division of the Mississippi on March 18. Confers with Grant in Cincinnati, where they plan the spring campaign—Grant to move against the Army of Northern Virginia while in Georgia Sherman simultaneously moves against the Army of Tennessee. Organizes logistical system to build reserves of supplies for the Union forces in northern Georgia. Arranges for the newspaper publication of a letter in which he warns Southern civilians of the severe consequences of continued rebellion. Begins the Atlanta campaign May 7, advancing along the railroad line that runs from Chattanooga to Atlanta. Commands approximately 100,000 men divided into the Army of the Tennessee (McPherson), the Army of the Cumberland (Thomas), and the Army of the Ohio (Major General John Schofield), facing the Army of Tennessee (General Joseph E. Johnston), which numbers approximately 40,000 (later reinforced to about 60,000). Sends McPherson around the left of the Confederate defenses west of Dalton, Georgia, on May 9. Johnston withdraws to Resaca on the night of May 12. Assaults Johnston’s line, May 14–15. Sends a cavalry division to threaten the railroad in the Confederates’ rear. Johnston withdraws to Cassville, May 16, and then to Allatoona Pass, May 19. Sherman begins moving away from the railroad on May 23 in attempt to outflank the Confederate positions, resulting in heavy fighting at New Hope Church, May 25, and at Pickett’s Mill, May 27. Moves back to the rail line by steady skirmishing and entrenching. Obstructs efforts of Northern recruiting agents to fill their state quotas by enlisting Southern blacks. Son Charles Celestine Sherman born June 11. Orders Union commanders at Memphis to devastate the areas of western Tennessee and northern Mississippi that support the cavalry raids of Forrest. Johnston falls back through a series of new defensive positions until his army reaches Kenesaw Mountain, near Marietta, on June 18. Sherman orders assault on the center of the Confederate line, June 27, which is repulsed. Sends McPherson around the left flank of the Confederate position, July 1–2. Johnston withdraws to fortifications on the north bank of the Chattahoochee River. Sherman sends Schofield across the Chattahoochee up-river from Johnston’s position. Johnston withdraws into the fortifications of Atlanta, July 9, and is removed from command and replaced by General John B. Hood on July 17. Hood orders assaults on the Army of the Cumberland, July 20, and the Army of the Tennessee, July 22, both of which are repulsed; McPherson is killed on July 22. Major General John A. Logan, a volunteer officer and former Illinois congressman, assumes temporary command of the Army of the Tennessee until Sherman names Major General Oliver O. Howard, a West Point graduate, as McPherson’s replacement on July 24. Orders cavalry raids to cut the rail line into Atlanta from Macon, which fail in the last week of July. Directs Howard to march south to cut the rail line; Howard encounters and repulses a Confederate attack at Ezra Church, July 28. Writes a widely published letter to a Massachusetts recruiting agent, July 30, opposing the recruitment of blacks into the Union army on the grounds that they are not the equal of white soldiers, that their use offends white soldiers, that their enlistment allows Northern states to reduce the number of whites they must conscript to fulfill their draft quotas, and that they are better used as paid construction laborers with the armies in the field. Maintains continuous artillery fire into Atlanta and extends entrenchments toward the Atlanta–Macon rail line. Refuses on August 12 to give Indiana troops, who are not allowed to vote in the field, a furlough to go home to vote in state elections. Promoted to major general in the regular army on August 12. Orders another cavalry raid on the rail line, August 18–22, which also fails. Moves his army south of Atlanta, August 25–30, to cut the rail line. Repulses Lieutenant General William J. Hardee’s corps in fighting near Jonesboro, Georgia, August 31–September 1. Hood evacuates Atlanta on September 1 and Union forces enter September 2. Sherman’s telegram announcing city’s capture is widely quoted (“Atlanta is ours and fairly won”), and the victory revives hopes of Lincoln’s supporters for his reelection. Orders expulsion of all civilians from Atlanta so it can be held solely as a military depot; his subsequent correspondence with Hood and the mayor of Atlanta debating the morality of the order is widely printed and praised in the North. Conveys to Governor Joseph E. Brown a proposal to restrain damage to civilian property in Georgia in return for Brown’s withdrawing Georgia troops from the Confederate army; the proposal is not acted on. Hood breaks Sherman’s supply line on the Chattanooga–Atlanta rail-road, October 2–4, but is repulsed by the Union garrison at Allatoona Pass, October 5. Skirmishing continues as Hood moves westward toward Alabama. Proposes to Grant on October 9 a destructive march across Georgia to Savannah. Pursues Hood as far as Gaylesville, Alabama, where Sherman stays, October 21–28. After corresponding with Sherman, Grant approves the march across Georgia, November 2. Sherman orders reinforcements to Nashville, where Thomas will command two corps against Hood, leaving four corps (approximately 60,000 men) under his command in Georgia. Leaves Atlanta on November 16, destroying railroads, factories, and part of the city. Accompanies the left wing of his army as it feints toward Augusta, while the right wing threatens Macon, destroying or confiscating railroads, government buildings, cotton gins, crops, livestock, and much private property. Converging at the state capital, Milledgeville, on November 23, the two wings march toward Savannah at the rate of about ten miles a day, continuing devastations across a path 50–60 miles wide, and fighting skirmishes with Confederate cavalry and militia. Many former slaves follow the army eastward. Sherman’s forces reach the outskirts of Savannah on December 10. Orders assault on Fort McAllister December 13; its fall opens a supply line to naval vessels offshore. Summons Hardee to surrender the garrison on December 17, threatening to destroy Savannah and show no quarter if he resists. Hardee refuses, then evacuates Savannah and moves into South Carolina on December 20–21. Sherman enters Savannah, where he learns on December 24 that Thomas has decisively defeated Hood outside Nashville on December 15–16. Learns from a New York newspaper that his son Charles had died on December 4 (had previously been told that the baby was ill).
1865
Receives on January 2 Grant’s approval for his proposed march north through the Carolinas. Congress passes on January 10 a joint resolution of thanks for the Atlanta campaign and march to the sea. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton arrives in Savannah on January 11 to dispose of captured cotton, to confer with Sherman and with black leaders, and to investigate charges that Sherman and other officers had been cruel to black refugees. Sherman defends as militarily necessary Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis’s decision to take up his pontoon bridge at Ebenezer Creek during the march to Savannah, leaving many refugees behind (newspapers had reported that hundreds of refugees had subsequently either drowned trying to cross the creek or been reenslaved by the Confederates). Issues Special Field Order Number 15, January 16, reserving a coastal strip 30 miles wide from Charleston to St. John’s River, Florida, for the use of blacks and granting possessory tide of 40-acre plots to families that settle there. Issues orders on January 19 for the march to Goldsboro, North Carolina. Begins main advance on February 1, sending the left wing toward Augusta and the right wing toward Charleston to mask his intention to go to Columbia. Despite heavy rains, swollen rivers, and intermittent skirmishing, the columns average ten miles per day. Destruction of homes and property is more severe than in Georgia. Enters Columbia on February 17. On the night of February 17–18 much of central Columbia is destroyed by fire and looted by soldiers; Sherman and other soldiers try to control fires. Orders destruction of arsenals, munitions, and other government facilities in Columbia. Leaves Columbia on February 20, the army continuing northward in a path usually about 30 miles wide. Reaches Fayetteville, North Carolina, on March 11 and orders destruction of its arsenal. Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston, numbering approximately 21,000, attack the left wing of Sherman’s army near Bentonville, North Carolina, on March 19 and are repulsed. Prepares on March 20 to move his whole force against Johnston, who withdraws on the night of March 21. Reaches Goldsboro on March 23, establishing a supply line to the coast and joining up with forces under Schofield, giving him total command of 89,000 men. Travels to City Point, Virginia, on March 27 and meets with Lincoln, Grant, and Porter, planning the spring offensive and discussing possible terms of Southern surrender. Returns to Goldsboro on March 31. Learns on April 6 of the fall of Richmond on April 3 and the westward retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia, pursued by Grant. Begins march west in pursuit of Johnston on April 10. Learns on April 12 of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9. Enters Raleigh on April 13. Receives Johnston’s proposal of a cease-fire on April 14. Learns en route to meet Johnston on April 17 that Lincoln was assassinated on April 14. Meets with Johnston outside Durham, North Carolina, April 17–18. Sherman drafts on April 18 an agreement, which he and Johnston sign, entailing not only the military surrender of all Confederate forces but also political terms of peace, including recognition of existing Southern state governments, guarantees of political rights, and a general amnesty. President Andrew Johnson and his Cabinet reject the agreement on April 21, and send Grant to North Carolina. Grant arrives in Raleigh on April 24 and orders Sherman to demand Johnston’s surrender on the same terms given to the Army of Northern Virginia; Sherman receives Johnston’s surrender on April 26. Sherman learns that Stanton has published a report implying that he had been willfully insubordinate and possibly disloyal in his negotiations with Johnston. Many newspapers denounce Sherman in the following days and some again question his sanity. Travels to Savannah by boat and makes arrangements for the supply of Union forces in Georgia and the feeding of destitute civilians, then goes to Richmond, where he meets his army on May 9. Marches with them to Alexandria, Virginia, viewing en route the major battlefields in Virginia. Watches the grand review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington on May 23. Leads the grand review of the western armies on May 24. Refuses to shake Stanton’s hand on the reviewing stand. Travels to New York on May 31, visits West Point on June 5, and attends the Sanitary Fair in Chicago on June 9; enthusiastic crowds greet him at many places. Declares his opposition to granting the franchise to blacks and deprecates reconstruction measures designed to change the South, stating that there are not enough troops to occupy it for long, that Southern attitudes cannot be changed by force, and that blacks and poor whites are incapable of ruling Southern states. Bids farewell at Louisville on July 4 to four corps of his army, who are about to be mustered out. Receives orders in Lancaster assigning him to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi (renamed the Military Division of the Missouri in 1866), which includes the area from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains between the Canadian and Mexican borders, excluding Texas. Moves with his family to St. Louis, living at 912 Garrison Avenue. Travels to Omaha, Nebraska, and Leavenworth, Kansas, in September and October to inspect the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. Recommends that the control of Indian affairs be transferred from the Interior Department to the War Department (continues to recommend this change often in the following years, but it is never approved). Prepares extensive report on his wartime operations, and makes inspection tour of Arkansas.
1866
Visits Washington, D.C., in February. Supports President Johnson’s veto of the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill. Oversees the army’s regulation of wagon traffic across the Great Plains, protecting a limited number of routes because of troop shortages, and gives priority to the construction of the transcontinental railroad, which he considers the key to controlling the West. Makes inspection tour through eastern Nebraska and Minnesota, May–June. Visits Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, and receives honorary LL.D. degree from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, on July 25. Promoted to lieutenant general on July 25, ranking second after Grant, who is promoted to general. Strength of army is set by act of Congress at approximately 54,000 men. Makes inspection tour through Wyoming and Colorado, August–October. Confers on Indian situation with Kit Carson at Fort Garland in southern Colorado. Recommends restricting Plains Indians to reservations north of the Platte River and south of the Arkansas River in order to keep them away from the main transcontinental travel routes. In October President Johnson orders Sherman to Washington and Grant to accompany Lewis D. Campbell on a diplomatic mission to establish relations with President Benito Juarez of Mexico. Grant refuses to go and Sherman takes his place, leaving New York on November 10. Visits Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Matamoros without finding Juarez and then goes to New Orleans, arriving December 20. Advocates harsh measures against the Sioux after Captain William J. Fetterman and 80 of his men are killed in battle in northwestern Wyoming on December 21.
1867
Son Philemon Tecumseh Sherman (“Cump”) born January 9. Plans offensives against northern and southern Plains tribes and cautions commanders against killing unresisting Indians (attacks are later curtailed to allow for new peace efforts). Resists calls for raising volunteer troops in the West, considering them undisciplined. Reads John William Draper’s Thoughts on the Future Civil Policy of America, A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, and the recently published first volume of his History of the American Civil War. Gives Draper source material, reminiscences, and critical readings for Volumes II (published 1868) and III (published 1870); Draper urges Sherman to write his memoirs. Appointed in July to the seven-man military and civilian Peace Commission to negotiate with western Indians. Meets Sioux and Northern Cheyenne leaders in Dakota Territory, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Warns them that they must make permanent settlements and become an agricultural people. Ordered to Washington in October by President Johnson. Declines to become secretary of war and advises Johnson to seek support of moderates in Congress. Rejects suggestions that he remain in Washington and returns to St. Louis. Travels to Washington in December to serve with Major General Philip H. Sheridan and Brigadier General Christopher C. Augur on a commission that is to review the articles of war and army regulations.
1868
Declines again to become secretary of war, as Johnson tries to remove Stanton from the office against the will of the Senate. Commission recommends in February that the army’s independent administrative bureaus and staff corps be placed under the control of the commanding general. Sherman returns to St. Louis in February and resists Johnson’s proposal to give him the rank of brevet general and create a command that would put him in Washington; threatens to resign his commission. Called as a defense witness at the impeachment trial of Johnson and testifies about Johnson’s attempts to make him secretary of war, April 11–13. Travels with peace commissioners to meet Sioux leaders in Wyoming and Navajos and Utes in New Mexico. Attends meeting of the Peace Commission in Chicago in October and wins majority approval for policy of confining Indians on reservations and ending their treatment as separate, independent nations under the law. Approves Sheridan’s plan for winter offensive against the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho who had raided in Kansas and Colorado during the summer. Grant wins the presidential election on November 3.
1869
Visits Seminary at Pineville, near Alexandria, Louisiana, and finds his portrait hanging in the main hall. Moves to Washington in February, accepting a group of businessmen’s gift of a house at 205 I Street, NW, which had previously belonged to Grant (Ellen and the children join him in April). Promoted to general and becomes commanding general of the army on March 5; Sheridan succeeds him as commander of the Division of the Missouri. Grant’s General Order Number 11 of March 8 places army administrative bureaus and staff corps, as well as line units, under the control of the commanding general, and specifies that all orders will go through Sherman. Grant’s long-time friend and aide, John A. Rawlins, becomes secretary of war on March 11. With the encouragement of members of Congress, Rawlins induces Grant to rescind the order on March 26, restoring the independence of bureaus and staff corps from the commanding general. Sherman disapproves of Grant’s policy of assigning supervision of Indian reservations to religious denominations. Listens in the War Office on May 10 to the telegraphic signal triggered by the driving of the spike that completes the transcontinental railroad. Declines financier Jay Cooke’s offer of a one-percent share in the Northern Pacific Railroad for $2,500. Delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy. Rawlins dies on September 6 and Sherman serves as secretary of war until the confirmation in October of William Worth Belknap, who had commanded a brigade in Sherman’s army during the war. On September 22, Thomas Ewing collapses while arguing a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, beginning long period of declining health. Sherman is elected president of the Society of the Army of the Tennessee at the annual reunion in Louisville, November 17–18 (is reelected annually for the rest of his life and will regularly attend its reunions, as well as those of other Union veterans’ groups).
1870
Defends army attack on Piegan village in Montana in which 120 men and 53 women and children were killed. Denounces in March the army bill sponsored by Illinois congressman John A. Logan, which in its final form cuts the enlisted strength of the army from 54,000 to 30,000 men and reduces Sherman’s pay and allowances from $18,700 to $16,500 per year. Protests Belknap’s practice of making appointments and issuing orders through the adjutant general’s office without consulting him. Privately deplores Grant’s susceptibility to the influence of corrupt politicians. Complains that the office of commanding general has been made a sinecure and speaks of resigning.
1871
Becomes regent of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. (serves until 1874, and again from 1879 to 1885). Visits New Orleans in April on the way to Texas. Gives a speech critical of Republican Reconstruction policies and suggests that reports of Ku Klux Klan activity have been exaggerated. Several Southern newspapers, as well as the New York Herald, endorse Sherman for the presidency, but he publicly disavows interest in the nomination of either party. Learns at Fort Richardson, Texas, during inspection trip in May, of a Kiowa attack on a wagon train in which seven teamsters were killed. Goes to Fort Sill, Indian Territory, arrests Kiowa leaders Satanta, Big Tree, and Satank during armed confrontation on May 27, and has them sent to Texas for civil trial. Returns to Washington and considers moving his headquarters to St. Louis. Orders army protection for surveying crews of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Thomas Ewing, Sr., dies on October 26. Leaves New York, November 11, for a tour of Europe and the Mediterranean.
1872
Travels through Spain, France, Italy, Malta, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, Scotland, and Ireland. Attends operas and concerts and tours battlefields, including those of the Crimean and the Franco-Prussian wars. Returns to the United States in September. Grant is reelected president on November 5.
1873
Begins writing his memoirs. Recommends in February the abrogation of the 1868 treaty with the Sioux, which had allowed them to hunt buffalo in northern Wyoming and Montana, and their confinement to the vicinity of the Missouri River in Dakota Territory. Endorses severe retaliation against resisting Modoc Indians in northeastern California after their leader Kintpuash (Captain Jack) kills Brigadier General Edward R. S. Canby, who had served with Sherman in California, during a truce meeting on April 11. (Kintpuash and three other Modocs are later hanged, and 155 prisoners are sent to the Indian Territory.) Submits a brief annual report, November 7, saying that no part of the army is under his immediate control and that all command and responsibility belong to Secretary of War Belknap. Divides his house in two and rents out one half to reduce the expense of living and entertaining in Washington.
1874
Testifies before the House Committee on Military Affairs in January. Opposes further reduction in the enlisted strength of the army from 30,000 to 25,000 and tells the committee that Belknap is its real commander. Congress reduces the army by 5,000. Asks Grant to define the extent of the commanding general’s authority, but Grant does not do so. On May 8 requests approval to move his headquarters to St. Louis, which Grant gives. Belknap retains control over assignment of commanders and movement of troops, as well as bureaus and staff corps. Daughter Maria marries Lieutenant Thomas W. Fitch, U.S. Navy, on October 1. Sells the house on I Street, NW, and moves to 912 Garrison Avenue in St. Louis in October, establishing an office at the intersection of Locust and 10th streets. Son Thomas graduates from Georgetown College and enters the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College.
1875
Completes his memoirs, dating the dedication January 21; they are published as Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman. By Himself, in two volumes by D. Appleton & Company in May and sell 10,000 copies before the end of the month. Receives many letters of praise, as well as letters of criticism and correction. Orville Babcock, Grant’s personal secretary, employs Washington journalist Henry Van Ness Boynton, a veteran of the Army of the Cumberland, to write an attack on the memoirs and on Sherman’s war record with the aid of official documents copied by War Department clerks. Boynton’s work appears first as series of newspaper articles, then as a book, Sherman’s Historical Raid; The Memoirs in the Light of the Record, and accuses Sherman of being “intensely egotistical” and of unfairly slighting or blaming Grant, Thomas, Buell, Stanton, and many of his subordinates. Sherman provides criticisms of Boynton’s work to Charles William Moulton, who writes a pamphlet rebuttal of it, The Review of General Sherman’s Memoirs Examined Chiefly in the Light of Its Own Evidence. Sherman’s first grandchild, William Sherman Fitch, born June 24. Sends Lieutenant Colonel Emory Upton, instructor in tactics at West Point, on a two-year inspection tour of foreign armies (tour results in Upton’s book The Armies of Asia and Europe, published in 1878, which recommends a modified version of Prussian organization and training for the U.S. Army). Privately criticizes Grant’s administration as a failure and censures Republican Reconstruction policies, including the enfranchisement of blacks. Repeatedly says that he will not accept nomination for the presidency. Considers revising Memoirs in response to his critics, but decides against it.
1876
Testimony to the House Special Committee on Expenditures in the War Department in February reveals that Belknap and his family had received money from army post traders in return for their appointments. Belknap resigns as secretary of war on March 2. Alphonso Taft, the new secretary of war, issues orders on April 6 recalling Sherman to Washington and specifying that all military orders will go through Sherman, who will also control the adjutant general’s and inspector general’s departments. Army begins campaign to force the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne onto their reservation; Sherman expresses concern that the Indians will not stand and fight, leading to a long and inconclusive pursuit. Family moves to Washington in May, living in several suites at the Ebbitt House hotel. Attends Thomas’s commencement at Yale and receives an honorary LL.D. degree on June 29. Learns in early July of the 7th Cavalry’s defeat in Montana on June 25 by the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne in the battle of the Little Big Horn, ending in the deaths of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and 262 of his men. Sherman refuses to use civilian volunteers for war against the Sioux. Congress authorizes an increase of 2,500 in the army’s strength. Orders offensive to resume (campaign continues until surrender of surviving Indians in 1877). Thomas enters the St. Louis Law School of Washington University and manages Sherman’s Missouri investments for him. Privately disapproves of continued use of federal troops to support Republican state administrations in the South. The presidential election between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden on November 7 ends in a disputed electoral count. Sherman privately deplores the prospect of victory by Tilden. Orders troops to Washington to quell any disturbances during the resolution of the presidential election.
1877
Grant threatens to declare martial law in the event of violent action by political protestors. Joint session of Congress accepts on March 2 decision of electoral commission declaring that Hayes received a majority of the electoral votes. John Sherman becomes secretary of the treasury in Hayes’s Cabinet. Hayes returns troops supporting Republican state governments in Louisiana and South Carolina to their barracks in April, ending the army’s role in Southern politics. Sherman takes son Thomas on an inspection trip through the Northwest and California. Praises the military skill and humane conduct toward white settlers shown by the Nez Percé during their resistance to resettlement on an Idaho reservation and subsequent 1,000-mile flight across the Northwest, July–October. Orders the Nez Percé sent to Indian Territory. Privately criticizes Congress for failing to make an army appropriation until November and for opposing the use of troops in violent labor disputes.
1878
Continues to oppose reduction in the army’s strength as Congress considers its reorganization. Thomas graduates from law school, May 13, and tells his father in a letter, May 20, that he intends to enter a Jesuit seminary in England and become a priest. Sherman reacts bitterly to his son’s decision, accusing Thomas of deserting the family, and writes many private letters denouncing the Roman Catholic Church and its clergy. Delivers the commencement address at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) on June 19. Ellen, after a visit to Thomas in St. Louis and to Maria in Lancaster, moves to Baltimore with Rachel and Philemon, and writes to Sherman angrily about the social demands placed on her by his position. Sherman continues to live at the Ebbitt House hotel in Washington. Reports to Secretary of War George W. McCrary after an inspection tour of the West that new settlement is proceeding rapidly, that the buffalo have been nearly exterminated, and that the government’s provisions for Indians confined on reservations are dangerously inadequate.
1879
Travels across the South, January–March, from Savannah and St. Augustine in the east to New Orleans and Baton Rouge in the west. Writes a letter, February 4, at the request of Evan P. Howell of The Atlanta Constitution, describing his courteous reception in the South and encouraging investment and setdement in Atlanta, eastern Tennessee, and northern Georgia and Alabama; it is reprinted in other Southern newspapers. Receives title Duke of Louisiana during Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans and has friendly meeting with John B. Hood. Visits Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge (the successor to the Seminary near Alexandria, which burned down in October 1869 and was then relocated). Continues north by way of Vicksburg and Jackson. Rents a house in Washington on 15th Street, NW, near H Street; Ellen and the younger children move in with him.
1880
Sherman renews controversy with journalist Henry Van Ness Boynton when he tells the Cleveland Leader in January that Boynton slanders for pay. Boynton asks Hayes to court-martial Sherman, but Hayes refuses, and Boynton does not file civil suit for libel or slander. Daughter Eleanor marries Lieutenant Alexander M. Thackara, U.S. Navy, on May 5. Attends veterans’ reunion in Columbus, Ohio, on August 11 and says in his speech, “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” Thomas Sherman arrives in Washington in the last week of August and is reconciled with his father, who continues to regret Thomas’s decision to become a priest. Travels with Hayes, August–November, across the Northwest to Seattle, Washington, south through Oregon and California, and across the Southwest. Defends investigation conducted by Major General John Schofield of alleged assault upon Johnson C. Whittaker, the only black cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, which concludes that Whittaker’s injuries had been self-inflicted. Sherman denies that there is more racial prejudice at West Point than elsewhere and that the academy is an undemocratic institution. Recommends against keeping black soldiers only in separate all-black regiments, which he considers contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment. Angered by Hayes’s decision to forcibly retire Edward O. C. Ord in order to promote Nelson A. Miles to brigadier general.
1881
John Sherman is returned to the U.S. Senate from Ohio, January 18. Sherman orders on May 7 the establishment of the School of Application for Infantry and Cavalry at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (school later becomes the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College). Publicly criticizes inaccuracies in Jefferson Davis’s The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. President James A. Garfield is fatally wounded on July 2; Sherman orders troops to guard the jail in which the assassin, Charles J. Guiteau, is held and to patrol Washington. Visits Atlanta in November to see the International Cotton Exposition, to which he had subscribed $2,000. Speaks to the Georgia Mexican Veterans Association in Atlanta.
1882
Makes an inspection trip through the Southwest to Los Angeles, March–April. Declines offer from some members of Congress that he be exempted from the provisions of a new law requiring army officers to retire at age 64. Visits Montreal in September. Praises the Southern Pacific Railroad as an influence for settlement and for suppression of Indian resistance in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. President Chester A. Arthur decides on army promotions to general officer rank without consulting Sherman.
1883
Orders Brigadier General George Crook to pursue and destroy, without regard to departmental or international boundaries, the Apaches who raided from Mexico into Arizona and New Mexico in March. With Mexican permission, Crook moves into Sierra Madre with force of Apache scouts and regular cavalry and successfully negotiates with Geronimo and other leaders for their return to the reservation in Arizona. (Apache warfare resumes in 1885–86, ending only when Geronimo and his followers are imprisoned in Florida after their final surrender.) Sherman decides in June to turn over command of the army to Sheridan in November. Receives many letters urging him to seek the Republican nomination for the presidency. Travels through the Northwest, the Pacific coastal states, and the Southwest in the summer. Turns over command to Sheridan on November 1 and moves to St. Louis, returning to house at 912 Garrison Avenue. Writes to D. Appleton & Company on December 28, suggesting the publication of a second edition of his Memoirs.
1884
Retires from the army on February 8. Sends telegrams to the Republican national convention on June 3 and 5 (“I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected”) to forestall the possibility of his nomination for president in case the convention deadlocks. Calls for reform of the state militia system at a meeting of the Military Service Institution, Governor’s Island, New York, December 24 (paper is published as “The Militia” in the Journal of the Military Service Institution, March 1885). Visits Grant, who is writing his memoirs and is suffering from cancer, in New York City.
1885
Works on revision of his Memoirs, including new chapters on the first 26 years of his life and on his activities from 1865 until 1883. Declines to go on the professional lecture circuit. Grant dies July 23. Takes part in the funeral procession in New York City on August 8. Sends Samuel L. Clemens a 300-page manuscript on his tour of Europe. Clemens calls manuscript a “skeleton” and advises against publishing it while praising Sherman’s Memoirs as “fat” in letter on October 5 (manuscript remains unpublished). Sherman privately criticizes President Grover Cleveland for appointing too many former Confederates to federal office.
1886
Censures the railroad strike by the Knights of Labor, March–May. D. Appleton & Company publishes a second edition of his Memoirs. Delivers an address to the reunion of the Grand Army of the Republic in San Francisco, August 4, and calls the American desire to acquire California the true cause of the Mexican War. Travels from San Francisco to Vancouver, British Columbia, and returns east on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Moves to New York City in September so that Ellen can be closer to their son Philemon while he attends the Sheffield Scientific School. Lives at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, joins the Union League Club, helps found the Players’ Club, and enjoys taking his grandchildren to Central Park and museums. Speaks at a banquet on November 3 in honor of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty (becomes popular after-dinner speaker in New York).
1887
Ellen’s health declines as she suffers from effects of worsening heart disease. Sherman goes to Woodbury, Connecticut, with his brother John in April to see the sites of 17th- and 18th-century Sherman family residences and graves. In response to article by British general Viscount Wolseley praising Robert E. Lee as George Washington’s equal, publishes “Grant, Thomas, Lee” in the May North American Review, describing Grant as a strategist superior to Lee and praising George H. Thomas, a Virginian, for remaining loyal to the Union. Delivers the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy, May 11. Sits for a bust by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in December (bust is used by Saint-Gaudens as model for Sherman’s head in 1903 equestrian statue at southeast corner of Central Park in New York City).
1888
Publishes “The Grand Strategy of the War of the Rebellion” in the February Century Magazine (appears in revised form as “The Grand Strategy of the Last Year of the War” in Volume IV of Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, published in 1889). Son Philemon Tecumseh graduates from the Sheffield Scientific School and begins studying law at Columbia University. Buys a house at 75 West 71st Street, New York City, in August and moves into it in September. Publishes “Old Shady, with a Moral” in the October North American Review, arguing that either blacks should be assured the right to vote or the federal government should reduce the representation in Congress of states that deny that right and warning of another civil war if suffrage is permanently denied to blacks. Publishes “Camp-Fires of the G.A.R.” in the November North American Review and “Hon. James G. Blaine,” a tribute, in the December number. Ellen suffers heart attacks on November 7 and 25 and dies on November 28. Travels to St. Louis for her burial in Calvary Cemetery. Suffers severe attacks of asthma.
1889
Asks President Benjamin Harrison to retain Joseph E. Johnston in the office of U.S. Railroad Commissioner, to which Cleveland had appointed him, but Johnston is asked to resign. Publishes “Old Times in California” in the March North American Review. Serves in June on the New York City committee to raise relief funds for survivors of the Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania. Attends Independence Day ceremonies in Denver; does not attend Thomas’s ordination in Philadelphia on July 7.
1890
Gives Thomas instructions on the gravestone that he has designed for himself, bearing epitaph “Faithful and Honorable” and the insignia of five Union army corps. Receives hundreds of messages congratulating him on his 70th birthday, and spends a week in February answering them with the help of a clerk. Visits Washington in May and dines at the White House with President Harrison, who had been a brigade commander in Sherman’s army during the Civil War. Publishes “Our Army and Militia” in the August North American Review, calling for nationwide modernization of state militias.
1891
Develops erysipelas on February 4, followed by pneumonia and continued attacks of asthma. Spends 71st birthday rereading Dickens’ Great Expectations. Dies at 1:50 P.M., February 14. Thomas officiates at a private service on February 19. Funeral procession in New York City includes President Harrison and former presidents Hayes and Cleveland. Among the 12 pallbearers is 84-year-old Joseph E. Johnston, who refuses to cover his head against the cold (Johnston dies of pneumonia March 21). Crowds assemble along the route as a special train carries the body to St. Louis where, after a funeral procession and ceremonies on February 21, Sherman is buried in Calvary Cemetery next to Willie, Charles, and Ellen.