SHERMAN, WILLIAM TECUMSEH ( g ) American general, was born on Feb. 8, 182o, at Lancaster, 0. He was descended from Edmond Sherman, who emigrated from England to the Massachusetts bay colony in 1634. His father, Charles R. Sherman, a judge of the supreme court of Ohio, died suddenly in 1829, leaving his widow with a family of young chil dren. William was adopted by Thomas Ewing, a close friend of the father, sometime a senator of the United States and a mem ber of the national cabinet. In 1836 he entered West Point, and on graduating near the head of his class he was appointed second lieutenant. His first field service was in Florida against the Seminole Indians. The usual changes of station and detached duty made him acquainted with the geography of all the South ern states. He also employed much of his time in the study of law. When the war with Mexico began in 1846 he asked for field duty, and was ordered to join an expedition going to Cali fornia by sea. He was made executive officer in administration of local government till peace came in 1848 and the province was ceded to the United States. In 185o he married Ellen Boyle, daughter of Thomas Ewing, then secretary of the interior.
In 1853 he resigned from the army and returned to California to conduct at San Francisco a branch of a St. Louis banking house. He continued successfully in the management of this busi ness until 1857. Afterwards for a short time he was engaged in business at New York and in 1858 practised law at Leavenworth, Kansas. In 1859, the state of Louisiana proposing to establish a military college, Sherman was appointed its superintendent. This institution was opened on Jan. 1, 186o, and here Sherman re mained until the spring of 1861, when it was evident that Louis iana would join the states seceding from the Union. He thereupon resigned the superintendency and returned to St. Louis. Though his brother John Sherman was a leader in the party which had elected Lincoln, William Sherman was very conservative on the slavery question, and his distress at what he thought an unneces sary rupture between the states was extreme. Yet his devotion to the national constitution was unbounded, and he offered his serv ices as soon as volunteers for the three years' enlistments were called out.
On May 14, 1861, Sherman was appointed colonel of a new U.S. infantry regiment, and was soon assigned to command a bri gade in Gen. McDowell's army in front of Washington, serving with it in the first battle of Bull Run. Promoted brigadier-general of volunteers, Sherman was in August sent to Kentucky to serve under Gen. Robert Anderson. In October he succeeded to the command of the department. Within a month he reported that 200,000 men would be required for the Kentucky campaign. He was relieved of his post soon afterwards in consequence, but the event justified Sherman's view. He was soon re-employed in a minor position, and, at the head of a division of new troops, accompanied Grant's army to Pittsburg Landing. At the battle of Shiloh Sherman's gallant conduct gained him promotion to major-general. He took part in Halleck's advance on Corinth, Miss., and at the close of 1862 led the Mississippi column in the first Vicksburg campaign. He suffered defeat at Chickasaw Bayou, but the capture of Fort Hindman, near Arkansas Post, compen sated to some extent for the Vicksburg failure. In Grant's final Vicksburg campaign Sherman commanded the right of the line.
After the surrender (July 4, 1863) Sherman was sent to oppose Gen. Johnston in the country about Jackson, Miss. In July he was made a brigadier-general in the regular army. When after Rosecrans's defeat at Chickamauga, Grant was placed in supreme command in the west, Sherman succeeded to the com mand of the Army of the Tennessee, with which he took part in the battle of Chattanooga (q.v.). In March, 1864, when Grant be came general-in-chief Sherman was made commander of the mili tary division of the Mississippi, including his Army of the Ten nessee, now under McPherson, the Army of the Cumberland, under Thomas, and the Army of the Ohio, under Schofield. Mak ing detachments for garrisons and minor operations in a theatre of war over 5oom. wide, he assembled, near Chattanooga, his three armies, aggregating 1 oo,000 men, and began (May 1864) the in vasion of Georgia. After a famous campaign of careful manoeuvre and heavy combats (see AMERICAN CIVIL WAR) , Sherman finally wrested Atlanta (q.v.) from the Confederates on Sept. 1.