Essay Sample on William Sherman: Union Major General & Father of Total War

When talking about some of the most renowned generals in the history of the American Army, we cannot pass without speaking about William Sherman. He was the union’s army major general in America during the civil war. During his rule as the major general, he comes up with a strategy known as “total war” which had a great impact on the civil war as well as American history. His victories at war assisted Lincoln to win the 1864 United States presidential election hence leading to the country’s unification. With the heavy destructions, he left during the war made many individuals hate him though being a great leader. Being a legend in the United States, Tecumseh was born in 1820 raised in a family of 11 children in Ohio Lancaster. After the death of his father Robert Sherman, nine years after William was born, he had to live with his neighbor Ewing Thomas who cared and took care of him.

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When he turned sixteen, he went to West Point, where he was recruited and served as a cadet. In the West Point, he has friended George, who was a general of the Western Theater. In 1840, William Sherman graduated and participated in the 2nd Seminole war, also called the Florida war and was later stationed in Georgia plus South Carolina. Most of his colleagues took part in the war between America and Mexico. He never took part in the Mexico-America war but instead he was placed to carry out his army duties in northern California where he spent many years there serving as an administrative officer. Later on he rose to become captain. At this place, he never had the opportunity to get involved in several combats, and this made him resign in 1853 and shifted his attention to the family. In their family, he was not the only successful person since he had an elder brother was also a federal judge and a younger brother who later got elected as a senator (John Sherman). The brother also served as the treasury secretary as well as state secretary with his other siblings being prominent in the United States.

Sherman in 1850 got married to Ellen Boyle, his foster sister. Though being military, he had a passion for becoming a businessman. Still, luckily, he got employed as a manager at a bank in St. Louis, but later the bank was shut down, and he decided to shift to New York. In New York, he managed a bank which had financial issues, and he decided to go back to California. While working in New York, Fort Sumter was attacked by United States of America, and this made Sherman be worried of Lincoln who was at the place. William argued that Lincoln was not deploying enough troops to end the war. His brother then secured got him a job as a commission in the army. Most of his contributions were seen during the civil war where he began his services on May 14th 1861 as a colonel. The Bull Run battle in 1861 was his first battle. In 1862 his army was attacked by the Confederate military when he was not ready for war (Shiloh battle). All this occurred when he was under General Ulysses. Even though being caught off guard, he retreated and then fought back in order to avoid disaster.

After the failure that occurred in Chickasaw in December 1862, his army combined forces with Major general John McClernand. With the combined forces, they were able to capture Vicksburg successfully. The success led to his promotion as a brigadier general by President Lincoln, who recognized their effort. As the leader of the Tennessee army, he was criticized for his actions at the Chattanooga battle which succeeded though the critics. He was then given control of all the armies in the west when his counterpart Grant was moved to the east to be in charge of the eastern armies. The 1864 election was very crucial to him since he needed Abraham Lincoln to win since the rival was a great enemy of the union. Both candidates Abraham Lincoln, as well as George McClellan, were from the Democratic Party. At the same period, Sherman, with his three armies, invaded Georgia and successfully captured the city. All this occurred on September 2nd, 1864. The victory at war spearheaded Lincoln in becoming the United States president again. Indeed, what William achieved influenced people to vote for Lincoln.

During the same period, Sherman went to Atlanta an epicenter of the united industry. His troops were out on a mission for four months with him as he squared off issues against General Johnston and Hood who was now forced to leave the city as Sherman took over Atlanta. With the takeover war, the city was almost destroyed. Till now it is still being debated if Sherman’s troops were the one who was the one who did the mass destruction or the retreating troops. Although his counterpart General Grant was struggling at the east, Sherman’s victory in taking over Atlanta also helped Lincoln in securing reelection.

From November 25th to December 21st, Sherman left Atlanta with his troops (62,000) to capture Savannah (March to the sea). During this period, Sherman’s troops destroyed anything that was in there a way to free thousands of slaves. With his cruel strategy, several things were destroyed, and he estimates the damage to be over a hundred million dollars. The marching to the sea is up to date considered revolutionary in the history of civil war. It affected the economy heavily, the transportation sector, as well as the properties in the south. Sherman conquering Savannah, he offered the city to Lincoln as a Christmas gift when he wired President Lincoln on December 22nd. The following, he turned his concentration to the north, where he took his men. When measuring the degree of harshness that ascended on both South Carolina as well as Georgia, South Carolina was treated harsher. Sherman’s army arrived at North Carolina during the spring season, making Robert Lee lay down his arms at Appomattox. All this occurred when Grant commanded Sherman to accompany his union army to fight with Robert, who was at northern Virginia.

Nevertheless, he also convinced Grant to engage in the strategy in Carolina as he did the same with Georgia. He noticed that South Carolina would be the one to first to withdraw from the union; hence a victory will affect the confidence in the south. Therefore, on February 17th 1865, he captured South Carolina as well as Colombia and then destroyed them with fire.

In 1869 when Grant was the United States president, he was still in the army, and he was now the commander of the entire American forces. Though acquiring the post, he was blamed for the part he played during American war which affected majorly the Native American’s at the western part of America. He was the main reason why the native population was mistreated.

In 1884 Sherman decided to put an end to the active duties where he retired and moved to New York where he settled enjoying his retirement after a long career at the army serving his nation America. During his retirement period, a lot of offers came to his disposal for him to vie for the presidential seat by the Republican Party. Still, he brushed them aside repeatedly saying that “he won’t accept the nomination and also he won’t serve if chosen”. Six years later, in February 14th, Sherman died in New York at the age of 71 and laid to rest at St. Louis.

Conclusion

In conclusion, William Sherman up to date is still considered one of the great as well as intelligent generals that the United States has ever had in their military. Even though he had several haters, especially the Native Americans, his legacy is still being recognized in the country. They hate him but still recognize his achievements in the unification of the American states. Without him, the Americans would be still bleeding, the slave would be still slaves since no one would free them, and finally, the American states would not have unified, or even their unity could come several years. He is indeed an icon worth recognition in America, and several historians are still narrating to the current generation about what he did to the great country of America. His great work is even why the delegates of the Republican Party requested him to be their presidential candidate though he rejected it. Globally, every nation has its legends, which they praise and recognize. In the history books, they have described their legends so that the future citizens can learn more about them as well as the achievements they brought to their countries. With this, other people can even follow their footsteps irrespective of their dockets as leaders empowered to govern others. Therefore, up to date, William Sherman’s is a force of recon in the United States of America because of how he led the countries army.

Bibliography

Dougherty, K., 2017. William Tecumseh Sherman In The Service Of My Country: A Life. Civil War Book Review, 19(1), p.9.

Ellis, Mark R. "Law at Little Big Horn: Due Process Denied. Plains Histories Series. By Charles E. Wright. Foreword by Gordon Morris Bakken." (2017): 321-322.

Johnson, W. Fletcher. Life of Wm. Tecumseh Sherman. BoD–Books on Demand, 2018.McDonough, James Lee. William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life. WW Norton & Company, 2016.

Platt, R. Eric. "The Educational Administration of William Tecumseh Sherman: A Northern Military Officer's Tenure at a Southern University Prior to the American Civil War." Vitae Scholasticae 34, no. 1 (2017): 48-75.

Reid, Brian Holden. The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman. Oxford University Press, USA, 2020.

Taylor, Jeremy B. "William Tecumseh Sherman: In the Service of My Country: A Life by James Lee McDonough." Journal of Southern History 83, no. 4 (2017): 992-993.