What Is William Tecumseh Sherman's Legacy

General William T. Sherman’s Innovations and Legacy
“I know him well as one of the greatest purest and best of men. He is poor and always will be, but he is great and magnanimous.”
~ U.S Grant praising Sherman

Introduction It is a common belief among many historians that history is told through the eyes of the winners. Read any American history book or any world history textbook and they mainly tell you about the hero that saved the nation such as Wellington at Waterloo or General Washington in the Revolutionary War or General Patton in World War II. The case of the American Civil War is no different, especially for a man who changed the war. Ask anybody in the south, even the kindergartners and they will tell you about William Tecumseh Sherman, the man who burned everything. Ask anyone in the North and they’ll tell you how Sherman and Grant together helped the North win the war. General William Tecumseh Sherman constantly said that he disliked war yet when his time came in the Civil War he rose up from a man who was dubbed crazy to become a man who changed war into a concept of total war and would go on to become one of
the worlds first modern generals.
Before the War On February 8, 1820 one of America’s most famous (or infamous) military general was born in Lancaster, Ohio. He was born to Charles and Mary Sherman. Nine years later Charles Sherman died leaving his wife a widow with eleven children and no money. It was at this point when Mary Sherman sent her son, Tecumseh Sherman to live with a family friend, Thomas and Maria Ewing. Thomas was a prominent lawyer in Ohio who later became a U.S. Senator. Thomas’ wife who was a devote Catholic wanted to see Tecumseh baptized and it was through this baptism that he was given the name of William Tecumseh Sherman though he always went by his nickname “Cump.” Though Sherman lived an influential life he also lived an early life of fear. “He had a horror of debt—as he saw it, if his father had not died owing so much money, he and his brothers and sisters would all still be living together with their mother. He also knew that the family from which he sprang had a history of mental disorders.”[i] When Sherman was seventeen years old his foster father got him an acceptance into the famous West Point Military Academy. He was said to have excelled in his studies and graduated 6th in his class yet he would have possibly ranked fourth had he not befriended West Point’s demerit system (i.e. he was a partier).[ii] Around 1846, America was at war with the Mexicans. Over 500 West Point graduates fought in this war however Sherman was set to California. While in California Sherman often felt the want to resign as he often told Ellen Ewing, his fiancée. Yet he waited. It was at this time however that Sherman began witnessing a major event in U.S. History; the California Gold Rush. It was Sherman’s duty as an officer to report to the Government about what was happening out there. By 1850, Sherman, now promoted to the rank of Captain, left California and was back in Lancaster where he married Ellen Ewing, daughter of his foster parents Thomas and Maria Ewing. Sherman served in New Orleans for three years before resigning from the Army and going back out west to San Francisco to become a president at a bank. Sherman was there for four years. These years really did nothing for Sherman and his family and by 1857 Sherman was in St. Louis. It was at this point when he encountered a fellow by the name of Ulysses S. Grant, another West Point graduate. According to Flood “If ever there was a commonplace meeting that nonetheless foreshadowed great events, that was it. Anyone watching the brief conversation between Grant and Sherman could never have dreamt what lay ahead for them.”[iii]A few years after this chance encounter with Grant, Sherman returned to Louisiana to begin his career as the president of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy (later would become Louisiana State University). Sherman was the first superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary.
It was now 1859 and tensions between the North and the South had become more and more apparent. Living in the South, Sherman had begun to notice fears in a lot of the southerners about slave revolts, fanatical abolitionists (like John Brown), and fears of secession. However with all these fears, Sherman’s first year at the Academy went surprisingly well. In a letter he wrote to his wife at this time he predicted what a Civil War would mean to his country saying “ If attempted we will have a Civil War of the most horrible Kind.”(Flood) However this was not Sherman’s only prophecy of a Civil War. In Lloyd Lewis’ book, Sherman: Fighting Prophet he uses a letter Sherman wrote to a fellow professor the Louisiana State Seminary, David F. Boyd. The letter
prophesied: You, you the people of the South, believe there can be such a thing as peaceable secession. You don’t know what you are doing. I know there can be no such thing…If you will have it, the North must fight you for its own preservation. This country will be drenched in blood… You people speak so lightly of war. You don’t know what you are talking about. War is a terrible thing… You mistake too, the people of the North. They are a peaceable people, but an earnest people and will fight too, and they are not going to let this country be destroyed without a military effort to save it. The Northern people not only greatly outnumber the whites at the South, but they are a mechanical people with manufactures of every kind, while you are agriculturists. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. If your people would but stop and think, they must see that in the end you will surely fail…[iv]

It frightened Sherman but right before his eyes he was seeing a country he loved so dearly fall apart right before his eyes. In 1860 the U.S. had elected a new president to office; Abraham Lincoln. A year later, Sherman resigned from his post at the Academy and headed North back to his wife and children. On his trip back to Ohio, Sherman began to notice something astonishing. He noticed that the South “showed unanimity of purpose and a fierce, earnest determination in their hurried organization for action, into Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, where he found no apparent signs of preparation or any great concern over the trend of events.”[v] When Sherman had finally reached Ohio a letter from his brother, John Sherman, who was a U.S. Senator, was waiting for him. He spent several days with his family and then traveled to Washington. A couple days after, in March 1861, arriving in Washington Sherman found himself shaking hands with President Lincoln. Sherman was very displeased with the way Lincoln handled Sherman’s news about the South’s preparations for war. It was with this dissatisfaction that Sherman went back to St. Louis as the president of the Fifth Street Railroad.[vi] Sherman was content with his new job; it paid well and kept him successful. However, Sherman began to feel dissatisfied about the emotional events that were unraveling before him. On May 14, 1861, almost two months after he left Washington, Sherman received commission as a colonel of the 13th Regular Infantry.[vii] It was where Sherman’s Civil War service began.
Early Years of the War Sherman was commissioned back to service in June of 1861. Sherman was entering a new phase of his military life. Before Sherman was re-entered the military his philosophy on war was critical. But that quickly changed when in July 1861 he and his brigade went into fight at the Battle of Bull Run. Sherman did as he was told throughout the battle. According to James B. McPherson “ Some units of Sherman’s brigade and several companies of regulars maintained their discipline and formed a rear guard that slowed the disorganized reel suit…” he then said that “Sherman’s brigade suffered more causalities and probably fought better than any other Union brigade.”[viii] As for Sherman he did not think his brigade was in anyway disciplined. In a letter he wrote to his wife several days after the battle he commented on how “poorly disciplined” they were “not good soldiers.”[ix] However, his role in Bull’s Run paid off because in August he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers in Kentucky. After being promoted Sherman was asked by an old friend, General Robert Anderson, to serve under him and command the Department of the Cumberland. Sherman accepted the offer, happy that he was going back out west[x]. Sherman arrived in Louisville in September and quickly poured himself into his work. However, during this time Sherman began to become very depressed about the outlook of the war. It was said that Sherman struggled with the way the government was handling things. He began to “bombard the authorities in Washington with the appeals for men, for arms, and for the recognition of the importance of Kentucky to the Union.”[xi] When Secretary of War Simon Cameron, adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas came to visit Sherman in the middle of October that year Sherman professed that he felt there was to be an immediate attack on Kentucky and that he needed 200,000 troops to stop it. Cameron and Thomas both thought it was unconceivable and began to question Sherman’s state of mind. It was also at this point that newspapers began to question Sherman’s state of mind.[xii] By November, Commander McClellan sent Sherman a letter saying that he had found a replacement as Commander of the Department of the Cumberland. Sherman then received orders to report to General Henry W. Halleck. However when in St. Louis Sherman lost all senses of reality and was said to have had what today is called a nervous breakdown. A doctor ordered that he was not fit for command and with that Sherman’s wife, Ellen told Halleck that she wanted her husband to take a leave of absence. Halleck ordered Sherman a twenty day rest period to recover. Sherman quickly recovered and returned to service under Halleck in Missouri. After Sherman’s much need rest, Helleck sent him to Benton Barracks, a camp outside of St. Louis. Though his troops regarded him with suspicion and curiosity, he entered into his duties with great determination. It was now 1862 and by February Sherman had been stationed in Paducah, Kentucky. His job was to assemble and forward troops to a General Ulysses S. Grant, “It was the most important assignment Halleck would ever make.”[xiii] In March, Sherman was sent to the Army of West Tennessee as commander of the 5th Division. He was now serving under General U.S. Grant. According to Grant and Halleck, It was in the North’s best interest to reach Corinth in Mississippi to control a critical portion of the South’s railway system. It was Sherman’s first mission under this new command to try and cut off the railroad connecting Corinth with Iuka, Mississippi along the Tennessee River. Though he failed to do this he did spot a steamboat landing on the river’s west bank. By mid March Grant had transferred his command to Pittsburg Landing and began to prepare it for offensive operations. “At the time Grant and Sherman thought of the place purely in terms of being a staging area for a march south to attack Corinth.”[xiv] Though their headquarters were only nine miles away from each other, they began a communication for a possible upcoming battle at Corinth. What they didn’t know was that this communication would evolve to become a crucial strategy for the North. Around the first week of April, 1862 Confederate cavalry began firefights with Sherman’s troops. Sherman merely blew this off as just skirmishes and refused to say anything due to fears that he would be called “crazy” again. However on April 5, a piece of intelligence told Sherman and Grant that a large Confederate force was on the move. Sherman dismissed it calling it false and then reported to Grant about the message. Grant dismissed it as well. It then came as a major surprise to the two the next morning when over 40,000 Confederate troops under the command of Albert Sidney Johnston attacked at Pittsburgh Landing. Johnston’s troops hit Sherman and General Benjamin Prentiss divisions first. It was the first battle for nearly all of Sherman’s men who were trying to fire on the advancing enemy. Sherman was fighting on the right end and Grant was in the center. This was Grant and Sherman’s first meeting on a battlefield. As Grant went to proceed on with the Confederates advancement he felt a sense of calm after seeing Sherman’s action in Battle. Grant was not the only one to notice Sherman; according to McPherson: “Sherman performed this day with coolness and courage. The next twelve hours proved to be the turning point of his life. What he learned that day at Shiloh—about war and about himself—helped to make him on of the North’s premier Generals. Sherman was everywhere along the lines of Shiloh, shoring up his raw troops and inspiring them to hurl back the initial assaults.”[xv]

It was said that Sherman had a sense of what was happen next, how to get ready for it, and when to use it when it was needed. By the late afternoon every unit that Grant could assemble, including Sherman’s, was in place along the last defensive line to brace for a final Confederate attack that might drive them into the river, but it did not come. Instead news of Johnston’s death had reached the Confederate troops. Sherman and Grant had survived that Sunday by pure luck. That night, Sherman found Grant standing under a tree as a storm began to pour on the battlefield. Both generals had learned a lot about each other during that day. They both knew that the casualties were high, the toll would be well over ten thousand killed, wounded, or missing. These causalities would make this battle the bloodiest in United States history at this time. Sherman had come to Grant “to discuss how they could make such a withdrawal, from this bank of the river to the other side.”[xvi] However instead Sherman said the most famous line remembered of this battle “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day of it, haven’t we?” Grant said “Yes, Lick’em tomorrow though.”[xvii] The next day, Sherman road down the Corinth Road with four infantry brigades not to resume battle but to make sure that all the Confederates were leaving the area. Sherman was then surprised to be attacked by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Sherman turned back in the face of the Confederates resistance. The Confederates had retreated back to Corinth. Sherman then proclaimed victory to his troops. The Battle of Shiloh not only was a great success for the Union, it was also a success for Sherman. Officers and soldiers were praising him from his performance during the battle frequently. However, even with Sherman’s restored confidence, this battle also proved to be vital for two other reasons; it was the beginning of the most powerful friendship the Civil War saw and it lead to Sherman’s eventual change in his philosophies of war.
Forging of a Friendship From the end of the Battle of Shiloh through July, Sherman and Grant had begun to form a friendship that would become unbreakable. In July Grant was promoted to the District of West Tennessee. However, Grant had become under fire from the press and some politicians as being a “drunk.” It was at this Grant had requested a thirty day leave of absence. When Sherman went to go see Grant he learned that Grant was not simply going on leave but leaving the army. Sherman began to argue to him about the importance of staying in the army. He told him about his status before Shiloh as being ‘crazy’ and how Shiloh gave him new life. Sherman told his wife that he believed that Grant was “a good and brave soldier tried for years, is sober, very industrious, and kind as a child.”[xviii] In July, Sherman became commander of the District of Memphis and moved to Tennessee. Grant set up headquarters in Corinth. It was during Sherman’s stay in Memphis that he began to become very displeased with the south. While there he began to believe he was being surrounded by guerillas waiting to wreak havoc on his army. He also became very disgusted with the fact that the Union was trading with the enemy. According to John B. Walters, Sherman believed that “all the people of the South were in active resistance to the Union forces.”[xix] It was in Memphis that Sherman began enacting his new theories of war. Sherman had basically begun to control the city. He told the Mayor after he arrived that “the Military for the time being must be superior to the Civil authority but does not therefore destroy it.”[xx] During this time Sherman reorganized the police and established order under his command. Even under his command things remained normal. However this new maneuver was just he beginning of his advancements towards total war. On January 1, 1863 the American Civil War changed. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was now in effect and all slaves were freed. It made the south realize that this war was no longer being fought on the military front; it was also being fought on the economic front. When the proclamation was signed Sherman and Grant began corresponding on how this new act would affect the war. In October (1862) Sherman told Grant that “ We cannot change the hearts of the people of the South but we can make war so terrible that they will realize the fact that however brave and gallant and devoted to their country, still they are mortal and should exhaust all peaceful remedies before they fly to war.”[xxi] After running the Confederates out of Corinth, Grant wanted to work on gaining the offensive. He looked out and saw Vicksburg, Mississippi, 200 miles down from Memphis. Grant realized it was a tough choice but he began an entire campaign towards Vicksburg. By the end of 1862, Grant began to rely more and more on Sherman. They were now both in Memphis and planning diligently their campaign on Vicksburg. They both saw that Vicksburg was “defended by an army of brave and determined men.”[xxii] After a disastrous first attempt to capture Vicksburg in December of 1862, Grant and Sherman went back to strategizing for another campaign. In the Spring of 1863 Sherman and Grant had worked to create and elaborate scheme at conquering Vicksburg. In April, Grant reveled to Sherman his new plan for capturing Vicksburg. It was considered one of the boldest plans of the Civil War. His plan involved marching his army south and crossing the Mississippi near Grand Gulf; Admiral David Porter’s gunboats and transports would run Vicksburg’s artillery batteries under cover of darkness to ferry Grant’s men across the river. Though Sherman objected he cooperated. Grant’s plan went off successfully on April 26th and now all that faced Grant and Sherman was Vicksburg’s fortress. By May 1st Confederate General John C Pemberton had recognized Grant’s advancement of Vicksburg. Another problem Grant faced was General Joseph Johnston in Jackson, Mississippi, 40 miles east of Vicksburg. On May 7th, Sherman began to march from Grand Gulf to join Grant. Two days later Johnston was surrounded by 25,000 of Union troops. Sherman joined Grant’s troops in Jackson on May 14th. Jackson had fallen swiftly. Grant then told Sherman “to burn down the factory and to wreck everything else that could be useful to the Southern cause—the city’s other factories and machine shops, its foundries and railroad facilities, and the state arsenal.”[xxiii] Sherman had begun a new tactic that he would eventually reuse in his campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas. The Vicksburg Campaign lasted over 3 months. After conquering Jackson, Grant moved towards Champions Hill. Grant moved 30,000 men into action during that battle within hours it fell to Grant. Sherman rejoined Grant after and attack on Big Black River Bridge; where the Confederates destroyed the bridge yet still lost the battle. On May 18th, Grant achieved his goal of surrounding the bastion on 3 sides in Vicksburg. The siege of Vicksburg last the whole month of June. On July 4th the forty day siege on Vicksburg had ended. Grant had given the Union an amazing strategic victory. The victory of Vicksburg gave Sherman the promotion to Brigadier General of the regular army. At this time troubles were occurring in eastern Tennessee, particularly in Chattanooga. At the time, Chattanooga was under Union regiments. However Confederate General Braxton Bragg saw that if he could recapture the city then the south could regain some morale and create a critical loss for the Union. Chattanooga was one of the South’s principle rail centers. It became clear that Sherman and Grant needed to advance towards Chattanooga to halt confederate action. Grant realized that if they kept Chattanooga they would be able to the war production being made in Atlanta. Sherman was now the Commander of the Army of Tennessee and made his way into Chattanooga by mid-November. Grant needed him after his battle at Lookout Mountain. Once, Grant had the confidence to go in to Missionary Ridge; so he sent in Hooker and Sherman to finish off the campaign. Though the battle lasted several days it gave the Union under Grant another strategic victory. The North held Chattanooga and Sherman now had his base of supplies for his Campaign against Atlanta. After Chattanooga, Sherman got the much needed rest he had deserved after a years worth or important campaigns. It was during this time that Sherman began to develop his own plans new campaigns in 1864. He is quoted to have told his wife Ellen that “the next year is going to be the hardest of the war.”[xxiv] He did not know that this prophecy would indeed turn out to be true due to his future actions. Sherman was developing into the man that would soon lead men into the most strategic campaigns the North would need to win the war. In the winter of 1864, Sherman came up with a plan to make a massive raid in Meridian, Mississippi, a center for the Confederate railroad. Their intention was to destroy Confederate communications and resources without occupying territory.[xxv] Sherman and his twenty thousand men spent a week destroying, burning and raiding everything within the area. This included about 115 miles of railroad track, 61 bridges, and 21 locomotives, along with various factories with weapons and supplies.[xxvi] Sherman had proven his success and ability to operate independently from Grant, go deep into enemy territory and destroy more of the Confederates capability to make war. This execution of a large-scale raid foreshadowed the greater achievements Sherman would soon make in the following months. During this raid in Meridian, Grant was made General in Chief of the Union army. Through this Grant turned over his command of the Western Theater of the War and handed it over to Sherman. These units included the Army of the Tennessee under General James B. McPherson, Army of the Ohio under General John Schofield, and the Army of the Cumberland under George H. Thomas. When Sherman and Grant met in the spring of 1864 when they came up with their famous grand strategy that would hopefully win the war. The Grand strategy was as quoted by Sherman, “He was to go for Lee, and I was to go for Joe Johnston.”[xxvii] By the end of April, Sherman had pulled together over 98,000 men in Chattanooga and was ready to march into Atlanta.
Sherman’s Legacy: Total War
In the summer of ’64, the outcome of Sherman’s Atlanta campaign became very crucial for the Union. Not only was it strategic for the Union to capture the heart of the south but if Sherman could capture the city, Lincoln would most likely be reelected into office to serve a second term. With the presidential campaigning well underway, Sherman went to face Joe Johnston and his Army of Tennessee. From the beginning of May to the first of September, Sherman fought a long campaign to capture Atlanta. In May, Sherman found himself facing Grants old opponent, Joe Johnston. Sherman had 98,000 troops compared to Johnston’s 60,000. In the first couple weeks of May, Sherman’s forces outflanked Johnston at Resaca, Georgia. From this point Sherman and his armies continued to outmaneuver Johnston “until Union forces reached Allatoona Pass, only thirty miles from Atlanta.”[xxviii]However on June 27th Sherman suffered a setback at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. That morning, Sherman sent his troops forward after an artillery bombardment to divide Johnston’s center from his two wings. The battle turned bloody and Sherman suffered many casualties and he called off the operation. The battle of Kennesaw “bolstered southern morale and increased northern frustration.”[xxix] There wasn’t another battle until July 20th after Confederate President Davis replaced Joe Johnston and handed over the command of the Army of Tennessee to Hood. What Davis had in mind was to get Hood to drive Sherman away from Atlanta. However putting Hood in command was exactly what Sherman and Grant had wanted. On July 22, Hood attacked the Union corps positioned east of Atlanta. However, midway through the battle of Atlanta, General James B. McPherson, a younger general, was killed. After McPherson’s death progress towards capturing Atlanta slowed down as Hood continued to resist Sherman’s advances. This bloody summer had indeed proved to be the hardest year of the war. By September 2, Sherman had captured the city of Atlanta. In august, Sherman had decided to sever Atlanta’s supply lines by advancing on Jonesborough, which was twenty miles south of Atlanta. When Hood responded, he left Atlanta vulnerable. When Hood realized his mistake he realized that it would be better to lose the city so he could save his army. As said best by Sherman “Atlanta is ours, and fairly won.” The capture of the city proved to be a major triumph. Not only had it proved to be a strategic victory for the North it also restored the North’s confidence in Sherman. Sherman had outmaneuvered both Johnston and Hood and was also inflicted casualties upon their forces across a large area of northern Georgia.[xxx] What Sherman did next was his way of showing the south he could wage war not just on a battlefield. After occupying Atlanta, he ordered all of the civilians to leave the city. Hood protested claiming it was a barbaric measure however Sherman dismissed his argument. Sherman then ordered his armies to burn Atlanta to the ground. For Sherman’s success in Atlanta he was promoted to Major General of the regular army. In mid-November, Sherman left Atlanta and head on his march to the sea. By mid- December he had reach Savannah with 62,000 men. It was at this time that Sherman had learned that Schofield and Thomas had achieved what he couldn’t; out commission Hood. As Sherman marched towards the sea his primary goal was to destroy property and not civilians. It was psychological warfare and he mastered it. “Sherman’s soldiers shared their leader’s total-war philosophy. Acting on it, they put torch to everything military value…”[xxxi](McPherson 809). During Sherman’s march to Savannah, his men would live off the land and destroy everything that was useful to the rebels. In destroying the land the land they would rip up the rail lines and tie them around trees, this became known as “Sherman’s necktie.” Sherman and his troops left over millions of dollars in destruction of property. By late December, Sherman had captured Savannah. Sherman would later be quoted for saying he had captured savannah as his Christmas gift to Lincoln. As Sherman was leaving Savannah he issued Special Field Order No. 15 which aside an area extending about thirty miles inland from Charleston south to the St. Johns River in Florida for black refugees. Some began to speculate why Sherman would give Blacks land but his only real reason was that “it was a temporary measure, designed in part to deter blacks from interfering with his operations.”[xxxii] After capturing Savannah, Sherman marched north to the Carolinas in an effort to combine his armies with Grant against Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Sherman had a special interest in targeting South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union. On February 1, 1965, Sherman and his 60,000 blue troops marched through the heart of the Confederate territory. Sherman had to strategic procedures: to destroy all war materials and resources in his path; and to come up on Lee’s rear to crush the Army of Northern Virginia.[xxxiii] Sherman succeeded with only one of these procedures. He told Halleck at one point that his “whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreck vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems to be in store for her.”[xxxiv] And boy did she get it. South Carolina was torn to pieces. Not only were railroads ripped apart and factories destroyed but houses, villages, and farms were also burned. Sherman went first to burn Charleston before head to the capital. Charleston was lucky; they had troops to help put out the fire. Columbia was not. The biggest controversy that surrounds Sherman’s campaign is that burning of Columbia. When Sherman’s men had reached Columbia they noticed cotton barrels burning. They were set on fire by evacuating civilians. However the controversy lies on whether or not the fire spread from the barrels or whether Sherman’s men burned the city. However “Sherman did not burn Columbia, but some of his men unquestionably helped to do so.”[xxxv] As Sherman marched into North Carolina he was met up into a battle at Bentonville against none other that his old enemy, Joe Johnston, who had now been restored to command. After the short battle in the middle of March, Sherman had run Johnston into Raleigh. Sherman had gained a victory. Sherman was now able to link back up with General Schofield at Goldsboro on March 23. Sherman had envisioned that he would go up north to help Grant make Lee surrender. This was part of the reason he headed up north to meet up with Grant at his headquarters. On March 28th, Sherman, Grant, Admiral Porter, and President Lincoln began to strategize the ending of the war and establish a lasting peace. Lincoln had declared that he wanted a lenient postwar settlement, and they all agreed. By April 10, Sherman had regained operations of his army. Two days later Lee had surrendered to Grant. Three days after that Lincoln was assassinated and the war was over. On April 18th at Durham Station, North Carolina, Johnston surrendered to Sherman. The surrender was official on April 26th and Sherman’s role in the Civil War was finally over.
Conclusion
Sherman’s tactics spoke a lot about Sherman and his ways of war. However, one of the biggest things that spoke out about Sherman was his friendship with Grant and how they helped each other. Sherman could not have done this if not for his friend Ulysses S. Grant. Together they worked “as brothers”, as Sherman once put it, to win the war against the south. He was there fighting alongside him at Shiloh when they first met in battle. Sherman talked Grant from resigning. It was Sherman who helped Grant plan his campaigns for Vicksburg and Chattanooga. And Grant would show his support of Sherman as Sherman went on his Campaigns through Georgia and the Carolinas. They both helped each other out and they both were friends till the very end. Sherman was a mastermind at when it came to waging war. Maybe that’s why people thought he was so crazy. Whether he liked it or not, waging war was in his blood. He knew how to hit the south hard. He also knew that a couple of strategic victories was not going to make the south surrender. He knew that the Union needed to make the south bleed before they could come to terms with surrendering.[xxxvi] Though Sherman was not the very first military general to act on military actions like he had, he certainly became very famous for it and it was because of this miraculous war that Sherman indeed deserves the title of one of the world’s first modern generals.
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[i] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 22.

[ii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 23.

[iii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 33.

[iv] Lloyd Lewis,Sherman: Fighting Prophet.(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932), 138

[v] John B. Walters, “General William T. Sherman and Total War,” The Journal of Southern History, 12 no.4 (Nov 1948) 450

[vi] John B. Walters, “General William T. Sherman and Total War,” The Journal of Southern History, 12 no.4 (Nov 1948) 451

[vii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 52
[viii] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 344
[ix] Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865, Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin, eds., (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.) 125

[x] Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865, Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin, eds., (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.) 113

[xi] John B. Walters, “General William T. Sherman and Total War,” The Journal of Southern History, 12 no.4 (Nov 1948) 454

[xii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 66-67

[xiii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005)

[xiv] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 97

[xv] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 409

[xvi] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 114

[xvii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 114

[xviii] Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865, Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin, eds., (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.) 236

[xix] John B. Walters, “General William T. Sherman and Total War,” The Journal of Southern History, 12 no.4 (Nov 1948) 450

[xx] Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865, Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin, eds., (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.) 131

[xxi] Lloyd Lewis,Sherman: Fighting Prophet.(New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1932) 246

[xxii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 149

[xxiii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 163

[xxiv] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 225

[xxv] Edward Hagerman, The American Civil War and the origins of modern warfare.(Inianapolis:Indiana University Press, 1988)275

[xxvi] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 229

[xxvii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 237

[xxviii] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005)253

[xxix] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 750

[xxx] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 259

[xxxi] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 809
[xxxii] Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865, Brooks Simpson and Jean Berlin, eds., (Chapel Hill: Univ of North Carolina Press.) 760

[xxxiii]James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 826
[xxxiv] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 826

[xxxv] James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: the Civil War. (New York: Oxford University Press,1988) 829
[xxxvi] Charles B. Flood, Grant and Sherman: The Friendship that won the Civil War.( New York: Harpers Perennial, 2005) 402

Works Cited
Flood Charles B. 2005. Sherman and Grant: The friendship that won the Civil War. New York: Harper Perennial.
Hagerman, Edward. 1988. The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare .Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Lewis, Lloyd. 1932. Sherman: Fighting Prophet. New York: Harcourt, Brace.
McPherson, James M. 1988. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press.
Simpson, B.D and J.V. Berlin. Eds., 1999. Sherman's Civil War: Selected Correspondence of William T. Sherman,1860–1865. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
Walters, John B. 1948. General William T. Sherman and Total War. The Journal of Southern History. 14(4) 447-480