Email regarding Sherman

[gary]

I belong to the discussion group at North & South magazine. It's free so you can afford it too! Anyhow, here's one of the more interesting posts to come out from there.

Group: For those interested in William Tecumseh Sherman, I wanted to report that I have just published an article in the 2008 Ohio History (vol. 115, page 55) entitled "'My Father . . . Named Me William Tecumseh': Rebutting the Charge That General Sherman Lied About His Name." Since 1932 (Lloyd Lewis, Sherman: Fighting Prophet), it has been stated repeatedly that Sherman was named simply Tecumseh at birth (1820) and only acquired the name William after his father's death in 1829, after being taken into the home of Thomas and Maria Ewing. However, it appears that this account of Sherman's name is probably not true and that Sherman always had the name William Tecumseh. Sherman states in the second edition of his memoirs (1886) that it was "my father" who "named me William Tecumseh," implying by the italics that he would be called by his middle name (and he was always called Cump). Sherman's report is corroborated by various pieces of evidence. One critical fact is the following: It appears that the Presbyterian minister in Sherman's birthplace (Lancaster, Ohio) baptized Sherman as an infant and, according to the minister's son, the name used at that time was William. By contrast, there appears to be no solid support for Lloyd Lewis's Tecumseh-at- birth account, which has now become the received wisdom in Sherman biographies and many, many other civil war sources. Full details are given in my article (which I hope throws some other useful light on Sherman's youth as well). There is an adage, sometimes attributed to Mark Twain, that "a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can put its boots on." I'm posting this info in the hope that the (probable) truth about Sherman's name can begin catching up with the more colorful (but probably erroneous) story popularized by Lloyd Lewis. Ohio History is published by Kent State University Press. At the time of this post, the following link shows last year's issue of Ohio History (vol. 114), not the new volume with my article (vol. 115).

http://upress. kent.edu/ journals/ ohiohistory. htm

Carl Schenker

[oneplez]

Hirshson in his "White Tecumseh," p. 6-7, states:

“In contrast to Lamp, Tecumseh, a flaming redhead, had a short trip to his new home. Taken in, but never formally adopted, by the Ewings, he moved up the block from his family's two-story brown frame house on the north side of Main Street to the large Ewing home on the corner of High and Main streets. Welcomed into the family, Tecumseh was treated as an equal. Religion was among the first things attended to. In those days Lancaster contained no Catholic church, but a priest would come over at intervals from Somerset, just to the northeast, where Dominicans ran a college. During these trips to Lancaster, priests invariably stayed at the Ewing home, sometimes for a week or so, holding classes for the children. At one of these, someone mentioned to Father Dominic Young that Cump had never been baptized. In reality, as John Sherman attested, all of the Sherman children had been baptized as Presbyterians by the Reverend John Wright, but as Father Young was leaving, someone down the block to ask Mary Sherman if Cump might be baptized by the priest. His mother having no objections, Cump was taken into the front parlor. Ellen, then five years old, stood in back of the group, in front of the mantelpiece Father Young asked the boy's name. Told it was Tecumseh, he pointed out in a scriptural or saint's name had to be used in the ceremony. Since it was William's Day, Tecumseh was baptized William. Ellen later thought the day June 8, 1830, but Philemon's daughter, Ellen Ewing Brown, believed it to June 25. After that, Cump always signed his name W. T. Sherman or Willi T. Sherman.27"

27. Brown, "Notes on the Boyhood of Philemon Beecher Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman"; Ellen Sherman, "Recollections for My Children," 1-2; John Sherman's Recollections, 1:26.

Kennett in his "Sherman, A Soldiers life"

did not explain.


Don

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by oneplez

Hirshson in his "White Tecumseh," p. 6-7, states:

“In contrast to Lamp, Tecumseh, a flaming redhead, had a short trip to his new home. Taken in, but never formally adopted, by the Ewings, he moved up the block from his family's two-story brown frame house on the north side of Main Street to the large Ewing home on the corner of High and Main streets. Welcomed into the family, Tecumseh was treated as an equal. Religion was among the first things attended to. In those days Lancaster contained no Catholic church, but a priest would come over at intervals from Somerset, just to the northeast, where Dominicans ran a college. During these trips to Lancaster, priests invariably stayed at the Ewing home, sometimes for a week or so, holding classes for the children. At one of these, someone mentioned to Father Dominic Young that Cump had never been baptized. In reality, as John Sherman attested, all of the Sherman children had been baptized as Presbyterians by the Reverend John Wright, but as Father Young was leaving, someone down the block to ask Mary Sherman if Cump might be baptized by the priest. His mother having no objections, Cump was taken into the front parlor. Ellen, then five years old, stood in back of the group, in front of the mantelpiece Father Young asked the boy's name. Told it was Tecumseh, he pointed out in a scriptural or saint's name had to be used in the ceremony. Since it was William's Day, Tecumseh was baptized William. Ellen later thought the day June 8, 1830, but Philemon's daughter, Ellen Ewing Brown, believed it to June 25. After that, Cump always signed his name W. T. Sherman or Willi T. Sherman.27"

27. Brown, "Notes on the Boyhood of Philemon Beecher Ewing and William Tecumseh Sherman"; Ellen Sherman, "Recollections for My Children," 1-2; John Sherman's Recollections, 1:26.

Kennett in his "Sherman, A Soldiers life"

did not explain.


Don

John Marszalek's Sherman - A Soldier's Passion For Order also gives an account similar to that above and also cites Ellen Sherman's "Recollections", but also Ellie Ewing Brown's (Cump's niece, Philemon's daughter) "Notes on the Boyhood of Philemon Beecher Ewing and William tecumseh Sherman".


-
-