Sherman Nine Things You May Not Know About Sherman

frontrank2

Captain
Forum Host
Joined
Oct 10, 2012
Location
Mt. Jackson, Va

9 Things You May Not Know About William Tecumseh Sherman​

Nine surprising facts about the powerful general who helped pioneer “scorched earth” military tactics.
EVAN ANDREWS
1. He was named for a Shawnee Chief
William Tecumseh Sherman (known as “Cump” to his friends) was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. His father gave him his unusual middle name as a nod to the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, a magnetic leader who built a confederacy of Ohio Indian tribes and fought with the British during the War of 1812. A relative later wrote that Sherman’s father always shook off concerns that he had given his son a “savage Indian name” by arguing, “Tecumseh was a great warrior.”

2. He married his foster sister.​

After losing his father at the age of 9, Sherman was sent to live with Thomas Ewing, a renowned Ohio attorney and family friend who later served as a senator and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. The young Sherman grew close with Ewing’s eldest daughter, Ellen, and they regularly corresponded through letters during his tenure at West Point and his early military career. Following a long engagement, the two were married in 1850 in a Washington, D.C., ceremony attended by the likes of President Zachary Taylor, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The couple later had eight children, two of whom died from sickness while Sherman was serving in the Civil War. continue: https://www.history.com/news/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-william-tecumseh-sherman

5775547588e4a727008b540e.jpeg
 
Interesting stuff, didn't know about his wife.
 
He was surprised at Shiloh! His report to Grant prior to the battle along with his statements to his subordinates that denied the Confderates were massing for an attack despite all the warnings! He and Grant were lucky they survied the battle and saved with their careers!!
Regards
David
 
1. He was named for a Shawnee Chief
William Tecumseh Sherman (known as “Cump” to his friends) was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. His father gave him his unusual middle name as a nod to the Shawnee chief Tecumseh, a magnetic leader who built a confederacy of Ohio Indian tribes and fought with the British during the War of 1812. A relative later wrote that Sherman’s father always shook off concerns that he had given his son a “savage Indian name” by arguing, “Tecumseh was a great warrior.”
If my memory serves me correct, William was not Cump's first name. His father straight up just named him Tecumseh Sherman. I believe he had his name changed when his father died and Tom Ewing had him adopted.
Hence why People close to him like Grant refer to him as "Cump" rather than William or Bill.
Edit: Should also note how ironic he was given a "savage Indian name", when he himself was vicious towards the Plains Indians during those conflicts.
 
No. 10 - he gave the commencement address at Notre Dame in June 1865 (he was there to pick up his wife and two of his kids - they had stayed there during the war as a result of her father knowing the school's founder, Rev. Edward Sorin C.S.C.).
 
If my memory serves me correct, William was not Cump's first name. His father straight up just named him Tecumseh Sherman. I believe he had his name changed when his father died and Tom Ewing had him adopted.
Hence why People close to him like Grant refer to him as "Cump" rather than William or Bill.
Edit: Should also note how ironic he was given a "savage Indian name", when he himself was vicious towards the Plains Indians during those conflicts.

Actually, he was named after Tecumseh because his father admired the Shawnee chief for being humane, educated and brave.

"Like all settlers in the Northwest, [Charles] Sherman found his first years in the new land filled with talk about the Indian Tecumseh. The chieftain was at once the despair and the hope of white civilians from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River. If he should decree war the danger was appalling, for he held the tribes from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico in obedience to his call. If, however, the Indian war should begin, Tecumseh was the white man's one hope that women and children and captives would escape massacre. Stately, serene, and humane, Shooting Star was recognized by all thoughtful settlers as a statesman rather than a savage. He could read and write, and kept a half-breed secretary, Billy Caldwell, chief of the Potawatamis, living in a cabin close to Fort Dearborn, where the Chicago River emptied into Lake Michigan. White men felt an irresistible admiration for the great chieftain who was attempting to hold his people's land by diplomacy rather than by bloodshed. And when war did come in 1812 with the redskins scalping and burning across the Northwest, legends of Tecumseh's magnanimity and mercy grew in the log cabins. He had struck up murderous tomahawks in time to spare lives, had denounced his British allies for inhumanity; and when he was killed at the Battle of the Thames in Canada, all through the United States there was genuine regret mixed with elation. To men like Charles Sherman there was nothing but shame in the reports that American soldiers, battle-crazed, had cut long strips of skin from Tecumseh's dead thighs so that they might have razor strops as souvenirs of victory.
When peace had come to the nation with the Indians' drifting farther west, Charles Sherman went back to law and success, but through his mind there still went thoughts of Tecumseh. He decided to name his next son after the red man, but when a baby boy arrived, in December, 1814, he found that his wife had already decided to name it for her brother James. The first-born had been named for her brother Charles; the second-born, a girl, had been named for herself; and the third must keep up the family tradition. Her husband must have taken private satisfaction in the thought that Mary had no more brothers. He would bide his time and wait for another boy. In February, 1816, there came a girl to be named Amelia, and on July 24, 1818, another girl, Julia Ann. Then on February 8, 1820, a boy at last, red of hair, redder of face, a fit one for the name Tecumseh, which meant Shooting Star."
Sherman: Fighting Prophet, pp. 21-22, Lloyd Lewis
 
Just another great example of the sheer number of interesting characters that played a part in the ACW.

Drunks, teetotalers, distinguished, unknown, cruel, kind-hearted, brave, cowardly, honorable, degenerate...the men and women of this great conflict were a varied and fascinating bunch.
 
Sherman's father left the family broke when he died. Sherman's siblings were divided between family and friends. Sherman himself, just moved down the street from his home with the Ewing family. Does anyone know if he held a relationship with his mother and what became of her?
 
1). Sherman understood the slave owners psyche.

Sherman understood the very constitution of the southern elite, and he understood the very fundamental reason to why they wanted war. He knew the southern aristocracy was a patrician society with excess pride and their fundamentally reason for fighting was to protect their patrimony: slaves, land and mansions. Conversely, the average Confederate soldier's well being was never considered.

Sherman did not follow the conventional rules of war and fought an irregular war. He knew what it took to win:

Sherman is misunderstood by just about everyone, that's because he didn't follow the Marquess of Queensbury rules of boxing, he threw off the gloves. He demolished the heartland of the Southern aristocrats: their land and slaves—and left them impotent and discredited before their helpless women and children. Facing little opposition once they left Atlanta, Sherman’s men destroyed the very infrastructure that supported slavery and upheld the slaveholding elites—plantations, communications, factories, and government facilities. Southern military officers put great capital in the idea of the sanctity of the Southern homeland. They deemed themselves great raiders and marauders, who harassed fixed garrisons and terrorized timid populations. Sherman, however, gave the Confederacy the raid of its life. The central objective could be summed up quite simply: Freeing the unfree and humiliating the arrogant.

Sherman was the only one who could have done the job:

Sherman goes down in history similar to a Greek tragic hero, like Ajax. He was the only general of the entire CW who could have done the job to end the war. But that's never discussed, the manner he did it in is constantly discussed because sanctimonious people who think they're sober and judicious shout out their fraudulent accusations from their fictional ivory tower. Ajax deserved Achilles armor and Sherman deserves his due. I bet you nobody knew that about Sherman?
 
If my memory serves me correct, William was not Cump's first name. His father straight up just named him Tecumseh Sherman. I believe he had his name changed when his father died and Tom Ewing had him adopted.
That is true. Tom Ewing's wife being devoutly Catholic desired that Cump Sherman be baptized with a Christian name. Hence, his decision to add the name William was not Sherman's decision but was done after his inclusion in the Ewing family.
 
Sherman's father left the family broke when he died. Sherman's siblings were divided between family and friends. Sherman himself, just moved down the street from his home with the Ewing family. Does anyone know if he held a relationship with his mother and what became of her?
Sherman did continue to visit his birth mother Mary Hoyt Sherman, who continued to live nearby until her death in 1852.
 
Sherman goes down in history similar to a Greek tragic hero, like Ajax. He was the only general of the entire CW who could have done the job to end the war. But that's never discussed, the manner he did it in is constantly discussed because sanctimonious people who think they're sober and judicious shout out their fraudulent accusations from their fictional ivory tower. Ajax deserved Achilles armor and Sherman deserves his due. I bet you nobody knew that about Sherman
The ironic thing about Sherman is that he held a favorable view towards southerners and their culture, despite the historical narrative that was contrived post-war about he being a vengeful "destroyer" who committed atrocious acts against the civilian population. Sherman felt comfortable enough to visit Atlanta in the 1870's, when his reputation had not yet been entirely sullied. And Sherman continued to resist political and social rights for African-Americans even after the abolishment of slavery.
 
Sherman did continue to visit his birth mother Mary Hoyt Sherman, who continued to live nearby until her death in 1852.
Thanks for replying to this. I've often wondered if the siblings kept in touch with each other. I knew his mother died years before the war and was hoping he kept in contact with her.
 
Thanks for replying to this. I've often wondered if the siblings kept in touch with each other. I knew his mother died years before the war and was hoping he kept in contact with her.
In fact, William was in constant and regular contact with his brother John, who was a well known senator and author of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
 
044B6B89-C7EE-438E-BA37-A3729C655806.jpeg


Here is a Sherman Family reunion photo from 1868 (located here). According to Robert L. O'Connell's Fierce Patriot, the Sherman siblings pictured are Francis "Fanny" Sherman Moulton (2nd from left), Elizabeth Sherman Reese (3rd from left), John Sherman (6th from left), Lampson Sherman, William T. Sherman, Hoyt Sherman (3rd from right). The rest are various spouses and children. Ellen Ewing Sherman is 2nd from the right.
 
View attachment 396621

Here is a Sherman Family reunion photo from 1868 (located here). According to Robert L. O'Connell's Fierce Patriot, the Sherman siblings pictured are Francis "Fanny" Sherman Moulton (2nd from left), Elizabeth Sherman Reese (3rd from left), John Sherman (6th from left), Lampson Sherman, William T. Sherman, Hoyt Sherman (3rd from right). The rest are various spouses and children. Ellen Ewing Sherman is 2nd from the right.

"Get ready to git off you arses boys, we are gonna Raid that cellar in a minute."
 
Back
Top