William Tecumseh Sherman was one of the Union’s best-known generals. Sixth in his class at West Point, Sherman nevertheless had an uncertain military career early in the Civil War, suffering a nervous collapse in 1861. After the capture of Vicksburg, however, he assumed command of the Military Division of the Mississippi in March 1864. Sherman gained infamy in the South for his marches through Georgia and the Carolinas in 1864 and 1865, during which his scorched-earth policy crippled southern morale. When accepting Confederate defeat in April 1865, Sherman offered lenient terms, however, delivering on his philosophy of “hard war soft peace.” In light of Lincoln’s assassination, Sherman was reprimanded and the surrender renegotiated. When Ulysses Grant became president in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as general in chief, concentrating on the Indian Wars and military education reforms until his retirement in 1884.
