Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order

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William Tecumseh Sherman was born in 1820 in this simple frame house in Lancaster, Ohio, the sixth of eleven children . Sherman House, Fairfield Heritage Association. The affluence of Thomas Ewing, shown here, stood in marked contrast to the financial failure of Sherman’s father and fueled the boy’s desire for success and for a secure family life. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. Sherman’s young world was rocked when, upon the death of his father in 1829, the nine-year-old was taken into the far more substantial home of the neighboring Ewing family. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. Sherman found a new home at West Point, which he attended from 1836 to 1840. He thrived amid the camaraderie of his fellow cadets. Special Collections , United States Military Academy Library. At West Point, Sherman discovered his aptitude for engineering and organization and also found that he loved to draw. His drawings, like this one from 1838, demonstrate his energetic spirit and creativity, qualities he later brought to his military leadership. Sherman House, Fairfield Heritage Association. Sherman made lasting friends in the South while he was stationed at several army posts there, including Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor. National Archives. While in the South and in California with the army, Sherman realized his love for his foster sister, Ellen Ewing, shown here in a later portrait. He married her in 1850. Ohio Historical Society. During the 1850s, Sherman was unable to earn a decent enough living in the army to support a family, and consequently he tried his hand as a civilian banker in San Francisco. This view of the city is dated 1852. Library of Congress. Sherman’s foster parents and inlaws , the Ewings, opposed the move to California. He agreed to leave his firstborn daughter, Minnie, with his mother-in-law, Maria Boyle Ewing, in the first of many painful concessions he would make to maintain domestic order. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. As head of the San Francisco militia, Sherman was unsuccessful in his attempt to impose order on vigilante lawlessness, here illustrated by the hanging of two men deemed murderers by the Vigilance Committee. Moreover, he was JI\\MZMLÅVIVKQITTaIVLPQ[[]KKM[[I[IJIVSMZQV\]ZJ]TMV\/WTL:][PMZI California was short-lived. Library of Congress. Dejected after his bad fortune in California, Sherman drifted from job to job, reaching a low point in Kansas, where he inhabited this humble shelter in 1859. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. Sherman was frequently separated from his family while seeking economic stability. However, he used his artistic talent to communicate with them, as shown in this drawing he sent to his children in 1859. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. While Sherman struggled, his natural brother John Sherman, who had also left home after their father’s death, had become a leading member of the House of :MXZM[MV\I\Q^M[2WPVZMXMI\MLTa steadied Cump during difficult times and ultimately urged him to return to the U.S. army. Archives of the University of Notre Dame. For Sherman, one of the most satisfying periods of his life was his stay in 4W]Q[QIVI !· =VIJTM\WÅVLIXW[Q\QWVQV\PMIZUaPMPIL\ISMV a post as superintendent at the Louisiana Military Seminary. There he found once more the military camaraderie he had experienced at West Point. The school appears behind him. National Archives. In December 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union. 1V)XZQT \PM+WVNMLMZI\M[ÅZML]XWV.WZ\;]U\MZ and war broke out. Sherman left his beloved South despite PI^QVOÅVITTaNW]VLMKWVWUQKIVLMUW\QWVIT[I\Q[NIK\QWV# UIQV\IQVQVO\PM=VQWV_I[VW_PQ[ÅZ[\XZQWZQ\aSouth Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina. (JRAItLIJSTON MERCURY EXTRA: PuNtI _--.,. eI Ll& .'dwlt, P. No De~ !lOlA, 1S80. AN ORDIltANCE To dluoiN 'M [litlon "",_ 'M /!ll1II~ Iff _" CGroI_ oIMr /!II,,'~. _Ued toll" law __ 'M _ , ~Uled "TM OmoIU.,/en Iff'M lJit/Ied /!ll1II•• Iff -'*-." We, tie Pwple of lite Stale 0/ South Carolina, in Convrntion auembkd, do ddwe aM on:lGM, aM it .. Aertby d«JaytJd and Of'dained, That the Ordinance adopted by 118 in Convention, on tbe t"enty~third day of Kay, in the...