Born at Lancaster, OH, next to Ulysses S. Grant he is the most widely renowned of the Union's military leaders. One of eleven children, when his father, a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, died suddenly in 1829, the family was taken in by various friends and relatives. Nine-year-old Sherman lived with Thomas Ewing, U. S. Senator and cabinet member, whose daughter he later married. He became the brother-in-law to Generals Charles, Hugh and Thomas Ewing, Jr. His brother, John, served nearly fifty years in Congress, the Senate and Cabinet.

Sen. Ewing obtained an appointment to West Point for Cump, from which he graduated 6th in his class in 1840 with a commission as 2nd Lieutenant, 3rd Artillery, July 1, 1840. He served in the Florida War, 1840-1842 and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, 3rd Artillery, November 30, 1841. He served the next several years in garrison at: Ft. Morgan, AL, 1842; Ft. Moultrie, SC, 1842-1846; on Recruiting Service, at Pittsburgh, PA, 1846; and on voyage to California, 1846-1847.

He served in the War with Mexico, in garrison at Monterrey, 1847 and as Acting Adjutant-General of the Department of California, May 31, 1847-February 27, 1849. He was breveted to Captain, May 30, 1848, for meritorious services in California during the War with Mexico. Cump served as Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Persifor F. Smith, and Acting Assistant Adjutant-General of the Pacific Division, headquartered at San Francisco, CA, February 27, 1849-January 1, 1850. He served in garrison at Jefferson Barracks, MO, 1850 and on Commissary Duty at St. Louis, MO, 1850-1852 and at New Orleans, LA, 1852-1853. Sherman was promoted to Captain, Staff, Commissary of Subsistence, September 27, 1850. He resigned September 6, 1853.

Sherman was a banker representing a St. Louis concern in San Francisco, CA, 1853-1857, and at New York City, 1857. He was commissioned as Major-General, California Militia, 1856. He turned to the practice of law with two of his brothers-in-law at Leavenworth, KS, 1858-1859, and was Superintendent of the Louisiana "State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy", at Alexandria, LA, and Professor of Engineering, Architecture and Drawing, 1859-1861. While there, he was required to receive a portion of the arms surrendered by the United States arsenal at Baton Rouge prompting his resignation, in which he told the Governor:

"On no earthly account will I do any act or think any thought hostile . . . to the . . .United States."

For a few months he served as President of the 5th Street Railroad at St. Louis, MO, 1861, before returning to the Army. He was re-appointed to the U. S. Army with the rank of Colonel, 13th Infantry, May 14, 1861.

Cump started his service during the Rebellion in the defense of Washington, D. C., June 13-July 15, 1861. In command of a brigade (Army of the Potomac) in the Manassas Campaign, July 15-23, 1861, Sherman was engaged in the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; in the defenses of Washington, D. C., July 23-August 28, 1861. On August 7, 1861, Sherman was commissioned a Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers, with rank from May 17, 1861, becoming the 7th Brigadier- General of Volunteers in the service, standing eleven ahead of Ulysses S. Grant.

He succeeded Brigadier-General Robert Anderson in command of the Department of the Cumberland, August 28-November 9, 1861, being engaged, September-October, 1861, in the Occupation of Muldraugh Heights, to cover Louisville, KY from a threatened attack of the Rebel Army under General Simon Bolivar Buckner. At this state of the War, Sherman's volatile temperament was strained by the insufficiencies of the volunteers, his knowledge that war was not a picnic and an intrusive news media that portrayed him as a visionary, but unstable and mentally deranged. He was relieved by Don Carlos Buell and reported to General Halleck in St. Louis.

He served in the Department of the Missouri, November 23, 1861- February 14, 1862, on Inspection Duty November 23-December 3, 1861 and in command of Camp of Instruction at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, MO, December 23, 1861-February 14, 1862.

Sherman was next in command of the District of Paducah, KY, February 17-March 10, 1862, aiding in forwarding reinforcements and supplies to General Grant, then operating on the Tennessee River. He was in command of a division in the Tennessee and Mississippi Campaign, March-October, 1862, being engaged in the Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862, where he was wounded; Skirmish and Destruction of Bear Creek Bridge, April 14, 1862; and the Advance upon and Siege of Corinth, April 15-May 30, 1862. He was commissioned Major-General, U. S. Volunteers, May 1, 1862-August 12, 1864.

William Tecumseh Sherman

He moved on to Memphis, which he occupied on July 21, 1862. Sherman was in command of the District of Memphis, TN, October 26- December 20, 1862, being engaged, November 26, 1862, in concert with General Grant, in driving the Rebels, entrenched behind the Tallahatchie, to Grenada, MS. He was in command of the hastily organized Expedition to Vicksburg, MS, being engaged in the attempt to carry it by coup-de-main, December 27-29, 1862.

Sherman was in command of XV Corps, January 2, 1863-March 12, 1864, on the Expedition to Arkansas Post, January, 1863, which was carried by Assault, January 11, 1863. In command of XV Corps, he was engaged in the Vicksburg Campaign, January-July, 1863, being engaged in the Expedition by Steele's Bayou to the Yazoo, March, 1863; Demonstration on Haines's Bluff, to hold the enemy at Vicksburg, April 29-30, 1863; Advance to Grand Bluff, May 1-6, 1863; Skirmish at Fourteen Mile Creek, May 12, 1863; Attack and Capture of Jackson, May 14, 1863; March to Bridgeport, and Passage of Black River, May 16-18, 1863; Seizing of Walnut Hills, May 18, 1863; Assaults of Vicksburg, May 19 & 22, 1863, and Siege of Vicksburg, May 22 until its unconditional surrender on July 4, 1863.

Cump was promoted to Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, July 4, 1863. He continued in command of XV Corps in Operations against the relieving forces, resulting in the Capture of Jackson, MS, July 16, 1863, with extensive destruction of railroads and forcing General Joseph E. Johnston's Army beyond Brandon, MS. He was in command of the Expedition from the Big Black River, via Memphis, to Chattanooga, TN, September 22-November 15, 1863, engaged in the Action of Colliersville, MS, October 11, 1863; Passage of the Tennessee River at Eastport, AL, November 1, 1863; and Battle of Chattanooga, TN, November 23-25, 1863, in which he commanded the left wing of General Grant's Army in the Attack on Missionary Ridge. Sherman's corps assaulted the Confederate right under P. R. Cleburne and were roughly handled "in a bayonet-to-bayonet combat of a savagery unexcelled in the war's annals". Cump continued in pursuit of the Rebels to Ringgold, GA, November 25-28, 1863, constantly skirmishing and making large captures of men and materiel.

William Tecumseh Sherman

He was in command of the Expedition to Knoxville, TN, commencing the campaign without a moment's rest to his troops, November 28, 1863, and after compelling General James Longstreet to raise the siege of the place, December 1, 1863, he returned to Chattanooga, December 18, 1863, and then to Memphis and Vicksburg, January, 1864. He was next on a Winter March, February 1-25, 1864, with 20,000 men, to Meridian, MS, breaking up the Railroads centering there and supplying the Rebel forces in the Southwest, thus enabling him to spare 10,000 troops for General Bank's Red River Expedition, and 10,000 to reinforce the armies about Chattanooga.

Sherman was next in command of the Department and Army of the Tennessee, October 25, 1863-March 12, 1864, and of the Military Division of the Mississippi, composed of the Departments of the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and Arkansas, March 12, 1864-June 27, 1865, in organizing at his headquarters, at Nashville, TN, an Army of 100,000 men for the Spring Campaign of 1864. During the Invasion of Georgia, May 2-December 21, 1864, he was in command of the Armies of the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee, being engaged in the Battle of Dalton, May 14, 1864; Battle of Resaca, May 15, 1864; Occupation of Rome, May 18, 1864; Movement on Kenesaw, with almost daily heavy engagements, May 28-June 20, 1864; Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, June 20-July 2, 1864; Occupation of Marietta, July 3, 1864; Assault at Ruff's Station, July 4, 1864; Passage of the Chattahoochee, July 12-17, 1864; Combats of Peach Tree Creek, July 19-21, 1864; Battle of Atlanta, July 22, 1864 and Siege of Atlanta, July 22-September 2, 1864. He was promoted to Major-General, U. S. Army, August 12, 1864.

Cump continued in command of the Armies at the Repulse of Rebel Sorties from Atlanta, July 28-August 6, 1864; Battle of Jonesborough, August 31-September 1, 1864; Surrender of Atlanta, September 2, and Occupation, September 2-November 15, 1864; Pursuit of the Rebels under General John B. Hood into Alabama, with frequent engagements with the enemy, September 28-November 15, 1864. Leaving two army corps under the command of G. H. Thomas to take care of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, Sherman then cut loose and began the celebrated "March to the Sea", with numerous actions and skirmishes, from Atlanta to Savannah, November 16-December 13, 1864; Storming and Capture of Ft. McAlister, GA, December 13, 1864; and Surrender of Savannah, December 21, 1864. In this campaign, he inaugurated the theory of "modern warfare" by which total destruction would be visited upon the civilian population in the path of the advancing columns. He had cut a swath of desolation forty-miles wide through the heart of Georgia.

Sherman was in command of the Invasion of the Carolinas, from the "Base" of the Savannah River, January 15-April 6, 1865, in command of the Armies of the Ohio, Tennessee and Georgia, being engaged on the march through Salkahatchie Swamps to the South Carolina Railroad, February 1-6, 1865; Occupation of Columbia, SC, February 17, 1865; Passage of the Catawba River, February 23-25, 1865; Capture of Cheraw, March 3, 1865; Crossing Pedee River, March 6-7, 1865; Capture of Fayetteville, NC, March 12, 1865; Passage of the Cape Fear River, NC, March 13, 1865; Battle of Averysborough, March 16, 1865; Battle of Bentonville, March 20-21, 1865; Occupation of Goldsborough, March 22, 1865; Capture of Raleigh, April 13, 1865; and Surrender of the Rebel Army under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Durham Station, NC, April 26, 1865, being one of the closing acts of the Rebellion; on the march to Richmond, VA and Washington, D. C., April 28-May 24, 1865, terminating his great marches of over 2,600 miles; and in command, June 27, 1865-August 11, 1866, at headquarters, St. Louis, MO, of the Military Division of the Mississippi, embracing the Departments of the Ohio, Missouri and Arkansas.

With the re-organization of the Army in 1866, Sherman was promoted to Lieutenant-General, U. S. Army, Grant's old grade, to rank from July 25, 1865.

After the Civil War Sherman served as a Member on a Special Mission to Mexico, November-December, 1866; in command of the Division of the Missouri, August 11, 1866-March 5, 1869. Upon Grant's inauguration in 1869 Sherman was promoted to full General and Commander-in-Chief, U. S. Army, March 5, 1869 and commanded the Armies of the United States from March 8, 1869-February 8, 1884 when he retired.

William Tecumseh Sherman
Later in Life

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