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128-625: In December 1864, with Union General Sherman 's troops approaching Savannah, Lamar took President Lincoln's loyalty oath (sometimes called the Proclamation of Amnesty ) to uphold the United States Constitution , in return for the promise that all his property rights would be restored. A high proportion of cotton confiscated in the city by Sherman belonged to Lamar. After the war he was arrested and held for three months in Washington, D.C., as

256-515: A Catholic at the behest of his foster family. According to Lewis's account, which was repeated by later authors, Sherman was baptized in the Ewing home by a Dominican priest who found the pagan name Tecumseh unsuitable and instead named the child William after the saint on whose feast day the baptism took place. Sherman had already been baptized as an infant by a Presbyterian minister and recent biographers believe, contrary to Lewis's claims, that he

384-577: A general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognition for his command of military strategy but criticism for the harshness of his scorched-earth policies, which he implemented in his military campaign against the Confederate States . British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the most original genius of

512-652: A gunboat , a tender , and a hospital ship . After she had been sold into mercantile service in June 1865, Wanderer operated commercially until on 12 January 1871, when she was lost off Cape Maisí , Cuba . Most historians long believed that Wanderer was the last slave ship to reach the US, including W. E. B. Du Bois , in his book The Suppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America, 1638–1870 . But

640-525: A streetcar company called the Fifth Street Railroad. Thus, he was living in the border state of Missouri as the secession crisis reached its climax. While trying to hold himself aloof from politics, he observed first-hand the efforts of Congressman Frank Blair , who later served under Sherman in the U.S. Army, to keep Missouri in the Union. In early April, Sherman declined Montgomery Blair 's offer of

768-531: A general store in Coloma , which earned him $ 1,500 in 1849 while his army salary was only $ 70 a month. Sherman also earned money from surveying and by the sale of lots in Sacramento and Benicia . Even though he earned a brevet promotion to captain in 1848 for his "meritorious service", his lack of combat experience and relatively slow advancement within the army discouraged him. Sherman would eventually become one of

896-507: A government official." He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison by a military commission. President Andrew Johnson overturned his conviction in 1869. The U. S. Supreme Court had ruled in United States v. Padelford (1869) that the oath required by President Lincoln (known as the loyalty oath) was all that was needed for Southerners to receive compensation. Lamar continued to pursue compensation for his losses of cotton. Lamar

1024-564: A great commercial success as a model for use as a river steamboat, leading to development of a business. It is commemorated with an historical marker in Savannah next to the Maritime Fountain on River Street, titled SS Savannah and SS John Randolph . The SS Savannah was the first steamboat to cross the Atlantic, in 1819. During this time in Savannah, Lamar sold at least one steamboat, named

1152-595: A hike with Halleck to the summit of Corcovado , overlooking Rio de Janeiro in Brazil , in order to examine the city's aqueduct design. Sherman and Ord disembarked in Monterey, California on January 28, 1847, two days before the town of Yerba Buena acquired the new name of "San Francisco". Sherman and Halleck lived in a house in Monterey, now known as the " Sherman Quarters ", from 1847 to 1849. In June 1848, Sherman accompanied

1280-765: A household name and was decisive in ensuring Lincoln's re-election in November. Sherman's success caused the collapse of the once powerful " Copperhead " faction within the Democratic Party , which had advocated immediate peace negotiations with the Confederacy. It also dealt a major blow to the popularity of the Democratic presidential candidate, George B. McClellan , whose victory in the election had until then appeared likely to many, including Lincoln himself. According to Holden-Reid, "Sherman did more than any other man apart from

1408-428: A large oak tree, his cigar glowing in the darkness. Heeding, Sherman later said, "some wise and sudden instinct not to mention retreat," he made a noncommittal remark: "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" "Yes," Grant replied, puffing on his cigar. "Lick 'em tomorrow, though." Sherman proved instrumental to mounting the successful Union counterattack of the following day, April 7. At Shiloh, Sherman

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1536-582: A lawyer who was a justice on the Ohio Supreme Court , died unexpectedly of typhoid fever in 1829. His widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, remained with eleven children and no inheritance. Nine-year-old Sherman was raised by a Lancaster neighbor and family friend, attorney Thomas Ewing . Ewing was a prominent member of the Whig Party who became U.S. senator for Ohio and the first Secretary of the Interior . Sherman

1664-521: A license to practice law, despite not having studied for the bar, but had little success as a lawyer. In 1859, Sherman accepted a job as the first superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy in Pineville, Louisiana , a position he sought at the suggestion of Major Don Carlos Buell and obtained through the support of General George Mason Graham . Sherman

1792-457: A long-established slave market. For a period of 10 days, he had shelves and pens built into the hold in order to accept a shipment of 490-600 people, who were loaded on the ship. Many of the people died on the six-week journey across the Atlantic Ocean. Wanderer reached Jekyll Island , Georgia on November 28, 1858, delivering 409 enslaved people alive. A prosecution of the slave traders

1920-617: A lot in the swamp of San Francisco." The failure of Page, Bacon & Co. triggered a panic surrounding the "Black Friday" of February 23, 1855, leading to the closure of several of San Francisco's principal banks and many other businesses. Sherman, however, succeeded in keeping his own bank solvent. In 1856, during the vigilante period , he served briefly as a major general of the California militia . Sherman's San Francisco branch closed in May 1857, and he relocated to New York City on behalf of

2048-528: A major strategic victory, putting navigation along the Mississippi River entirely under Union control and effectively cutting off the western half of the Confederacy from the eastern half. During the siege of Vicksburg, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston had gathered a force of 30,000 men in Jackson, Mississippi , with the intention of relieving the garrison under the command of John C. Pemberton that

2176-459: A native of Virginia and an enthusiastic secessionist. Boyd later recalled witnessing that, when news of South Carolina's secession from the United States reached them at the Seminary, "Sherman burst out crying, and began, in his nervous way, pacing the floor and deprecating the step which he feared might bring destruction on the whole country." In what some authors have seen as an accurate prophecy of

2304-472: A new climb to success at Shiloh and Corinth under Grant. Still, if he muffed his Vicksburg assignment, which had begun unfavorably, he would rise no higher. As a man, Sherman was an eccentric mixture of strength and weakness. Although he was impatient, often irritable and depressed, petulant, headstrong, and unreasonably gruff, he had solid soldierly qualities. His men swore by him, and most of his fellow officers admired him. In December, Sherman's forces suffered

2432-613: A promise by President Lincoln that he would not be given such a prominent leadership position. Having succeeded Anderson at Louisville, Sherman now had principal military responsibility for Kentucky , a border state in which the Confederates held Columbus and Bowling Green , and were also present near the Cumberland Gap . He became exceedingly pessimistic about the outlook for his command and he complained frequently to Washington about shortages, while providing exaggerated estimates of

2560-494: A severe repulse at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou , just north of Vicksburg . Sherman's operations were supposed to be coordinated with an advance on Vicksburg by Grant from another direction. Unbeknownst to Sherman, Grant abandoned his advance, and Sherman's river expedition met more resistance than expected. Soon after, Major General John A. McClernand ordered Sherman's XV Corps to join in his assault on Arkansas Post . Grant, who

2688-639: A single slave has been imported into the United States in violation of the laws prohibiting the African slave trade." Names and descriptions of some of the survivors of the Wanderer are known. Some of the people transported on the Wanderer spoke the Yoruba language , were abducted from "from some towns west of Abeckuta, by Dahomey slave hunters," and had been sold at Porto Nevo . Many had chest, arm and thigh tattoos, and some their teeth sharpened so they looked like of

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2816-593: A slightly higher mortality rate than the estimated average of 12 percent during the illegal trading era. Hoping to evade arrest, Lamar had the slaves shipped to markets in Savannah and Augusta, Georgia , South Carolina , and Florida . As the federal government investigated, news of the slave ship raised outrage in the North. Southerners pressed Congress to reopen the Atlantic trade. The federal government tried Lamar and his conspirators three times for piracy in Savannah, GA but

2944-707: A successful completion. After Chattanooga, Sherman led a column to relieve Union forces under Ambrose Burnside , thought to be in peril at Knoxville . In February 1864, he commanded an expedition to Meridian, Mississippi , intended to disrupt Confederate infrastructure and communications. Sherman's army captured the city of Meridian on February 14 and proceeded to destroy 105 miles of railroad and 61 bridges, while burning at least 10 locomotives and 28 railcars. The army took 4,000 prisoners and commandeered many wagons and horses. Thousands of refugees, both black and white, joined Sherman's columns, which on February 20 finally withdrew toward Canton . The Meridian campaign marked

3072-537: A suspect in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln . After returning to Savannah, Lamar tried to reclaim his cotton from warehouses in Georgia and Florida. He was arrested and convicted by a military court under Reconstruction of trying to take government property and bribe a government official. His sentence was commuted by President Andrew Johnson shortly before the end of his term. Lamar spent years trying to gain compensation for his confiscated cotton. In 1874, he

3200-454: A valued contact for Southern state governments. The city's merchants and financiers had a long history of extensive relations with Southerners. Lamar arranged loans, printed bonds and, as the war neared, buying semi-obsolete rifles from the federal arsenal for the states of Georgia and South Carolina. At the start of the Civil War, his wife Harriet was in poor health. She died soon after the end of

3328-417: Is not known." During the next two years, ownership of Wanderer changed several times. In November 1859 the ship sailed again on another slaving expedition, by a crew of 27 "stealing" the vessel from its owner, with the apparent connivance of port officials. According to one report, it sailed in broad daylight, with hundreds looking on; according to another, it left between midnight and 1 AM. The owner, who

3456-464: Is the last known ship to bring enslaved people from Africa to the US. Originally built in New York as a pleasure schooner, The Wanderer was purchased by Southern businessman Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar and an investment group, and used in a conspiracy to import kidnapped people illegally. The Atlantic slave trade had been prohibited under US law since 1808. An estimated 409 enslaved people survived

3584-457: Is the only eminent American named from an Indian chief". According to Sherman's Memoirs , he was named William Tecumseh because his father had "caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees , ' Tecumseh ' ". However, Lloyd Lewis's 1932 biography claimed that Sherman was originally named only Tecumseh and that he acquired the name William at the age of nine or ten, when he was baptized as

3712-704: The Battle of Fort Henry and the Battle of Fort Donelson , the Battle of Shiloh , the campaigns that led to the fall of the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River , and the Chattanooga campaign , which culminated with the routing of the Confederate armies in the state of Tennessee. In 1864, when Grant went east to serve as the General-in-Chief of the Union Armies , Sherman succeeded him as

3840-466: The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain . The Confederate victory at Kennesaw Mountain did little to halt Sherman's advance toward Atlanta. In July, the cautious Johnston was replaced by the more aggressive John Bell Hood , who played to Sherman's strength by challenging him to direct battles on open ground. Meanwhile, in August, Sherman "learned that I had been commissioned a major-general in the regular army, which

3968-589: The Buchanan administration to strengthen the United States' role in anti-slave-trade efforts. Following the dispersion and sale of the 400 Africans throughout the South, there were rumors of subsequent slave ship landings in the region. The Buchanan Administration sent a "secret agent" named Benjamin F. Slocum on a two-month journey to search for evidence. Slocum, working undercover, spoke with slave traders, plantation owners, and townspeople, hunting down every possible lead. In

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4096-758: The Cincinnati Commercial described him as "insane". By mid-December 1861 Sherman had recovered sufficiently to return to service under Halleck in the Department of the Missouri. In March, Halleck's command was redesignated the Department of the Mississippi and enlarged to unify command in the West. Sherman's initial assignments were rear-echelon commands, first of an instructional barracks near St. Louis and then in command of

4224-463: The Department of the Missouri , who found him unfit for duty and sent him to Lancaster, Ohio, to recuperate. While he was at home, his wife Ellen wrote to his brother, Senator John Sherman, seeking advice and complaining of "that melancholy insanity to which your family is subject". In his private correspondence, Sherman later wrote that the concerns of command "broke me down" and admitted to having contemplated suicide. His problems were compounded when

4352-608: The Golden Gate on the overturned hull of a foundering lumber schooner. Sherman suffered from asthma attacks, which he attributed in part to stress caused by the city's aggressive business culture. Late in life, Sherman said of his time in San Francisco, under frenzied real estate speculation: "I can handle a hundred thousand men in battle, and take the City of the Sun, but am afraid to manage

4480-505: The Mexican–American War , Sherman was assigned to administrative duties in the captured territory of California. Along with fellow Lieutenants Henry Halleck and Edward Ord , Sherman embarked from New York City on the 198-day journey around Cape Horn , aboard the converted sloop USS Lexington . During that voyage, Sherman grew close to Ord and especially to the intellectually distinguished Halleck. In his memoirs, Sherman relates

4608-420: The U.S. Congress , a prominent advocate against slavery . Before the Civil War, however, the more conservative William had expressed some sympathy for the white Southerners' defense of their traditional agrarian system, including the institution of slavery. On the other hand, he was adamantly opposed to the secession of the southern states . In Louisiana, he became a close friend of professor David French Boyd ,

4736-626: The Union . Sherman commanded a brigade of volunteers at the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, and then was transferred to the Western Theater . He was stationed in Kentucky, where his pessimism about the outlook of the war led to a breakdown that required him to be briefly put on leave. He recovered and forged a close partnership with General Ulysses S. Grant . Sherman served under Grant in 1862 and 1863 in

4864-556: The Union Army during the Civil War: Hugh Boyle Ewing , later an ambassador and author, and Thomas Ewing Jr. , who was a defense attorney in the military trials of the Lincoln conspirators . Sherman's niece, Euthanasia Sherman Meade , was a pioneering woman physician in California. Sherman's unusual given name has always attracted attention. One 19th-century source, for example, states that "General Sherman, we believe,

4992-533: The United States in 1807, with the two laws coming into effect on 1 May 1807 and 1 January 1808, respectively. The Royal Navy started intercepting illegal slave traders off the coast of Africa in 1807, but serious enforcement activity started in 1808 with the establishment of the West Africa Squadron The British also worked to persuade other nations to end their involvement in slave trading. At

5120-405: The Wanderer to William C. Corrie. Corrie became a partner with wealthy businessman and cotton planter Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar (son of Gazaway Bugg Lamar ) from Savannah, Georgia . He was hired to transport slaves from Africa, although such importation had been prohibited since 1808 by federal law. Corrie achieved some elements of conversion, but much of the work was accomplished after

5248-465: The Wanderer , vastly more than the ship was meant to carry, and fewer than 500 landed in the United States. Some of the deaths were because "between Cuba and Jekyll island a vessel was sighted which was believed to be in chase of her by the officers of the Wanderer . Hurriedly as many negroes as could be forced between the hatches were crowded below and weights were fastened to those remaining and they were heaved overboard. The exact number thus massacred

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5376-464: The XVII Corps under Sherman's young protégé, Maj. Gen. James B. McPherson . During the long and complicated maneuvers against Vicksburg, one newspaper complained that the "army was being ruined in mud-turtle expeditions, under the leadership of a drunkard [Grant], whose confidential adviser [Sherman] was a lunatic". When Vicksburg fell on July 4, 1863, after a prolonged siege, the Union had achieved

5504-645: The Zavala , to the Republic of Texas while his cousin Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was president of the independent nation. By 1846 Lamar had moved with his family to New York City. He and his second wife had a total of six children together, with the youngest ones born there. In 1850, along with some associates, Lamar founded the Bank of the Republic with $ 1,000,000 (~$ 28.4 million in 2023) capital. Another investment

5632-418: The "Little Sergeant", died from typhoid fever contracted during the trip. Ordered to relieve the Union forces besieged in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee , Sherman departed from Memphis on October 11, 1863, aboard a train bound for Chattanooga. When Sherman's train passed Collierville it came under attack by 3,000 Confederate cavalry and eight guns under James Ronald Chalmers . Sherman took command of

5760-480: The Academy I was not considered a good soldier, for at no time was I selected for any office, but remained a private throughout the whole four years. Then, as now, neatness in dress and form, with a strict conformity to the rules, were the qualifications required for office, and I suppose I was found not to excel in any of these. In studies I always held a respectable reputation with the professors, and generally ranked among

5888-674: The American Civil War" and "the first modern general". Born in Lancaster, Ohio , into a politically prominent family, Sherman graduated in 1840 from the United States Military Academy at West Point . In 1853, he interrupted his military career to pursue private business ventures, without much success. In 1859, he became superintendent of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning & Military Academy , now Louisiana State University , but resigned when Louisiana seceded from

6016-578: The American flag. Consequently, US colors were a means by which slavers of many nations avoided interception. US Navy ships were next involved in anti-slavery patrols off Africa in 1842 as a result of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty , but with limited effect. After the US outlawed the transatlantic slave trade, people continued to buy slaves in Africa and bring them to the US. As sectional tensions rose in

6144-581: The Army . Sherman served in that capacity from 1869 until 1883 and was responsible for the U.S. Army's engagement in the Indian Wars . He steadfastly refused to be drawn into party politics and in 1875 published his memoirs, which became one of the best-known first-hand accounts of the Civil War. Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio , near the banks of the Hocking River . His father, Charles Robert Sherman ,

6272-473: The Army of Northeastern Virginia under General Irvin McDowell . The engagement at Bull Run was a disastrous defeat for the Union, dashing hopes for a rapid resolution of the conflict. Sherman was one of the few Union officers to distinguish himself in the field and historian Donald L. Miller has characterized Sherman's performance at Bull Run as "exemplary". During the fighting, Sherman was grazed by bullets in

6400-536: The Congo and Benguela, which is located forty miles south of the Congo River . After a six-week return voyage across the Atlantic, Wanderer arrived at Jekyll Island, Georgia, around sunset on November 28, 1858. The tally sheets and passenger records showed that 409 slaves survived the passage. They were landed at Jekyll Island, which was owned by John and Henry DuBignon, Jr., who conspired with Lamar. These figures present

6528-679: The Congo to Jekyll Island , in violation of US law prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade. Four hundred survived the voyage and were sold in South Carolina and Georgia. Lamar and three other men were charged with slave trading, a capital offense. None of the defendants were convicted, as there were several hung juries and mistrials. However, Lamar and three other men were later arrested after trying to break another codefendant out of jail. They all later pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to rescue their. Each of them were sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $ 250. Meanwhile, in New York, Lamar had become

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6656-546: The District of Cairo. Operating from Paducah, Kentucky , he provided logistical support for the operations of Grant to capture Fort Donelson in February 1862. Grant, the previous commander of the District of Cairo, had just won a major victory at Fort Henry and been given command of the ill-defined District of West Tennessee . Although Sherman was technically the senior officer, he wrote to Grant, "I feel anxious about you as I know

6784-820: The East to become general-in-chief . Sherman then became the military governor of occupied Memphis . In November 1862, Grant, acting as commander of the Union forces in the state of Mississippi, launched a campaign to capture the city of Vicksburg , the principal Confederate stronghold along the Mississippi River . Grant made Sherman a corps commander and put him in charge of half of his forces. According to historian John D. Winters 's The Civil War in Louisiana (1963), at this stage Sherman ...had yet to display any marked talents for leadership. Sherman, beset by hallucinations and unreasonable fears and finally contemplating suicide, had been relieved from command in Kentucky. He later began

6912-490: The Military Division of the Mississippi, which entailed command of Union troops in the Western Theater of the war. As Grant took overall command of the armies of the United States, Sherman wrote to him outlining his strategy to bring the war to an end: "If you can whip Lee and I can march to the Atlantic I think ol' Uncle Abe [Lincoln] will give us twenty days leave to see the young folks." Sherman proceeded to invade

7040-462: The Naval blockade of the Confederate States of America . Wanderer was built in a Setauket, New York ( Long Island ), shipyard in 1857 as a pleasure craft yacht for Colonel John Johnson. The vessel's streamlined design allowed the ship to achieve speeds of up to 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph), making Wanderer one of the fastest ships of the day. While on a trip to New Orleans , Johnson stopped in Charleston, South Carolina and sold

7168-418: The South. Brothers Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus and Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar were first cousins from Georgia; the former became a judge in Georgia; the latter served as the second President of the Republic of Texas . Gazaway's father was a charter member of the Steamboat Company of Georgia. The family moved to Savannah in the 1830s. By the time of his father's death when Lamar was 29, he had become active in

7296-427: The Union, George Henry Thomas . Sherman excelled academically at West Point, but he treated the demerit system with indifference. Fellow cadet William Rosecrans remembered Sherman as "one of the brightest and most popular fellows" at the academy and as "a bright-eyed, red-headed fellow, who was always prepared for a lark of any kind". About his time at West Point, Sherman says only the following in his Memoirs : At

7424-468: The United States on the E. A. Rawlins and Richard Cobden .) In 1859 the Augusta Sentinel reported that "it is quietly hinted that this is the third cargo loaded by the company in the last six months." A news account from 1914 claimed that the Wanderer had landed a total of 1350 people from at least two separate slave-buying voyages. At least 80 enslaved people died on the Wanderer . According to one account, well over 800 people were packed into

7552-446: The ability and willingness of the Confederacy to continue fighting. Sherman accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865, but the terms that he negotiated were considered too generous by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton , who ordered General Grant to modify them. When Grant became President of the United States in March 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of

7680-518: The administrative position of chief clerk in the War Department , despite Blair's promise that it would be followed by nomination as Assistant Secretary of War after the U.S. Congress assembled in July. After the April 12–13 bombardment of Fort Sumter and its subsequent capture by the Confederacy, Sherman hesitated about committing to military service. He privately ridiculed Lincoln's call for 75,000 three-month volunteers to quell secession, reportedly saying: "Why, you might as well attempt to put out

7808-413: The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln . During his time, his home was plundered by federal troops. After he was allowed to return to Savannah, he worked to re-establish his business and reclaim his confiscated cotton, which was held in warehouses in Georgia and Florida. He was arrested by the military occupation of the Reconstruction era on charges of "stealing government property and trying to bribe

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7936-403: The best, especially in drawing, chemistry, mathematics, and natural philosophy. My average demerits, per annum , were about one hundred and fifty, which reduced my final class standing from number four to six. Upon graduation in 1840, Sherman entered the army as a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery and saw action in Florida in the Second Seminole War . In his memoirs he noted that "it

8064-550: The blade of a saw. Their captors noted that some of the stolen people referred to whiskey as melapho . According to Capt. A. C. McGhee, said to be a co-owner of the Wanderer , "They possessed many tricks of catching small animals and reptiles. One would stand in the middle of a field and make a peculiar noise with his mouth, which would attract a cloud of grassohppers. Catching them on the wing in his open hands he would devour them with great gusto. Raccoons, opossum, hares, and even skunks were regarded as great delicacies, and some of

8192-404: The blockade running, like the Confederacy, as doomed. Through the blockade runners, Lamar continued to be active in the cotton trade. When Savannah fell, it is estimated that 10% of the cotton stores seized in the city by Union General Sherman belonged to Gazaway Lamar. The government held the cotton for later sale. After the war ended, Lamar was arrested and held for three months as a suspect in

8320-579: The capabilities of his volunteer troops. However, Sherman impressed Lincoln during the President's visit to the troops on July 23, and Lincoln promoted Sherman to brigadier general of volunteers effective May 17, 1861. This made Sherman senior in rank to Ulysses S. Grant , his future commander. Sherman was then assigned to serve under Robert Anderson in the Department of the Cumberland, in Louisville, Kentucky . In October, Sherman succeeded Anderson in command of that department. In his memoirs, Sherman would later write that he saw that new assignment as breaking

8448-399: The city as a Christmas present. The Wanderer (slave ship) Wanderer was the penultimate documented ship to bring an illegal cargo of enslaved people from Africa to the United States, landing at Jekyll Island, Georgia , on November 28, 1858. It was the last to carry a large cargo, arriving with some 400 people. Clotilda , which transported 110 people from Dahomey in 1860,

8576-404: The commander in the Western Theater. He led the capture of the strategic city of Atlanta , a military success that contributed to the re-election of President Abraham Lincoln . Sherman's subsequent famous "March to the Sea" through Georgia and the Carolinas involved little fighting but large-scale destruction of military and civilian infrastructure, a systematic policy intended to undermine

8704-421: The conflict that would engulf the United States during the next four years, Boyd recalled Sherman declaring: You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end. It is all folly, madness, a crime against civilization! You people speak so lightly of war; you don't know what you're talking about. War is a terrible thing! You mistake, too,

8832-435: The conflict. Farnum became a colonel and brevet brigadier general in the Union Army . Lamar organized the 7th Georgia Battalion, and later served at the Battle of Columbus . He was the last officer to be killed in the Civil War. Also among the defendants was John Frederick Tucker, a planter and one of the owners of the ship through the investment group. During the war, the ship was seized by Union troops and used for

8960-452: The corresponding threat, reportedly saying that he would "give [Hood] his rations" to go in that direction, as "my business is down south". Sherman left forces under Major Generals George H. Thomas and John M. Schofield to deal with Hood; their forces eventually smashed Hood's army in the battles of Franklin (November 30) and Nashville (December 15–16). After the November elections, Sherman began marching on November 15 with 62,000 men in

9088-421: The direction of the port city of Savannah, Georgia , living off the land and causing, by his own estimate, more than $ 100 million in property damage. At the end of this campaign, known as Sherman's March to the Sea , his troops took Savannah on December 21. Upon reaching Savannah, Sherman appointed Private A. O. Granger as his personal secretary. Sherman then dispatched a message to Lincoln, offering him

9216-480: The end he delivered a detailed report, in which he concluded that the rumors of subsequent landings, "were founded upon the movements of the Wanderer negroes, or else they were mere fabrications, manufactured and circulated for political effect, or to fill a column in a sensation newspaper." Based on that investigation, Buchanan reported to Congress on December 3, 1860 that "since the date of my last inaugural message not

9344-517: The end of Sherman's brief tenure as commander of the Army of the Tennessee. Sherman had, up to that point, achieved mixed success as a general, and controversy attached especially to his performance at Chattanooga. However, he enjoyed Grant's confidence and friendship. When Lincoln called Grant east in the spring of 1864 to take command of all the Union armies, Grant appointed Sherman (by then known to his soldiers as "Uncle Billy") to succeed him as head of

9472-494: The end that you will surely fail. In January 1861, as more Southern states seceded from the Union, Sherman was required to take receipt of arms surrendered to the Louisiana State Militia by the U.S. arsenal at Baton Rouge . Instead of complying, he resigned his position as superintendent, declaring to the governor of Louisiana that "on no earthly account will I do any act or think any thought hostile to or in defiance of

9600-601: The few high-ranking officers of the American Civil War who had not fought in Mexico. On May 1, 1850, Sherman married his foster sister, Ellen Boyle Ewing , who was four years and eight months his junior. Ellen's father, Thomas Ewing, was the US Secretary of the Interior at that time. Father James A. Ryder , president of Georgetown College , officiated at the Washington, D.C., ceremony. President Zachary Taylor , Vice President Millard Fillmore and other political luminaries attended

9728-431: The flames of a burning house with a squirt-gun." In May, however, he offered himself for service in the regular Army. Senator John Sherman (his younger brother and a political ally of President Lincoln) and other connections in Washington helped him to obtain a commission. On June 3, he wrote in a letter to his brother-in-law: "I still think it is to be a long war—very long—much longer than any Politician thinks." Sherman

9856-453: The forming of the Importing and Exporting Company of Georgia. They sponsored blockade runners to get products out and supplies in to support the Confederacy. while the blockade runners are considered critical to the Confederate war effort, they reached a peak relatively late in the war, when the Union blockade was getting stronger. While documenting it thoroughly, historian Stephen Wise describes

9984-455: The good spirits...among them being one called King Mingo, who decoyed two children to St. Simon's beach, during the absence of his mistress, and all three of them jumped from a high bluff Into the swift current and were drowned." McGhee also claimed that the Wanderer was used for two separate slave cargoes but only was caught the once. (Former governor of South Carolina D. C. Heyward believed that Lamar had also imported slaves from Africa to

10112-587: The great facilities [the Confederates] have of concentration by means of the River and R[ail] Road, but [I] have faith in you—Command me in any way." After Grant captured Fort Donelson, Sherman got his wish to serve under Grant when he was assigned on March 1, 1862, to the Army of West Tennessee as commander of the 5th Division . His first major test under Grant was at the Battle of Shiloh . The massive Confederate attack on

10240-405: The head of the Army of the Tennessee . At Chattanooga, Grant instructed Sherman to attack the right flank of Bragg's forces, which were entrenched along Missionary Ridge overlooking the city. On November 25, Sherman took his assigned target of Billy Goat Hill at the north end of the ridge, only to find that it was separated from the main spine by a rock-strewn ravine. When he attempted to attack

10368-554: The home of his daughter Mrs. Robert Soutter in Alexandria, Virginia , where the funeral was held. Lamar was buried in that city. By his will, Lamar instructed his heirs to continue his claim for more compensation. They did so and were awarded another $ 75,000 (~$ 984,989 in 2023) in 1919. Early in the 21st century an old, rolled-up telegraph message was found and eventually given to a museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Dated April 14, 1861,

10496-533: The infantrymen in the local Union garrison and successfully repelled the Confederate attack. Following the defeat of the Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga by Confederate general Braxton Bragg 's Army of Tennessee , President Lincoln re-organized the Union forces in the West as the Military Division of the Mississippi , placing it under General Grant's command. Sherman then succeeded Grant at

10624-512: The invading Union army to leave its supply train and subsist by foraging. Sherman initially expressed reservations about the wisdom of these plans, but he soon submitted to Grant's leadership and the campaign in the spring of 1863 cemented Sherman's personal ties to Grant. The bulk of Grant's forces were now organized into three corps: the XIII Corps under McClernand, the XV Corps under Sherman, and

10752-433: The kind of criticism he had received in Kentucky. Indeed, he had written to his wife that if he took more precautions "they'd call me crazy again". Despite being caught unprepared by the attack, Sherman rallied his division and conducted an orderly, fighting retreat that helped avert a disastrous Union rout. With a heavy rain coming down at the end of the first day of fighting at Shiloh, Sherman came upon Grant standing under

10880-498: The knee and shoulder. According to British military historian Brian Holden-Reid , "if Sherman had committed tactical errors during the attack, he more than compensated for these during the subsequent retreat". Holden-Reid also concluded that Sherman "might have been as unseasoned as the men he commanded, but he had not fallen prey to the naïve illusions nursed by so many on the field of First Bull Run." The outcome at Bull Run caused Sherman to question his own judgment as an officer and

11008-464: The last Confederate soldier to be killed in action during the war. In November 2008, the Jekyll Island Museum unveiled an exhibit dedicated to the enslaved Africans on Wanderer . That month also marked the unveiling of a memorial sculpture on southern Jekyll Island dedicated to the enslaved people who were landed there. The trans-Atlantic slave trade was made illegal by both Britain and

11136-410: The late 1850s, there was growing sentiment among some Southerners to reopen the slave trade. The Wanderer was built in 1857 and in 1858 it was partially outfitted for a long voyage. There was considerable speculation about the ship's projected use; it was inspected in New York harbor. As there was no conclusive evidence that it was to be used as a slave ship , it was allowed to pass. It departed flying

11264-529: The main spine at Tunnel Hill, his troops were repeatedly repelled by Patrick Cleburne 's heavy division, the best unit in Bragg's army. Grant then ordered Thomas to attack the center of the Confederate line. This frontal assault was intended as a diversion, but it unexpectedly succeeded in capturing the enemy's entrenchments and routing the Confederate Army of Tennessee, bringing the Union's Chattanooga campaign to

11392-535: The mate turned her over to federal authorities, and 10 men were imprisoned; those who had been forced onto the ship were released. In April 1861, upon the outbreak of the American Civil War , the United States Government seized Wanderer to prevent her from falling into the hands of the Confederate States of America . She served in the United States Navy from then until June 1865, being used as

11520-583: The military governor of California, Col. Richard Barnes Mason , to inspect the gold mines at Sutter's Fort . Sherman unwittingly helped to launch the California Gold Rush by drafting the official documents in which Governor Mason confirmed that gold had been discovered in the region. At John Augustus Sutter Jr. 's request, Sherman assisted Captain William H. Warner in surveying the new city of Sacramento , laying its street grid in 1848. He also opened

11648-473: The morning of April 6 took most of the senior Union commanders by surprise. Sherman had dismissed the intelligence reports from militia officers, refusing to believe that Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston would leave his base at Corinth . He took no precautions beyond strengthening his picket lines, and refused to entrench, build abatis , or send out reconnaissance patrols. At Shiloh, he may have wished to avoid appearing overly alarmed in order to escape

11776-470: The most powerful, ingeniously mechanical, and determined people on Earth—right at your doors. You are bound to fail. Only in your spirit and determination are you prepared for war. In all else you are totally unprepared, with a bad cause to start with. At first you will make headway, but as your limited resources begin to fail, shut out from the markets of Europe as you will be, your cause will begin to wane. If your people will but stop and think, they must see in

11904-545: The old Government of the United States." Sherman departed Louisiana and traveled to Washington, D.C., possibly in the hope of securing a position in the U.S. Army. At the White House , Sherman met with Abraham Lincoln a few days after his inauguration as president of the United States. Sherman expressed grave concerns about the North's poor state of preparedness for the looming civil war, but he found Lincoln unresponsive. Sherman then moved to St. Louis to become president of

12032-455: The older ones had a knack of catching and eating rattlesnakes." Another account claimed, "It was difficult to teach them to eat cooked food and use salt. They were expert swimmers, and caught fish with their hands, feeling In holes for them after deep diving." A third account reported that a number of survivors later committed suicide under the belief that "if they would jump into the sea and drown themselves they would be carried back to Africa by

12160-566: The pennant of the New York Yacht Club and under command of Captain Corrie. When the Wanderer stopped in Charleston, South Carolina, on its way to Africa, its mission was so well known that it was greeted with a cannon salute. Corrie sailed to the mouth of the Congo River in the Kingdom of Kongo (present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo ), which was then a Portuguese protectorate with

12288-426: The people of the North. They are a peaceable people but an earnest people, and they will fight, too. They are not going to let this country be destroyed without a mighty effort to save it ... Besides, where are your men and appliances of war to contend against them? The North can make a steam engine, locomotive, or railway car; hardly a yard of cloth or pair of shoes can you make. You are rushing into war with one of

12416-542: The president in creating [the] climate of opinion" that afforded Lincoln a comfortable victory over McClellan at the polls. During September and October, Sherman and Hood played a cat-and-mouse game in northern Georgia and Alabama, as Hood threatened Sherman's communications to the north. Eventually, Sherman won approval from his superiors for a plan to cut loose from his communications and march south, having advised Grant that he could "make Georgia howl". In response, Hood moved north into Tennessee. Sherman at first trivialized

12544-505: The remainder of the war. According to Holden-Reid, Sherman finally "had cut his teeth as an army commander" with the Jackson Expedition. After the surrender of Vicksburg and the re-capture of Jackson, Sherman was given the rank of brigadier general in the regular army , in addition to his rank as a major general of volunteers. His family traveled from Ohio to visit him at the camp near Vicksburg. Sherman's nine-year-old son, Willie,

12672-473: The same bank, travelling on the steamer SS Central America . When the bank failed during the Panic of 1857 , he closed the New York branch. In early 1858, he returned to California to finalize the bank's outstanding accounts there. Later in 1858, he moved to Leavenworth, Kansas , where he worked as the office manager of the law firm established by his brothers-in-law Hugh Ewing and Thomas Ewing Jr. Sherman obtained

12800-511: The same time, the British began exerting pressure on the African rulers to stop exporting people as slaves. In contrast, the United States made little effort to enforce their legislation until 1820 and 1821, when US naval ships patrolled the West African coast. A level of local co-operation was achieved between the two navies, but the US persisted in forbidding Royal Navy ships to board slavers flying

12928-559: The schooner Clotilda landed slaves in 1860 and is the last known slave ship to bring captives to the US. In 2008, the state of Georgia erected a monument to Wanderer ' s African survivors on the south tip of Jekyll Island. The monument consists of three 12-foot (3.7 m) steel sails and several historical storyboards. On November 25, 2008 a dedication of the memorial was held, attended by 500 participants, including descendants of slaves carried by Wanderer , and Erik Calonius, author of The Wanderer: The Last American Slave Ship and

13056-441: The serious difficulties he was having with Halleck. Sherman offered Grant an example from his own life: "Before the battle of Shiloh, I was cast down by a mere newspaper assertion of 'crazy', but that single battle gave me new life, and I'm now in high feather." He told Grant that, if he remained in the army, "some happy accident might restore you to favor and your true place". In July, Grant's situation improved when Halleck left for

13184-624: The ship reached an Angolan port. Both men opposed the restrictions on importing slaves, as demand drove a high price for domestic slaves. The Wanderer was returned to New York to undergo preparation for a long voyage. Some observers accused the shipyard of preparing it as a slave ship. The ship was inspected and cleared on its voyage out. Public rumors of the ship's being involved in the slave trade persisted and were permanently associated with her name. In his ship's log, Corrie noted arriving at Bengula (probably Benguela in present-day Angola) on October 4, 1858. Wanderer took on 487 slaves between

13312-479: The shipping and factoring business in Savannah and Augusta. In 1821 he married Jane Meek Cresswell of Savannah. They had six children together. She died in 1838 in the Steamship Pulaski disaster , when one of the ship's boilers exploded and the ship sank. Some 128 persons died in the accident, including their three daughters and two of three sons, and a niece, along with numerous other passengers and crew. This

13440-451: The state of Georgia with three armies: the 60,000-strong Army of the Cumberland under Thomas, the 25,000-strong Army of the Tennessee under James B. McPherson , and the 13,000-strong Army of the Ohio under John M. Schofield . He conducted a series of flanking maneuvers through rugged terrain against Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee, attempting a direct assault only at

13568-488: The strength of the rebel forces and requesting inordinate numbers of reinforcements. Critical press reports about Sherman began to appear after the U.S. Secretary of War , Simon Cameron , visited Louisville in October 1861. In early November, Sherman asked to be relieved of his command. He was promptly replaced by Don Carlos Buell and transferred to St. Louis. In December, he was put on leave by Henry W. Halleck , commander of

13696-487: The telegram was from the Governor of South Carolina to Gazaway Bugg Lamar in New York. Part of the message is below (for the complete text see "External Links", Fort Sumter telegram): William Tecumseh Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( / t ɪ ˈ k ʌ m s ə / tih- KUM -sə ; February 8, 1820 – February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as

13824-405: The turning point of his life." In late April, a Union force of 100,000 men under Halleck, with Grant relegated to second-in-command, began advancing slowly against Corinth . Sherman commanded the division on the extreme right of the Union's right wing (under George Henry Thomas ). Shortly after the Union forces occupied Corinth on May 30, Sherman persuaded Grant not to resign his command, despite

13952-448: The voyage from the Kingdom of Kongo to Georgia. Reports of the smuggling outraged the North. The federal government prosecuted Lamar and other investors, the captain and crew in 1860, but failed to win a conviction. During the American Civil War , Union forces confiscated the ship and used it for various military roles . It was decommissioned in 1865, converted to merchant use, and lost off Cuba in 1871. Lamar himself would later become

14080-564: The war. Lamar returned to Savannah by early 1861, where he was active in banking and re-established himself in the business and social life of the city. He was known to advise "representatives of the Confederate and Georgia governments, including President Jefferson Davis , Confederate Secretary of the Treasury Christopher Memminger , and Georgia Governor Joseph E. Brown ". In the Spring of 1863, Lamar and nine other men announced

14208-653: The wedding. Ellen Ewing Sherman was a devout Catholic, and the couple's children were reared in that faith. Their eight children were: Sherman was appointed as captain in the Army's Commissary Department on September 27, 1850, with offices in St. Louis, Missouri . He resigned his commission in 1853 and entered civilian life as manager of the San Francisco branch of the Bank of Lucas, Turner & Co. , whose corporate headquarters were in St. Louis. Sherman survived two shipwrecks and floated through

14336-619: Was a great pity to remove the Seminoles at all [as Florida] was the Indian's paradise" and still had (at the time that Sherman wrote his memoirs in the 1870s) "a population less than should make a good State". Sherman was later stationed in Georgia and South Carolina. As the foster son of a prominent Whig politician, in Charleston the popular Lieutenant Sherman moved within the upper circles of Old South society. While many of his colleagues engaged in

14464-433: Was an effective and popular leader of the institution, which would later become Louisiana State University . Colonel Joseph P. Taylor , brother of the late President Zachary Taylor, declared that "if you had hunted the whole Army, from one end of it to the other, you could not have found a man in it more admirably suited for the position in every respect than Sherman." Sherman's younger brother John was, from his seat in

14592-505: Was awarded $ 579,343.71 (~$ 14.1 million in 2023) in 1874 by the US Court of Claims in a settlement by the federal government for his losses. This was reported to be the largest individual settlement of the war, but was less than he had applied for. Six months after winning his final appeal for compensation, Lamar died in Brooklyn, New York at age 76 on October 5, 1874. His body was returned to

14720-623: Was awarded a government settlement of almost US$ 580,000 (equivalent to $ 15,619,059 in 2023). Born in 1798 near Augusta, Georgia (likely in the Sand Hills area), he was the third of twelve children of Basil Lamar and Rebecca Kelly. They were descendants of French immigrant Thomas Lamar, who settled in Maryland in 1660. Among his siblings was G. W. Lamar , who became a prominent banker in Augusta. He and his family had many connections to other leaders in

14848-482: Was distantly related to US founding father Roger Sherman . Sherman's older brother Charles Taylor Sherman became a federal judge. One of his younger brothers, John Sherman , was one of the founders of the Republican Party and served as a U.S. congressman, senator, and cabinet secretary . Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman , was a successful banker. Two of his foster brothers served as major generals in

14976-408: Was first commissioned as colonel of the 13th U.S. Infantry Regiment , effective May 14, 1861. This was a new regiment yet to be raised. In fact, Sherman's first command was a brigade of three-month volunteers who fought in the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861. It was one of the four brigades in the division commanded by General Daniel Tyler , which was in turn one of the five divisions in

15104-635: Was in Knoxville, Tennessee , where he invested in a hotel, which was renamed the Lamar House Hotel, associated with the Bijou Theater . Around this time he became worried about his eldest son, Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar , whom he had appointed to look after his business affairs in Georgia. But the younger Lamar invested in The Wanderer , a ship used to smuggle in several hundred slaves in 1858 from

15232-490: Was in the course of a voyage from Savannah to Baltimore, Maryland. Lamar and their eldest son Charles survived the sinking. Lamar married again, to Harriet Cazenove of Virginia. He moved with his son Charles to live with her for a year in Alexandria, Virginia, before returning with them to Savannah. Lamar's business activities in Savannah included banking, ship owning, cotton factoring, insurance, and warehousing. In 1834 an act

15360-520: Was launched, but the defendants were acquitted by the jury in Georgia. The outrage aroused by the case is believed to have contributed to increasing sectional tensions and the American Civil War . The US District judge, John Nicoll, was the father-in-law of Charles A. L. Lamar. The US prosecutor, Henry R. Jackson , became a major general in the Confederate States Army . Defendants John Egbert Farnum and Lamar served as officers on each side of

15488-427: Was on poor terms with McClernand, regarded this as a politically motivated distraction from the efforts to take Vicksburg, but Sherman had targeted Arkansas Post independently and considered the operation worthwhile. Arkansas Post was taken by the Union army and navy on January 11, 1863. The failure of the first phase of the campaign against Vicksburg led Grant to formulate an unorthodox new strategy, which called for

15616-460: Was passed in the U. S. Congress allowing Lamar to "import free of duty any iron steamboat...for the purpose of making an experiment of the aptitude of iron steamboats for the navigation of shallow waters..." In 1834 he arranged for a pre-fabricated iron steamboat to be shipped from Great Britain; it was re-assembled at a Savannah shipyard. This boat was named the SS John Randolph . It became

15744-409: Was probably given the first name William at that time. As an adult, Sherman signed all his correspondence, including to his wife, "W. T. Sherman". His friends and family called him Cump. Senator Ewing secured an appointment for the 16-year-old Sherman as a cadet in the United States Military Academy at West Point . Sherman roomed with and befriended another important future Civil War general for

15872-525: Was suspected of participating or approving, attempted to chase it on another ship, "but he was like the Irishman looking for a day's work, and praying that he might not find it". Near the coast of Africa, the first mate led a mutiny and left her captain at sea in a small boat. The mate said he had been forced onto the ship and prevented from getting off. He sailed Wanderer to Fire Island , then Boston, Massachusetts . After he arrived at Boston on 24 December 1859,

16000-417: Was trapped inside Vicksburg. After Pemberton surrendered to Grant on July 4, Johnston advanced toward the rear of Grant's forces. In response to this threat, Grant instructed Sherman to attack Johnston. Sherman conducted the ensuing Jackson Expedition , which concluded successfully on July 25 with the re-capture of the city of Jackson. This helped ensure that the Mississippi River would remain in Union hands for

16128-475: Was unable to get a conviction, possibly due to the jury composed of only white, Southern men. There has also been speculation that one of the judges in the case was Lamar's father-in-law. However, Lamar and three other men were later arrested after trying to break another codefendant out of jail. They all later pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to rescue their. Each of them were sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $ 250. The arrival of Wanderer prompted

16256-582: Was unexpected, and not desired until successful in the capture of Atlanta". Sherman's Atlanta campaign concluded successfully on September 2, 1864, with the capture of the city, which Hood had been forced to abandon. After ordering almost all civilians to abandon the city in September, Sherman gave instructions that all military and government buildings in Atlanta be burned, although many private homes and shops were burned as well. The capture of Atlanta made Sherman

16384-425: Was wounded twice—in the hand and shoulder—and had three horses shot out from under him. His performance was praised by Grant and Halleck, and after the battle he was promoted to major general of volunteers, effective May 1. This success contributed greatly to raising Sherman's spirits and changing his personal outlook on the Civil War and his role in it. According to Sherman's biographer Robert O'Connell, "Shiloh marked

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