Category Archives: Ulysses S. Grant

William Tecumseh Sherman Facts

Posted by:

War is Hell…

Facts and Notes About General William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman

William Tecumseh Sherman

  • William Tecumseh Sherman was born in Lancaster, Ohio on February 8, 1820. Sherman’s middle name of “Tecumseh” was given to him at birth. The name “Tecumseh” was from a great Shawnee Indian leader and warrior who had almost defeated the United States Army.
  • Sherman graduated sixth in his class of 1840 at West Point. He was highly intelligent, aggressive, and had a good imagination. These characteristics would help to make Sherman one of the great Union generals of the Civil War.
  • When the Civil War broke out, Sherman was the superintendent of a military academy in Louisiana called the Alexandria Military Institute. This military academy would become the foundation of Louisiana State University.* Sherman was a West Point graduate, age 41, and a civilian when the Civil War started. He volunteered for service. Sherman took command of a brigade and led it at the Battle of First Bull Run. Sherman was lean, grizzled, and had red hair, he did not much care about his personal appearance.
  • The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6, and 7, 1862. On the first day of battle, troops led by General Sherman came under heavy fire. Despite efforts by Sherman to rally the men, the Union troops (who were new to battle) fled to the rear. That evening, Confederates were camped on ground that in the morning had belonged to Union troops. Confederate General Beauregard spent the night sleeping in Sherman’s bed. The next day, April 7, Grant renewed the fight and pushed the Rebel troops back to their original attack position. The Billy Yanks had their camp again. Perhaps on the night of April 7, General Sherman got his bed back from General Beauregard.
  • Benjamin Harrison was from Ohio and saw action in the Western Theater during the Civil War. He served in Sherman’s Army during the March to the Sea. In 1888, he became president of the United States of America.
  • On May 4, 1864, General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his march to Atlanta, Georgia. His army numbered 110,000 men. Sherman’s March to the Sea will make history, and make him hated in the South.
  • In 1864, when Sherman was making his way through the South, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston won a victory at Kennesaw Mountain. At the end of the Civil War, Johnston was in command in the Carolinas. Johnson staged a defensive campaign after Lee surrendered to Grant on April 9, 1865. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston finally surrendered to General Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina on April 26, 1865. After the war, Sherman and Johnston became friends.
  • William Tecumseh Sherman died of pneumonia in New York City on February 14, 1891. Sherman and Joseph E. Johnston (Sherman’s old Confederate adversary) had reconciled in the years since the Civil War. Johnston served as an honorary pall bearer at Sherman’s funeral on a rainy and cold day. During the funeral, Johnston removed his hat in the cold rain as other mourners did the same. He was urged to put the hat back on so he would avoid the wet and cold. Johnston said: “If I were in his place and he standing here in mine he would not put on his hat.” Former Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston developed pneumonia from the rain and cold at Sherman’s funeral. Johnston died only a few weeks later.
  • In Washington, D.C., there is a small park at Fifteenth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. At this park there is a statue of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman. This statue is forty-three feet high and depicts Sherman on a horse during a march. On the granite base of this statue is a Sherman quote in which he states his idea of what the purpose of war is: “War’s Legitimate Object Is More Perfect Peace.”

My book 501 Civil War Quotes and Notes features quotes made before, during, and after the Civil War. Each quote has an informative note to explain the circumstances and background of the quote. Learn Civil War history from the spoken words and writings of the military commanders, political leaders, the Billy Yanks and Johnny Rebs who fought in the battles, the abolitionists who strove for the freedom of the slaves, the descriptions of battles, and the citizens who suffered at home. Their voices tell us the who, what, where, when, and why of the Civil War. Available as a Kindle device e-book or as a paperback. Get 501 Civil War Quotes and Notes now!

Abraham Lincoln Attends The Play Our American Cousin

Posted by:

On April 14, 1865 President Abraham Lincoln spent his day visiting with callers and attending a Cabinet meeting. Included at this Cabinet meeting was General Ulysses Grant and Lincoln explained to Grant that he was having a recurring dream about a ship “moving with great rapidity toward a dark and indefinite shore.”

Now that the Civil War was over, topics of discussion at the Cabinet meeting were the problems of reconstruction and the treatment of former Confederate leaders.

A Trip To Ford’s Theatre To See A Play

President Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln

That evening, the Lincolns were planning a visit to Ford’s Theatre to see the play Our American Cousin. Lincoln asked General Grant to be his guest that night, but Grant declined the president’s invitation. Instead, Lincoln and his wife Mary would attend the performance of Our American Cousin accompanied by two other guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Miss Clara Harris.

Previously, President Lincoln had found some brief refuge from the Civil War when he attended a play at Ford’s Theatre on November 9, 1863. Lincoln then saw a play named The Marble Heart and cast in this play was a young and well-regarded actor named John Wilkes Booth. Booth would not be acting in Our American Cousin on the evening of April 14, 1865 but he planned to be at Ford’s Theatre during the play’s performance.

The Lincolns, Major Henry Rathbone and Miss Clara Harris, were all enjoying the play. Two of the play’s characters exchange the following lines during the third act:

Mrs. Montchessington: I am aware, Mr. Trenchard, that you are not used to the manners of good society.

Asa Trenchard: Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal – you sockdologizing old mantrap!

A Single Shot From A Derringer

John Wilkes Booth

Assassin John Wilkes Booth

After the above lines in the performance of the play the audience would always burst out loudly in laughter. John Wilkes Booth knew that at this particular moment in this scene of the play the audience’s loud laughter would happen as if on cue. At this time, Booth used a .44 caliber derringer to shoot President Lincoln in the back of his head at nearly point blank range.

Booth slashed Major Rathbone with a knife and then leapt onto the stage as he shouted: “Sic semper tyrannis” (“Thus always to tyrants”). Booth broke his leg as he landed on the stage, but he escaped out of Ford’s Theatre to a back alley and a waiting horse. All this occurred at about 10:15 P.M. It was Good Friday.

President Lincoln was unconscious but still alive. He was moved across the street from Ford’s Theatre to the Peterson house. Taken into a back bedroom, the six-foot-four inches tall Lincoln was placed diagonally upon a bed that was too short for him.

President Lincoln’s head wound was very severe. There was nothing much that could be done for the president now, except to watch and wait.