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124-648: 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

248-519: 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

372-599: 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

496-538: 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

620-609: A chartered tugboat . About 300 of the Africans were taken and held at the plantation of Montmillon in South Carolina. Others were distributed to investors. Rumors about the Wanderer soon began to circulate in local newspapers. The ship was taken to Brunswick for repairs but failed to obtain clearance to return to Charleston. Corrie only had unsigned clearance papers to present for the ports of Trinidad and St. Helena, where

744-536: A commission merchant. In 1846, Lamar took over his father's business interests in Savannah, which included the Eastern Wharves property and sixteen slaves. He soon became involved in local civic organizations. In 1852, he was elected to a one-year term on the Savannah city council as a Democrat . In 1855, he unsuccessfully ran for the state legislature as a Know Nothing . Lamar developed a reputation for

868-541: 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

992-514: 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

1116-526: 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

1240-609: 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

1364-516: A hot temper. During his term as an alderman, he was arrested for disorderly conduct and fighting in the street. In 1858, he shot his friend Henry Dubignon during a dispute at a horse racetrack. A series of bad investments in gold mines and slaves, combined with the Panic of 1857 , caused Lamar to fall deep into debt by 1857. He turned to the Atlantic slave trade as a financial remedy, even though

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1488-790: 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

1612-428: 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

1736-601: 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

1860-536: 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

1984-626: 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

2108-541: 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

2232-527: 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

2356-472: 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

2480-626: 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

2604-498: 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

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2728-707: 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

2852-542: 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

2976-601: A total of six children together. In 1846 the senior Lamar decided to move with Harriet and their family to New York City to expand his business dealings, settling in Brooklyn. Lamar married Caroline Agnes Nicoll in February 1846 in Savannah. She was the daughter of John Nicoll and his wife; Nicoll was appointed as the US District judge in Savannah in 1839. Lamar had several other notable relations. Mirabeau B. Lamar ,

3100-459: 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

3224-462: 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

3348-738: 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

3472-470: 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

3596-794: 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

3720-463: 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

3844-628: 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

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3968-505: 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

4092-420: 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 ,

4216-648: 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

4340-572: 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,

4464-538: The Wanderer back by placing the highest bid at auction in Charleston. A series of six trials were held between November 1859 and May 1860, presided over by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court James M. Wayne and Judge Nicoll. Five members of the crew who could be located were tried for piracy , while Lamar and his associates were charged with holding the Africans who had been trafficked. During

4588-466: The Wanderer' s activities spread nationwide and was overwhelmingly condemned in both the Northern and Southern press. In early January, Lamar's father-in-law, Judge Nicoll, ruled the ship had been used for slave trading and ordered it to be auctioned off. Lamar was able to successfully thwart Ganahl from retaining the evidence with the assistance of U.S. marshall Daniel Stewart, a close friend. One of

4712-470: 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

4836-669: 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

4960-457: The importation of slaves had been banned since 1808 . That year, he purchased a ship, the E. A. Rawlins , and had it outfitted to carry a cargo of slaves. He was able to bypass port collector John Boston to allow the ship to clear the port of Savannah, but the ship's hired captain lost his nerve and sailed to New Orleans empty-handed. A second voyage by the Rawlins was made in May 1858, and

5084-418: 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

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5208-543: The 1850s, he became deeply indebted and entered the illegal slave trade. Lamar was a secessionist. During the American Civil War , He initially enlisted in the Confederate Army , but he soon returned to civilian life. He worked with his father to manage blockade runners to keep open trade between the Confederacy and the North, as well as Europe. Toward the end of the war, Lamar returned to military service and held

5332-485: 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

5456-514: The Africans from the ship was found and apprehended on December 24, but was kidnapped from his jail cell the following night. Two other Africans were found shortly after, but Lamar issued a writ of possession for them as his personal slaves while Ganahl was not present in Savannah and was allowed to leave the jail with them, after which they were not seen again. 36 of the Africans were found being trafficked through Worth County in late February, but Stewart ordered their release. In March, Lamar purchased

5580-699: 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

5704-598: 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 ,

5828-478: 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

5952-730: 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

6076-500: 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

6200-829: 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

6324-498: 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

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6448-593: 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

6572-427: 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

6696-526: The United States for sale. The ship was later impounded. Although Lamar and numerous other defendants were prosecuted, none of them were convicted. Born and raised in Savannah, Lamar was the son of businessman and banker Gazaway Bugg Lamar and Jane Meek Cresswell of Augusta . Most of his family was lost in the June 1838 explosion and wreck of the steamship Pulaski . Lamar took over many of his father's business interests and made investments of his own. During

6820-446: 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

6944-518: 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

7068-413: 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

7192-403: 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

7316-404: 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

7440-436: The cabinet of James Buchanan as the Secretary of the Treasury , denied three separate applications, deeming each one a ruse to secretly import slaves to the United States or Cuba. Lamar responded by issuing an 11-page pamphlet which criticized and insulted Cobb. In the summer of 1858, still desperate for money, Lamar led a group of investors to finance an expedition by the Wanderer in order to smuggle in slaves. The ship

7564-579: 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

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7688-471: The church record. It has been mistakenly reported that Lafayette was designated as Lamar's godfather. The Lamar family relocated from Augusta to Savannah, where Gazaway and a group of investors built the steam packet Pulaski in 1837. In June 1838, the Lamar family became victims of the Pulaski disaster off the coast of North Carolina, en route from Savannah to Baltimore. The ship's starboard boiler exploded and sank in only 45 minutes. Out of ten members of

7812-406: The city as a Christmas present. Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar (April 1, 1824 – April 16, 1865) was an American businessman from Savannah, Georgia , best known for his leadership in an investment ring to illegally import slaves from Africa on the ship Wanderer in 1858. The ship ran blockades and brought 409 surviving Africans from the Congo to

7936-404: 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

8060-421: 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,

8184-452: 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

8308-462: The defense of Jekyll Island under the command of General Robert E. Lee . After he was ordered to withdraw to the mainland, Lamar resigned his commission on April 2, 1862. Lamar's father Gazaway had returned to Savannah in 1861, re-establishing himself in the city. After resigning his commission, Lamar worked with his father in his business interests to keep the Confederate States supplied, including through blockade-running ventures. The younger Lamar

8432-421: 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

8556-465: 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

8680-428: 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

8804-406: The family on board—Gazaway, Jane, Charles, two other sons, and three daughters, Gazaway's sister Rebecca, and a niece—only Gazaway, Charles, and Rebecca survived. Some 128 persons were lost; 59 survived. Gazaway was married again to Harriet Cazenove of Virginia in July 1839. He and Charles lived with her in Alexandria, Virginia for a year before returning to Savannah. His father and stepmother had

8928-611: 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

9052-431: 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

9176-458: 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

9300-601: 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

9424-462: 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

9548-507: 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,

9672-547: 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

9796-523: 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

9920-433: 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

10044-498: 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

10168-541: 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

10292-597: 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

10416-473: 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

10540-470: 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

10664-551: 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

10788-426: 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

10912-542: 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

11036-470: The rank of Colonel . He was one of the last Confederates killed in the Civil War, at the Battle of Columbus . Lamar was born in Savannah in 1824 to Jane Meek (Cresswell) Lamar, of Augusta , and Gazaway Bugg Lamar . He was named Lafayette after the Revolutionary hero Marquis de Lafayette , who was visiting Savannah as part of his visit to the United States and attended his baptism, as stated in

11160-513: 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,

11284-426: 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

11408-482: The second President of the Republic of Texas, Georgia judge Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar I , and representative John B. Lamar were cousins of Gazaway. Speaker of the House Howell Cobb was a cousin by marriage. Lamar entered several business ventures during the 1840s and 1850s. In 1841, he opened a grocery store with a partner at the age of 17. The store failed by 1844, and he switched to working as

11532-441: 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

11656-572: The ship had never called, raising suspicion. Lamar wrote that he ultimately failed to make a profit on the venture. Joseph Ganahl, the United States Attorney for the District of Georgia , quickly began gathering evidence against Lamar. When three members of the crew entered Savannah on December 7, Ganahl immediately had them arrested. The Wanderer was seized in Brunswick, although the crew had fled Georgia by that point. News of

11780-538: The ship returned across the Atlantic and arrived at Jekyll Island outside Savannah, which was owned by the Dubignon brothers, friends of Lamar. There were approximately 409 surviving Africans, the remainder having perished on the voyage. Lamar had neglected to hire a local pilot for the crew, and Corrie had to go ashore to hire one and disclose the crew's plans. After the unloading was complete, Lamar and his business associates were alerted and traveled to Jekyll Island on

11904-487: 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

12028-455: 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

12152-493: 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

12276-492: 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

12400-465: The trials, Lamar challenged a witness to a duel , where both men missed their marks. Lamar also engaged in another jailbreak to remove one of the crew members from his cell and take him to a party in Savannah, for which he was charged and pled guilty. All other trials resulted in acquittal or mistrial. In November 1860, the remaining charges were dropped amidst talk of Georgia's secession . Lamar continued to be involved in slave trading activities during

12524-497: The trials. After refurbishing the Wanderer , he attempted to sell the ship but found no potential buyers. In October 1859, he sold a share in the ship to a captain named David Martin. Shortly after, Martin shanghaied the crew and the Wanderer sailed again for Africa. The crew mutinied and returned to the United States in December, where the ship was once again seized. An admiralty court found Lamar liable for Martin's actions and

12648-405: 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

12772-400: The vessel was declared forfeited. Lamar was a supporter of secession and organized a militia company for the state of Georgia in 1860. After the start of the Civil War, he organized and became a lieutenant colonel of the 7th Georgia Battalion, which later became part of the 61st Georgia Volunteer Infantry . They entered Confederate Army service on October 9, 1861. Lamar was responsible for

12896-580: 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

13020-663: 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

13144-634: 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

13268-433: 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

13392-459: 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

13516-639: 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

13640-490: 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

13764-408: 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

13888-661: 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

14012-496: 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

14136-427: 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

14260-666: Was outfitted with large water tanks and other requirements for transporting slaves but passed inspection in New York as a pleasure yacht. The ship flew the pennant of the New York Yacht Club when it departed the harbor under command of Captain William R. Corrie, who had purchased it. Between July and September, the Wanderer sailed from Charleston to the Congo River , evading British and American naval squadrons, where Corrie purchased 487 Africans. On November 29,

14384-468: 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

14508-409: 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

14632-571: Was rumored to have landed in Cuba with a cargo of 658 Africans. The ship's supercargo abandoned the captain and returned the ship to Savannah with no papers, and the ship was seized by federal authorities but released shortly after. Lamar openly expressed a desire to reopen the slave trade, and next attempted to bypass existing laws by applying to transport passengers from Africa on the ship Richard Cobden . His cousin Howell Cobb, now serving in

14756-634: Was sent to England, where he purchased five ships for blockade-running. After the capture of Savannah during Sherman's March to the Sea , Lamar re-entered the Confederate Army as a colonel on the staff of Howell Cobb, who was now a general. Lamar was shot and killed by a stray bullet during the Battle of Columbus , although sources disagree if he was first captured. He was buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah. In 1886, while Lamar's cousin Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar

14880-654: Was serving in the cabinet of president Grover Cleveland , a collection of Lamar's letters was published by the North American Review , claiming that they had been salvaged from a New England paper mill. The publication renewed interest in Lamar, and Generals James H. Wilson and William T. Sherman wrote to the Review , claiming Lamar was the last man killed in action at Columbus and the last Confederate "of note" to be killed. Subsequent sources have claimed Lamar

15004-432: Was the last Confederate officer killed in the Civil War. Historians such as Tom Henderson Wells regard Lamar as an effective, if unscrupulous, businessman who acted on principle to defend the slaveholding society. This view has been challenged by Jim Jordan, who writes that Lamar had a poor business record, believed he would profit from the expeditions, and was primarily motivated by financial desperation. An editor for

15128-417: 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

15252-592: 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

15376-425: 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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