Sherman

Sherman, brothers important in the U.S. Civil War era. William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–91) was a Union commander, second in importance only to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. He fought in the battles of Bull Run (1861) and Shiloh (1862) and in the Vicksburg campaign (1862–63). He was given command of the Army of Tennessee and, with Grant, took part in the Chattanooga campaign (1863). As supreme commander in the West (1864) he invaded Georgia, capturing Atlanta and marching on to Savannah. Turning north, he pushed Gen. Joseph Johnston's army before him and accepted its surrender at Durham, N.C. (1865). The destruction Sherman wrought in obliterating Confederate supplies and communications and breaking civilian morale made him a hero in the North and a villain in the South. He was U.S. Army commander 1869–84. John Sherman (1823–1900) was a founding member of the Republican Party. A senator (1861–77, 1881–97) and secretary of the treasury (1877–81), he introduced the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Sherman Silver Purchase Act.

See also: Civil War, U.S.