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William Tecumseh Sherman

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(born Feb. 8, 1820, Lancaster, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 14, 1891, New York, N.Y.) U.S. army general. A brother of John Sherman, he graduated from West Point, served in Florida and California, then resigned his commission in 1853 to pursue a banking career. He rejoined the Union army when the American Civil War broke out. He fought in the Battle of Bull Run, then served under Ulysses S. Grant at Shiloh and was promoted to major general. With Grant he helped win the Vicksburg Campaign and the Battle of Chattanooga. As commander of the division of the Mississippi, he assembled 100,000 troops for the invasion of Georgia (1864). After engagements with Confederate troops under Joseph Johnston, he captured and burned Atlanta and began his devastating March to the Sea to capture Savannah, leaving a trail of near-total destruction. In 1865 he marched north, destroying Confederate railroads and sources of supply in North and South Carolina. He accepted the surrender of Johnston's army on April 26. Promoted to general, he succeeded Grant as commander of the army (1869–84). Often credited with the saying “War is hell,” he was a major architect of modern total war.

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