William T. Sherman

William T. Sherman (1820–1891) was an American soldier, one of the principal Union generals of the Civil War. Born in Lancaster, Ohio, and raised by the family of Thomas Ewing, he graduated from West Point in 1840, served in California during the gold rush, failed as a banker and headed a military academy in Louisiana when the war began. Under Grant he fought at Shiloh and Vicksburg, took Atlanta in 1864, marched through Georgia and the Carolinas, and received the surrender of Johnston's army. He was commanding general of the army from 1869 to 1883 and refused to run for president. His Memoirs appeared in 1875.