In some ways Sherman was the first true modern. He was at least the first in American History to understand that civilians are the backbone of a war. In other words, in order to break the backbone of the Confederacy, he made war on the civilians directly.

Tecumseh Sherman, named by his father in honor of a great Indian chief, was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on February 8, 1820. Sherman's family was originally from New England and came to America from England in the Seventeenth century. Two hundred years later his mother and his father, who was a lawyer and in his later years a Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, migrated them to what was then the unsettled west and eventually migrated to Ohio

Finally, too late to make any difference, Robert E. Lee was named General-in-Chief of the Confederacy's armed forces and Joe Johnston was given command of all remaining forces left in North Carolina. Reinforcements from the tattered remnants of the Army of Tennessee would arrive by a patchwork railroad/overland route from Tupelo to join other commands under Beauregard, Bragg, and Hardee, but these were too few and too late.

At the Ewing's home the boys were surrounded by talkative and energetic farmers, lawyers, and politicians. While John would become a politician, the U.S. Senator from Ohio, William enrolled at West Point.

When Sherman, who was called 'Cump' by his family and close friends, was only nine his father died leaving his mother and a large family without adequate financial support. Sherman and his younger brother John were farmed out to a family friend, Thomas Ewing, who would one day be a U.S. Senator and serve in the cabinets of three presidents.

When the Ewings learned that Cump had not been baptized he was given the name William T.C. perhaps because the Catholic priest objected to an Indian name without a Christian first name preceding it.

William Tecumseh Sherman might have been crazy, but if so, he was an insane-genius. With his March to the Sea, destructive strategies of war, and his Campaign in the Carolinas, he swayed the war towards the Union being the victors

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Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)