William Tecumseh Sherman was born on February 8th in the year 1820 in Lancaster Ohio. His father was Charles Sherman, a well-known lawyer and an Ohio Supreme Court Justice. Sherman was one out of eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sherman. In 1829 his father died when Sherman was only 9. He went to live with a family friend. This family friend was Thomas Ewing, an Ohio Senator and a Whig member. With Sherman’s connections, mostly Thomas Ewing, got him an appointment into West Point Military Academy in Upstate New York. Sherman did excel academically, but had little regard for their rules. He never got into too much trouble, and managed to graduate in 1840, 6th in his class.
His military career was slow to start. Sherman first saw a little bit of action in Florida. He was a commander in the second Seminole war. He had various duty stations in Georgia, and South Carolina. While serving in those areas, he met some of the oldest, most respected families in the South. Sherman’s early military career was not all that exciting compared to most of his colleagues that served in the Mexican-American war, seeing lots of combat. Sherman on the other hand was stationed in California as an executive officer or as we say in the military, a xo.
In 1850, Sherman married Thomas Ewing’s daughter, Eleanor Boyle Ewing. In 1853 after 3 years of marriage, Sherman was questioning his role in the military. Feeling like he was going nowhere, due to his lack of combat experience, he decided that the United States Army was not for him. He resigned his commission. Sherman ended up staying in California as a banker during the time of the gold rush. His time as a banker ended with the panic of 1857. Sherman and his family moved to Kansas, there he p...
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...r his tactics. Historians and other officials have given credit to Sherman, for his tactics. He changed the face of war forever, and described it for what it is, “War is Hell!”
Bibliography
William Tecumseh Sherman. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 03:47, Apr 19, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/william-tecumseh-sherman-9482051.
Sherman’s March. (2010). The History.com website. Retrieved 03:47, Apr 19, 2014, from
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/shermans-march
William Tecumseh Sherman. (2009) The History.com website. Retrieved 03:47, Apr 19, 2014, from
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/william-t-sherman
American Experience: TV's most-watched history series. (n.d.). PBS. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/grant-sherman/
General Lee said, to be a good soldier you must love the army, to be a good general you must be prepared to order the death of the thing you love, and therein lies the great trap of soldiering. When you attack you must hold nothing back." Thomas J. Jackson was both a good soldier and a good general. In the Mexican War he fought with all his heart for his country. When the Civil War came, he was a general. He never hesitated to send his men forward. He held nothing back. George McClellan also fought with all his heart for his country in the Mexican War. When the time came to send his men forward in the Civil War, he couldn’t do it. He loved the army to much to order its death.
It is far easier for us in the present than it was for those at Gettysburg, to look back and determine the path that the leaders should have taken. As students, studying battles such as this, we have the advantage of hindsight, knowing the outcome. Nonetheless, we can still learn valuable lessons from it. To do so, this analysis will explore some of the decisions of the leaders at Gettysburg, and how they were affected by the operational variables. This essay will scrutinize some of the leaders at Gettysburg, and the impact of their actions. The outcome of this analysis will show that what was true in 1863 is still true today. While many variables are vital to a successful army on the battlefield, none should be neglected. Each variable discussed in this examination will prove to be important, but the information battle will be paramount in the battle of Gettysburg.
“Their differing perceptions of the nature of war form the backbone of the difficult relationship between these two men.” Lee, an older soldier, values much of an offensive warfare approach, while Longstreet values a defensive warfare approach. Both men consistently argue about the best option for the Confederacy. However, “no matter how much he might disagree, Longstreet defers to Lee’s decisions.” In an argument as to who was right, none of the developed tactics provide clear evidence as to what was going to work, especially with a military of lesser men, considering the war in 1863. Although General Lee’s tactics did not work during the Battle of Gettysburg, there is no evidence that General Longstreet’s defensive strategy would have worked significantly better. Therefore, neither of the generals exceeded the other when it comes to military strategies, which rather debunks Shaara’s depiction of Longstreet’s advanced knowledge of modern warfare. Despite of the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg, often marked as the turning point of the war, General Longstreet should not obey an order that results in a significant loss of men that would be extremely difficult to replace at this time. Already limited by the amount of men still able to fight, pushing additional forces in an open battle would just nearly deplete the confederate soldiers completely, and
During the Mexican War, Grant served under both General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott and distinguished himself, particularly at Molina del Rey and Chapultepec. After his return and tours of duty in the North, he was sent to the Far West. In 1854, while stationed at Fort Humboldt, California, “Grant resigned his commission because of loneliness and drinking problems, and in the following years he engaged in generally unsuccessful farming and business ventures in Missouri.”(Grant Moves South, 18) He moved to Galena, Illinois, in 1860, where he became a clerk in his father's leather store.
Bethel’s life changed when he became only fourteen years old. At fourteen he watched 27-year-old attorney Thurgood Marshall defend a young black accused of murder in Hugo, Oklahoma. Marshall was able to reduce the young man’s sentence from death to life in prison. Marshall became Bethel’s idol. Marshall was a main reason Bethel dreamed on becoming a civil rights lawyer. Another reason for his dream was his son, Jesse Jr.. Bethel first began his college career at Tillotson College in Austin, Texas majoring in pre-law on a scholarship. This all changed when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the United States entered World War II. Bethel read on a bulletin board that Mare Island needed chemists. This made Bethel switch his major from pre-law to chemistry.
others for the violence of the war, and summarizes his view on revenge perfectly: “I joined the
The Art of War is a treatise written in Ancient China that discusses the most and least effective military strategies for successful warfare according to Sun Tzu, a military general whose existence is still debated to this day. While not every military commander in the history of warfare has read it, the strategies provided can be used as a way to assess said commanders and the effectiveness of their campaigns. In Sun Tzu 's own words, “The general that hearkens to my counsel and acts upon it, will conquer: let such a one be retained in command! The general that hearkens not to my counsel nor acts upon it, will suffer defeat:--let such a one be dismissed!”1 This paper will discuss various iconic battles throughout history and how closely the leading commanders of each army followed the advice of Sun Tzu. Despite the fact that Sun Tzu lived hundreds of years before many of these battles took place, the
William T Sherman was born to a distinguished family In Lancaster, Ohio in 1820. He was 1 of a total of 11 children. His father was a successful lawyer and Ohio supreme court justice. When William was just 9, his father died, which left the family in poverty. A family friend, Thomas Ewing, raised William. In 1836, Thomas enrolled William to the United States Military Academy at West Point. William was outstanding academically, but he had no respect for the demerit system. He never got into major trouble, but he had many minor offenses on his record. Sherman graduated the school in 1840, and was sixth in his class. In his first battle, he fought Seminole Indians in Florida and had many other assignments throughout Georgia and South Carolina.
Albert Pike had a very influential life being a journalist, soldier, Freemason, and a reporter for Arkansas Supreme Court. He also wrote some poetry. He was born on August 15, 1809 in Boston Massachusetts. He died on April 2, 1891 in Washington D.C. and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery also in Washington D.C. Albert Pike was a Confederate Soldier and he was the only Confederate soldier who had a statue of himself.
In Ohio there is a small town called Point Pleasant. On the date of April 27, 1822 ,a new life was brought into this world. He was named Hiram Ulysses Grant. His father was Jesse Root Grant, a tanner and businessmen by profession, and his mother was Hannah Simpson Grant. He was shy and reserved in his youth and was described as an “uneventful childhood”, but he showed great aptitude for being a horsemen at his young age. His father declared that when he turned 17, he would be enrolled into the army. Though when the time came, there was error in the registration enlisting him as Ulysses Grant. By changing his name, he avoided a lot of trouble on enlisting day( Ulysses S. Grant General, U.S. President 1822-1885).
Sherman was a very logical man, even from a young age, but sometimes his logic deceived him. By the time Sherman was in his mid 40’s he already had 4 war crimes under his belt. Since I’m already on the topic of war crimes, let me define it for you: an action carried out during the conduct of war that violates accepted international rules of war. Now, I know that they did not have the rules of war that we have now, but killing over 2,000 people and sending starving families away just so you can make yourself look good? Now that just isn’t right. Just imagine that you are one of the 50 families that were sent out of their hometown. Just imagine that your entire life work has just
To this day, John Bell Hood can be recognized as the youngest man to ever achieve the full rank of a Confederate general and to independently lead an army in the Civil War. It is suggested that his true bravery, fierce passion, and relentless desire for southern independence it what set him apart from the rest during his services in the military. In “John Bell Hood and the War for Southern Independence” Richard McMurry states that “In position and grade… [Hood] belonged with the older generation- men such as Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnson… whose military responsibilities included much more than simple fighting (pg. ix).” The particular methods and strategies that Hood used when executing plans of war are what made him stand
“Sherman felt General Grant’s most valuable trait was, “simple faith in success… which I can liken to nothing else than the faith a Christian has in a savior” (Furgurson 15). Sherman compares General Grant to a savior which is mighty high praise and most people tend to worship their saviors. In communicating that General Grant’s most important assess was confidence in success, General Sherman is the best commander possible and the people should follow and praise him for the work that he is doing. Sherman respected Grant so much that he put faith in him even though Grant faced a very tough enemy. Sherman believed that Grant could inspire the Army of the Potomac to do its part in defeating the south even though they faced a tough enemy frequently (Furgurson 32). The task of motivating tired troops is definitely not an easy one, but Sherman regards Grant as a savior so if anyone can motivate that army Sherman believes that it is Grant. That demonstrates William Sherman’s high regard for his superiors. He respected his soldiers and his superiors so much that he started to think of them as family (anb.org). Regarding the army of family is one of the shows that he has the utmost respect for
Stephen W. Sears’ Landscape Turned Red is an account of political and military plans. Especially General Robert E. Lee’s Maryland Campaign as well as the Battle of Antietam. Sears frames his work around the pending support of Great Britain and France to the Confederate cause due to cotton. Landscape Turned Red covers the battle of Antietam. It offers a vivid account of both armies, the soldiers and officers, and the bloody campaign. It analyzes the impact of Antietam on the Civil War as a whole. Sears' use of diaries, dispatches, and letters recreate the Battle of Antietam. You experience the battle not only from its leaders but also by its soldiers, both Union and Confederate. Sears attempts to examine the tactical moves of both Lee and General George McClellan. He also talks about the foolish decisions that troubled both the Federal and Confederate forces. Sears' use of traits, political pursuits, and tactical preferences, explain the thoughts of many. Some of these include President Lincoln, General Halleck and General McClellan, and their subordinates. Stephen Ward Sears is an American historian specializing in the American Civil War. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and an attendant to a journalism seminar at Radcliffe-Harvard. As an author he has concentrated on the military history of the American Civil War. Such as the battles and leaders of the Army of the Potomac. He was an editor for the Educational Department at American Heritage Publishing Company. American Heritage Publishing two of his ten books.
Samuel B. Griffith’s translation of “Sun Tzu: The Art of War” is an inside look at military practices of today. I did not find one technique that is not or would not be utilized in modern military maneuver, leadership, or training. The most astounding fact is that the Art of War was written well over two thousand years ago, even at the most conservative date. Although most of the techniques in this text are already in practice today, the value of “The Art of War” is a never-ending treasure chest of knowledge, and it deserves a place as a required reading for anyone seeking knowledge about war fighting or the history of war.