William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) was born in Lancaster, Ohio, and died in New York, New York. He was a soldier, businessman, educator and author. Sherman graduated in 1840 from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He interrupted his military career in 1853 to pursue private business ventures in banking and law, without much success. In 1859 he became superintendent of the Louisiana Military Academy (now Louisiana State University), a position from which he resigned when Louisiana seceded from the Union. Sherman served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861-1865), for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy, as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched earth" policies that he implemented in conducting total war against the Confederate States. When Ulysses S. Grant became president of the United States in March 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of the Army. Sherman served in that capacity from 1869 until 1883 and was responsible for the U.S. Army's engagement in the American Indian Wars. In 1875, he published his memoirs, Memoirs of General William T. Sherman, By Himself, which became one of the best-known first-hand accounts of the Civil War.

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